All of her original impressions of him had been wrong—other than the one about him having to know his way around the bedroom—he wasn’t like Logan Lanning or her father at all.
He was more like Rafe and Caine, Jake, and Turner where it counted.
She slipped her arms around his waist. Izzie leaned up and kissed him. Wanting to comfort.
To be there because he needed her.
93
Izzie had spent the rest of her night off in his bed. Neither had gotten much sleep. She’d made a point of going home before he headed in for his own shift. He’d wanted her to stay, the rest of the day and until she had to go in the next night. He’d wanted to her drive her himself.
She’d declined his offer.
Izzie hated the idea of being the center of gossip. A leftover from the stories she’d told him about how she had been mocked as a child.
He understood her reasoning for it—he was still being paired up with various women in the hospital grapevine, even if he hadn’t ever spoken to the women in question.
He wanted to shout as loudly as he could that the only woman he wanted to be gossiped about with was Izadora MacNamara. For the rest of his life.
How to get that through to her was most likely going to be the biggest challenge of his life.
He had a dozen meetings throughout the day, ending with one with Rafe when both should have been home preparing for bed.
Fifteen minutes later, he was making his opinion clear. “No. I won’t have him here.”
“We don’t have much choice. The board has already voted, and Carrington is pushing for it. All of this was decided while you were otherwise occupied.”
Allen leaned forward. “There’s something you don’t know.”
Rafe looked at him. “What?”
“He’s Izzie’s father.” Rafe let out a string of swear words Allen had to admire. “The last thing I want is him anywhere near my department. Near this hospital. Or her.”
“That’s going to be a problem for her?” Rafe asked. “Because I know you can handle it. But she’s been through enough. I’d hate FCGH to lose her.”
“It’ll be a problem for her. He abandoned her, Rafe. Now she thinks every male physician is exactly the same.”
“You’re going to have to show her that you’re different.”
“Having him in her face—that’s going to be a massive reminder of everything she fears will happen with me.”
“They never said the road to true love was easy. Sometimes…sometimes, you have to leap out a window while the building around you burns.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Anytime.”
“We stuck with him?”
“It looks that way.” Rafe sent him a cold smile. “Until our favorite little owner of the hospital manages to run him off as soon as she possibly can. Which is exactly what I am counting on.”
Allen nodded as that sank in. Nikkie Jean wasn’t going to be too happy about this. Not at all. “It’s going to be a little crazy around here for a while. I’ll…tell Izzie myself. See what she wants to do. Their paths never have to cross. I’m prepared to make sure that never happens.”
“When is it never not crazy around FCGH?”
“No kidding. I’m going to go find her myself.”
“Good luck. I think you’re going to need it.” Rafe hesitated a moment. “That position as assistant COM? I mean it. Fin doesn’t want it—and I want you to fill it. I’m not offering it to anyone else any time soon.”
He nodded. He’d deal with his career later. Now…his focus was entirely on the woman he wanted to be his world.
94
Allen caught her just as she stepped out of the rear entrance to the break room.
“I get off in about fifteen,” she said softly. She looked a little shaky. Allen wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her. “What’s going on?”
“We need to talk. I just finished with Rafe and the board.”
She’d heard from the grapevine that he and Rafe and Fin and Nikkie Jean had been stuck in board meetings all day in regard to whatever surgeon they’d chosen to replace Henedy. She’d been called in to work a half shift before her regular shift began. Their schedules had finally overlapped, even a little, but this was the first she’d seen him since he’d left for the hospital that morning. She still had a full shift to work, plus four hours at W4HAV to help Mel plan the next benefit dinner.
Allen hadn’t been happy; she’d heard that. Apparently, the surgeon was someone he and Rafe had both known in med school and not liked.
The board had already made the offer and signed the contracts.
It was not going to be pretty.
“What does this have to do with me?” He had his fingers wrapped around her wrist and was pulling her down the hall, heedless of who might see. “Allen? You’re starting to concern me.”
“In here.” He pulled her into 403, which was currently empty as of an hour ago.
“Tell me.”
His hands cupped her cheeks. There was concern in his eyes. Izzie’s breath caught. “The surgeon’s your father. He came highly recommended to Jordan Carrington personally. I wanted to make certain you heard it from me.”
Izzie felt sick as the words sank in, as her knees practically gave out.
Then she forced her spine to straighten, forced herself to take in a deep breath, and face this. To put it into perspective.
This was not the worst thing she had ever faced. Far from it. At one time, maybe. She’d had fantasies of him walking into her school or work and realizing that he should have stuck it out. Or at least stuck around for her.
Those had been childish dreams long put away.
“Well. This sucks.”
“I know.” His hands slipped around her waist and she let him pull her against his strong hard chest. She pressed her cheek to his shirt, right over his heartbeat. “I’m sorry. I argued against it. Rafe did as well. The contract is ironclad, and Nikkie Jean’s father isn’t budging. Apparently, they’ve known each other for years professionally. He comes highly recommended.”
