“Come on, darlin’.” Wolf came around Winston’s bed to gently touch her elbow. “Let’s get you home so you can start healin’.”
Maryanne’s eyes widened and she mouthed the worddarlin’.In response, Chrissy rolled her eyes. But then she pulled Winston’s mother in for one more hug, loving the familiar smell ofSunflowersby Elizabeth Arden.
Maryanne had never quite moved beyond the ’90’s.
After bussing Curtis’s cheek, Chrissy allowed Wolf to escort her into the hall where the two policemen assigned to stand watch over her and Winston conversed. One of them—Rick Ryan, the officer who’d taken over Chrissy’s security from Denny Parsons—trailed along behind them as she and Wolf made their way through the hospital.
Having a fully uniformed, fully armed shadow was unsettling to say the least. But what bothered her even more were the female heads that turned in Wolf’s direction.
More than once she caught herself glaring at the ogling women—although, it seemed Wolf was oblivious. The fourth time she tried to slice a fellow member of the sisterhood open with nothing more than her switchblade eyes, her mind skidded to a stop.
What the hell are you doing?
She tried blaming her jealousy on physical pain and the mental anguish of having just left her best friend in the ICU fighting against the odds. But those explanations rang false.
Worse, they sounded like rationalizations.
If there was one thing she hated more than a milksop woman who unloaded all her troubles onto the big, strong man in her life, it was someone who refused to face the music when it came to their own thoughts and feelings and rationales.
But call me Queen of the Hypocrites, ’cause I’m too tired to go there.
Instead, she kept her eyes straight ahead for the remainder of the walk.
Once they pushed through the automatic front doors, she pulled the salty sea air into her lungs. The familiar scents of tropical flowers and hot asphalt tunneled up her nose. After the antiseptic air inside the hospital, she welcomed the smells.
I’m alive, she told herself.Winston is alive. For now that has to be enough.
“There was supposed to be a taxi waitin’.” Wolf cut into her thoughts. “I used the phone at the nurse’s station to call for one before we went to visit Winston.”
Well, of course he had. The man thought of everything. She should probably be annoyed by that. But right then, the only thing she felt was grateful.
“It’s nice having someone to help you shoulder the burdens of life.”Her mother’s words rang inside her head. This had been Josephine’s answer to,“Why do you keep letting yourself fall in love when it never works out?”
Chrissy had asked the question after her mother’s fourth divorce was finalized, and at the time her mother’s response had only confirmed Chrissy’s stance she wouldneverstumble into the trap of depending on someone other than herself.
Yet here she was. Relying on Wolf.
“Can we catch a ride with you?” Wolf asked Officer Ryan.
The policeman made a face. “I wish. But I drove my personal vehicle for this detail.” The officer hitched his chin toward the parking lot and the late-model Toyota 4Runner with two kayaks attached to the rack on the roof. “It’s policy not to drive with civilians while we’re on the clock. You know, liability issues if I were to get in a wreck and one of you got hurt or—”
Wolf waved him off. “No need to explain. Spent fourteen years in the Navy. I know all about the protocols put in place to cover everyone’s asses.” He turned to Chrissy. “That phone of yours kinda, maybe, sorta workin’ right now?”
Digging into the plastic bag, she pulled out her iPhone. Thumbing it on, she discovered that, miracle of miracles, the screen flashed. But it was only a flash. The low-battery icon blinked before the device went dark.
“Sorry.” She grimaced. “It needs juice.”
“No worries. I’ll run inside and ask the admissions desk to make a call to the cab company. You goin’ to be okay out here?”
She smiled wanly. “I have a flesh wound, Wolf, not a mortal injury. I’m sure I’ll be fine standing on the sidewalk. Besides”—she pointed to Officer Ryan, whose hand rested on the butt of his weapon—“I have Officer Ryan to watch over me.”
Wolf let his gaze run over her, as if he needed to reassure himself. Then, he nodded and turned back into the hospital.
She gave herself permission to watch him go—and yes, I realize I’m doingexactlywhat I tried to eye-murder other women for. She’d always admired the way Wolf moved. His back was straight. His shoulders were back. His head was held high.
Military bearing,she decided.No wasted movements. Just confidence and efficiency in every step.
When the automatic doors closed behind him, she headed out from under the shade of the awning.
