Wild Hearts

by Reina Torres

  Crois bristled a little when the detective leaned closer to him to look at his nose.

  “Think you broke it again?”

  Her partner barely managed to hold back whatever words were on the tip of his tongue. “I’m fine.”

  Pilar knew what was coming next. Walker moved closer to her but didn’t come as close as he had with Crois. He was all too aware of the visual he’d create coming too close to her even for a cursory inspection. “I’m going to bruise, but it doesn’t hurt.”

  “Now,” Walker amended. “It doesn’t hurt now, but you know what your sergeant is going to say.”

  She did. And she knew that Walker’s next call on the radio was going to be to her sergeant, Kate Turner.

  “Ashley to Turner.”

  “Turner here.”

  “St. Cyr took a shot to the nose. Bravo is going to have a winner of a bruise, maybe a black eye.”

  “Suspect?”

  Pilar heard her sergeant’s flat tone and knew it for what it was, all business. Likely she was already picking her keys up off her desk and heading for the door as Detective Ashley filled her in. The suspect, Pilar knew, probably didn’t have a mark on him. His clothes were thick enough to keep him from any ‘rash’ from the ground, and they hadn’t laid a hand on him except to cuff him and bring him under control.

  “Hey, Crois!”

  Pilar didn’t make a move as Officer Burke Pelton jogged over to them. Burke was a fairly good cop from what she’d seen, but he could be a complete sexist asshole at the drop of a hat. And once it dropped, that hat stayed right where it was until someone picked it up.

  Pelton lifted his chin in the direction of their suspect. “That our guy?”

  Crois gestured between his chest and hers. “He’s our guy. You got the other one?”

  Giving Pilar a dismissive look, Pelton again addressed Crois. “We’ll transport him to the precinct and get them processed.”

  “Good idea.”

  Pelton turned toward the voice and Pilar was more than a little tickled to see the momentary widening of Pelton’s eyes when he realized that the detective was there.

  Walker continued. “I already put in a call to your sergeant and told her that Forty-two had the suspect in custody.”

  Pelton’s posture tightened at the words. “Yeah, of course.”

  The detective looked over Pelton’s shoulder at Pilar. “Why don’t you take him off of Officer Bravo’s hands.” He made sure to give each of them a look. “Good work, all of you.”

  Pelton turned to her then. He wasn’t all that much taller than she was, but he was thick in the chest which matched his head, so it didn’t bother her all that much on a daily basis.

  Still, when they had to interact, Pelton made it clear that he didn’t consider her on par with him. His partner, Matt Ford, on his own was fine, but since he was joined at the hip with Pelton when they were on the clock, she preferred to stay away from both of them.

  It wasn’t lost on her that Pelton made the effort to stare straight into her eyes as he took control of the suspect.

  He enjoyed every inch of their height difference, but she was just tired of his superiority complex. As he walked away, his hand gripping the suspect’s upper arm, she let out a sigh.

  “Thank goodness.”

  Crois laughed low. “He sucks.”

  She snorted at the thought. “Like a vacuum.”

  “A bottom feeder.” Crois leaned into her and they shared a smile before a corner of his mouth twisted in a wince. “You should get that looked at.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll get an ice pack at home later. We have paperwork to finish up at the precinct.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure Kate will let you take care of it later. Right now, you both need to head over to the ER at Cole.”

  Kate?

  Turning around toward the voice, Pilar was momentarily stunned. Standing beside Walker Ashley was a man who could only be his brother.

  Sure, she’d heard talk that they looked like twins, but beyond their wicked good looks all she could see were the differences between them.

  Where Walker had a dark edge that she couldn’t put her finger on, his brother was like a summer day in Texas, all-encompassing heat.

  Clean shaven, his skin looked utterly touchable, and while he was dressed in a t-shirt and loose basketball shorts, she had no problem distinguishing the gorgeous body beneath the casual clothing.

