“Go to bed, my summer Skye.” He jerked a thumb at the trio methodically checking her door and window locks. “I get that you asked them to babysit me, but are you sure they aren’t babysitting you as well?”
If Ash was afraid she’d run off again, what better way to make sure she stuck around than to keep her surrounded by his security detail?
The next morning,Sam and Reggie escorted her to work while Donald remained behind with Forest. They sandwiched her between them and ran the gauntlet. The cameras mauled her like they wanted to devour her.
Oddly, the only thing going through her mind was how she was going to get her hot cocoa, but Ash had taken care of that. Her order had been called ahead, and Reggie leaped out of the car to claim her beverage. With the morning ritual intact, they pulled outside the emergency department and rolled to a stop.
“Wait here,” Sam said.
“Why?” She peeked outside the car window. Nothing seemed out of place.
Reggie laughed. “Standard procedure, Mrs. Dean.”
Mrs. Dean?But she didn’t have time to correct him because Sam returned and helped her out of the car.
“We’re good,” he said. “Hospital security has pushed back the camera freaks. Ready for work?”
She sipped the hot cocoa and slung her bag over her shoulder. “I get off at eight. Will I see you then?”
Sam crossed his arms. “You’ll see me all day. I’m not going anywhere.”
She shook her head. “You can’t come with me.” She lifted her badge. “Hospital policy. No badge, no access. I’ll be fine. Unless one of those camera-toting zealots is an actual patient, they can’t get back to where I work.”
Sam’s jaw worked back and forth, and he rubbed his neck. “I don’t know. Mr. Dean won’t be happy about that.”
She took another sip of the warm drink, savoring the full-bodied flavor of the chocolate. “It’s not up to him.” She put a hand on Sam’s arm. “Seriously, I’ll be fine. Besides, I work in a secure zone. We have metal detectors at the entrance.” She stared at all six-foot-plus of him from her more diminutive height.
Sam didn’t look pleased, but she reassured him that everything would be all right.
“I’ll call when I’m done and meet you right here.”
His eyes narrowed as he slid into the vehicle. “Promise?”
“I promise.”
“You’d better. I don’t think I can handle it if you disappear again.”
She took a step back and tucked in her chin. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say, Mr. Dean was beside himself when he couldn’t find you. We went to every terminal and checked every airline.” Hereached for the door but paused before closing it. “Where did you go?”
She shrugged. “I’m not giving up all my secrets.”
And then she smiled. Ash had come after her.
She remembered the last time she’d been at work and her first kiss with Ash.
Chapter Twenty-One
Skye’s shiftthree days ago had kept her running from one catastrophe to the next. She hoped for another equally busy day—not for trauma or emergencies because those came at the expense of pain and suffering, but for easy, fixable things. Something that would keep her day jumping and her mind focused. Thinking about Ash and her future with him consumed too much emotional energy.
She walked to the nurses’ counter, spotting her mentor, Bob. He appeared less tired, standing tall, and his hair wasn’t a mess of combed-through worry. Nancy stood across from him, her head nodding in response to whatever he was telling her.
When Skye tapped Bob on the shoulder, he turned and lifted a single eyebrow. “Seems like you’ve had an eventful three days, Dr. Summers. Or should I say Dr. Dean?”
All conversation stopped. Silence rarely happened in the middle of an emergency department.
The sudden weight of it smothered her, leaving her breathless, but she composed herself and dropped her bag behind the counter. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
