“Mr. Hayes? I have someone here who’d like to see you.” The nurse who stood in the doorway had a smile on her face. “Your wife’s been so worried.”
Wife?
How hard had he hit his head?
And then Sera peeked around the corner, a wry smile on her face that suggested she was in on the joke, even if the nurse was completely serious.
“Hi.” He waved her forward, and Sera came straight to him, leaning down and wrapping her arms around him.
If this was a dream, he wasn’t going to argue, but when he saw the nurse’s indulgent smile from the doorway, he figured he’d better play along and worry about the truth later.
Or just keep flowing with a dream that had suddenly gotten way better than his aches and pains. He had Sera in his arms and all that pain seemed to fade away.
When the nurse was gone, Sera pulled back from the hug. His reflexes weren’t at maximum capacity, and he nearly let her before thinking better of it. Lifting a hand to the back of her neck, he tugged her back down for a real kiss.
If she was surprised by the move, she didn’t show it. Nor did she even offer a token protest, instead sinking in and kissing him back with a fervor and urgency that matched his own.
He reveled in the moment, unable to believe she was here. He wasn’t going to question his good fortune. Instead, he drank her in, savoring everything about her and desperately trying to forget how close he had come to never touching her again.
She finally lifted her head, resettling herself beside him. “Those very hot lips aside, how are you feeling?”
He grinned at that, even as the movement had him wincing slightly at the pain that insisted on going head-to-head with his hormones. “Mrs. Hayes, huh?”
“Kerrigan’s doing.”
“I’ll make sure to thank her later.”
“What if we get caught?”
Pain aside, he couldn’t stop the bark of laughter at that one.
“What’s so funny?”
If he didn’t have Sera’s hands held tight in his, Gavin suspected she’d have crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you think they ask for marriage licenses at check-in?”
“It was a lie.”
“One delivered by a cop. I think you can put your worries aside. Besides—” he lifted a hand out, tracing the curve of her cheek “—I want you here. The patient’s always right, you know.”
“The patient took a hit to the head if those bruises are any indication.” The vivid blue of her eyes clouded over. “What happened to you? Kerrigan said there was an explosion.”
“We chased the perp into Archer’s sub shop off Bay Street. He took hostages.”
“Oh, Gavin. No.”
“We got lucky timing-wise. School wasn’t out and the big lunch rush was over.” He pictured the older woman who’d been pushed out of the restaurant. “But there were still innocent people inside.”
“You went into the restaurant?”
He recounted the wait for SWAT and his review of the building and his surroundings.
“Was it like last time?” she asked. “At the bar?”
“No, and that was what got me. The bastard who shot Darius was able to hide in darkness and the various doorways on the opposite side of the street. He also had some sort of exit strategy that got him out of the way quickly. But this time?” Hazy images refilled his mind, and Gavin realized he’d forgotten those last few seconds before the blast.
“What is it?”
“An alleyway. Between the buildings. I had my attention there and told Kerrigan we needed to make sure no one could escape that way. But she said we needed to wait for SWAT.”
“She was right.” He must have looked ready to argue because Sera barreled right on, cutting him off. “You’re lucky you had armor on, but you weren’t in full gear. How would you have gone up against someone back there determined to do harm?”
“Which I did have the sense to listen to when Kerrigan made the same basic argument. And I would have stayed put.”
“Would have?”
“The moment I saw someone running back there, someone who didn’t look like the perp? All bets were off.”
“This is your life, Gavin.”
“And it was Darius’s life. It might be Valencia’s life. You think I could let the person responsible get away?”
“No.” Sera shook her head. “I know you couldn’t.”
“Whoever it was, they had other ideas.”
“You think there are two killers?”
“It plays. I didn’t have a close look at the gunman, but he had a long leanness about him. Whoever ran down the alley was shorter. More solid. And the guy in the alley wasn’t dressed like the perp we chased.”