  “I,” she struggled to find the words that she’d said all too often, “I’m fine.”

  “Sounds like someone else I know who wears a badge.” He cast his brother a look that earned him a dark look from Walker. “But seriously, I’m going to insist that you both get looked at.”

  Pilar could already see Crois’ hackles go up. He’d already made it clear to her and anyone in their squad who had ears that he knew his own body’s strengths and limitations. He wasn’t going to let anyone make him go into the ER until he wanted to.

  She reached out a hand and touched his arm. “You know the Sarge is going to insist.”

  Crois’ expression bordered on mutinous, but he didn’t shake her hand off so she counted that as a blessing. He might not like what she had to say but in the month that they’d been partnered together they’d developed a good relationship. They listened to each other and she counted herself lucky on that count. She could have been paired with Burke Pelton.

  “I’ll go with you.”

  She turned toward the voice and settled her eyes on Walker’s brother, narrowing her eyes at him. “Why?”

  Walker’s snort of laughter only put him in her crosshairs.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I keep forgetting you’re new.” The detective’s smile deepened as his head tilted toward his brother. “Roan here’s an ER doc at Cole. And he’s just about to start his shift.”

  2

  Roan wasn’t expecting to cause any kind of commotion. He’d been on the floor without his scrubs before. Almost a year before, after a major pile-up on the highway, he walked into the middle of hell, clipped his badge onto a coat that someone had tossed to him and worked triage in the lobby. Once they’d worked their way through everyone there, only then had he gone into the locker room and changed into his scrubs.

  He’d already sent Officer St. Cyr to Imaging and the look of barely contained mutiny on the man’s face was something he’d remember for a while. If he hadn’t been with his partner, Roan wasn’t sure exactly how the officer would have reacted. Probably a straight-forward middle finger salute. Maybe something a little more vocal.

  But it was the other officer who had gotten him to go with the technician even though he’d refused to use the wheelchair. That was where St. Cyr had drawn the line.

  Just after that, he’d been pulled away to answer a phone call on a patient he’d seen the day before. Stepping back into the exam area he was almost relieved to see his sister standing beside Officer Bravo.

  “Hello, Kate. You checking up on me?”

  The inelegant snort of laughter from Sergeant Kate Turner was too much like Walker’s for his peace of mind. Then again, even though Kate was their step-sister, she’d felt like family from the first moment they’d met her, her father had been another matter, but to hear her tell it, her father had that effect on everyone.

  Kate was standing beside the exam table that Officer Bravo was perched on. Kate’s hand was settled on the officer’s shoulder and Roan had to wonder if it was a reassuring gesture, or if it was the only thing keeping the officer in the ER.

  “I’m here for my people, Strawberry. You’re the one who looks like you’re out of place.”

  He didn’t bother following her gaze when she looked down. She was always giving him shit. Good natured shit, but that’s what siblings were for, right?

  “If you’re going to undercut my authority, Sergeant Turner, I can have security escort you out.”

  Kate gave him a look that promised pain. “Try it.”

  Of
ficer Bravo straightened up a bit and cleared her throat. “Would you two like me to leave so the two of you could argue with each other in private?”

  Roan winced and reached a hand up to scratch at the back of his neck. “There goes my attempt at appearing professional.”

  Her laugh was unexpected.

  His reaction to it, even more distracting.

  It hit him harder than the last time his brother cheated at basketball, knocking the air out of him with a well-placed elbow.

  Having his oh-so-observant sister standing there, watching him, didn’t make it easier.

  Officer Bravo nailed him with a look. “Oh, you don’t have to worry. It sounds like the crap my brother gave me when we bumped into each other around San Antonio.”

  Kate caught his attention when her smile took on a Cheshire-look. “You’ll love this, little brother, Pilar’s big brother is a Special Agent with the FBI.”

  Dropping his hand down to the foot of the exam table he shook his head. “Wow, you have me beat,” he told Officer Bravo. “You’ve got a better brother than I have a sister.”

