Kate’s gaze rose from cataloguing his condition. Relief at seeing her warred with something else in his eyes. Something that looked too much like giving up to belong to Stephen.
“Are you okay?” She rushed to his side. The intern who’d been working on him shifted away—either finished with his task, or uneasy with the tears Kate couldn’t keep from falling as she wound her arms around Stephen. “Martin said there was shooting at the safe house.”
When Stephen didn’t hold her in return, she eased away.
“They were waiting for us when we got there.” He strained to see through the window separating him from the trauma suite. “Are we done?” he snapped at the intern Kate hadn’t realized was still hovering.
“Move around too much, and you’ll open your sutures.” The younger man ripped off his gloves. He looked more than ready to rid himself of his surly charge. “The bullet only grazed you, but you need an updated tetanus booster, and we’re starting you on a round of antibiotics. Stick close. A nurse will find you when she’s ready.”
Stephen pushed off the table. He was weaving through the milling bodies in the hallway, then into the trauma room, before Kate could say another word.
“Stephen, what—” She halted just inside the door, recognizing the man the trauma team was furiously working on.
“We’d just gotten out of the car,” Stephen said, watching as the doctors and nurses fought to save Manny Digarro’s life. “APD was there. Local DEA, too. But before we could…Before we could even get inside…” He rubbed a hand over the blood that had dried to the front of his shirt. Kate realized it coated the back, too. “Manny saw them first. He pushed Dillon and me to the ground, but we didn’t make it down before they started shooting.”
They?
“The Colombians.” Kate jumped at the sound of Manny’s heart monitor flatlining.
“He’s coding!” A doctor began CPR immediately. “Get the cart over here. Someone intubate him. Now!”
“You’re going to have to wait outside.” A nurse pushed them both toward the door, so he could reach the crash cart behind them.
Robert was there when they stepped into the hall, standing next to Marsha.
“I hear you gave him CPR on the scene,” he said to Stephen, which explained how Stephen had gotten blood all over the front of him. Manny Digarro’s blood. “If he makes it, it’ll be because you kept him alive long enough for the EMTs to get there.”
“If he dies, it’ll be because he trusted the wrong man to keep him safe.” Stephen had eyes only for the trauma team’s efforts.
He was so still, he didn’t seem to be breathing, until the doctor shocked Manny’s chest with the defibrillator. Stephen blinked at the jarring sound, drawing a breath that he didn’t release until the monitor began to beep again.
Manny’s heart caught an uneven rhythm.
“Stephen.” She laid a hand on his shoulder, feeling the tension that still ruled him. “It’s not your fault. You’ve done everything you could—”
His head snapped toward her. His hard glare dared her to finish her sentence. She was parroting back to him exactly what he’d been trying to tell her last night—when he’d said he loved her, and she’d thrown the words back at him. He’d trusted her with something he’d likely never said to another person, and she’d tossed it away.
He shrugged off her touch. It was clear he wasn’t interested in hearing anything she had to say.
She’d promised herself last night that if she got another chance, she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. That as soon as she could, she’d talk to Stephen. Beg him to—
“Mr. Creighton.” An enormous man appeared beside them. As if his severely cut dark suit and the hint of a firearm beneath his jacket weren’t clue enough, he flashed a badge. “Agent Conrad, sir, DEA. If you have a few minutes, I need to take your statement. It’s important that we know whatever Mr. Digarro may have said to you about the Vargas organization. It’s the only way we can be sure to keep your client and his son safe.”
Stephen’s focus stayed locked with Kate’s a moment longer. The word safe hung in the air between them. In that moment, she was certain she could see every fear and hope Stephen had wanted to face with her, reflected back in his too-blue gaze. Then the top-notch lawyer inside him took control, and he turned to Agent Conrad.
“I’m sure the two men who attacked my client while he was supposed to be under your protection,” Stephen began conversationally, “can tell you anything you want to know about the Vargas cartel.”