“I’m sure he does.” All the letters he’d sent from the time she’d been eight until they’d stopped after her mother’s death flashed through her head. Cold, stilted. Clinical.
He hadn’t cared about her. Not one bit. Otherwise, he never would have left her with her mother.
“Well, I’m not going to care about him being here. I gave up on him long ago. Let him have the position. I work thirds now. Not like I’ll have to interact with him often at all. We don’t even have the same last name; I don’t even have to tell people who he is to me at all.”
“I’ll personally coordinate schedules with Wanda.”
“With me. I make the schedules, remember?”
He nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You can do this.”
“I can. Worse things have happened to me, and I’ve been perfectly fine.”
“Exactly. Now…” He shot her a heated look. “Give me a kiss. I need it after all I’ve been through today.”
“I’m on the clock.”
“You’re coming home with me when you’re finished, I’m off tomorrow, and we’re going to figure this out. Together.”
“I rather like the sound of that. I have a four-hour shift at W4HAV. Then I’ll sleep. You can pick me up after your shift ends. Why does this bother you so badly?” She deliberately stepped away from him. Before she did something stupid, like kissed him while on the clock. She wasn’t the kind of woman who did that. Maybe. He could tempt her to break her own rules in a heartbeat. “He’s my father.”
“Exactly. He hurt you. I’ll never forgive him for that, because of you.”
She let him walk her back to the reception desk, where she was still womaning the phones for another few weeks. He looked at her once. “I have plans for you. Plans he won’t mess up. Don’t forget that.”
Izzie shivered. She couldn’t wait. She’d just forget about
her father. He was her past.
But Allen…she wanted Allen to be her future.
95
This time Jake was going to say screw it, stop by the hardware store and lumberyard, and get enough wood to build a boat. An ark. He wiped rain off his face as he reached the glass doors that led into the building where W4HAV was located. He’d grab Izzie and get home before the biggest surge of the storm hit. She had a habit of lingering with her friends; it had always driven him nuts. He wasn’t exactly the type to linger. Get in, get what you needed done, and get out.
He’d grab his favorite niece, take her to lunch somewhere, and then get the two of them home. They needed to talk.
She was getting serious about Jacobson, and that concerned him. He still didn’t trust that guy.
Someone else’s hand hit the door before his. Jake blinked the rain out of his eyes and looked at her.
It took him a moment to place her.
She’d been at the TSP after the tornado hit. She’d been doing search and rescue, but he didn’t think he’d ever caught her name.
Nor had he realized how hot she was that day. He’d had other things on his mind. Now…he felt like a tongue-tied idiot right now.
It was the eyes. Her eyes were the same color as the clouds building behind her. Ridiculous. But truth.
“E-excuse me.” She shot him a wary look. Her gaze dropped to the badge that was clipped on his belt. Her wariness tripled. She stepped back. That only pissed him off more. A lot of people reacted that way when they realized he was TSP.
Hell, he’d become a cop to help people, not frighten them away.
He took a closer look at her. It wasn’t a hardship. She was probably one of the most gorgeous women he had ever seen. Five nine or so and curved in all the right places. Stacked. Not model thin, but all woman through and through.
The eyes were bluer than he’d thought, more like the ocean before a storm. Golden brown hair hung down her back in a mad riot of curls that begged for a man to tangle his fingers in it. His own fingers curled as he imagined doing just that. Imagined taking her out of the conservative blouse and trousers and just… Jake reined himself in.
Hot. The woman was seriously hot.
”Excuse me, I didn’t see you there.” He waved a hand for her to go ahead of him into the building. She hesitated, then almost scurried inside in front of him. He didn’t really mind.
The back view was nice, too. He’s always loved women shaped like that.
He almost offered to buy her a cup of coffee down the street, but decided against it.
He didn’t have time for a woman like her. He wasn’t stupid—nor blind. The blouse she wore cost more than he probably made in a single day. This woman had money.
Lots of it.
She wouldn’t look twice at a cop like him. Jake knew that from experience. There’d been a woman a long time ago, right after Izzie had come to live with him that had made that fact very clear. The TSP didn’t pay all that well, and raising a traumatized teenager hadn’t been cheap. She hadn’t liked that.
He followed her at a discreet distance, curious to see where she was going. To his surprise, she took the last door on the right. W4HAV.
Jake immediately slowed down to give her time to get inside before stepping in behind her at a polite distance. He didn’t want to seem like he was following her. He wasn’t a creep like that. Most of the women he’d met involved with that charity were extra leery in general.
Izzie was inside; Jake focused on the woman he’d come for. “You want to grab something to eat?”
She looked at him, then smiled at the gorgeous goddess instead. “Hello, Shelby. I’m glad you’re early.”
“H-hello, Izzie. How are you today?” the goddess’s words were so quiet Jake strained to hear her. She was looking at Izzie like Izzie was a lifeline and she was drowning.
She kept shooting frightened little looks at Jake. He tried not to let it anger him. He didn’t want to scare her, damn it.
“I’m good. Shelby, this is my uncle, Detective Jake MacNamara. He’s one of the TSP detectives who keep an eye on the place. AKA, he’s always checking up on me and Annie. He works Major Crimes, here in the city.”
