Colin glanced at his watch and then again at the front door to Hailey’s house.
Not that he expected her to come strolling out. Her car wasn’t even in the parking lot.
Which meant she was over fifteen minutes late for their arranged meeting time. And he could’ve sworn she got off earlier than him.
Grabbing his cell from his pocket, he dialed her number, but it went straight to voice mail.
His thoughts went to dark places. To the man she had a protection order against.
After starting his truck, Colin pulled away from the curb and backed into the street.
Before he officially hit the panic switch, he would just drive by the hospital and see if her car was still there.
She didn’t live far from her work and once he arrived he drove around the parking lots glancing for her car. He finally spotted it sitting vacant in one of the back spots.
He pulled in next to her and parked. After climbing out of the truck, he strode into the hospital.
A couple quick questions at the main desk and he was on the elevator to another floor.
The emotional heaviness hit him as he strode down the hall to where the patient rooms were. A woman in scrubs strode briskly past him, eyes downcast and lips compressed.
When he reached the nurses’ station, a couple ladies were talking quietly and glanced up when he stopped in front of them.
“Can I help you?” one asked.
“I’m looking for—”
“Colin.”
He swung around and found her standing behind him. Still in scrubs, her ponytail was half-fallen out and exhaustion seemed to encompass her whole body.
Obviously, it had been a bit of a long day.
“Hello.” He approached slowly. “Everything all right?”
She hesitated and then gave a small nod. “Let me grab my things and I’ll meet you out in the hall, all right? I’m just getting off shift now.”
“Fine then. See you shortly.” He made the mistake of glancing back at the nurses’ station and found the two women watching him and Hailey with raised brows and obvious interest.
He continued on his way down the passageway to the elevators and thrust his hands into his jean pockets, staring out the windows to the evening sun.
Not long after, soft footsteps sounded and he glanced over his shoulders to see Hailey—her purse slung over her shoulder—standing behind him.
“Hey. Sorry for showing up at your work.” He gave a small smile. “I got a bit worried when I tried to call and it went to voice mail. My mind jumped to the worst-case scenario.”
“Ah yes. Curt?”
“Aye.”
“No. I haven’t seen him, fortunately. I just ended up staying a little later. Sorry, my phone was off and I didn’t have time to call you and cancel.”
“Cancel?” His brows shot up.
“Umm, why don’t we get out of here first?” She jerked her head toward the end of the hall.
He followed her to the elevator and out of the hospital a few minutes later.
She was quiet and somber, the air of exhaustion still just as strong about her.
“We had a patient go into cardiac arrest near the end of my shift,” she said softly as they crossed the parking lot. “I did chest compressions for five minutes but she didn’t make it.”
“Hell, I’m sorry, Hailey.”
“Thank you. It happens.” She bit her lip and shook her head. “You think I’d be a little more used to it by now. It’s always a possibility on the job.”
“Aye, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
When her voice broke, he pulled her into his arms. She buried her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving a ragged sigh.
“I’ve encountered death a handful of times in my career as a deputy,” he murmured. “It’s never easy, and I can’t imagine would ever become easy for anyone.”
“I don’t know. Maybe for coroners. Medical examiners.”
“Trust you to go to the dark side.” He tried to lighten the mood. “But even them, I’m sure they still struggle in their own way. Have found a way to internalize or cope with it. They’d have to.”
“Yeah.” She pulled back slightly and placed her hands on his chest. “I’m sorry, Colin. You drove all this way out here and I just don’t think I’m up for…”
“We don’t have to do that.”
Her gaze flitted to his. Skeptical, wary. “Really.”
“Really.” He reached out and cupped her face, tracing his thumbs gently over the softness of her cheeks. “Aye, I want you, Hailey. I’m not sure there’s a moment when I don’t. But I’m not a complete arse. You’re not in the best place emotionally right now.”
“No,” she agreed. “I’m not.”
“Let me come over, cook you a bite to eat, give you a massage—”
“Seriously? A massage?” She laughed and shook her head. “As if we don’t know where that will lead.”
“It won’t. I swear to you.” And he meant it. “I’ll sit on my hands if you’d rather. I just feel being alone might not be the best thing for you right now.”
He thought she mumbled something about always being alone, but it was under her breath.
After a moment, she nodded. “Fine. Whatever gets us out of the parking lot and away from all those curious eyes staring down at us from my floor.”
Ah, so he hadn’t imagined those stares when he’d arrived earlier. “Your coworkers catching a peek, are they?”
“They’re probably beyond curious right now. You’re the first guy they’ve seen me with since…”
“Since Curt?”
“Actually, Curt never came around here. The last guy my coworkers saw me with was probably four years ago.” She pulled from his arms completely and pulled her keys from her purse. “I haven’t really had many serious relationships.”
“That bloke in high school?”
“We dated a year and a half. He was probably the most serious boyfriend I’ve ever had.” She turned away from him to unlock her door. “I’ll meet you at my house.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He could practically see the mental walls going up. This conversation was clearly done. “Umm, I’ll see you in a bit.”
