“Laura.”
Laura jumped at Shane’s barking voice, her gaze flying to his face. He didn’t look like he was dying. He looked worried as his blue eyes scanned her face.
“Baby, it’s not bad,” he spoke softly, now that he had her attention. “I’m gonna be fine. A bullet grazed my shoulder. The blood’s leaking down to my chest. I need to call the police, now. Are you going to be okay?”
Laura nodded, staving off her panic. The last thing Shane needed was for her to flip out on him. “Of course I am. I’ll make the call.”
He examined her closely for a second before he passed her the phone. “You call it and give it to me when they come on. I need to give my badge number.”
Laura recognized that he encouraged her because he wanted to distract her, get her to focus on something besides the blood soaking his shirt. If that was the case, it helped. Laura felt a little more grounded by the time Shane hit the disconnect button on his cell phone.
“I think you should lie on your back, Shane. And . . . and we need to use something to apply pressure to the wound.”
Shane stopped her when she reached between their bodies and began unbuttoning her blouse.
“If you want to take off your blouse, I’m all for that. But there’s no need to ruin it for this little scratch.” She slapped away his restraining hand and continued to unfasten her blouse. “Laura, look at me.”
When she did he leaned down and kissed her.
“Shane.” Laura tried to twist away, scandalized by the fact that he wanted to make out when he’d just been shot. He chuckled next to her lips.
“I told you . . . there’s nothing for you to get so upset about. It’s just a scratch. They bleed the most. Whoever shot at us wouldn’t be stupid enough to hang around.” He plucked coaxingly at her immobile lips. “Come on, baby, kiss me. I can’t think of anything I’d like to do more while we wait for the ambulance.”
“I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to distract me,” Laura mumbled while he nibbled at her lower lip.
“Is it working?”
She met his blue-eyed stare. A shudder went through her as she gently put her hands on his back, embracing him with all of her being. Her heart seemed to expand in her chest as she sent up a silent plea to heaven to keep him safe.
“Yes,” Laura lied, before she craned up to meet him, her kiss every bit as fervent as her prayers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Laura Mays?”
Laura looked up from where she was sitting in the emergency room of Rush University Medical Center. An attractive African-American woman in her late thirties with a smooth, rich brown complexion stared down at her. Laura recognized her as the woman who had accompanied Shane when he came to her house after the break-in.
“Yes. I’m Laura Vasquez.”
The woman put out her hand. “I’m Special Agent Mavis Bertram. I work with Dominic at the Bureau.” She flashed a white grin as Laura shook her hand. “More correctly, I work for him. I understand you’ve known him since you were both kids.”
“Yes,” Laura agreed as Mavis sat down in the gray plastic chair next to her.
“So I guess you can tell me if he’s always been this stubborn or if he acquired it at some later stage. He’s back there bossing that poor resident around, insisting he’s not going to stay in the hospital overnight, and if they don’t want to give him the instructions for dressing his wound right now, he’ll just leave and wing it.”
“Oh, no,” Laura muttered.
They’d allowed her to wait with Shane until the resident came to examine him in the emergency room. A Chicago cop had taken down both of their accounts of the shooting incident before the doctor arrived.
Laura’d sagged with relief when the physician—who, in Laura’s anxiety, looked as if he was only a few years older than her niece, Carlotta—explained that Shane’s wound was superficial, although the bullet was still lodged at the surface of Shane’s deltoid muscle. Her relief had only amplified when the charge physician examined Shane and concurred with the resident’s opinion.
They’d given Shane a local anesthetic in preparation of removal of the bullet and asked Laura to go to the waiting room. She’d reluctantly left Shane. She stood now upon hearing Mavis Bertram’s news, intent on talking some sense into Shane.
He couldn’t just walk out of the hospital when he’d just been shot, for Christ’s sake!
Special Agent Bertram put a hand on her shoulder, stilling her.
“Do yourself a favor and don’t bother. While I’m beginning to suspect Dom would listen to your advice above all others, this is one instance when your pleas will fall on deaf ears.”
