Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“No,” Cole said. “You go back with Cara and Mike. I don’t know how long I’ll be here.”
“All the more reason for me to stay.” Erin waved Cara away.
He should have known she’d pull the stubborn routine. Despite trying to push her away, he was grateful she wasn’t listening. He didn’t want to deal with doctors by himself, let alone Jed. Hell, he didn’t want to deal with the realities inherent with his father being so ill.
Cara glanced back and forth between them. “Well, given the choice between hanging out with you two and all these outdated magazines”—she pointed at the dog-eared glossies on the table—“or going home to my husband . . . easy choice. And you’ll be safer with Cole,” she muttered.
“What’s that mean?” Cole asked.
Cara pulled him into an unexpected hug. “Take care. And I hope your dad’s okay,” she said, backing away just as quickly.
Cole was glad. Hugs and emotion from Cara were as unfamiliar as the panic coursing through him.
“Okay, you two, I’m gone,” Cara said.
He nodded. “Drive safely.”
“Will do. And one of you call me when you have news.”
“Sure thing,” Erin promised. She glanced at Cole. “Well? Let’s go find the doctor.”
He shook his head. “Hold up.” There was something they needed to discuss first.
“What is it?” She looked up at him with guileless hazel eyes that, on top of Cara’s cryptic comment, Cole suddenly didn’t trust worth a damn. “You tell me.”
Erin blinked. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Start with what Cara meant by you’ll be safer with me? Did something happen at Joe’s?”
“Shouldn’t we be checking on Jed?” Erin started for the swinging double doors, but Cole pulled her back.
He caught her around the waist, stilling any jittery movement. “Out with it. What happened?”
“Well, I might have had a run-in with Victoria.” She winced as she said the words.
All the blood running in Cole’s veins froze. “What?!”
She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Okay, it’s like this. I ran into Evan when I was with Cara, and seeing how I haven’t been working but he saw me in a bar, I needed to explain. It was crowded and loud, so we stepped into the bathroom hall. Cara and Mike were within shouting distance. It was fine.”
Cole cocked an eyebrow. “Somehow, I don’t think it was fine,” he said through clenched teeth.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“But she got close to you,” he bit out.
Erin ran her hand down his arm in an obvious effort to soothe him, but instead of calm, all he felt was frustration that he hadn’t been there to protect her.
“Finish the story.”
She sighed. “Evan and I argued—”
“About what? The bastard was annoyed you were out?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly.”
He waited in silence.
“Fine. He insulted you—again—so I told him you’d be in my life for the foreseeable future, seeing as how you were the father of my baby. And then I punctuated the point. Like this.” She pulled her loose top tight against her tiny baby bump. “See?” She shrugged.
Cole stared at the little spitfire, trying not to laugh at Carmichael’s expense. Trying harder not to pull her into a hard kiss for defending him . . . yet again. He didn’t bother fighting the overwhelming admiration he felt for this woman, or the gratitude at how easily she stood up for him. Whether he deserved it or not.
“Stop laughing.”
He let his grin show. “I’m trying.”
She rolled her eyes.
“What’d Carmichael do?” Cole asked.
“He stormed off,” she said, wincing at the memory. “And that’s when someone bumped me from behind.”
Cole sobered. Only Erin could have him so distracted on so many different levels that he’d forget the reason they’d started this conversation to begin with. “What happened?”
“Once she realized I knew her name, she got all excited that you’d obviously mentioned her to me. I tried to convince her we weren’t involved in any way, not anymore. She called me a liar. I didn’t want her to leave, so I tried to grab her hand, and when she pulled away, I screamed for Mike and Cara. They came immediately, but she’d run out the emergency door, and Mike couldn’t find her.” Erin spread her hands in front of her. “End of story.”
Not by a long shot, Cole thought, his pulse pounding so hard he felt the beat in his left temple. Her brother and sister-in-law should have been a hell of a lot closer to Erin than they’d been, but he couldn’t do anything about it now. Obviously that was what Cara meant when she’d said Erin was safer with him.
“It happened fast,” Erin said, as if reading his mind. “In seconds, really. I never left anyone’s line of sight. I never figured I’d be alone—”
“Because Carmichael was supposed to be right beside you.” Cole’s anger at the other man only grew. Her boss wasn’t her bodyguard, but the other man knew the seriousness of the situation, had been told Erin was in danger, yet he’d let his ego over Erin’s pregnancy get in the way of his common sense.