Jude didn’t know how to answer that. He stared at Snow to see how he responded. Maybe this kid was what the man liked. He knew Snow’s nickname—said it like they were familiar. He frowned. Did he like them this young?
“He’s twenty-six,” Snow snapped. “Stop looking so disgusted.”
“You and him?” Jude asked, still surprised and faintly alarmed because if this is what did it for the doc, Jude didn’t stand a chance. He was bigger, swarthier, and though only four years older than Geoffrey, it certainly looked like the age difference was larger. And Geoffrey was a hell of a lot prettier. If one liked blond, elfin faces. Or men who looked like jailbait.
“Of course not me and him!”
Geoffrey suddenly growled and threw up his hands, flinging his bloody napkins into the crowd. “Of course not? Never,” he said on another growl that was pretty damn cute. “Never have I had to work so hard to get into someone’s pants.”
Jude could believe it. The kid was gorgeous. He also seemed pretty sweet so Jude didn’t want him to feel bad. “Sorry. The doc and I have something going on.”
“We do?” Snow yanked his arm away, glared for a moment, then went to Geoffrey and gently felt around his nose. Geoffrey closed his eyes and leaned into the touch even though it had to hurt. Jude could see a lot of pent up longing in the movement and again, he felt sorry for the little guy. He understood. He wanted the doctor’s hands all over him, too.
“It’s not broken,” Snow said. “But you’ll need to ice it for the swelling. Fifteen- to twenty-minute intervals.”
Geoffrey blinked huge eyes up at Snow, who gave him a kind smile that had Jude’s already hard dick throbbing even more. There were hidden layers to the doc, layers that ran deep. He grew determined then to have smiles like that one aimed his direction, too. Apparently, he wanted all the man’s smiles.
But then the doctor turned back to him and all that barely banked fury came rushing back. He tried to shove past Jude, but Jude only grabbed his arm again.
Snow tugged on his arm, but Jude didn’t let go. He worked out and between that and determination, he knew he could keep Snow where he wanted him. He pulled the general so they were facing each other, liking that they were close to the same height so he could stick his nose right in the doctor’s face. “Calm the fuck down. I know you’re hurting, but you can’t take it out on people in here.”
Shaking his head, Jude kept a tight grip on the slightly taller man and shoved his way through the crowd until he got to the table where Rebecca sat with her mouth hanging open. They’d come separately, but he normally walked her to her car before he went home.
“You ready to leave?”
She shook her head.
“Are you okay to get yourself home tonight? I’ve never left you out alone before.”
She snapped her mouth shut and nodded, her eyes shooting him a million questions. “I’m a big girl who can drive her own car. I know where the key goes and everything.”
He would have smiled, but the anger building back up on the doctor was like a wave of heat against his back. The man dug his fingers into Jude’s hand and tried to pry it off his arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told Rebecca as he turned and stalked off with the doctor in tow. He pushed through the door only to growl in frustration when he hit a wall of cold rain. “Shit!”
“I don’t know what your damage is, but you’ve been up in my face lately, Torres. I’ve had enough.”
“Trust me, you haven’t.” Cursing, Jude tugged the man down the street until he saw a dark alley. Rain pounded down on them and he didn’t give a crap. “Seems I’m going to have to find a better way to shut you up.” He found a shadowed corner out of the rain, turned and shoved Snow into the bricks.
“You are some kind of dominant fucker,” Snow muttered, sounding pissed yet slightly amused. It didn’t escape Jude’s notice that there was a thread of intrigue in his tone, too.
“You’re not fighting me.” Jude swiped both hands back on his forehead to push his sopping hair back and licked rain off his lips. Damn, it was cold. The rain poured off an overhang above them, creating a gray sheet behind Jude, cocooning them in. It could almost have been cozy and private.
Snow’s light blue eyes reflected the miniscule amount of light coming into the alley as his gaze locked on Jude’s mouth momentarily before returning back to his eyes. “Why’d you get in the middle of that? Back in the bar?”
“You’re an idiot, but you’re also a surgeon.” Jude lifted Snow’s hand, the rain slicking their palms together. He turned “Not only could beating up that guy hurt your job, it could hurt your hands. What the hell were you looking for in there?”