Chapter 4 #2
Someone picked up her wrist, and she knew it was the doctor checking her pulse.
A growl rumbled from Josiah, who still had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Leaning into him was the easiest thing in the world, and she had to fight against a smile at the protective vibes he was giving off.
He could pretend all he wanted not to care about her, or the rest of their team, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he cared about them more than he was comfortable with.
Caring about people meant opening yourself up to the potential pain of losing them, and that wasn't something Josiah could handle.
“What's wrong with her?” Josiah demanded.
“Looks like she just fainted,” the doctor replied.
Because she didn't want to be admitted to the hospital, it was vital she spend as little time being examined by anyone as possible, Chelsea gave a small moan and opened her eyes slowly, as though they were heavy.
“Josiah?” she mumbled, making her voice sound faint, thankful for the years of acting classes she’d taken as a kid.
Her parents had been older by the time they had her.
After trying all their married lives, they wound up getting pregnant with a late-in-life baby, right before her mom hit menopause.
Because they were older, they weren't able to be as active with her, but they made sure she had every opportunity to try out anything she wanted. One of those things had been acting classes, and she’d taken them through middle and high school.
Now she was eternally grateful that her parents hadn't denied her anything.
“Yeah, Chels, I'm here.” Fingers swept across her forehead, then smoothed a lock of hair, tucking it behind her ear.
“What happened?” she asked, keeping her voice small.
“You fainted, Mrs. Fleet,” Dr. Wood told her.
“Oh. I just … my head … I guess I got lightheaded,” she said softly.
“Have you been eating? Drinking enough water?” the doctor asked.
Scrunching up her nose, she shook her head. “I skipped breakfast this morning because I wasn't sure I could keep anything down.” Actually, that was true, and she was sure it was a mixture of nerves and feeling a little nauseous from the medication she was taking.
Dr. Wood tutted. “That won't do. I understand it’s difficult to eat when you’re feeling ill, but your body still needs fuel.
I'm going to grab some fluids, set up an IV, and it should be done by the time we’re finished talking.
If you're not feeling better after that, we can talk about admitting you to the hospital.”
While she nodded her assent, Chelsea knew there was zero percent chance she was going to agree to stay any longer than she had to.
But they now had the perfect opportunity to plant the cameras and microphones she had hidden in her purse.
All she needed was a couple of minutes without the doctor in the room to get them set up, then she’d let the IV run, and see if they could get the doctor to admit he worked for the trafficking ring.
“I’ll be right back,” the doctor said, patting her hand and making another growl rumble through the big man standing beside her.
Knowing they didn't have time to waste, the second the door closed behind the doctor, she jumped to her feet, already unzipping her purse so she could scramble through it and find the cameras.
“What the hell?” Josiah snarled.
“Shh, hurry,” she muttered. She didn't have time to explain, they had a couple of minutes at the absolute most. “Here, I brought two cameras and a microphone.” Locating them, she shoved them toward her angry husband. “You’ll know better than me where to put them so that he won't find them.”
Taking a step toward her, getting right up in her personal space, Josiah’s voice was low and cold, deep with rage, when he spoke. “Did you just fake passing out?”
“Of course. Like I said, I brought a microphone and some cameras to plant in here. I thought if I pretended to faint, I could get us a couple of minutes alone, and it worked.” Chelsea offered him a bright smile, but it died on her lips when she saw the rage dancing in his dark brown eyes.
He was angry.
Really angry.
It wasn't like it was a big deal.
Certainly nothing he should be furious about.
She took an instinctive step back. Not because she thought Josiah would actually hurt her, but because there was too much rage rolling off him and she was about as unconfrontational as it was possible for a person to get.
“We have to hide these now,” she said quickly, pushing the small devices into his hands. “He’s going to be back any second. What's done is done, there’s no point in stressing over it. It worked, and we can bug his office. Please, Josiah.”
With a snarl, he snatched the microphone and cameras from her hand and made quick work of planting the monitoring devices, then he stalked toward her, a dangerous look on his face.
Only this time she didn't move away from him.
If anything, her body drifted closer.
There was no denying he was utterly furious with her, although she wasn't quite sure why exactly that was. Josiah was a dangerous man, he was highly trained, and had years of experience. If he wanted to, he could snap her in half as though she was nothing more than a twig.
And yet she didn't fear the man. This whole protective rage thing he had going on made warmth spread through her. Whatever his reason for being angry with her, all it did was prove to her that he cared.
“Don’t you ever put yourself in danger like this again,” he growled as his large hands closed around her shoulders, and he gave her one fierce shake.
While she could see he was completely serious about that, it kind of defeated the entire purpose of what they were here to do.
This whole thing was dangerous. He was risking his life every bit as much as she was.
She might be the one who had to pretend to be sick, but he was the only thing keeping them both alive.
Chelsea was putting her life in Josiah’s hands, and it was something she was more than happy to do.
She trusted him, even if he didn't trust himself.
Both their heads snapped toward the door as they heard the sounds on the other side, and she quickly dropped back down into the seat she’d been in.
Before Josiah could move back to stand beside her, the door swung open, and instead of trying to dart back to where he’d been when the doctor left, Josiah kept moving forward, making it seem as though he’d been pacing this entire time.
Apparently, Dr. Wood liked that, because he nodded approvingly at Josiah. “Don’t worry, son, we’re going to do everything we can to get your wife healthy again.”
Josiah just grunted.
“Sorry about him, he’s just worried,” she said, making sure her voice sounded a little thready.
“No need for apologies, Mrs. Fleet. I can see how concerned he is for you. He must love you a great deal,” the doctor said as he walked over to her and picked up her arm, readying it to set up the IV.
If only that were true.
What she wouldn't give to make Josiah fall in love with her.
But Chelsea had long ago accepted the fact that it was never going to happen. Her love would remain unrequited, and she seemed helpless to shut down her feelings, move on, and find someone who could love her back.
“Thank you for understanding.” She shot the doctor as warm a smile as she could muster.
“Love leads people to do things they wouldn't normally consider. It changes people in ways they don’t even understand.” Dr. Wood met her gaze squarely. “I understand that better than most, Mrs. Fleet. That’s why I'm here.”