Whether she’d heard him or not was uncertain because she’d already shut the door and started the engine.
Colin cast another glance up at the large windows of the hospital, and saw a couple nurses turn away quickly and then disappear.
Aye. Beyond curious indeed. And he’d likely just given them much to gossip about.
Chapter Fifteen
She should’ve just sent him home.
Hailey glanced in her rearview mirror and spotted Colin’s truck several car lengths behind her. He knew the way to her house, so it wasn’t as if she had to drive slower so that he could keep up.
While keeping one hand on the wheel, she thrust fingers through her hair and dragged the elastic ponytail holder out. She returned her hand to the wheel and shook the already loose strands down and around her shoulders.
There was a heaviness that weighed on her heart, just like it always did when a patient didn’t make it.
The sting of it all had been eased with Colin’s arrival. She’d completely forgotten about him during those frantic moments. And then he’d just showed up. Like a big freaking ray of sunshine in her darkest hour.
Her lips twitched at that thought, because the ray of sunshine analogy was so just like him anyway. Though she wasn’t completely sold on the fact that he had no intention of trying to seduce her tonight.
Or, well, maybe his intentions were good, but if one thing led to another…
She pulled up outside her house a few minutes later and parked.
By the time she was unlocking her front door, Colin had parked on the street in front of her house.
“We could always call in a pizza,” she suggested when he reached her side. “I’m n
ot sure I’m up to cooking anything.”
“I said I’d cook, remember? Let me see what’s in your fridge. Maybe I can whip something up.”
When they were inside the house, he headed straight to the kitchen as if he’d been here a million times instead of just twice.
“I’m not sure you’ll find much in there.” She tried to do a mental check of the contents in her fridge, but only came up with some leftovers and maybe eggs.
“You’ve got plenty,” he called back after a moment. “Go put your feet up, and I’ll fix us something for our bellies.”
“I’m actually going to grab a shower first.” Not that it would wash away the feeling of failure and the lingering sense of death.
It was always like this. It took a day or two to get back into the swing of things. Back to her routine without a heavy heart.
She kept the shower water lukewarm. It refreshed during the hot weather and helped wash away some of the heavy emotion. The coconut body wash acted as aromatherapy to lift her spirits.
By the time she’d climbed out, dried off and changed into some warm-weather pajamas she felt a hell of a lot better. She drew in a deep breath as she walked through the house, and smelled eggs, for sure, but then something sweet.
She arrived in the kitchen and stared down at the two plates full of food.
Some sort of egg scramble and pancakes with chunks of color popping out of them.
“Breakfast for dinner,” Colin announced proudly, approaching from behind her.
She glanced back at him and almost sighed at the sexy image. Totally manly man in his jeans and T-shirt, his muscles straining against the fabric. And yet a spatula in one hand and a potholder in another.
“Omelets with Swiss cheese and mushrooms and pancakes with M&M’S.”
“You made me M&M pancakes?” Her brows rose.
“Aye. Is that all right?”
“Sure, it’s fine. I forgot I even had those in the freezer. They must’ve been left over from a cookie recipe I made at Easter. I just never would’ve pinned you for a sugary pancake guy.”
“Traditional breakfast in Scotland didn’t much include pancakes. They were actually quite rare. When we came to America it was one of the things I became completely addicted to.” He grinned, looking charmingly boyish. “Add in things like chocolate chips and loads of syrup, and I’m in heaven.”
“Hmm. I do believe you have a sweet tooth, Colin McLaughlin.”
“I cannot deny it.”
His faint accent really came out on that last remark. She noticed that when Colin was excited about something and spoke faster, his accent got heavier.
He gestured with the spatula to a chair. “Have a sit and tuck in.”
She hid a smile as she sat down. “Are you going to join me?”
“Aye. Let me just do a bit of preliminary cleaning.”
And he cleaned? Again, why wasn’t she looking for something more serious with this guy? Because, no doubt, he was what most women considered a catch.
Curt again came to mind, but the argument didn’t seem as valid tonight. Maybe because it had been a few days of radio silence from him, which gave her hope things had changed.
She snuck in a couple bites of pancake and her eyes nearly crossed at the amount of sugar exploding in her mouth. Syrup would make it just sickening. It didn’t stop Colin, though. When he finally joined her—true to his word—he poured at least half a cup of syrup on his stack of pancakes.
The dinner was really pretty darn good. Definitely different than her usual fare, but it hit the spot.
After one last bite of omelet, she set down her fork and groaned. “I’m so full, but that was kind of awesome.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Only kind of?”
“All right. It was totally awesome.”
“Totally. Now there’s an American phrase you Yanks were known for long before the McLaughlins arrived here.” He grinned and finished off his last bite of pancake.
“McLaughlins.” She leaned back in her chair and gave him a considering look. “Shouldn’t you be a MacLaughlin? I thought Mc was Irish?”
“Oh aye. It can be. Our family name derived over the years from Clan MacLachlan.” He leaned forward and winked. “Or maybe some Irish lad snuck into our gene pool along the way.”