“Why is that?” Laura asked as she slowly resumed her seat.
“Because he won’t allow himself to be holed up in the hospital while you’re in danger.”
Laura’s mouth fell open in disbelief. “While I’m in danger. He was the one who was shot.”
Special Agent Bertram studied her with a penetrating brown-eyed gaze. Laura easily sensed the woman’s intelligence . . . her toughness. “Dom thinks the shots were meant for you. He told me about Telly Ardos being at your gallery just before the incident.”
Laura shook her head hastily, desperate to correct the misunderstanding. “No . . . no, it wasn’t Telly Ardos. I don’t believe that. And whoever was shooting that gun was aiming for Shane, not me.”
Bertram straightened in her chair, her expression growing dead serious. “How do you know that, Ms. Vasquez?”
“I-I just do. Who would want to kill me?”
“Dom seems to think whoever is in charge of the racketeering operation at the CPD is responsible. He thinks you know something that could make you dangerous,” Mavis Bertram replied in a flinty voice.
Laura met the other woman’s stare.
“You didn’t answer my question, Ms. Vasquez.”
“What question?”
“The one about how you knew it was Dom the shooter was aiming for.”
“It just makes sense. Shane has spearheaded this whole CPD investigation.”
“As the leader of the Organized Crime Squad, I’m actually in charge of it. I haven’t noticed anyone taking potshots at me. No . . . I think Dom got shot because of his relationship with you, Ms. Vasquez.”
Laura held the agent’s stare for a long moment. Bertram clearly was suspicious of her, furious at her, even, for putting Shane in harm’s way. Obviously she thought the world of Shane, which didn’t surprise Laura in the least. Shane inspired respect and loyalty wherever he went.
“I would do anything in my power, anything to ensure Shane Dominic’s safety,” Laura stated hoarsely. “If you think I’m a threat to him in any way, tell him to stay away from me.”
Bertram’s brows furrowed as she studied Laura. Finally she exhaled slowly, her smooth face hardening into a mask. “Trust me. I already have. Much good it’ll do. Dom also told me you think your brother Joey is being set up.”
Laura nodded.
“What makes you think that?”
“I just know Joey wouldn’t do the things you’ve accused him of, that’s all.”
“That doesn’t give me much to go on, Ms. Vasquez.”
Laura stared at her hands in her lap before she met Bertram’s gaze. “I realize that. Shane said the same thing. I’m going to try to get you the proof that you need.”
Special Agent Bertram’s eyebrows rose on her forehead. “Better just to tell me what’s on your mind . . . what you suspect. I don’t advise you trying to get any proof yourself. These men are dangerous. If they suspect you’re gathering evidence against them they’re going to . . .” Mavis’s eyes widened. “Is that why you were shot at?” she demanded.
“I told you. Those shots were meant for Shane,” Laura said, her gaze entreating the other woman to believe her.
“Is this all you’re going to say about the matter?”
“Yes. For now.” Laura glanced up in time to see Shane walk through
the swinging doors that led to the ER, his left arm in a sling to keep it immobile. His blue eyes immediately found her in the crowded waiting room. He looked a little peaked beneath his dark complexion, but his step was brisk, his expression sharp. She distantly marveled at his strength and vibrancy. Laura would never guess in a million years he’d just been shot. She’d thought the same thing a thousand times in the past few hours, mostly while Shane had kissed her thoroughly while they waited for the ambulance. By the time the wailing sirens had stopped outside her gallery he’d had a steamy look in his blue eyes and his cock had throbbed next to her sex and belly.
The man was a force of nature.
Special Agent Bertram glanced over to where she was staring and then back to Laura’s face. She spoke quietly.
“I guess I have no choice but to give Dom the benefit of the doubt when it comes to you, Ms. Vasquez. But I don’t trust you. And if anything happens to him, and I find out you were in any way responsible . . . better watch your back.”
