Krista craned her neck around to look at him. “We’re okay. Me, you, the baby. We’re fine.”
Brock gnashed his molars together until a dull ache ran up the side of his jaw. He liked the pain. The pain was good.
She cupped his cheek. “Do you hear me? We’re okay.”
In the darkness of the bedroom, staring down into the eyes of the mother of his child, he realized he wanted it all with her. Forever. But first he had a few things to take care of. There was a threat out there, and that threat needed to be neutralized.
“Brock?” Her face grew serious. “We’re okay.”
He swallowed down the razor blades and went nose to nose with the woman in his arms. “Not yet, but we will be.” Then he buried his face in her hair, pulled her more tightly into his body and willed them both to sleep. Tomorrow he’d figure out a way to take down the bad guy, but tonight he just wanted to hold his woman, yes,hiswoman, his child, and forget everything but how good it felt to have something,someoneto hold on to.
Chapter 17
Krista took the next few days off work. She couldn’t very well go into the station looking like the train wreck she saw in the mirror. She’d been fine that night, no residual pain besides that in her face, but the next morning and the morning after that, an achy stiffness took hold of her body and just refused to let go.
The doctors had her on Tylenol round the clock and bed rest for a few days, just to make sure that there was no internal hemorrhaging and no delayed complications with the baby.
Bed rest sucked.
And bed rest in a house with Brock Hart sucked even more.
He didn’t let her do a damn thing.
Never one to sit idle and do nothing, Krista was ready to pull her hair out and knit it into a shawl just for something to do.
“I keep telling you, first-hand testimonials are going to be our best route,” she said, grinding her teeth together and giving three big, muscly Hart men her best stare-down. They were in her bedroom, standing at the foot of her bed for a much-needed meeting of the minds. “I need to sit down with Wendy and Marlise, get their statements and maybe see if I can talk to some of the other female officers and civilian workers. I’m sure he’s put the moves on more than just the three of us and Ingrid.”
Brock shook his head.
Krista narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not the boss of me, you know.”
Rex made a pained face, while Chase just averted his eyes.
“I’m not, but when it comes to your safety, I’m not taking any chances. I’m running this op, and I say you take early medical leave and get out of that place until we can dig up enough evidence on Slade to put him away for good.” He crossed his arms in front of his big powerful chest for good measure and stared down at her sitting up in their bed. She didn’t flinch.
“Monday,” she whispered, her eyes not leaving his. “It’s Thursday now. I’ll be back to work on Monday.”
The man growled.
The man growled a lot.
But he didn’t scare her, so instead she just rolled her eyes. “I’m compromising here, Hart. I have a job to do, and I intend to do it until this baby pops out. I’ll stay away from Slade and only talk to Wendy and Marlise, but you’re not running squat. I’m the only police officer in this room. The rest of you are behaving like vigilantes who are above the law, hacking into the RCMP database and whatnot.” She leveled her gaze at Chase and gave him her best glare. The man didn’t so much as blink. “Knock it off.”
Was that an eyebrow twitch?
Was he even breathing?
Brock let out an exasperated sigh. “We’ll discuss Monday on Sunday night, but for now, you and the baby need rest.”
Now it was her turn to growl.
Rex’s face split into a grin so big, both dimples winked at her. “I really like her.”
“Out!” Brock barked.
His brothers both spun on their heels like good naval officers, and with straight backs and heads facing forward, they practically marched out of the bedroom.
Brock met her gaze again. She met his just as intensely. But suddenly his softened.
