“Exactly. That’s why they aren’t going to let you out of here until they know you’re okay.”
“I’m okay.” Bobby looked at his watch.
“Patience.”
“I know. It’s never been my strong suit.” He shrugged, as if tossing off his frustration. Meeting her eyes, he touched the back of her hand. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re okay.”
Shivers traveled up her arm. She knew she should pull her arm back, step away from the bed. But God help her, she didn’t want to.
“I never should have left you. I should have—”
“Stop it.” She couldn’t stand to hear one more word. “It was my idea to stay in the car. My idea.”
“I shouldn’t have let you.”
“You couldn’t have stopped me. And I’m okay besides. You’re the one who’s hurt.”
Bobby ran a hand over his face. “Listen to us. After all this, we’re still arguing about the same thing.”
He glanced at the bed beside him, an invitation to sit down.
She lowered herself to the mattress. He was so close, she could feel the heat of him. If she leaned just a few inches to the side, she would be in his arms. The tremor that had shaken her legs and stomach since this whole thing started moved upward, lodging under her ribs.
“When I realized you were out there with that maniac…” His voice grew gruff and trailed off.
“Don’t.”
“I don’t know what I would have done.”
She turned to him, covering his lips with her hand. “Please, don’t.”
He clasped her hand in his. Holding it in front of him, he pressed his lips to her palm.
Shivers shimmered up her arm and through her body. She opened her mouth to tell him to stop, but no sound came.
He kissed her again, his lips caressing the inside of her wrist. Then the inside of her forearm.
She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. All she could do was stare into his dark eyes as his kisses flayed open her heart.
“I convinced them to let you out of here.” Val’s voice cut the quiet. She threw the curtain back.
Diana pulled her arm from Bobby’s grasp.
“Oh, sorry. I’ll come back later.”
The heat of blood rushed into Diana’s cheeks. She didn’t care what Val had seen. Simple embarrassment, she could live with. But the knowledge that one look from Bobby, one touch, one kiss, and she was willing to give up the independence she’d worked so hard for shook her to her toes.
She jolted up from the bed. “No need. Did you say the doctor is releasing Bobby?”
“She said she’d be in to talk with you in a minute, so you’ll have to take it up with her.” Val gave them both a wary look. “But I told her that you have a hard head.”
Bobby nodded. “True enough.”
“And that you’ll take full responsibility if you keel over and die.”
“Not a problem.”
Val focused on Diana. “I heard you met Dakota.”
“Who?”
“The new Lake Loyal dispatcher.”
It took Diana a second to pull up the memory. “Ah, the woman on the radio. She said her aunt knew you?”
“Oneida Perkins. She was a force of nature. Used to run the police station up there, never mind that I was the chief. Dakota is… let me say, almost as colorful but not quite so efficient.” A gentle smile curved Val’s lips as if she found the new dispatcher’s shortcomings somewhat charming.
“She saved my life.”
Val’s smile grew. “Listen, Lund is going to be here any minute to pick me up. Diana, you’re more than welcome to stay with us for the night. You too, Bobby.”
“Not necessary.” Bobby waved off the idea, then leaned down to grab his shoes, gripping the bed for balance.
Diana reached out to steady him, trying to brace herself against the feel of his solid arm under her hand.
Val’s expression turned to worry.
“I’m not sure you should be going home,” Diana said. “You look a little dizzy.”
Bobby straightened, holding the shoes. “I’m fine.”
Diana kept her hold on his arm. “Sure you’re not just trying to be macho?”
“Me? Macho?”
“You can’t stay alone.”
“I won’t be… if you stay with me.”
Diana couldn’t. It was a terrible idea. Just these last few minutes in the ER were enough for her to know that.
And yet she found herself nodding anyway.
***
Diana sat on the ottoman she’d slid beside Bobby’s living room couch. It had taken ten minutes to convince him to lie back on the pillows she’d mounded beneath his back and head, and ten more to convince him to let her check him out. If he insisted on being any more difficult, she was going to bop him one. “Look straight ahead.”
“Yes, doctor.”
Turning on the flashlight, she aimed the beam just past his left ear.
His pupil scoped to a small dot amid the rich brown iris.
“How am I doing?” He squinted against the light.
“I have to check the other eye.” She pointed the flashlight away from his face.
“I’m fine, Diana.”
“I’ll let you know if you’re fine or not. Now let me see your right eye.” She went through the same routine with the light on the right side.
“I told you.”
“Do you still have the headache?”
“The doctor said that might take a while to go away.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
He groaned.
“Watch it. Irritability is also a symptom of concussion.”
“Only if it’s something new. You don’t have to hover over me, you know. I really am okay.”
“The bruises and headache say different.”
“Don’t listen to them. They lie.” He grinned. “An evening of rest, and I’ll be back to work tomorrow. And that’s only because I need the rest. And you’re here with me.”
“The doctor said you should take a few days off.”
“The doctor isn’t chasing a serial killer.”
“Well, how about sleeping in? Even Val said she—”
“Diana…”
Ignoring his warning tone, she touched the back of her hand to his forehead. “How does your head feel? Do you need more Tylenol?”
He reached up, capturing her hand. “I mean it, Diana. I brought you here because I don’t trust Perreth to find someone competent to protect you. You don’t have to take care of me.”
“You’re allowed to take care of me, but not the other way around?”
A sheepish grin spread over his face, but he didn’t let go of her hand. “All right. Point taken. I would love more pain pills.”
She extricated her hand from his. Tingles stole up her arm and turned to warm flutters in her chest as she walked into Bobby’s immaculate and hardly used kitchen. She grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and ran a glass of water from the tap, trying her best not to remember the last time she’d been in Bobby’s apartment. The day before their wedding—a wedding that had never taken place.
She’d come so far since that time. She hoped she’d put those kinds of doubts and fears behind her for good. The memory of how afraid she’d been that Bobby would find out who her father was, that it would change the way he felt about her, made her cringe inside.
She stepped into the doorway to the living room. Pausing, she let her gaze fall on Bobby. Her heartbeat quickened, the pounding irregular and jumbled in her chest. Seeing him had always done that to her, made her feel weak, needy.
Leaning against the pillows, he stared out the picture window, the streetlights’ glow falling on his face.
She carried the water and tablets to the couch. After handing them to him, she stood back and watched him pop them into his mouth and drink down the water.