Color leeched from her face, and he gripped her elbows, worried she was going to faint on him. As if his touch grounded her, she shook her head and some pink entered her cheeks. “Right. Of course.” She held out her hand. “I’ll wear them.”
He dropped the earrings into her palm and placed his hand over hers, pressing the studs between them. “Thank you. And we aren’t going to watch your every move. Cass will check in periodically after I tell her that you’ve got them on.”
Marie nodded and pulled her hand away from his so that she could put the earrings in. “I want to say that I think this is unnecessary, but after what happened this morning, it would be foolish of me to say that.”
Isaac should’ve known that she would be amenable to his request. She wasn’t stupid and, although she’d shown hints of stubbornness, she knew when to be sensible.
“How do they look,” she asked, turning her head from side to side so he could see.
“Beautiful,” he cupped her cheek. “Just like you.” Without giving her a chance to respond, he pressed his lips to hers, wishing they didn’t have an audience andhe could deepen the kiss. But he was aware they were in her workplace, and he was sure that after this exchange, the gossip train would be pulling full steam out of the station and it would be all over the hospital in a matter of minutes. “Have a good day, and I’ll be around all day.”
“I know. Bye.”
He shook his head. “Not bye, but soon. I’ll see you soon.”
“Soon?” She looked like she was tossing the word around her mind to see if it fit. “Okay, I can do that.” Marie went up on tiptoe and pecked him on the lips. “Soon.”
She turned and headed toward the doors, Isaac stayed where he was until she disappeared behind them before turning and heading toward his car. He had a tracker to find and when he did, he was going to take great pleasure in smashing it.
Then he was going to double down and find out all he could about the fuckers who had followed them that morning. They were going to wish that they hadn’t targeted Marie.
Isaac protected his own, always had, and Marie was his.
Chapter Sixteen
Marie fiddledwith one of the earrings Isaac had given her while she sipped her coffee. The waiting room may have been sparse with patients when she’d first arrived, but an hour later it had been crammed with people, and they had two ambulances at the entrance ferrying patients who’d been in a pile-up on the highway.
They’d been stretched thin, but Marie thrived on the chaotic nature of the ER, and keeping busy kept her mind off the adventurous drive to work. Thankfully her colleagues were too busy to question her about the handsome silver fox she’d been seen kissing.
Now that things had quieted down a little and she had five minutes to breathe, she’d taken the time to fix herself a coffee and think about thestuds in her ears. They weren’t tiny, but they weren’t huge either, yet there was a transmitter in them. When she got home she’d take them out and examine them to see if she could see where the device was.
“I heard you got some jewelry this morning.”
Marie looked up and smiled at Fiona, one of her new colleagues and a fellow ER doctor. “I did.”
Fiona sat down in the chair opposite her with a groan, rubbing her baby bump. “Standing for that length of time is not good for me or the baby.”
“Do you have much longer before you go on leave?”
“A couple more weeks. Danny is already telling me I need to cut back, but I want to work as long as possible.”
Marie didn’t know Fiona’s situation, but it was expensive living in Los Angeles, even with a double income. She was also pleased that Fiona appeared to have forgotten what she’d said before she sat down. The last thing Marie wanted to talk about was Isaac, particularly, as they’d only reconnected two days ago.
How was it only two days? How could so much be packed into forty-eight hours? It seemed so unlikely, but it had happened.
“Makes sense. Do you know what you’re having?” she asked, determined to keep the focus on Fiona and not herself.
“We’re having a boy. Danny is thrilled. He grew up with five sisters and they’ve all had girls, so he’s pleased that it’s a boy. The nursery has a sports theme, and if I’d let him, the furniture would be sports themed too.”
Marie laughed. “At least he’s invested and excited. Are you happy you’re having a boy or were you hoping for a girl? Considering the abundance of them in his family.”
“Initially I was disappointed, have you seen all the girl’s clothes you can get? Boy’s clothes are so boring, but seeing Danny so excited, and everyone in his family, I’m really glad that it’s a boy. Maybe next time we’ll have a girl.”
“You’re already thinking about next time before you’ve even had this baby?” Not many new mothers thought that way. Marie wasn’t sure she’d be thinking about having a second child before her first was born. As it was, she was reaching the age where getting pregnant came with a lot of risks involved, not only to the mother but also the child. But the hope that one day she’d hold her own child in her arms was a dream she wasn’t ready to give up on yet.
An image of a baby with brown eyes the same color as Isaac’s flashed in her mind, and she shut that door as quickly as it opened.
Isaac was almost a decade older than her, it was unlikely he wanted to be a father at his age.
