The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter Twenty-Nine

T he paramedic ushered me inside as Ty disappeared into the shadows of the parking lot. Cold, tired, and replaying every second of holding him in the water so his head didn’t go under, I shivered.

“Step over here, ma’am.” He indicated a small room where a nurse was behind a computer.

It looked like one of those holding rooms where they checked people in to the ER.

I wasn’t going in there.

I shook my head and turned my back on him.

The paramedic exhaled slowly as if fighting for patience. He seemed kind, but I didn’t want to be near him anymore than I wanted to be standing in this emergency room. Except I was torn. Less than a half hour ago, our boat was destroyed, Ty was unconscious, and I was sure the man I had thought was my uncle was going to run his boat over me as I held on to Ty’s neck with one arm and the side of the dock with the other. If it hadn’t been for the bystanders who saw the boat crash, helped pull Ty out and called 911, I didn’t know where we’d be.

And I didn’t know how Ty survived being thrown from the boat and hitting the dock as hard as he did…. Sucking in a breath, I shook my head to dispel the image replaying on repeat in my head and stared out the front windows of the emergency room.

“Ma’am?” the paramedic tried again to get my attention.

Again I ignored him.

“All right, wait here, and I’ll see if I can find you some dry clothes.”

Ty had told him not to leave me alone, but I didn’t bother mentioning that to him. There were people in the waiting area, nurses and hospital staff milling about, and I was sure security cameras all over. For the same reason Dante didn’t run me over back at the marina, he wouldn’t come in here to get me. There were too many witnesses.

I pulled the blanket tighter around me as Ty drove up in the borrowed car. I was about to walk out to meet him when he got out of the driver side and his intense gaze zeroed in on me. Shaking his head once, his hand on the gun, he scanned the loading zone and walked toward me.

In spite of everything, or maybe because of it, my stomach flipped—same as it did the first time I saw him walking toward me.

The paramedic came up beside me. “Ma’am, some clothes.” He held out a pair of scrubs.

I took them and nodded thanks as Ty walked in.

“Ready?” Scanning the waiting area, he held his arm out and made a come-here gesture with his hand.

I didn’t hesitate.

I moved to his side, and his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

He didn’t smell like him anymore. Ocean and gas and heat, he smelled like everything I wanted to forget about tonight, but he also smelled alive. I didn’t realize what I was doing until my head leaned into his chest.

Tightening his arm around me, his voice dropped. “You’re good. We’re good. Let’s get you in the car.” Walking me to the Charger, he tucked me inside and started to close my door, but the paramedic stopped him.

“When am I going to get my car back?”

“Few hours.” Ty shut my door.

I watched him exchange a few more words with the paramedic, who did not look happy, but he didn’t stop us from driving off when Ty got behind the wheel.

Constantly checking the review mirrors, Ty pulled out of the hospital’s parking lot and gunned the engine. Driving too fast, he wove in and out of the late-evening traffic.

I wanted to ask where we were going, but the words still hadn’t come, and if I couldn’t scream for help when I’d needed to most, I didn’t think I could make anything come out now, so I didn’t bother.

Turned out I didn’t have to.

“We’re going to a friend’s house, guy who lives down here. Once Luna makes his way to us, we’ll all go back to Miami together.”

I didn’t know who Luna was other than the shirt Ty was wearing the first time I’d met him had a small logo with Luna and Associates written on it.

“We’ll be safer at a residence than a hotel,” Ty added, as if I’d asked the question.

I stared out the window as he drove north out of Key West proper.

Ten minutes later, after circling the same block three times, Ty pulled down the driveway and around the back of a darkened house just north of Key West proper that butted up to the water. Small and modest, but neat, the house had sawhorses in front like it was under construction.

Cutting the engine, Ty looked over his shoulder. “Wait there.”

I nodded, but he was already out of the car and walking to my side. Opening my door and taking my arm, he helped me out of the car. Then his hand found the space between my shoulder blades, and he led us to the back porch of the house.

“Roark isn’t here,” he explained as we walked up the steps. “I’m just getting the key.” We stopped at a small wicker table between two lounge chairs that were facing the view of the water, and he lifted a corner. Coming away with a key, he straightened to his full height without protest, but I saw the strain on his face.

I touched his side where he’d been thrown.

He smirked and covered my hand briefly. “I’m good, sweetheart. Don’t worry about me.” He gently removed my hand from his ribs. “It’d take a hell of a lot more than a boat crash to keep me down.” He unlocked the back door and let us inside, but then he pushed me against the wall. “Wait here while I do a walk through.”

Clutching the scrubs the paramedic had given me, I stood where Ty told me and watched as he disappeared through the kitchen into the darkened house.

Paint, wood, some sort of cleaning product, everything smelled new inside. I glanced around the kitchen, and in the soft cast of the moonlight, the stainless-steel appliances and gray stone countertops didn’t look as masculine as I thought they’d look in the daytime.

Ty came back a couple minutes later carrying first aid supplies. “All clear.” He set the items on the kitchen counter. “There’s a working shower in the master bath upstairs. Get yourself rinsed off and put your dry clothes on, and I’ll take a look at your arm.”

I glanced at the stairs.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “Lights stay off for now.”

I didn’t want to walk up there in a dark house I’d never been in. I didn’t want to walk anywhere without the man at my side coming with me.

“Go. You’ll be fine. I need to make a few phone calls.”

It came back like a tidal wave, and I remembered the names he’d said into the phone in the ambulance. More importantly, I remembered the woman’s name.

He was married.

And he’d called me client.

I pulled my arms across myself.

He frowned. “What?”

I shook my head.

“It’s not nothing,” he clipped, surprisingly good at reading thoughts. “What is it?” he demanded.

I thought about just walking upstairs.

But I didn’t.

I asked.

I rubbed my thumb and forefinger over the ring finger on my left hand, then I pointed at him.

“No.” Still frowning, he shook his head once. “I’m not married.”

I waited.

He stared back, but he didn’t offer anything else.

I tried again. I made the same gesture, but after I pointed at him, I made the gesture an umpire makes when a batter is out.

Half of his mouth tipped up in an almost smile and he smirked.

It was devastating to my heart.

“No, I’m not married, or divorced, or involved with anyone for that matter, sweetheart.” He tipped his chin toward the stairs. “Now get your ass upstairs and clean up so I can call Luna, then get you taken care of.”

Relief I shouldn’t be feeling surged like a wave as prickles of heat washed over me. I ducked my head.

He chuckled quietly. “I saw that. Get upstairs.”

I hid my smile as I walked away.