  Before Kate could even take a step in his direction, he was on the other side of the table.

  “You’re a pain in the ass, little brother.”

  “And you know I love you, Kate. More than Walker, even.”

  He watched his sister share a look with the officer. The two women chuckled for a moment before the curtain was drawn aside by one of the floor nurses.

  “Uh, Doctor Ashley? Imaging called.”

  Kate groaned. “Is it Crois?”

  The nurse winced. “The officer? He’s not willing to set his pistol down outside the Xray room. We offered him a locker, but he’s-”

  “Bullheaded and completely annoying?” Kate shook her head. “Take me down there and I’ll hold onto his pistol so the big baby can have his picture taken.” She gave Officer Bravo a conspiratory look. “I’m not worried about you.”

  Roan scoffed at her cautionary glare. “What?”

  As she walked past him, she pointed a finger at his nose. “You be good.”

  He laughed. “Aren’t I always?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I guess it doesn’t matter. If you act anything like Crois, I’m giving Pilar permission to take you down to the floor. And she will, you know? Best grappler I’ve seen in a while.”

  Roan turned to watch his sister walk away. He didn’t put it past her not to duck back in and give him a quick jab in his kidneys, or tickle him until he cried Uncle.

  That wouldn’t help him at all.

  When he heard her distinctive boot falls turn the corner toward Imaging, he turned back around and tried to salvage at least a shred of his masculinity.

  Picking up the chart that was at the end of the table, he looked over the intake paperwork.

  After he looked at all of the medically pertinent information, he took a look at a few of the lines that didn’t have anything to do with her health and a lot to do with his curiosity.

  Most importantly the answer that read: Single.

  Good to know.

  He met her gaze and let his years of medical training kick in.

  The chart was set aside and he took a couple of steps to stand just shy of her knees. “That was some take down, today.”

  She shrugged. “It’s the job.”

  “I hope you don’t have to do that too often.”

  He pulled on a new pair of gloves and fixed his gaze on the curve of her cheek. There was already a hint of a bruise showing on her skin.

  Focus.

  He touched his fingers gently to the back of her jaw, just under her ears on both sides of her face. “I saw the hit you took, so I want to make sure those cuffs didn’t do any damage to the bone.”

  Before he could touch his thumb to her skin, she grinned at him. “If you ask my brother, Vicente, he’d tell you my head is too hard for that.”

  Roan couldn’t help but smile at the warmth in her voice when she talked about her brother.

  “That might be true,” he acknowledged, “but I’d rather be sure of it before my sister kicks my ass.”

  Clearing her throat, she sat up a little straighter on the table. “Even sitting up here, I’m still hellishly short.”

  He shook his head. “Nothing wrong with how tall you are.” It didn’t escape his notice that his words were the absolute truth. Standing before her earlier, he was more than aware of how tall she was and how, if he were put his arms around her, her cheek would have rested right over his heart.

  Those images were suddenly back in his head and he had to swallow hard to clear his throat to speak. “Now, let me know if this hurts.” He gently touched his thumbs under her eyes near her nose, and slowly worked his way outward toward her ears. “I just need to make sure that we don’t need to-”

  She hissed in a breath through her teeth, but she didn’t say a word.

  Roan paused and gave her a stern look. “You’re supposed to tell me when it hurts.”

  Her eyes widened a little and then she gave him a hesitant smile. “The hiss wasn’t enough for you?”

  The urge to lean in and kiss her slammed into him and all he could do was hold onto her until he got himself under control. When he did, he nodded. “Yeah. I guess it should have been. Sorry.”

  She started to shake her head and stopped. He continued with his examination, gently probing the area on both sides of her face, feeling for any differences between the two.

  Nothing that he could feel.

  “Well, Officer Bravo…” He lowered his hands and took a step back to put some distance between them. “I guess you can tell your brother that your head is still as strong as it ever was.”

