Kiss the Girl by Susan Sey

any consequence he did tonight.  “Everybody with half a brain, anyway.”
    “Hey!”  She stalked up to him, poked a finger into his deltoid hard enough to hurt.  “That’s not fair.  I’m new, not stupid.”
    “No?”  He closed his eyes and hoped she’d back off but she didn’t.  He could still smell her, fresh and lemony.  How the hell could she smell so good after a full shift, a tree burial and a near abduction?  And why on earth would he even notice what she smelled like when his best friend had just been snatched by gang bangers ?  “Then stop acting like it.”
    She hissed in a breath and he braced himself.  That had been over the line, and he knew it.  She was going to tell him to screw himself and his stupid clinic now , and he dese rved it.  But she didn’t .  He opened his eyes, and found her staring down at him.  Her eyes were hazel, he saw.  Copper-flecked green and very, very steady. 
    “Why didn’t you tell the police who your mother is?” she asked softly.  “You could’ve had the mayor, the chief of police and the police commissioner down here with one phone call.  Why didn’t you do it?”
    “I’m a grown man, Nixie.  I don’t call in the mom squad to fix my problems.”
    “I see.  So Mary Jane’s safety ranks lower than preserving your ego?”
    He stood up.  “What, you’re a psychoanalyst now?” 
    “I know mommy issues when I see them.   What exactly did your mom do to you that was so awful, anyway? ”   He walked away from her, but she was right at his elbow, nipping like a herding dog.  “Are you really going to let your hang ups put your girlfriend at risk?” 
    “Me?”  He huffed out an incredulous laugh.  “I put Mary Jane at risk?  Jesus, princess, that’s great.  Let me run this down for you one more time, okay?  You witnessed the abduction.  You gave a statement to the police that made it look like Mary Jane ran off for a little fling with Tyrese ‘ CPA-to -the- Dark-Side ’ Jones while I called the cops like a jealous boyfriend.  And suddenly she’s in trouble because I have mommy issues?”
    Her pretty mouth snapped shut.  She threaded a finger through one of those shiny curls of hers and fr owned into the middle distance.  “Okay, so there’s enough blame to go around.”
    Erik dropped his head. “Jesus.”
    “The question is, what are we going to do now?”
    “ We aren’t going to do anything.  You’re going home.  I’ll come back in the morning, do some door knocking.  Somebody’s bound to know what’s going on.”
    She swished her elbow away from his grip.  “I want to go with you.”
    “Like hell,” he said.  “This isn’t exactl y Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood .”
    “No kidding?”
    “You’d be a liability, Nixie.  You’d just slow me down.”
    “I might surprise you.”
    “Yeah, you’re just full of surprises.  But no, it’s too dangerous.”  He grabbed at her elbow again, got it this time.  Damn, it felt fragile.  He gentled his grip until he wasn’t worried about her bones.  The urge to tuck her away safely was strange and overpowering.  She was much taller than Mary Jane, and clearly had some skill in the art of self-defense or else she’d have been the one riding off with a couple of under-aged felons.  So why did he want to wrap her in cotton batting and lock her away?  Mary Jane traipsed through this neighborhood twice a day and it had never put this kind of knot in his gut. 
    “I’m a big girl, Erik.”  Her eyes were huge and intense, and she was still wearing his extra lab coat.  It made her look small, breakable.  “I feel responsible.  I need to do something.”
    “Let me take you home, Nixie.  We’ll talk in the morning, okay?  Maybe you can go to the police station, revise your statement.  That’ll help more than anything.”
    “You’ll go with me?”
    “Sure,” he lied.  He would be back here by first light, and without Nixie in tow.  “I’ll call