22
Rob
Naomi wavedmy hand away from the radio knob. "I don't care if it's your car. It's still driver'schoice."
"You love this sappy Irish guy, huh?" I cocked my head at Naomi,smiling.
"Cailim Reid's not sappy!" Naomi sounded exasperated, but it was playful. I knew damn well who this singer was now; I was already thinking about flying to Naomi to California to catch Reid’scurrenttour.
I checked my cell phone and realized I had several missed calls from Liam. I sat forward, anxious, pressing the phone to my ear. Naomi turned down the tree-lined drive. In front of us spread the expansive house, and it looked like every light in the house was on. Instead of seeming homey and welcoming, the sight made my stomach drop indread.
Liam was already running out to the car as Naomi pulled to a stop. I threw open my door at the same time as my brother's voice in the phone message rose in my ear:Where are you? Dad's in the hospital. Someone put him in acoma,Rob.
My grandmother was right behind him. Those steely blue eyes of hers met mine, and then they flooded with tears. I closed my arms around her, hugging her tight. She felt small and failjustthen.
“I’ll take care of it,” Ipromisedher.
Whatever thatmeant.
* * *
Just over an hour later,we slammed our car doors shut in the late-night gloom of the Boston General Hospital parking lot. Liam strode across the parking lot, without waiting for me and Naomi. He called back over his shoulder, “I’ll get Dad’s roomassignment.”
He’d been straight-spined and anxious on the way there, his leg bobbing against the back of my seat until I wanted to strangle him. Maybe I was a little on edgehimself.
"Are you sure you want me to come in?" Naomi murmured to me as Liam disappeared amongst the parked cars. "That you don't wantprivacy?"
"Had enough of me?" It was the same thing she'd asked before even coming with Liam and me to see Mitch. I couldn't stand the thought of being away from her, not knowing where she was and if she was safe, after Mitch had been attacked. I knew that my father's coma probably had no bearing on Naomi's life and well-being, but this incident still had ignited a spark of anxiety. I wondered, too, if the carjacking had been the simple armed robbery it had seemed to be. It seemed strangely coincidental that there was so much violence exploding in the orbit of the Delaneyfamily.
"Well," she said. "I was trying not to be thatblunt,but..."
I wrapped my hands around her waist suddenly, pulling her forward so quickly that she let out a small laugh of surprise as her hands settled onto my broadshoulders.
"Watch yourself, missy," I growled, before pressing a quick kiss to her lips. Her soft mouth parted against mine, and no matter how worried I was, I wanted to stop and ravish her there in the parking lot. My desire blossomed as we stood wrapped in each other in the middle of a concreteparkinglot.
She pulled away to murmur, "I see how it is. You kiss me to make meshutup."
Naomi was looking up at me curiously. I wondered what it was she was thinking about. As much as I wanted to know what made Naomi tick, what thoughts ran through her mind, I wasn't up to exploring that question before I had to face my father's unconscious body. So I gently rubbed her shoulders, looking into those concerned golden-browneyes.
"I don't mind having you there," I said. "I don't mind letting you into any part of my life, Naomi. But it probably wouldn't be much fun for you. Do you want to hang out in the Starbucks with your Kindle? Someplace nice andpublic?"
"Are you ever going to relaxagain?"
"Probably not, no." I touched the small of her back as we walked towards the hospital, enjoying the small familiarity, the way the curve of her spine met her ass. "I wasn't the most laidback person to begin with, according to mybrothers."
The other Delaney brothers were converging in the face of recent events, as soon as they could get military leave, coming home to a place none of us considered home anymore. Nicky was in Afghanistan at the moment; I wasn’t sure if he would make it home or not. I hoped Mitch didn’t die while he was on foreign soil. The thought of how that would tear Nicky apart made meanxious.
I saw Naomi settled into a chair in the 24-hour Starbucks with a latte. She looked up at me with a mix of concern and teasing, rolling the paper cup between her palms. "I'll be right here if you need me. Don'tworry."
I leaned close to her, breathing in the citrus-and-vanilla scents of her perfume, to press my lips against her irresistible cheekbone. Her hand fell against my neck, a warm and comforting weight. I wanted to say something to her, to tell her how much it meant that she was there when Ineededher.
Instead, I gave her one last kiss and turned and left. I met Liam in the lobby, which was an enormous bubble of ash-colored wood. Pale light, the first blush of dawn, trickled in through skylights highabove.
Liam was typing busily on his phone. When I reached his side, he loped towards the elevators without looking up. I felt myself quirk an eyebrow involuntarily, but IfollowedLiam.
Mitch had a private suite on the fifth floor. Liam entered the dimly-lit, quiet room without knocking. To my surprise, the room wasempty.
"Where's security?" I demanded. "Someone put Mitch in a coma and there are nopolicehere?"
