Page 40 of Reckless
“With all three of your corroborating statements and a room full of eyewitnesses, this looks pretty cut and dried, especially if this guy’s record checks out. Did you want to pursue assault charges?”
Zoe rolled her shoulder, the move hurting like hell. “Yes. Absolutely.”
The officer dipped his chin in a nod. “Okay. We’ve got paramedics on the way to give him the all-clear before we take him downtown to process him, just in case.” He paused, splitting his dark brown gaze between Alex and Zoe. “I can roll another ambo out here if you want. It might not be the worst idea to go to Fairview Hospital and get that shoulder looked at.”
“No!” Zoe’s mouth went dry at the same time her palms turned damp, and Alex, Tina, and Officer O’Halloran narrowed their eyes over her in unison. “What I mean is, I feel fine, and I’d really like to stay here and make sure the residents are okay.” Plus, the last thing Zoe needed was the chance that Station Eight’s paramedics would catch the call. If her father heard so much as a peep about this, he wouldn’t ease up on her until she was ninety.
“Zoe, I really think—” Tina started, but Alex stepped in, his most charming smile taking over his handsome features.
“Why don’t I just take her to the outpatient clinic over on Broadmoor? It won’t be nearly as crowded as the Emergency Department, and the docs can give her the all-clear just the same.”
“I’m sitting right here, you know.” Zoe scowled, but somehow, she couldn’t put much force into it.
Tina, on the other hand, had enough for both of them right now. “Yes, but Alex is right. Youshouldbe sitting in front of a doctor.”
Zoe got halfway to crossing her arms over the front of her gray button-down top before her shoulder gave up a definitivenot today, sweetheart.But she was quickly running out of steam to fight, and letting Alex take her to urgent care was definitely the lesser of two evils. Between him and Tina, she knew better than to think she’d skate by on her own recognizance. “Fine. But only after I get lunch squared away.”
“I’ve got lunch squared away. You go, and don’t come back without a doctor’s note,” Tina said, her tone brooking no argument. “Officer, I’d like to take care of the residents if you don’t need anything else right now?”
“No, ma’am. We’ll be in touch.”
Tina turned, giving Alex’s forearm a squeeze. “Thank you.” She added one last promise that she would make sure Rochelle and her son were well taken care of before quickly stepping off to take charge of the crowd, leaving Zoe with Alex.
“Thank you for not calling the paramedics.” With the easy-does-it way he’d suggested the outpatient clinic over the hospital, Alex had to realize that a couple of bruises were really no big deal. Hell, he’d probably sustained worse in any given sports junkie session.
Which was why it shocked Zoe right down to her Danskos when he looped his arm around her, leading her out of her chair and toward the door with nothing but dead-serious intention in his eyes.
“I might’ve gotten you off the hot seat with Tina, but you’re going to get every inch of yourself checked out by a doctor. And you’re not leaving my sight until you do.”
15
Alex sat back against the hospital-grade chair in the exam room, trying like hell to ignore both the bruises peeking out from beneath the sleeves of Zoe’s gown and the brows-up I-told-you-so taking over her pretty face.
At least her moxie was easier to handle.
“Are you happy now?” she asked, holding up the doctor’s release form. “I’m one hundred percent fine and cleared for work.”
“Tomorrow,” he corrected. “The doctor said you should take it easy for the rest of today.”
Zoe smiled. “Right. I should’ve known you’d have an in at urgent care, too.”
“I know a couple of people on staff here, yes.” He was a firefighter with adrenaline issues. Of course he was on a first-name basis with a doc or two. “And I might have particularly strong people skills. But come on, Zoe. As good as I am, even I can’t finesse a medical diagnosis.”
“Fine,” she sighed, her shoulders rounding beneath the loose blue cotton of her gown. “But first thing tomorrow, we’re back in the kitchen.”
Alex’s gut shifted with unease, but he put it on hold. Arguing with Zoe right now wouldn’t get him farther than frustration, and anyway, she looked about as worn out as he felt. “Yeah, about that. If it’s okay with you, I can make up for my lost community service by coming in on Saturday.”
Her forehead creased into a delicateV. “You haven’t lost any time, Alex. Not only did you bring me here to get checked out, but you stayed for two hours while I got the all-clear. I know I fought you a little, but you still didn’t have to do any of that.”
A smile tempted Alex’s lips, and he gave in to it, if only halfway. “You fought me more than a little, Gorgeous. But you let me stay to make sure you were okay, even during your exam, and you definitely didn’t have to do that, either.” He’d made it clear that while personally walking her through the door was non-negotiable, he’d wait in the reception area while she talked to the doctor, but she’d shocked him by turning him down.
“It didn’t bother me to have you stay; plus, I knew you probably wouldn’t take my word for it when I turned out to be fine. And”—Zoe broke off, twisting the floppy sleeve of her gown between the thumb and forefinger on her opposite hand—“I guess it was nice not to be alone.”
“Oh.”Eloquent, Donovan. Real suave.So much for his freaking people skills. “Well, in that case, I’m glad I was a pain in the ass.”
“Me too.” Her soft laugh loosened the tension on her face, and the sound prompted his thoughts into words without pause.
“Since I’m batting a thousand at being bossy today, what do you say I aim for the fence and insist on driving you home?”
