Page 180 of Wicked Little Thief

This was going to be a delicate dance, given everyone’s fragile state of emotions. If she sprung that she’d been living with Liam for the last six months without any of them knowing, they were going to be pissed. And if she confessed that Dakota knew, it’d be the equivalent of throwing her sister under the bus, something Utah wasn’t about to do.

She was worried about her dad but felt better knowing that he had the best doctors working on him. She was almost as worried for her sister, wondering if she was going to be okay having Aiden be the one tasked to save their father.

Denver was already in the waiting room with Dakota and their mom Christine, when Utah rushed in and announced, “He’s got the best doctor working on him.”

“How do you even know who his doctor is?” Denver demanded. “You just got here.”

Her brother was only eighteen months older than she was, but he’d always tried to act like he was the boss of her. Not much had changed, nor had the small amount of patience Utah had for it.

“I called in a favor. Don’t worry about it.”

She looked over to see Dakota with her lips pressed together, like she was trying to keep from smiling, since she understood exactly how Utah knew who his doctor was.

After hugging her mom and offering more reassurances, she quietly stroked Dakota’s arm while inquiring, “I hear you talked to Aiden.”

“He found me before Dad got here.”

Utah couldn’t decipher if her sister’s frazzled state was from their dad’s condition or something that happened with Aiden.

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah. I think I made a big mistake though. I shouldn’t have let him go.”

Utah shrugged. “So, fix it.”

“I don’t know if it’s that easy.”

“You won’t know unless you try.”

“That’s true. But what about you?”

She felt her eyes narrow in confusion. “What about me?”

“A hospital waiting room isn’t exactly conducive to introducing your boyfriend to the family.”

“No, you’re right.”

“And I can’t imagine Liam is okay with not being able to offer you support right now.”

“He’s being supportive behind the scenes.”

Dakota gave her a knowing smile. “Something tells me that’s not really his style.”

No, no it wasn’t.

“I’ll introduce him tomorrow once we know more about Dad’s condition and hopefully things have calmed down.”

“I think that’s a good idea. Maybe start with Phoenix first.”

“What about you?”

Dakota tilted her head like she didn’t understand. “What about me?”

“When are you going to tell everyone about Aiden.”

She looked wistfully at the handsome surgeon as he walked through the waiting room doors.

“I guess if and when there’s something to tell.”

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