Page 117 of Nothing to Fear

“I’ll stay in bed,” he said, his kiss almost, nearly catching hers. It closed her eyes again, tempting her mouth higher. “For everything except the bathroom, our bathroom only.”

Blinking, need glistened in her gaze. “You will?”

“I promise.”

That dropped her shoulders slightly. “Thank you, Gentleman.”

Another kiss, then she scooted off the bed. Before going into the bathroom, she looked back to him watching her. Whether it was one day or a million, she’d never get over it. Him, such an honorable, passionate man was hers. How did that happen?

THIRTY-EIGHT

“HEY! COME ON.”

Closing her locker at work, she turned to Yvette hanging in the break room door. “Come where?”

Only place she wanted to go was to her guy.

“We have an idea,” Yvette said, smiling as she side-nodded.

Out of curiosity, and because she had to go that way anyway, she followed her friend out of the room and to the staff exit that would take them to the stairwell. Celeste and Nessa were there waiting.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

Nessa held up a bottle of Scotch while Celeste opened a card.

“We’re going to take them to him. Gifts. A card.”

“Take them…?”

“Sign the card,” Celeste said, thrusting a pen and the card her way. “Write something nice.”

Closing it over, the big, “Get Well Soon” words covered the front, top to bottom. Something nice…

Hmm, what was she supposed to write to her secret boyfriend?

“Hurry up!” Nessa urged her on.

“How can we take them to him?” she asked, writing a generic get well message and signing her name. “In the hospital?”

“He went home,” Nessa said. “That’s what Cinda said, she said he was back at Breckenridge House.”

Word really did travel fast and far. “Just today?”

Was it dishonest to plead innocence?

“How would she know that?” Yvette said. “Where did she hear it?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Celeste said. “Going to the house would be an overstep, and it’s forever away.” Yeah, what would be the point traipsing over there just to immediately come back. A cab would cost a fortune. “We’re only going to BHQ.”

Oh, so much better. A shiver quaked in her spine as Nessa opened the stairwell door to venture on. All followed her, so what choice did she have? Traipsing out after them, she had to ignore the alley where she usually got into the Breckenridge car and follow her coworkers to the street to get in a cab.

“I’ve never been to BHQ,” Nessa said after a block or two. “Think our employee credentials will get us in?”

“Do you think Caber will be there? He should be able to pass on our best to his brother.”

And if he wasn’t? Unlikely Astor or Dougie would be there, they were school age, not corporate overlord age. They’d met Ward, maybe he’d be around. Would he play it cool? He had in the store, though that was no guarantee. The more time she spent with the family, the more difficult it became to remember her and Darroch weren’t common knowledge.

Nessa opened the bag looped around her wrist to put the sealed card inside. “You take this.”

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