Dangerous Protector (Red Stone Security #14)(4)

“My dad was in the Navy.” Grimacing, she twisted back and forth to see if she had full range of movement. Nothing seemed to be broken. Of course, now she was freaked out about what he’d said. She kept envisioning her brain moving around in her skull like Jell-O, which didn’t help her nausea.

“Tell me about your dad.” His voice was utterly calm as he held up a hand to a concerned-looking jogger about twenty feet away, ordering the guy to move back in a ridiculously authoritative voice.

She was grateful he was keeping people at bay. He seemed almost vigilant about it, not letting anyone near—probably because he was worried that whoever had set that bomb might be around. Oh God. She didn’t even want to think about that right now. She cleared her throat. “Why?”

“Just talk to me. I don’t know anything about your past and I’m curious.”

“You’ve never been curious before.”

“I need to keep you talking in case you do have a concussion.”

The sirens were growing louder now. “I should have tried getting blown up months ago if that’s what it takes to get you to be nice to me.”

“I’m nice.” He actually sounded offended.

She snorted then winced at the rush of pain that shuddered through the base of her skull. “Holy balls, my head hurts.”

“God, your mouth.” The way he said it almost sounded like a groan.

“I think you like my mouth.” The instant the words were out she wished she could reel them back in. Oh yeah, clearly she had a concussion. Or freaking brain damage.

To her surprise, his lips pulled up in the first honest to God smile she’d ever seen from him. It completely transformed his constantly gruff expression into something that should be considered illegal. “You wouldn’t be wrong about that,” he murmured.

Wait…what? She swore her heart actually stuttered in her chest. Before she could even think of a half-decent response, he stood from his crouching position and started shouting at someone. Tegan wanted to cover her ears.

Seconds later two uniformed paramedics hustled Aaron out of the way. She wanted to ask him to stay, but knew that was stupid. They weren’t friends and even though he made her feel safe, she wasn’t going to put herself out there like that. Crouching in front of her, a female paramedic introduced herself and started taking Tegan’s vitals, all while asking her rapid-fire questions. While Tegan answered, the two paramedics helped her onto a stretcher.

She was finally able to take in the complete, horrific landscape. On her side of the street, the windows of Addie’s shop, a hardware store, and the children’s boutique clothing store had all been blown out. Tegan’s car was a smoldering mass of metal, shattered glass, and twisted plastic. The vehicles in front and behind it had also been affected by the blast, all the glass blown out and now littering the sidewalk and street. It looked like a war zone.

One of her side-view mirrors lay on the sidewalk, flames flickering along the rounded top of it. Bystanders had been partitioned off across the street as the police worked to create a barricade around the blast site.

Panic punched out to all her nerve endings. “Oh God, is anyone else hurt?”

“Just you that we know about.” The blond woman with tattoos peeking out at her wrist moved efficiently as she got Tegan settled into place.

Beyond exhausted, she closed her eyes and lay back against the stretcher. She didn’t want to see anyone right now, not even her friends.

“Don’t go to sleep on me,” Blondie snapped as they started moving her.

“I’m not. I just don’t want to see anyone.”

“Fair enough until we get you in the ambulance.”

Tegan just wanted to curl into a ball and hide. Had she somehow brought her past troubles to Miami? The man who’d been after her was dead. She should have been safe.

As they lifted her onto the back of the ambulance, her eyes popped open at the sound of Aaron’s deep, annoyed voice.

“Damn it, be careful with her.” He was glowering at the paramedics as he climbed in after them.

A ridiculous surge of elation slid through her to see him.

“Don’t tell me how to do my job, Aaron.” The woman’s mouth pulled into a thin line and Tegan realized how much they looked alike.

She knew the Fitzpatrick brothers didn’t have any other siblings so maybe the woman was a cousin. “Are you coming with me?” she asked him.

Aaron seemed truly surprised by her question. “You thought I was just going to let you go to the hospital alone?”

Well, yeah, she had. “Oh God! The shop—”

“Don’t worry about it. I already called Kimmy, and Addie is locking up until she can get down here. She’s got an extra key.”

Another thought slammed into her and the panic she’d been keeping at bay started to bloom out of control. “My dog—”

“Took care of that, too. Addie said you’d be worried. She’s calling your neighbor to let her know what’s going on.”

“Thank you. I…” Tegan trailed off as Blondie told him to shut up and stay out of the way before she kicked him off the ambulance.

Tegan was grateful for his solid presence and was thankful when he obeyed the woman because she didn’t want him kicked off. He grew quiet and moved to the only free seat, right in Tegan’s line of sight. Seeing him there gave her strength she knew she was going to need.