“Can you at least wait until eight, when my shift starts? And maybe not mention the unlocked car?”
Logan sighed, taking off his hat and resettling it. “I was going to ask you to take the night off, but I can see that’s pointless.” Shelby crossed her arms. “No wonder you and Gina are thick as thieves. All right, I’ll give you until eight, but lady, if you think something as insignificant as a shift will stop a Tucker, all I can say is this is about to become one of the most interesting courtings in Sweet Plains’s history.”
The maternity floor had been busy all morning. Every time someone dressed in anything remotely scrub-looking entered the waiting room, Cody stood. Being around a bunch of pregnant women would be enough to set a man on edge, but this morning he’d spent most of his time wondering what Shelby had looked like when she was pregnant. She was so small. He couldn’t imagine her stomach growing to the size of a beach ball. Had her boobs grown too? They were damn near perfect as they were but, God, he wanted to know.
A nurse walked his way, not Shelby. She was leggy, all curves, and looked like a high-end escort—just in green scrubs. And she was walking straight for him. Cody looked behind him. No one. Yup, he was her target.
“Hey, Cody,” she said, extending her hand. She looked at him as if he should know her.
Cody took her proffered greeting. It wasn’t until she smiled that he actually placed her face. She’d served the other night at The B-Cubed. Switching out the big hair and micro-mini for a ponytail and baggy scrubs, she took on a youthful, almost innocent appearance. “Hey, um . . .”
“Faith.” Silence. “Faith Loren.” Crickets chirped. “We went to school together. Well, you were a few years ahead of me. I used to hang out with Beau.”
Cody wondered what “hang out” implied. Back in school, Beau had been the playboy. Still was. And with a woman who looked like her, Cody imagined they hadn’t talked about homework and college picks.
Cody took in her work gear again. Confused by the scrubs, he asked, “You work for Mrs. McKinney, right?”
“On the weekends. During the week I’m a medical assistant to Dr. Morgan. But sometimes they float me to the ER and I get to work with Shelby.”
Did Shelby know he was here? He hoped not. After Logan had come to his place last night, his first instinct was to shake the sheriff so hard his teeth fell out for not telling him sooner, then jump in the truck and drag Shelby home. But JT had been asleep upstairs. And Shelby would be pissed. So he paced, considered waking the boy and dragging him to the hospital. They had to have a spare bed, right?
By about his hundredth lap of the house he’d calmed down enough to admit that she was safe at work, and his showing up would be a bad move. She’d done a damn fine job up to now of taking care of JT and herself, and no matter how hard it was to stay put, Cody needed to show that he had confidence in her ability to handle things.
So he sat on the porch, gun in hand, waiting for the sun to freaking rise. About a quarter to five, he caught Luella sneaking in the back door with enough cartons of buttermilk to start her own buttery, and bribed her. He told her he’d drop the firing business if she promised to watch JT. In the two seconds it took to get her to agree, Cody was already in his truck, speeding over to the clinic.
Where he’d spent the last four hours pacing a new patch of floor.
“Do you want me to let her know you’re here? I mean, is everything all right? Is Jake okay?”
“What?” He hadn’t considered that would be the reaction when he came. He didn’t want to scare Shelby more. “No. I mean, yes, JT’s fine. But no, I don’t want to interrupt her shift. I’ll just wait here if that’s okay.”
“Suit yourself, but if you’re hoping to catch her, she got off a few minutes ago and last I saw she was headed toward the staff exit.”
Shit
. “Where would that be?”
“Bottom floor, back of the building. It leads to the employee parking lot.”
“Thanks.” Cody practically raced through the clinic, dodging a pregnant woman with a stroller, a nurse, damn near toppling over a man on a gurney, and three orderlies. Too impatient to wait for the elevator, he opted for the stairs, taking them three at a time. He’d just hit the bottom floor and was making his way to the back of the building when his phone rang.
Digging into his pocket, he pulled it out. Shelby’s number. He stopped. It was frustrating how this one tiny bit of a woman could take him from focused to an emotional mess after just one night in his bed. Even more frustrating was that he couldn’t seem to stop himself.