Laura didn’t respond as they both stood to greet Shane. She understood perfectly. And she sensed Mavis Bertram knew that about her as well.
Mavis said her good nights in the hospital lobby several minutes later. Laura and Shane both watched her push through the lobby doors, then turned to look at each other at the same moment.
“Are you in pain?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Laura, about what you said back there at the gallery—”
“I don’t want to talk about that now, Shane,” she exclaimed. “You’ve just been shot.”
“By a bullet that was meant for you. Someone’s been blackmailing you, haven’t they, Laura? That’s why you let me believe it was you on those tapes. You were using Huey’s trick to keep me at a distance. Don’t you think it’s time you told me the truth, or do we have to wait until one of us is in the morgue before you see the wisdom in trusting me?”
He cursed under his breath for his harshness when she paled notably. “Shit. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m never going to let anything happen to you.”
“You let something happen to Joey.”
“I told you from the beginning there were no strings I could pull for Joey if the evidence against him was incriminating. Now I’m willing to listen to what you have to say on the matter, but as things stand, there was more than enough evidence against Joey to arrest him.”
Her shoulders sagged. Her pallor alarmed him, but it also served to highlight the dark pink color of her full lips. He’d kissed her thoroughly at the gallery, deepening their natural color even further. He found himself staring at her mouth, thirsty for her sweetness once again, longing for the heady sensation of her lips molding to his own . . . of her giving herself to him.
“I’m hungry,” he mumbled, his eyes still on the pink bow of Laura’s mouth. He cleared his throat when he realized he was staring. “Let’s go get something to eat. But first, there’s someone here you might like to see.”
He saw her hesitate and figured she was thinking up an excuse to leave. He wasn’t going to let her get away easily, though. He grabbed her elbow and steered her toward a bank of elevators.
After the shooting tonight, Shane’d had good reason to request an agent be put in charge of tailing Laura for protective purposes. Mavis and he had both agreed the surveillance was needed and that the agent should stay in the background. Their motivations for Laura’s secret surveillance were different, though. Shane knew she was in danger, but also guessed that Laura would never agree to have someone shadow her.
Mavis, on the other hand, wanted Laura followed because she didn’t trust her.
Shane knew that Laura was innocent of any wrongdoing, so Mavis’s suspicions didn’t bother him overly much. Mavis was just concerned about him, that’s all.
The important thing was for Laura to have twenty-four-hour protection. But FBI surveillance aside, Shane planned on having Laura as near to him as he could possibly manage given their work schedules.
Now that Laura was talking to him again, she was not going to be spending her nights alone, even if it meant tying her up to his bed like he had at the cabin. Besides, she’d been so close to breaking down and telling him her secrets tonight. Shane could almost taste the truth like a vapor flavoring the air between them.
At that very moment, however, Laura looked predictably hesitant about being by his side.
“Shane, I wanted to make sure you’re all right but I can’t stay.”
He glanced down significantly at his arm in the sling as the elevator door opened with a ding. He felt like an idiot wearing the damn thing, but for the moment the obvious testament to his injury aided his cause with Laura.
“I told the doctor I had someone to help me change the dressing.”
He nudged her toward the elevator while she eyed his shoulder and chewed at her lower lip indecisively.
“Surely the dressing doesn’t need to be changed tonight,” she reasoned.
He shrugged and winced in an exaggerated fashion, gratified to see Laura’s face crease with concern.
“It will need to be changed in the morning before work. And I’ll need someone to help me out with things until I get used to it.”
Laura scowled but he hit the button for the sixth floor, causing the doors to close before she could flee.
“Who would we be visiting in the hospital?” Laura asked. Her green eyes widened in alarm. “Elizabeth isn’t here, is she?”
Shane nodded.
“Oh, Shane. I’m so sorry . . . and with everything else going on as well,” she whispered, her eyes dropping to his shoulder.
“She had another stroke but it was a minor one. She’s supposed to be released tomorrow. You’ll see for yourself, baby. My mom’s tougher than she looks,” Shane added when he fully took in her stricken expression.
