Half Empty (First Wives, #2)(56)

“Those will have to wait.”

“We’ll be back later, then,” Armstrong said.

“I would suggest you call before returning. The neurologist has ordered a few tests . . .”

“We’ll wait.”

Doug stepped closer, lowered his voice. “How about tomorrow? Her family and friends visiting to tell her she’s loved is helpful. Questions about what put her here are traumatic at this stage.”

The detectives exchanged glances. “We’ll be back.”

Trina sighed her relief when they left. “Thank you, Doug.”

“Nothing I said wasn’t true.”

“I’ll step out for a while.”

He stopped her. “I heard Wade Thomas was with all of you.”

“He is.”

Doug tilted his head. “I’m a huge fan.”

“I’ll be sure and drag him back the next time Avery wakes up to say hello.”

“Really? That would be epic.”

If Wade’s name could keep the police away until Avery was alert, Trina would use it.





Chapter Twenty-One

“White on rice,” Wade said as if he was in the middle of a conversation instead of walking Trina outside the hospital doors and onto the wet streets of Manhattan.

“Excuse me?”

He draped his arm over her shoulders and tucked her close to his side. “I’ve never played bodyguard before. I think I’m going to like it.” He’d heard Reed bring Trina up to date on the lack of fingerprints found in the office. She seemed less concerned with that than everyone else involved.

“What does role-playing a bodyguard have to do with rice?”

He chuckled and leaned close to her ear. “Your bulky friends said I needed to be white on rice with you. I like potatoes more than rice, but I’ll give it a shot,” he teased.

They walked toward the hotel.

Trina stiffened and slowed her pace. “I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into all this. Please don’t feel obligated to—”

“Oh, no . . . don’t start that. I don’t feel obligated, nor do I have some kind of hero complex that you’re scratching. I might not prefer how we are spending time together, but I thoroughly enjoy the company and wouldn’t dream of leaving.”

“You have a love for hospital waiting rooms?”

A crowd of people huddled around them as they waited for traffic to clear to cross the street.

“I have a deep regard for right over wrong and being a friend in more than a Christmas card fashion.”

They joined the masses and jaywalked to the other side of the street.

“If you need to get home, I completely understand.”

He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, causing a dam for the people rushing by. Wade pulled her to the side of a building and stood in front of her.

“Okay, darlin’. I’m going to say this once.” He placed both hands on the sides of her face and stared her in the eye.

She opened her mouth, and he brought one finger over her lips to stop her. “Nobody needs me at home more than you need me here. I’m taking the charge of white on rice and I don’t plan on leaving until the police find out what’s going on. If they don’t, then I’ll just have to follow you back to Texas, where it appears you belong. So no more guilt about keeping me here or dragging me into anything. Got it?”

Trina tried to smile. “You’re pretty demanding,” she said quietly.

“Oh, darlin’, I’m one hundred percent demanding, which is probably why I’m still single. I’m also determined to get that half-empty look out of your eyes and replace it with sparkling lights.”

There her smile was. Seeing it warmed his heart.

“Now we’re talkin’.”

“Are you always this charming?”

He shook his head. “No. I saved it for you.”

Trina snickered. “That’s a line,” she called him out.

“Guilty. But this time I mean it.”

She narrowed her eyes.

He brushed his thumb over her jaw and gave in to the desire to kiss her.

The more often he brushed his lips against hers, the more he wanted to make her his next addiction. Even the busy streets of New York City couldn’t keep his heartbeat out of his head as he tasted her.

When she opened her lips, he ended their public display and promised to deepen that kiss as soon as they were alone.

“Hey, Wade!”

The sound of someone calling him from several feet away, followed by a flash of lights, ruined the disco ball spinning in his head.

Sure enough, the paparazzi had found him. Instead of causing a scene, Wade pulled Trina alongside him and started toward the hotel.

“Who’s your friend?” The flash of a camera followed the stranger’s question.

People started turning to watch.

The man backed into people as he moved in front of them to get the image he wanted.

New Yorkers weren’t all that friendly when being plowed into by a distracted pedestrian.

Wade tried moving around the man. “We’re in a hurry. If you don’t mind.”

“Just one smile,” he asked, the camera up to his eye.

Wade didn’t oblige. Instead he pushed around the man, careful not to touch him, and doubled his pace to get away.