“The two suspects who ambushed you today are dead, but we don’t believe they’re the only lieutenants Vargas sent to deal with Mr. Digarro. The more information we have on the situation, the better we’ll be able to predict Vargas’s next move. It’s in your client’s best interest—”
“I’ll decide what’s in my client’s best interest.” The timber of Stephen’s voice hadn’t changed, but his smile promised zero cooperation unless the federal agent made it worth Manny Digarro’s while. “If he survives his injuries, he and his son will both need costly medical care and the kind of deep relocation that will cost even more.”
“I’m not authorized to make any deals—”
“You sure as hell sounded authorized on the phone when you set up that meet-and-greet you handled so poorly. You’re responsible for my client taking this field trip to heart failure!”
“And the man may not make it.” Agent Conrad’s jaw clenched, then he exhaled slowly. “We need your statement, sir. I’m afraid waiting is not an option.”
Kate had never seen Stephen look more calm, more in control.
“Digarro told me everything he knows,” he said. “Everything you need to go after Vargas. You want that information before Mr. Digarro is able to give it to you himself, then start dealing. I want to see a relocation plan. I want assurances from someone about three levels over your head, and I want them now. Dillon Digarro deserves to be safe, just as much as he deserves to keep his father in his life. If I can’t guarantee the latter, the least I can do is make sure that boy’s never in danger again.”
The fine hairs on Kate’s body rose in response to Stephen’s determination, his desperation, to keep fighting for his client. He was a hero, as much as her brother or any of Martin’s fellow officers were. Stephen’s weapon was the law, and he had put his career, his very life, on the line to give a struggling family a chance.
How much harder would he fight for someone he loved? Someone he’d touched as tenderly and passionately as he had Kate—touched her so deeply, she’d fallen for him just as hard.
“Stephen.” She reached for him. “I—”
“I’ll have to discuss this with my supervisor,” Agent Conrad said, cutting her off. “I’ll need you to come with me, Mr. Creighton, until we can straighten this out.”
“Stephen…” She grabbed his uninjured arm, not that she could really stop him from following.
But he did stop.
His hand came up to cover hers, squeezing her fingers reassuringly as he had so many times before. He searched her eyes, as if he knew what she needed to say. As if he still needed to hear it.
“I love you,” she whispered—right there in front of her ex-husband, Marsha and the E.R. staff swarming around them. “I—”
“Mr. Creighton,” the agent prodded.
“I’ll be here,” she promised. “As long as it takes. Don’t go anywhere without me?”
Stephen swallowed. He looked toward the trauma room, then back to her.
“Mr. Creighton!” the agent demanded.
He took Stephen’s bandaged arm in a persuasive grip.
“Go stay with Dillon,” Stephen said. “I’ll come find you when I’m done.”
Kate watched him go, her heart pounding like it had the very first time she’d seen him. Except then, it had been out of fear for what he might do to her patient. Now, the fear was for herself, and the hold he had on her heart—even though it might be too late.
> “You okay?” Robert wrapped an arm around her and steered her toward the elevators. A stunned Marsha followed. “Creighton’s right. Spend some time with Dillon. Go see for yourself that he’s okay. I’ll keep an eye on the father. It looks like they have him stabilized. I’ll let you know if his condition changes.”
Kate nodded. She glanced over her shoulder to search for Stephen. But he was already out of sight.
“Up you go,” Robert said as the elevator doors opened and she and Marsha got on. He pushed the button for the pediatric floor.
Robert was protecting her, same as always. And instead of balking, Kate let the elevator doors slide shut and leaned against her friend.
“It’s going to be okay.” Marsha hugged Kate to her side.
In the past Kate would have fought to stand alone. Now she let herself absorb her friend’s reassurance. She didn’t question Robert stepping in to watch out for Manny, or how much she needed her brother to get there. She couldn’t do this without any of them. She’d take all the help she could get over the next few hours, and be grateful for it, instead of punishing herself for not being enough alone.