“Hmm, maybe. Irish-Scottish hybrid. That’s hot.”
“Isn’t it, though? Sadly, I think more than likely we just got lazy and abbreviated it to Mc. It’s not all that uncommon.”
“Gotcha.” So much for proving her smarts on Scotland. Which was about, oh, not a lot actually.
Colin stood and reached for her plate. “I’ll clean up dinner right quick. Why don’t you go watch the TV?”
Seriously? “There’s no need. I can—”
“Go and relax? Now that sounds like a plan.” He took her plate and nodded toward the living room. “Go now.”
Wow. This was kind of surreal. And really nice.
“All right.” She hesitated. “Thanks again for the dinner. It was exactly what I didn’t know I needed.”
He laughed softly. “Glad I could help. I don’t cook many things, but pancakes I’ve mastered.”
“Yes, you have.” She eased out of her chair and stretched. “You can cook for me anytime.”
“Careful, I’ll hold you to that.”
A small thrill of pleasure slid through her as she made her way to the living room. Not analyzing that statement too deeply, she grabbed the remote.
Not sure what to put on TV—the news was too depressing—she just flipped around until she found a comedy.
She sat on the couch and leaned back, watching the show and growing drowsy from the massive amounts of carbs she’d ingested.
When strong hands closed over her shoulders, she made a small gasp and tried to lean forward.
“Just relax. This is that massage part I promised.”
Her lips quirked. “Really?”
“Aye.”
“You’re going all out tonight, Deputy.”
“All part of the job description.” He pressed his thumb into an especially tense part of her back.
“Mmm.” Oh God, that felt good. “So you do this for all the ladies whose plates you run?”
“Every single one of them.”
“Such a ladies’ man.” Her eyes drifted closed.
“Aye, just call me Aleck.”
A snort of amusement escaped her. “Is Aleck popular with the women? Actually, that’s a bad question. All you McLaughlin men are.”
“He dates quite a bit,” he answered lightly. “Rarely the same woman very long. Never serious.”
“Interesting.” She didn’t know much about the oldest McLaughlin brother. He’d been off at college when she’d been in high school.
What she did know was that he was just as handsome as the other two brothers.
Conversation died as he seemed to focus on kneading every knot and tense muscle in her body.
Each squeeze and pull of those strong fingers sent tingles of pleasure through her. Drowsiness and arousal warred as she gave herself completely over to his hands.
When she was boneless and her mind was calm, she gave a soft sigh.
He lifted his hands from her shoulders and she immediately missed their presence.
Despite her earlier protest that she wouldn’t go to bed with him tonight, she knew if he tried to initiate sex now she wouldn’t stop him.
“Colin…”
He walked around the couch and sat down beside her. Catching her hand, he pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
“I’ll not make love to you tonight, Hailey.”
Make love. She drew in an unsteady breath, struggling against disappointment and a tiny bit of relief. She watched him from beneath her lashes. “Are you sure? I feel guilty—”
“You have nothing to feel guilty about, sweetheart. Tonight was about you.” He stroked her knuckles.
“What if I wanted you to?”
“T
hen I’d still say no.” His determination visibly wavered and he groaned. “Though it would be hard. But I’ll keep my promise. I enjoy spending time with you, Hailey. In and out of the bedroom.”
“I do too.” The admission was made softly. She knew it was pushing the boundaries on their sex-only relationship.
“The Bid on a Bachelor auction is on Friday. Will you come?”
She’d heard about that auction in the past. Had laughed at it. Scoffed at the whole idea. Now, to be personally invited by one of the most sought-after bachelors—a McLaughlin brother—had her pulse skipping. Sent a wave of longing through her.
“I’ll try.”
“I hope you can make it. Have a good, deep sleep. Hopefully you’ll feel better in the morning.” He leaned down, his lips brushing her ear as he murmured, “And if you can’t wait until Friday, then give me a call tomorrow night.”
She laughed past the butterflies in her stomach. “Okay.”
He kissed her cheek, squeezed her hand, and then disappeared out the front door. She closed it behind him and leaned against the wood frame.
What the hell had just happened? Tonight had been like something out of a ’50s’ sitcom. Well, maybe not completely, because she would’ve been cooking and cleaning for him.
There’d been something—some kind of old-fashioned thing—going on. He’d been so romantic. Sweet. Endearing. Selfless.
Warmth spread through her and she touched the quickening pulse in her neck. Vaguely aware of the silly smile on her face, she froze.
Oh God.
Despite her intent to keep her heart out of it, she was officially falling for Colin.
Colin checked his phone for the fifth time during his shift and then set it back down.
She wasn’t going to call.
He’d thrown out that offer about coming over tonight seriously, but knowing it was possible she wouldn’t take him up on it.
Why would she? Surely sex was the last thing on her mind right now. Though, hopefully, she wasn’t in nearly as dark a place as when he’d seen her at the hospital.
He would be surprised if she were, though. When he’d left her house she seemed to be in better spirits. A little drowsy and relaxed. Maybe a bit aroused—he’d have to be completely daft to have missed that.
Kilty Pleasure Page 14