“But won’t it upset her to know you were shot?”
“It’d upset her more if I didn’t bring you to see her.”
He was surprised to see Laura nervously smoothing her skirt and hair once they got off the elevator. He squeezed her upper arm in a reassuring gesture.
“What are you worried about? You look beautiful.”
“It’s just I haven’t seen your parents for so long . . .”
Shane thought he understood when she trailed off uncertainly. The last time Elizabeth and Alex Dominic had seen Laura, she’d been involved in a passionate love affair with their son—only to abruptly marry another man, leaving their son decimated in the process.
“Are you sure your mother will want to see me?”
“Yes.”
Despite the conviction in his tone, Laura still looked nervous when Shane led her to his mother’s private room and knocked on the open door.
“Look who I brought to see you,” he called out as he pulled Laura, whose body had gone stiff as a board, into the hospital room with him.
Elizabeth Dominic sat up in bed while her husband sat in a chair beside her. Laura was saddened to see how thin the older woman’s wrist looked where it lay in Alex Dominic’s hold. Her brilliant blue eyes sharpened on Laura, however, and Laura sensed the power of Shane’s mother’s vibrant spirit.
A small, knowing grin curved her pale lips. The slight droop in Elizabeth’s left cheek, a remnant of her most recent stroke, couldn’t prevent the radiance of her widening smile.
“Laura Vasquez. I hoped I’d have the pleasure of seeing you walk in my door again one day.”
For a few seconds Laura’s throat was clogged with emotion as she held Elizabeth’s gaze.
“Elizabeth. Alex. It’s . . . it’s so good to see you again,” Laura murmured with feeling. She freed her hand from Shane’s grip and approached the bed. Alex stood to his full height, which was within a hairsbreadth of Shane’s six feet and three inches. Laura gently kissed Elizabeth’s cheek before she turned to Alex, giving him a big hug.
“How are you feeling, Elizabeth?” Laura asked once Alex had released her from his hearty emb
race.
“The only thing I’m suffering from at the moment is a healthy case of homesickness. And seeing your face has gone a long way toward alleviating that.”
“Told you she’d be glad to see you,” Shane said from behind her.
“We were sorry to hear about your husband’s death,” Alex consoled.
“Thank you,” Laura murmured, looking away uncomfortably.
“What happened to you?” Alex boomed. Shane’s parents both stared at their son’s sling. Shane shook his head dismissively.
“This? It’s nothing. A scratch. They patched me up in the ER and told me to get out of the way and make room for people who were really sick.”
Laura glared at Shane for his blatant lie. Still, she said nothing. He obviously just didn’t want to overburden his parents with more worries.
Alex insisted on getting more chairs for them. Laura’s anxieties in regard to how Shane’s parents would react to her being there with their son had vanished by the second minute of conversation. Alex and Elizabeth Dominic were two of the warmest, kindest people she’d ever met.
It especially did her a world of good to see Elizabeth. They’d always been kindred spirits. Laura was touched to learn that neither time nor circumstances had damaged her love for Shane’s mother.
Nor, it would seem, Elizabeth’s love for her.
The realization made something squeeze tight in her chest. How many years had Laura lost . . . years she might have shared a special relationship with this woman who she’d once considered as dear as a mother? She was embarrassed to see that Elizabeth noticed when she surreptitiously wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Why don’t you and Shane walk down to those vending machines down the way and get us all something to drink?” Elizabeth suggested to Alex.
Shane stood with his father—two big, handsome men whose relationship to each other was poignantly obvious. Shane cast a sidelong glance at Laura before he followed his dad.
“A room seems to go hollow in their absence, doesn’t it?” Elizabeth said.
Laura smiled tremulously. Hollow . . . yes. That’s what her life had been for the past thirteen years. Hollow was what you were when you weren’t only empty, but you knew precisely what should have been in that gaping hole in your spirit.
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