Stephen was still fighting for the Digarros, and so would she. Then once Dillon was settled, and Stephen was through running the table on the DEA, she had one more battle to wage.
Stephen had said he’d meet her upstairs. He hadn’t promised anything more. She may have lost him for good, no matter how much she loved him and was ready to fight to believe in what they could have.
There were no guarantees. She might very well lose. But she was going to stand her ground and fight for love this time.
“HOW LONG HAVE YOU been here?” Stephen asked Martin Rhodes, who was sitting on a bench outside the pediatric room Stephen had been pointed toward.
Lissa Carter rounded the corner, carrying two cups of steaming coffee. Martin took one as she sat beside him.
“Your buddy Jenkins called and told me what went down,” he explained. “Once we got here, it didn’t take much asking around to find out where Katie was. She’s been in with the kid since we found her a little over an hour ago. How’s the father?”
“Stable.” Stephen rubbed a hand over his jaw. Stubble reminded him that he hadn’t taken the time to shave that morning, and that morning had come and gone hours ago. “Manny’s in surgery. They’re repairing a collapsed lung and exploring his chest to patch up whatever’s bleeding. Kate’s ex seems to think he’s got a good shot of pulling through.”
“And then?” Martin drew the woman cuddling against him closer.
Stephen sighed, glancing beyond the APD officers guarding Dillon’s closed door, through the window to where Kate sat on the edge of the boy’s bed. All but one of the lights had been dimmed. Beneath the single beam, it looked like Kate was reading Dillon a story. She probably hadn’t left his side once. She was right where Stephen had asked her to be, waiting for him. Trusting that he’d do the best he could for Manny, and then come find her.
I love you.
“Here.” Martin handed him one of the coffees. “It’s cream, no sugar, the way she likes it.”
The man took a sip from the other cup, then handed it back to Lissa. He settled against the wall to wait. Whatever his sister needed next, it was clear Martin planned to be there to help her get it. At least that part of Kate’s life was back to the way it always should have been.
Stephen nodded, then turned to knock softly on the closed door.
Kate glanced over her shoulder, rose from the bed when she saw him and motioned for him to come in. She’d set the book aside and smoothed the wrinkles rumpling her knit top and jeans. He set the coffee on a table near the door and stepped to the foot of the bed.
Dillon was sleeping, his car tucked under his cast-encased arm. An IV ran to his other arm from a bag of clear fluid hanging on a stand.
“How’s he doing?” Stephen asked softly, looking at the boy, because looking at Kate when she was this close wasn’t possible yet.
Things were still too unsettled, no matter what she’d said downstairs. She’d had a long time to rethink the challenges they’d face if they tried to make a relationship work. He’d called her a coward, when in fact she had simply been playing it safe, the same way Stephen always had.
It wasn’t Kate’s fault that he was out of his mind in love with her.
“Dillon’s worried about his dad.” Kate ruined Stephen’s plan to give her space by stepping closer.
She was so warm. After hours of danger and death and cutthroat negotiating with the people who were going to make the darkness go away for the Digarros once and for all, Stephen had grown numb to the cold that had spread inside him.
“Robert says Manny should pull through,” he made himself say, through the need to kiss her, to hold her the way Martin was holding Lissa outside. Cuddling her to his side, where she’d fit perfectly. “I’ve told the DEA everything, and I have a written agreement that as soon as it’s medically safe for them to travel, Manny and Dillon will disappear. They’ll be protected. Manny will most likely have to testify at some point, once the Feds have as much of the Vargas cartel in custody as they can capture. But Dillon’s going to have his father, and a home full of toys and friends and the kind of childhood he deserves.”
Kate’s smile was beautiful. Her tears of relief made surviving such a hellish day worth every bit of risk and legal finagling it had taken. But it was her hug, as she threw herself into his arms and held on like she’d never let go, that flooded Stephen with hope.
