Page 37 of Only Her (K2 Team)
“One more night? How long have I been here?” As for her missing hair, she’d deal with that when her head didn’t feel like it was going to explode.
“You came in yesterday evening.”
She’d lost a whole night? One she was supposed to have spent with Cody? That sucked. “Will someone please tell me what happened?” She was irritated that no one would explain anything to her.
“Officer Kilpatrick is here with a detective. They’ll explain everything. I’ll be back in the morning, and we’ll see how you’re doing.”
The doctor was all business, no real bedside manner, but all she cared about was seeing Cody and finding out why her head was split open. As soon as he left, Mike and a man she didn’t know came in, closely followed by Cody.
“You need to wait outside, Mr.Roberts,” the unknown man said.
Cody headed straight for her. “Not happening.”
“I want him here.” She needed him even though she was only now getting to know him, and why that was she’d think about later. After her head stopped hurting. He took her hand in his large one, and she gave him a squeeze in thanks.
“I’m Detective Margolis. I understand you already know Officer Kilpatrick?”
Riley nodded, immediately regretting it. “Hi, Mike.”
He glanced at her hand entwined in Cody’s. “Hey. How’s the head?”
“Feels like it’s twice the size it should be and hurts like crazy.”
“You scared us, Riley. What do you remember?”
“Not a thing. I still don’t know what happened.”
The detective put his little notepad back into his pocket. “We know very little. We found a rock not far from you that had blood on it. We’ve sent it to the lab to see if it’s yours, and fully expect that to be the case. It appears someone came up behind you and hit you on the head with it.”
“Why?”
“I understand someone’s poisoning pets under your care? We think it’s related to that. Who would want to harm you, Dr.Austin?”
She couldn’t think of a soul. “I don’t know.”
“Mr.Roberts mentioned while we were waiting to talk to you that there was an earlier incident. He believes someone tried to run you over.” The detective raised a brow as if asking why she hadn’t volunteered that information.
“That could have been a driver not paying attention to the road.” God, she wanted to believe that. All three men exchanged glances, which irritated the hell out of her. “Stop looking at each other like that. In fact, go away. All of you.”
“Not going anywhere, darlin’,” Cody said, and although she wouldn’t admit it, she was relieved that he wasn’t an easy man to run off.
With instructions to try and come up with names, the detective left. Mike leaned down and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “Take care, Riley. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” After he walked away, she glanced at Cody, who was glaring at Mike’s back. “He’s just a friend.”
“One who feels free to kiss you?”
She laughed. “God, my head hurts. Don’t make me laugh. Friends do give innocent kisses, you know.”
“I don’t want to talk about him.” Still holding her hand, he toed the chair up to the bed and sat. “Christ, Riley, when I saw you facedown on the pavement, my heart stopped.”
“I’m sorry, but mostly I’m sorry for missing last night. I was looking forward to it, you know.”
“Hush, darlin’. Concentrate on getting better so you can get out of here. There’ll be plenty of nights for us.”
“Okay. I’m tired.”
He brushed his fingers softly down her eyelids, closing them. “Sleep. I’ll watch over you.”
