Drop Dead Sexy

Before he could, Catcher knocked him out of the way. “I got it.”

Once again, tension crackled in the air so thickly that you could almost hear the hum. Although I didn’t think Catcher had any experience with body transfers, he managed to do a great job getting Mr. Delaney on the stretcher. After buckling him and putting on the drape, I turned to look at Marco who was staring daggers at Catcher with his arms crossed over his chest. “Um, I guess that’s it. Good seeing you again, Marco.”

Instantly, his expression changed from sullen to smiley. “It was good seeing you too, Liv. Always a pleasure.”

At the word “pleasure”, Catcher stiffened next to me. I decided it was time to get the hell out of there. “Okay then. Bye,” I said before promptly banging the gurney and poor Mr. Delaney into the wall. “Oops.”

It then took me a few seconds of maneuvering to get myself out of the corner. “You got it?” Marco asked.

“Oh yeah. I’m fine,” I quickly replied before he and Catcher had a chance to trade evil looks.

When I got out into the hallway, I exhaled the breath I had been holding. “Need me to get that?” Catcher asked when I once again banged the stretcher into the wall.

“Nope. I’ve got it.” Get a grip, Sullivan. You’re making an ass out of yourself. You haven’t done the stretcher shuffle since the first summer you worked for your dad. After inwardly berating myself, I was able to make it down the rest of the hallway without any further incidents.

After rolling the gurney onto the elevator, I turned back to see Marco standing outside Mr. Delaney’s room. He threw up his hand and smiled.

“Bye,” I replied, which caused Catcher to growl.

When the elevator doors closed, I turned to glare at Catcher. “What the hell was that about?”

Catcher stared straight ahead. “What do you mean?”

“Um, the fact that for a minute, I thought you might go all Motown on me by pissing on my leg to show possession.”

Catcher snorted before cutting his eyes over to me. “I was not as bad as your dog.”

I cocked my brows at him. “Seriously?”

“That douchebag was totally scamming on you.”

“Marco was not scamming on me.”

“Get serious, Olivia. The guy is probably going to jerk one out in the bathroom over you.”

Wrinkling my nose, I replied, “Ew. I seriously doubt that.”

“Are you really that blind?”

I shrugged. “He was just being nice. Marco’s always been very friendly and helpful.”

“Yeah, so he could get in your pants.”

I widened my eyes. “No. He so doesn’t think of me that way.”

“Oh yeah, he does.” Catcher shook his head at me. “No wonder you were in such a sex drought. You can’t pick up when a man is coming on to you.”

“I hardly think that Marco was trying to come on to me when I was picking up dead guys.”

Catcher snorted. “Babe, as long as we’re not dead or our dick’s not dead, we’re going to pick up a woman regardless of the situation.”

The elevator door dinged open. “And that’s why men are pigs.”

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.”

Ignoring him, I then rolled Mr. Delaney through the hallways and out to the hearse. Catcher stood by ready to lift a hand, but it was as if he sensed I wanted to do it on my own, so he didn’t interfere. The fact that he got me—the real me—was very endearing. For the first time, I felt like I had a met a man who was strong enough for me. As the strains of Sheryl Crowe’s Strong Enough played in my head, I closed the gap between Catcher and me.

I raised my hand to cup his cheek. “You know, you were kind of a Neanderthal back there, which is terribly unattractive to a feminist like me.” When he started to protest, I put my finger over his lips. “But by the same token, I’ve never had a man who cared enough about me to be so aggressively possessive. And God help me, I liked it. I liked it a lot.”

A smirk curved on Catcher’s face. “You did, huh?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well, that’s just who I am, babe. An overly possessive alpha male that borders on being a caveman.” With a grunt, he brought his hands to my breasts. “Mine.”

I laughed as I pushed his hands away. “Stop before someone sees us.”

“If you think storeroom sex is hot, you should try al-fresco-hospital-parking-lot-sex.”

“No thank you. The last thing I need is to be involved in a sex scandal. That would be the final straw for my mother.”

Catcher laughed as he started around the side of the hearse. “Fine. I’ll be a gentleman and preserve your virtuous reputation.”

“Thank you, kind sir,” I replied with a grin.



When we got back to the funeral home, Catcher surprised me by following Mr. Delaney and me to the door. “What?” he asked at what must’ve been my shocked expression.

“Nothing. I just thought you would probably wait in your car for me.”

“No way. I want to see the inside of your place.”

I laughed. “My place is five minutes down the road. This is just where I work.”

“You grew up here though, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Can I see your teenage bedroom?”