  “He’ll be glad to hear that.” She lifted her hand and brushed a stray hair out of her face. “He had a few choice words to say when I moved up here from San Antonio.”

  “I take it that he’s pretty protective?”

  “He’s the eldest in our family, and he’s got that whole Alpha male, almost caveman thing going on. I, for one, was thrilled when he finally found a woman who could tame the beast. I give Sloane huge credit for putting up with the machismo of my big brother.”

  “I bet you’re just as protective of him.”

  She shrugged off the suggestion, but he could see the bright light in her eyes. “I tried to keep him out of trouble from time to time, but big brothers-”

  “… and big sisters,” he added, “are pretty awesome to have.”

  She nodded. “But I’ll deny it if you say that in front of my brother.”

  The words were just that, words. A simple turn of a phrase.

  But the idea of having this conversation, or any conversation at all, in front of her brother should have terrified him.

  It didn’t.

  And that terrified him.

  “So, what-”

  The curtain pulled back with a hard yank and Kate appeared, pushing Crois in a wheelchair. “So, Doctor Ashley,” Kate gave him a pointed look, “what’s the diagnosis? Do I need to wheel my girl here down to Imaging too?”

  It took him a moment to drag his gaze over to his sister, but when he did, he tried to school his features so that Kate wouldn’t know that she’d interrupted… What had she interrupted?

  “Roan?” Kate’s tone was a little hesitant, worried.

  “She’s good to go. I just need to wait and get the reading of the x-ray before I can release them both.”

  Kate nodded and smiled at him. “You want to go and change into your scrubs while we’re waiting?”

  He stepped back and looked down at his clothing for a moment. “I’ll change before my shift.”

  Crois looked up at him, his expression tinged with suspicion. “If you’re not on shift, what are you doing seeing patients?”

  “Dial it back, Crois.” Officer Bravo hopped off of the exam table and gave him a smile. “Doctor Ashley is probably just doing the other doctors a favor by taking care of you. No one wants to deal with your
kind of grumpy.”

  “Except you,” he shot back.

  A page sounded from the overhead speakers.

  Dr. Ashley – contact Dr. Yardley in Imaging. Dr. Ashley – contact Dr. Yardley in Imaging.

  Roan gave the officer scrunched into the wheelchair a hopeful look. “Let’s hope that it’s your results and I’ll be able to let you go.”

  “Or,” Kate interjected, “that’s Dr. Yardley calling to tell him you’re banned from the hospital for bad behavior.”

  Crois leaned back in the wheelchair and stretched out his legs. “Fine by me. Either way, I’m out of here.”

  Roan stepped out of the exam area but stopped when he heard Officer Bravo speak.

  “Doctor Ashley?”

  Smiling, he looked back at her. “You can call me Roan.”

  “Roan.” Her smile deepened a little and her eyes widened a little. “Thanks for taking care of us.”

  “My sister would have kicked my ass if I didn’t, but you’re more than welcome, Officer Bravo.”

  “Pilar,” she corrected him with a little nod before she backed away to let him go. “You can call me Pilar.”

  Back at the Station, sitting at one of the desks, Pilar Bravo called up a new report on the CCPD system to type up the incident report from that afternoon. It hadn’t taken all that long at the hospital, but to hear Crois talk about it, it was like the inquisition with torture devices.

  She’d worked with him long enough to know it was all bluster. Crois didn’t like being told what to do, which was an interesting quirk given his chosen vocation. Still, on the street, there was no one else she wanted at her side. He was rock steady as a partner, mostly. She smiled as he groaned at the spell-check warning that had just popped up on his screen.

  They’d already hashed out how he’d taken off ahead of her on the playground. She hadn’t been upset that he’d done it. She just wanted him to tell her he was going to do it.

  Psychic powers weren’t part of her natural gifts, no matter how much she wished for them.

  They would certainly come in handy when she made detective. Being able to read a suspect’s thoughts when you were about to question them would be the best thing ever!