He wasn’t used to dealing with the rickety wooden roller coaster that was female emotions. Toss in the pregnancy hormones, and he was so far out of his comfort zone, they could have been on different continents. That roller coaster was in the dark, missing a wheel or two and in an abandoned theme park. But he was trying to show her he was in this baby rearing thing. Pregnancy and all. One hundred percent. Shoving down his instinct to say “women” and shake his head, he took a deep breath and tried to meet her eyes. “What’s up?”
Slowly, she let her gaze leave the front door and fixed those brilliant blue eyes on him. “I told the staff sergeant about the baby. I’m officially on light duty.”
Thank fuck.
One less thing for him to worry about. He was starting to think he was getting an ulcer from the stress of her being out in the field every day.
“Good.”
She didn’t seem nearly as happy as he was. Understandable. She was a tough cookie, and had the roles been reversed, he wouldn’t have been happy about having to give up a job he loved. But she needed to start thinking about more than just herself.
Reaching out, he tucked a wild, wavy strand of her hair behind her ear. “What’s wrong?”
She swallowed, and her eyes darted down for just half a second to her wrist before flying back up to his face. But his own gaze wasn’t nearly as quick. Where the fuck did that bruise come from?
He reached for her arm, but she tugged it away. He reached again, and this time, she let him take it. “Where’d this come from?”
Her jaw clenched.
“Krista … ”
Letting out a deep, rattled breath, she started, “Slade. He cornered me in the staff room this morning. Got physical. I managed to fight him off, though.”
Suddenly, there was a ringing in his ears.
Where the fuck was that coming from? Did she hear it, too? Heat flooded his face and chest, and red seemed to cloud his vision. A stroke?
No.
Fury.
He wanted to go find this Slade motherfucker and kill him. Or at the very least break every bone in his body so he couldn’t lay a hand on any woman, onhiswoman again. She’d mentioned Slade in passing a few times. Called him a “tool” and a “pain in the ass,” but she’d never said anything about him being a lecherous bastard, too. The fucker would pay for touching her. He’d pay dearly.
“Ow.” Krista went to pull away, snapping him out of sudden blood lust. He glanced down at his hand on her wrist, his own fingerprints now where herbruise was.
Regret hit him square in the solar plexus, and he avoided her stare as he let her go, muttering, “Sorry.”
“S’okay.” She rubbed at the spot he’d been squeezing.
He reached for her wrist again, this time gently rubbing the pad of his thumb over her bruises, hating that he’d left his own marks. Though his wouldn’t turn into bruises. Her pulse beat strong and steady beneath his fingertips. “You’re okay?”
She snorted a small laugh. “Yeah, I think I’ll live.”
He lifted his head and waited for her to meet his gaze. “I mean about Slade.”
“Oh.” Her top teeth snagged her bottom lip for a moment before she spoke again. “No and yes. I mean I handled him …afterhe manhandled me. But I handled him. Held my own. Then I reported him to the staff sergeant at the same time I requested light duty and divulged my pregnancy. But it was weird. The staff sergeant seemed reluctant to take my complaint about Slade any further. Considered itwater under the bridgenow that I am no longer going to be his partner.”
Brock pinched his brows together and glowered. “He’s still a fucking predator.”
She nodded, her blue eyes finally gaining their sparkle again. “I know. And I said that. I said if the staff sergeant wasn’t going to do anything about it, then I would take it up with HR. That seemed to rattle his cage, and he said he’d deal with it. Though I’m not convinced.”
“Neither am I,” Brock muttered.
“Once Mallory got me all set up at my new desk today, I started doing some digging.”
Oh fuck.
But instead of losing his shit, he didn’t say anything, just lifted an eyebrow and hummed, encouraging her to continue. The last thing he needed to do was scare her out of his house by blowing up or losing his cool.
