“Daddy, no.”
The front door swung open just as my heart plummeted to my feet. My dad strolled in, cell phone sandwiched between his ear and shoulder and a black duffel bag in each hand. I nearly collapsed to my knees with relief.
“Eva’s here. I’ll talk to you later.” He slid the phone into the front pocket of his jacket, looking at me with knitted brows and a deep crease between his eyes. “Eva? What the hell happened to you?”
I rushed him, squeezing him tightly.
“I’m fine. But you—I saw the blood. And you weren’t here. I didn’t know what to think.” My voice was waterlogged as I sniveled into his shoulder as if I was a scared kid again, seeking comfort after a nightmare.
The thought of something happening to him was a terrifying one. I wouldn’t survive it. Not him too.
“Hey, I’m perfectly fine.” He lifted my chin, getting a better look at my battle scars. “But you—Eva, what happened?”
“Perks of the job,” I lied. He didn’t know I’d left work to visit Derek, and for the next twenty minutes, I let him be a dad and lecture me on the importance of keeping up with self-defense classes, being alert, and looking both ways before crossing the street and all that.
“Enough about me. You weren’t home. You left your bed unmade, and you never do that. And what’s with the blood? I imagined the worst.”
He flashed me a sympathetic smile. “Let’s sit down, and I’ll explain over coffee.”
I let him guide me back into the kitchen, arms still wound around his torso, not trusting myself to not fall into a heap at his feet. My heart still hadn’t recovered from the scare.
“I got called into work late last night. One of the on-call physicians couldn’t make it, and there was also a staff shortage. I had no idea you’d be coming by, or else I would have given you a heads up.”
“Why were you bleeding?
He held up a bandaged hand I hadn’t noticed.
“Bumped into the table by the door on my way out and broke that glass vase you loved so much. The shards broke my fall, of course. But a couple of stitches later, I’m good as new.”
I palmed the pressure point between my eyes, trying to push back the headache slowly creeping to the forefront.
“Papi, you scared the shit out of me, especially after...”
I couldn’t tell him about Rayne and the men from last night.
“Especially after what?”
I sat up straight and locked eyes with my father.
“I met Derek Cain yesterday.”
He blinked several times. “You went to see him? By yourself?” I nodded. “Eva, I thought we discussed this. We agreed you wouldn’t go alone—Wait, you went to his home?”
“I did.”
He threw his arms up and got to his feet. “That was very reckless of you.”
Rolling my eyes, I followed him as he shuffled toward the fridge. “Was it? You don’t even know him.”
“Neither did you. Hell, you still don’t.”
“Dad, you forget what I do for a living.” That phrase was the broken record of my life.
My father ran a rough hand through his hair, exhaling a deep, frustrated breath.
“You have a partner, Eva. Protocols. You don’t just go solo into unknown situations, so don’t give me that.”
“Dad.” I needed to take a seat, my head throbbing even harder. “I’m fine. Derek is…” I hesitated a little too long, trying to find the words to describe the man occupying my every waking thought since I’d met him.
