My Addiction (Club Desire #2)(85)

All over?

Kate wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or nervous. “Tell me.”

He outlined the plot and the reasons behind his undercover assignment, then he told her about her father hiring Opal to watch her, and that the FBI found everything they needed on Mark Stanton’s computer to prove that he was the only one actively working with the terrorists. Balkins, Ralston, Opal, and a few others knew about it, and they were paid well for their silence.

“My father?” she finally asked, braced for his answer.

Dex shook his head. “He invested heavily in Merestone when they were a start-up, but never did anything illegal. He can tell you the rest. He’s been here every day of the last two weeks. We’ve been taking turns sitting by your bedside so we could both sleep, grab showers and food, take care of Rusty, and always have one of us here with you for when you woke up.”

“Dex, why did you hesitate when I asked you about the people in the other car? Are they dead?”

“The driver is in custody. The passenger is dead. She jumped out of the car with an axe and smashed in your front windshield to try to finish you off. The security detail we had following you to keep you safe had to shoot her.”

Kate remembered the two pops she thought might have been gunshots. She was glad she hadn’t known at the time what was going on. “Security detail?”

He actually looked embarrassed. “After all the attacks, we thought you might be in danger from your work with Merestone. It was a good thing we had a team following you.”

She supposed that made sense. She was glad they were there to protect her from the woman with the axe. “The other car?” she pressed.

Dex was silent for a long moment as his brows bunched. “That wasn’t a car. The impact from the first car pushed you into a light pole.”

Relief slid through her that no one else had been hurt.

“But there was one other casualty,” Dex said before her relief could fully set in.

From the slight glint of mischief in his eyes, she knew he wasn’t talking about another person. “Tell me,” she said in her most serious tone.

He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “The Lexus is totaled. You’ll have to suck it up and get a new car once you’re fully healed.”

She groaned. “Not my Lexus. I just bought that car.”

“Then I’m sure you have very good full-coverage insurance.” He grinned down at her.

“There is that,” she conceded. She licked her dry, chapped lips. “Dex?”

As if he sensed the shift to a more serious conversation, he looked at her tenderly. “Yes?”

“I know you were at The Dungeon for your case. How much of what happened between us was just the case? And how much was…”

She wasn’t sure how to describe it, so she gave up and relaxed back against the hard hospital pillow.

The nurse came through the door, interrupting them, and saving Kate from answers she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear.

“She’s awake,” Dex told the nurse, although Kate could clearly hear the sudden strain in his voice.

“She’s been awake before. Is she fully coherent and able to respond appropriately now?”

“Yes, she’s fully aware, remembers what happened, and is in pain.” Dex sounded annoyed, and Kate didn’t blame him. The nurse was condescending as hell.

The woman shooed Dex away from the bed so she could get near Kate to check her over. She poked and prodded, asking several questions that Kate barely heard, although she suspected she responded correctly from the woman’s expressions and nods.

Finally, the nurse stopped talking and told them she would get the doctor to come in and clear Kate for some pain meds.

“You’re correct. She’s awake and fully responsive,” the woman finally declared. Kate resisted the urge to do a face palm since it would probably hurt right now.

Dex just shook his head and glared after the nurse as she left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Dex resumed his post next to her bed. Kate wasn’t sure if he would answer her previous question, or if he would make her repeat it.

“Kate. I was sent into The Dungeon to get close to you and find out if you and anyone else were involved.”

She sucked in a small breath, not sure what she had expected him to say.

All the pain she had experienced when she first overheard that conversation came flooding back, and she blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t going to start to cry.

Dex took her hand. “It started that way, but it definitely didn’t stay that way. I knew you couldn’t be involved; it just took me some time to prove it.”

His expression turned bleak. “I know there’s nothing I can say to make this sound any better, and I know this is horrible timing, but Kate, I love you. I’ve never met anyone like you, and if you can ever forgive me, I’d like the chance to prove that I’m worthy of you.”

Kate’s chest squeezed, and the backs of her eyes burned with unshed tears. She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. It had to be the concussion.

The door opened, and the nurse and a doctor came in, effectively ending her conversation with Dex. At least for now.

But he’d said he loved her.

Now she just had to find the right time to tell him she felt the same.