The woman almost flinched when she heard his name. His hackles rose. Something had happened to her. Either that, or she was involved in something up to her eyeballs and didn’t want to get caught. He’d seen it before.
Izzie continued, “Jake, this is Shelby Jacobson. Allen’s younger sister. She’s our newest here at W4HAV.”
“Yeah. Nice to meet you.” Of course, she’d be related to that prick Jacobson. He knew what that man was worth and knew exactly where the money had come from.
He knew all about the man’s younger sister, too. Now, he knew what she looked like. Jake was going to stay far, far away from a woman like her.
96
Izzie liked Shelby, and that liking just grew over the next week. Quite a bit. She didn’t say much at all; Allen had told her Shelby was still very self-conscious about the speech impediment she’d had since toddlerhood. She was more insecure than Izzie ever would have expected.
Not that it showed. Izzie suspected Shelby was very good at hiding it beneath a quiet, easygoing nature. But sometimes, Izzie saw exactly what Allen had meant.
Izzie didn’t force it. During that week, when Izzie had to work earlier evenings, Allen had somehow split his time between her and his sister.
He’d taken Shelby out for dinner twice during that time. Part of his quest to get his almost reclusive sister out of the house more often. He’d told her that he worried about Shelby retreating completely.
The rest of the time, he’d been with Izzie.
Izzie had only been home twice in that week. She and Oliver somehow found themselves at Allen’s on the nights Jake was gone.
Jake was full of questions about her relationship with Allen—and what Allen had told her about what he was involved with at the hospital around the time Logan had died. She’d finally gotten fed up with it and told him to ask Allen himself.
He’d asked her if she had slept with Allen. Izzie had stared at him, ready to throw something at his handsome head. She’d finally given in and tossed a couch pillow at him. He hadn’t liked her “What do you think, you ass?” reply.
Alone for days, in some of the most beautiful places on earth. With a man who cared about her. A man she cared about and was insanely attracted to.
She had slept with him. She would have been crazy stupid not to.
More than that, she had never wanted to be with a man the way she did Allen.
She’d told her uncle that, too.
Jake hadn’t liked that, but he could go shove it.
Jake could be such a butt when Izzie was involved with a man. Overprotective.
Izzie thought about both men as she helped Shelby put away the files they were reorganizing.
“C-can I ask you a question?”
Shelby only stuttered when she was worried or anxious. Izzie had noticed that. Shelby, a year or so older than Izzie, brought out her protective instincts just like Nikkie Jean had. Not only because of Allen. But because Shelby seemed to need it.
She was a kind, generous, and very sweet woman. Whereas Annie was quiet and reserved, Shelby was flat out shy.
It explained why Allen had seemed to favor Annie a bit when they’d worked in the ER before the tornado. With the light bluish eyes and the similar hair color and reserved manner, Annie most likely had reminded him of his baby sister.
“Of course.”
“You’re involved with my brother, aren’t you?’
Izzie froze. Other than Jake, Annie, and Nikkie Jean no one else knew about what was happening with her and Allen. Izzie had intended to keep it that way. For a while. They were both enjoying their privacy.
“Yes. But we’re keeping it quiet for now.”
“I-I thought so. Allen talks about you. All the time. He turns secretive when I ask him. He usually doesn’t do
that. But…he goes around smiling when he doesn’t realize it. Even more than he did before. Before Logan. He hasn’t smiled much since the day we lost him.”
“I am sorry that you lost him. I know he was a good friend to you.” To Shelby, Logan Lanning would always be a hero. Izzie was never going to say anything to take that away from her.
“I think Allen’s serious about you.”
“Oh?” The last thing she wanted to do was discuss her relationship with the man’s sister. Talk about awkward.
“After that horrible pharmacy woman, I was worried about him.” Shelby grabbed the files off the counter. Part of her job as the receptionist on duty was to file before her shift ended. Izzie was still training her on what the position entailed. W4HAV was mostly volunteer, but for those who ran the place, it was a commitment. Shelby had been hired into one of the five paid social-worker positions. Someone was on duty at W4HAV twenty-four hours a day. Shelby started across the room toward the large bank of filing cabinets. She stopped, then turned back to Izzie. “I love my brother more than anyone else on earth. I don’t want to see him hurt again. I love that he’s so happy. She hurt him so much I thought it would take him forever to recover. I’m not certain he has. He’s so lonely, Izzie. He doesn’t deserve to be. He’s the best man I know.”
Izzie’s heart melted. Shelby sounded so sincere. “He’s one of the best men I know, too. But it’s more than that. How I feel for him. Way more. He—”
Squealing tires, a loud crack she’d never mistake again, and shattering glass exploded around her. Izzie hit the floor instinctively as Shelby screamed. As Margo yelled their names from the back office and came running.
She curled up on the floor, terrified it was going to happen all over again.
It wasn’t until Margo yelled her name and that she needed help that Izzie was able to even look around again.
We All Sleep Alone Page 29
