Strong and Sexy (Sky High Air #2)(54)

“Hate to tell you, babe, but you’re already half there.”

“Don’t argue with your new bride.”

He’d just pulled her arms through the gown when a guy in scrubs stepped through the curtain, holding a chart. “Dani Peterson? MRI time.”

Because only one person could fit into the MRI machine, Shayne was sent back to the waiting room, where he was free to pace the length of the room.

Brody sat sprawled in a chair talking to Noah on his cell phone. “Yeah, he’s here.” His eyes cut to Shayne. “He’s wearing a hole in the carpet.”

A little girl sitting next to Brody tapped him on the arm.

He covered the mouthpiece and looked at her. “Yes?”

With a sweet smile, she pointed to the sign on the far wall that read: No Cell Phones in Waiting Room Brody stared at her. “Yeah, hold on,” he said to Noah. “I’m being told.”

The girl put her hands on her hips.

Brody smiled sweetly at her and lifted a finger to signal he was almost done. “I’m telling you, Noah, he’s as crazy as she is. Maybe we need an intervention—”

“She’s not crazy,” Shayne told him. “She’s not.”

“Noah, hold on. The guy lusting after the woman who sees dead people wants to talk.”

Shayne tossed up his hands. “No one thought Noah was crazy for falling in love with the woman who hijacked him.”

“We both thought Noah was crazy,” Brody reminded him. “You flew all the way to Mexico to retrieve him, remember?”

“Ahem,” the little girl said, looking very serious about this no-cell-phone thing.

With a sigh, Brody heaved himself out of the chair. Being six foot four, he towered over the tiny girl.

She didn’t seem to care. She pointed to the door.

Brody glanced in disbelief at Shayne, who if he hadn’t been worried to the point of nausea about Dani, might have laughed out loud at the way the big, badass Brody actually did the kid’s bidding and moved to the door. On the way, he snagged Shayne’s arm and pulled him along with him.

“Hey. I’m not leaving until—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Brody didn’t let go of him until they were just outside the ER doors, standing in the chilly night. Still holding the phone to his ear, he ran his sharp gaze over Shayne’s face. “I’ll ask him,” he said. “Noah wants to know if you’ve fallen and can’t get up.”

“Jesus.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m going back in.”

“Wait. Noah says if you’ve fallen, it’s okay—What?” Brody repeated into the phone. “No. I am not going to say that—”

Shayne grabbed the cell phone. “Noah? I’m going back in. Come get this * so I have a car here.”

“Do you need anything else?” Noah asked.

“A lobotomy, maybe?”

Noah laughed softly in his ear. “Yeah, it does feel a little bit like brain surgery without the anesthesia, doesn’t it?”

“What does?”

“Falling in love.”

“No one said anything about…” Christ, he couldn’t even say the L-word. “That.”

Another soft laugh. “Right. Listen, you know Brody. He’s going to tell you to take yourself and your dick home, that no chick is worth this much trouble. But I’m going to tell you to go with it. Because it just might be the best thing to ever happen to you.”

“What’s he saying?” Brody wanted to know, trying to hear.

“Just come get him,” Shayne said, putting a hand over Brody’s face and pushing him away. “Before I knock his big fat head against a wall.”

“On my way.”

“You,” Brody said as Shayne shut the phone, “have completely lost it.”

“Excuse me.” A nurse poked her head out the ER doors. “Which of you is Dani’s husband?”

Brody’s eyes widened in horror.

Shayne ignored him. “Is she—”

“Back from the MRI. The doctor’s heading in there right now. Did your wife suffer high blood pressure and stress levels before this accident?”

“Uh…”

“Because he’s concerned about her stress levels.”

Shayne forgot about kicking Brody’s ass and rushed back inside.

“Husband,” he heard Brody mutter as he moved. “Jesus. It’s a f*cking epidemic.”



Two not-so-pleasant things about splitting one’s head open? First, no matter what anyone said, getting stitches hurt like hell. And second, people tended to talk slow and loud around head-injury patients.

But the ice chips were nice.

And so was the fact that she’d somehow gained a husband. Dani glanced over at Shayne, who’d held her hand through the stitches, doing his best to distract her with sordid details of his wild youth. Not giving her time to freak out, he kept talking in that even, sexy voice of his, a running monologue of stories so funny she actually laughed while being stitched up. She looked into his face, into his amazing eyes, and felt her throat tighten.

She’d only known him for a matter of days, and already he was more there for her than anyone in her life. “Shayne.”