Thiswas his mate, and he was a bit of an animal at times. He wanted.
She yelped.
And took off down the hallway.
Dom just stayed where he was, Cream of Wheat a cold, and rather pasty, compensation for what he really wanted.
50
It had been a long damnedday. Shaping up to be an even longer night. He’d been to this very hospital six times—chasing down leads on three different cases.
Dom had checked—Madison was still on the clock for a while longer. She’d ended up pulling a double tonight. She was a few floors below where he was now, processing a trio of drunk college women who had done something incredibly stupid tonight. He’d taken the opportunity to stop by room 403 while hewaitedon the little shrew of his dreams.
They were going to go over what had been in those files on her dining room table. He’d meant to the night before, but had been called out on an all-nighter himself. He’d won with Madison by irritating her into going to her friends, the Barratts, for the night.
That had paused things for twenty-four hours. He’d spent all of the day before chasing a dozen dead ends, trying to find that asshole Timothy Grundenman and his kid out there somewhere.
She was seriously unhappy with him now, but…he’d make it up to her someday.
Dom was in the room when Heather finally opened her eyes and actuallylookedaround like she was back in there again. Damned woman had scared the shit out of all of them with this. But she looked right at him. And just blinked.
Damn, that woman had a way of looking at a man—he just stared back. “Hey.”
“Ac—ardi. Why…here?”
Hell. She actually recognized him. Unlike the last four times he had sat with her for a few moments over the past week. “Just checking on you.”
“Where…sisters?”
“It’s late, Bonnie shooed them all out a few hours ago. She’s working a shift upstairs tonight.” Dom moved closer, careful not to get too much into Heather’s space. He didn’t want to scare her. Not after the pure hell she had been through. Heather was skittish, and for damned good reason. “You have a nurse-niece who has been sitting with you, but she’s down the hall getting a soda, I think. Zoey’s sister. Or as Lake says, that incredibly scary, scary sister-in-law of his.”
“Cash…That is Cashie…”
Good. She was starting to fire on some cylinders. But he wasn’t going to push right now. The woman had been through enough. “I was here to get Madison and drive her home. She’s finishing up processing some suspects in the ER right now. I wanted to stop by and see how you were doing. Your niece left me here to babysit while she grabs a snack. I’m not sure she’d eaten in a while. You good with that?”
“Oh…kay. My…girls?”
“Doing fine. Frankie drew you a picture of a starfish, I think. Your sister laminated it and made it into a placemat.” Dom showed Heather her daughter’s artwork. Heather’s eyes welled. Maybe his own allergies kicked in a little at the moment, seeingthe giant smiling starfish and a stick-figure woman and little girl and what he thought was a stick-figure baby.
“What day…?”
“Been a few weeks since what happened at Powell Barratt’s parents. You’ve been in and out of…reality…for about ten days now.”
“That long? They okay? All of them?” She was trying to shift on the bed. This woman was probably one of the most stubborn he had ever met. “Powell…baby? Gunn?—”
“Recovering. Powell is doing fine. Gunner is out of here, and at Mel Barratt’s with her and her parents. Dan was released a week after what happened. They are getting better.” And he wasn’t about to tell her where Daniel had ended up. Heather would go ballistic if she knew Daniel was sleeping under her roof right now.
“Hope? My baby sister. She…safe?”
“Rodriguez is making sure of it. Your family is okay. You are a great-aunt again, too. Governor’s wife had a baby girl while you’ve been out. They are a few rooms over now. Carina Maria, I believe.” A great-aunt—at thirty-four. Dom had run into the governor in the lobby and offered his congratulations. He’d been shown a dozen photos from the proud papa. “A very beautiful baby.”
No. She wasn’t. The baby was extra ugly, even for a newborn. But Dom would never say that. He knew better. He was sure she was the most beautiful baby in the world—to the governor and his wife, anyway.
“Ari…okay?”
“Doing fine. So is the baby. Cashlyn said the baby looks like your baby pictures. She got a bit of a laugh out of that and said the baby will probably end up looking like…you and Zoey. She told the governor she really hopes the baby acts just like you, too. He looked…mildly terrified.” There was no love lost betweenHeather and her niece’s husband, the good old governor. Everyone was aware of that.
“Healthy? You sure? Both of them?”
