Page 25 of Seeking Vengeance
“Where do you put it all?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve never seen such a tiny woman eat so much.”
Nicki muttered something distinctly unladylike—not to mention, anatomically impossible—and grabbed another piece. Nick laughed, and even Sean smiled. Nicki really hated when that man smiled. It sent strange sensations into her chest and made certain parts of her clench and unclench rhythmically. Thankfully, Nick turned on some kind of sporting event, and they went back to ignoring her.
The incessant drone of the announcers conspired with the heavy food and comfortable clothes, and soon, Nicki dozed off. When she opened her eyes again, the room was noticeably darker, and the pizza boxes and beer bottles had been cleared away. A soft lap blanket had been tucked around her legs, a pillow beneath her head.
“So”—Nick’s voice drifted over from somewhere on the other side of the room—“you gonna offer her a job?”
“Already did,” Sean answered quietly.
“When?”
“I happened to run into her earlier. She told me to fuck off.”
“I expected as much. She didn’t believe you were serious, right?”
“Right.”
“Well,” Nick sighed, “it was worth a shot. Fuck, I guess I need to wake her up for her shift.”
“Let her sleep,” Sean said. “Jason pulled her off the floor.”
Nicki held her breath through Nick’s stunned silence.
“No shit?”
“No shit. She told me earlier today.”
That’s not exactly true, Nicki thought. She’d never actually given him any details, just accused him of trying to get her fired. Which proved her theory that he’d known all along.
Fucking A.
Either way, she felt a compelling urge to shove one of those longnecks right up that fine, chiseled ass of his.
CHAPTER EIGHT
After leaving Nick’s, Sean went back to the hospital with some flowers for Maggie and to hit up his brother Michael for some information. A few well-placed inquiries were all it took to discover who Nicki had been visiting there earlier that morning. There were definite benefits to having your brother on staff.
Sean held his nephew tucked against him as Maggie dozed on the other side of the hospital room.
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” he said to his brother. “How did you get Maggie to agree to stay the night?”
“A compromise,” Michael said.
Sean grinned. “A compromise, huh?”
“Yeah. Ryan stays in the room with us. Maggie wants to breastfeed, and she flipped out when she discovered one of the nurses was giving him formula anyway.”
Sean noted that Michael had positioned himself between Maggie’s bed and the door and recognized it for what it was—a precautionary measure against anyone who might be foolish enough to attempt to take Ryan back to the nursery again. It was probably a smart move.
“So, what have you got?”
“Doesn’t look good,” Michael said quietly as he glanced over the medical records he’d pulled up on his laptop.
Sean nodded. He didn’t have a medical degree like his brother, but he understood enough to have guessed that much.