“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear. She was shivering, crying. She laughed softly. “I knew you could do it. I knew the Digarros could count on you, that I could count on you. I…”
She stiffened and slid away, reclaiming an inch of the distance he no longer wanted her to have. He didn’t want anything separating them, while he tried to convince her to finish what she’d been about to say. What she’d said downstairs, that he hoped to God to hear again, every day, several times a day, for the rest of his life.
“You what?” His fingers curved around her waist. “You knew that you could count on me, and you…what?”
She hesitated for so long, he wanted to scream. But he had just enough energy left to negotiate one more big-time pay-out. The biggest deal of his life.
“I mean,” she began, torturing him by wetting the corner of her mouth with her tongue. “I know we’ve moved fast, and I wasn’t ready to hear you last night. And I know with my kind of baggage, you’re probably wondering if I’m capable of committing to anything. But I…I want to be with you, on whatever terms you’re comfortable with. You could move in to my place, or maybe you’d rather try living together at yours for a while. Maybe one day, if it works out, we could look into getting a new place of our own. Not that I’m trying to tie you down to anything, I’m just…I…I know I told you no yesterday, but if you’d just give me another chance…I’ll do my best to convince you that I can—”
His kiss silenced her before it got worse. And he kept kissing her until she softened in his arms.
Despite the encouraging direction of her rambling explanation, he still hadn’t heard what they both needed her to say. He lifted his head and waited for her eyes to open. Then he waited some more.
“And?” he asked, already feeling her response in the way her body was melting into his.
“I…I love you, Stephen.” She bit the corner of her lip, then smiled. “More than I ever thought I was capable of loving anyone. I love the way you go to battle for your clients, and the way you’ve fought back from the disappointments in your life. The courage it took to stand up for Manny today, when he was too hurt to stand up for himself. I love you. I’ll always love you. I need you to believe me. To trust me not to bail on you again. Let me try again. I can show you—”
She stopped as he shook his head. The girlish hope that had spread across her features evaporated, and she tried to pull free.
“No.” He kissed her softly until she no longer stru
ggled. “No more trying. No more giving this a chance.”
She stared up at him, then nodded.
“What do you need to believe me, Stephen?” Her kiss was as tentative as her question. “Whatever it is, I trust you. Just tell me what you need.”
“I need to be yours.” His palm cupped her cheek. “As deeply and as permanently as I need you to be mine. Not just for now. Not once we’re sure. I know it’s a risk, but I don’t want to play this safe. I need to be legally yours, Kate. Forever. Say that you love me enough to be mine, and the rest we’ll figure out together. Marry me.”
She was nodding again, silently. Then she was in his arms, and he cupped her head and pressed it to his shoulder.
“Kate?” he asked. “I’m a lawyer, and I never leave a negotiation without a verbally binding contract.”
“Yes,” she whispered in his ear. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Stephen Creighton. And I’ll love you every day for the rest of my life. Just try to get rid of me.”
EPILOGUE
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING in there?” Stephen asked on the other side of the bathroom door.
“Making you wait,” Kate teased. As if she wanted to be anywhere else herself but heading out the front door with her husband, to their Mediterranean cruise honeymoon. “You’re awfully bossy this morning.”
And she loved it.
Their civil ceremony at city hall yesterday had been brief but beautiful. Martin and Lissa had been there. Neal Cain and his wife, Jenn. Curt Jenkins had been Stephen’s best man, and Marsha had stood up for Kate. She and Stephen had exchanged promises before the judge and their witnesses, but in their hearts they’d become one the moment they’d found the courage to risk loving each other.
Kate applied a final wisp of lip gloss, marveled at her reflection one last time—at the happiness radiating from her eyes and her smile—then opened the door to the gorgeous man hovering just outside.
“It’s about time.” Stephen pulled her into his arms and relieved her lips of their shiny coating.
He kissed her like a man deprived.
Because of a Boy Page 16