I totally understood how he felt, but going out with him didn’t seem like a good idea. Yet, how could I say no after what he’d been through?
“Sure, I’d love to catch up.” One lunch. That would be all.
He smiled from ear to ear, his eyes twinkling up at me. Then, they shifted toward the door, and I turned to see what had gotten his attention. My heart dropped into my stomach. Jake stood there, his expression neutral, but his hands balled into tight fists.
“Hey, Jake!” Stephen exclaimed, oblivious to the fact that Jake seemed about to blow a gasket. “We were just talking about you, saying what a great friend you are.”
Jake’s left eye twitched at the word friend. The way he glared at me seemed to indicate he didn’t appreciate me using that word, except I hadn’t been the one to use it. It had been Stephen. For my part, Jake wasn’t even on my friend list. I kept his name all by itself in a separate catalog, one titled with the word “douchebag.” Not that he was the only douchebag I’d ever met, but certainly the only one worth keeping track of, mainly because of my weakness for him.
Damn my dumb attraction to Jake Knight!
He smoothly strolled into the room, his hands relaxing, a careless expression reshaping his features. He was trying to act oh-so-cool, but I’d noticed the jealousy. And lousy person that I was, I wished that turning green from envy was actually a thing.
“I should go,” I said.
Stephen held me in place. “No, stay.”
Jake’s cool eyes lowered to our clasped hands. A muscle jumped in his jaw.
I gently extricated my hand from Stephen’s. “I have someone else to visit, and later I have appointments with a few customers, but I’ll see you later.”
“Okay.” He dug out a cell phone from under the sheets and handed it to me. “Leave me your number so I can call you.”
I punched my number into his phone and gave it back with a huge smile. “I look forward to seeing you.”
“Me, too.”
“Later Jake.” I gave him a light wave and left the room. I paused outside and exhaled—unsure of how I felt about what’d just happened.
“You don’t mind me asking her out, do you?” Stephen’s voice drifted from the room and straight into my ears. I perked up.
No answer from Jake.
“I mean, last time we talked, you said you were done with her.”
“That was months ago,” Jake said, his voice low.
“Oh, you mean you want to...”
Jake laughed. “No, dude. Just giving you a hard time. Go ahead. I don’t care.”
This time, my heart sank straight to my feet, and dammit, my eyes prickled with tears. I marched away, picking up Tom’s bouquet from the nurses’ station.
“Thanks for keeping it for me,” I said, swallowing the lump in my throat.
“Sure thing, babe,” the nurse said, without looking up from her computer screen.
I tried, as I went, to push my anger away, but I couldn’t. I hated myself for letting Jake affect me this way. I shouldn’t care that he didn’t care. I should hate him, or better yet, I should feel nothing at all, as if he didn’t exist.
I’d been doing just fine before he showed up, and now...
Stopping outside of room 2221, I took a deep calming breath, determined to put Jake out of my mind. If he could so easily dismiss me despite our undeniable attraction, I could do the same. Yes, the chemistry between us had always been out of control, but that wasn’t the same thing as love. It seemed I’d mixed those two things together before, and I refused to do the same again.
Squaring my shoulders and composing my expression into the upbeat and friendly Toni that Detective Tom Freeman deserved, I knocked on his door and slipped inside.
Chapter 39
“Toni!” Tom greeted me warmly with a matching smile. He’d been watching television and pressed the off button on his remote control. His salt-and-pepper goatee was missing, and he looked strange without it. “I was wondering when you were going to come see me.”
I set his flowers on the night table and planted a kiss on his forehead. “It’s so good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, kiddo.” He mock-punched my chin.
“You look great!”
“Don’t I?” He ran his hands over his hospital gown as if to demonstrate how great he looked.
“I was here to see you several times, but they wouldn’t let me ‘cause I’m not family.”
He huffed. “Fools! You’re more family than any of the damn people that claim to be. Maybe there’s something we can do about it. For future, you know.”
“Um, sure, but I hope you don’t plan to be back anytime soon.” I waggled my finger at him.
“No, siree. I sure don’t. A couple more days and I should be out of here. The healers are making sure my foot is gonna stay put. It was a wonder they were able to reattach it. The explosion blew it right off, but the paramedics picked it up, which was a good thing.”
I winced, remembering how awful it had been. The chaos, the smoke, the screams. Whoever had planted that bomb needed to be put behind bars, and maybe I could help make that happen.
“I can tell there’s something on your mind.” He pointed at a chair in the corner. “Why don’t you sit down?”
I pulled the chair closer and settled into it. “I’m sure you heard we found Stephen.”
“Indeed, I did.” He narrowed his dark eyes. “And I heard you played a big part in it. Thought you didn’t want to get involved in that sort of stuff again.”
“I didn’t, but Jake was... persistent, and it was the right thing to do. I’m glad I
