Page 29 of Protect and Serve

She wasn’t even too annoyed when Cody, Lisa and Cade barged in and took the table across from them. In fact, it was fun, because it was obvious her brothers were trying to listen in and Charlie was a past master at speaking in double entendres. Before the evening was over, her stomach ached from laughing so hard.

But then, when she stood and her head went woozy and a sharp pain skewered her gut, she realized it hadn’t all been the laughter. She glanced up at Charlie as another horrible cramp made her double over.

“Claire!” he cried, catching her before she fell.

“What is it?” Cody’s voice wavered somewhere over her head.

“Pain.” A croak. All she could manage. Sweat popped out on her brow, chills racked her and then unbearable heat. Her belly churned. “Oh God,” she moaned.

“We need to get her to the hospital,” Charlie said, but that was the last thing she heard. Before everything went black.

She woke up in a hospital bed with a sore throat, feeling weak as a kitten. To her surprise, daylight shone through the window. It hurt her eyes so she closed her lids.

“What do you mean they can’t tell?”

Ah. Charlie was here. She yearned for his touch, but she could barely move, much less speak.

“I mean, there wasn’t anything in her stomach they could identify that would cause this.”

“Food poisoning doesn’t work that quickly, Cade.”

“What else could it have been?” So Cody was here as well. They all sounded terribly concerned.

“I don’t know. But it scared the shit out of me.” She’d never heard such a tone in Charlie’s voice. A hint of panic and…fury.

“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Lisa said. Damn, was everyone here?

“Could it have been an allergic reaction?” Yup. Porsche too.

How was a woman supposed to get any rest?

“She’s not allergic to burgers and fries. She’s eaten Bubba’s food for years. This has never happened before.” Okay, the voices were all starting to melt together. She was having a hard time telling who was who.

“Well, I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” Charlie snapped. Yeah. His voice stood out.

“How can you when the doctor found no traces of anything but food in her stomach?”

“I don’t know. But I will.” Someone touched her. Squeezed her hand. “By God, I will.”

With that comfort, she released her waning hold on consciousness and drifted off to sleep. But one thought circled in her brain.

Not the best way to end a first date.

She could only hope it wasn’t an omen.

Chapter NINE

The second Charlie heard Claire had been released from the hospital, he hightailed it over to her house.

Damn, that had been a horrifying feeling, being so helpless and watching her writhe in pain. Fear unlike anything he’d known in Iraq had possessed him, making his blood go cold and his fingers numb.

He’d just met her. Well, just met her again.

They’d just started dating.

He had no business feeling like this. As though the world would end—or should end—without her in it.

His heart thrummed as he pulled into the driveway, bounded up the porch steps and pounded on the door.