Everything in Cody’s life had order, made sense—except for Shelby. Worst part was, he knew exactly where all of this led. And he still wasn’t able to change course.
“Hey there,” he said, forcing a relaxed breeze into his tone.
“Thank God you answered.”
She was panicked and scared and Cody found himself running again.
“Where are you?”
“I was going to my car when I saw someone inside of it.”
Every emotion that Cody had tried to bury came rushing to the surface. And he began to doubt every decision he’d ever made. “Shelby Lynn, are you at your car?”
“No, I think they saw me and I’m headed back to the building.”
They?
“Good, honey. Come back inside.” Without slowing down, Cody shoved through the metal door to the parking lot. Heat slammed his body as he exited the stairwell and rounded the side of the building and got an armful of Shelby.
Screaming, she flailed her arms in a vain attempt to get loose. Cody steadied her and then cupped her face so she would look at him, see that she was safe. Her eyes were wide and terrified.
“Hey, it’s just me,” he said, struggling to sound calm, unthreatening. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, though he wasn’t sure she understood him or even saw that it was him. In fact, he was certain she couldn’t see anything because she was crying.
“It’s all right, Shelby Lynn, I’ve got you.”
Shelby would have liked a few moments to regain her composure, but when he used her name and said it like
that
, all sweet and hoarse and like he loved her, she lost it. Her arms clamped around his waist and she pressed her face into his chest.
It wasn’t until he asked again if she was all right that she realized she must not have answered. For all she knew he’d been carrying on a full, one-sided conversation. She couldn’t hear a thing over the pounding in her ears.
“I’m fine, a little shaken.” That was a whopper of a lie. She had never been so scared in all her life. In fact, she was a little afraid she might throw up all over him.
Cody kissed the top of her head, his hand smoothing her hair. When she started to calm down a little, and her heart wasn’t attempting to slam through her chest, she noticed that Cody was doing a little shaking of his own.
“I need to go check out your car. Will you be okay here?”
Shelby shook her head. “I’m sure they’re gone already.”
“Did you see who it was?”
“Just that there were two men in my car and one had on a dark shirt and hat. I couldn’t make anything else out.”
Even though they’d looked right at her. Right. At. Her. And she couldn’t remember a dang thing. All that she could focus on was that there was someone, ten feet from her, breaking into her car and everything that Preston had ever called her echoed in her head. She was weak, pathetic, stupid, not worthy. And she ran.
“Honey, I need a minute to check it out. They still might be there.”
And they might have a gun. No way. She shook her head again, wrapping her arms so tight around his middle that he would have to drag her body with him. “There were
two
of them, Cody. Two. Plus there’s nothing in there really worth anything.”
“Their stealing something is the least of my worries. They could be—”
“I said no. It’s not worth it to me. Call Logan.”
Cody let go a frustrated grunt, but gently anchored her to his side and scrolled through his cell.
“Logan,” Cody snapped. “Need you to come out to the employee parking lot behind the clinic.” Shelby could make out a low, masculine muffle from the other end. “Yeah, broke into her car.” There was a long pause. “What the hell do you mean, again?” Another pause. “Forget it, just get here.”
Cody dropped the phone into his back pocket and steered Shelby back through the doors and into the hospital corridor, lowering her to an empty bench. The chilled air felt cold on her flesh, which was the reason for her shaking, she told herself. Cody squatted in front of her and she closed her eyes.
“Look at me.”
She shook her head, squeezing her eyes tighter. Childish? Maybe, but she had been pretty stunned when he’d agreed to let her drive herself to work yesterday. He hadn’t even put up a fight. And then she blew it by keeping the first breakin from him, and to top it off asked his friend to keep it from him. Plus, she’d almost let herself believe he’d sent that message.
Of course, at the time it seemed like reasonable behavior. Now, seeing it from his point of view, her reasons seemed silly and selfish. He’d been honest about what was going on at the house and around the ranch, but she hadn’t listened. And seeing him shaking earlier, over her, she knew there was no way he’d sent that text.
“Shelby Lynn, open your eyes.” He didn’t sound mad. Then again she was also really upset and was having a hard time deciphering what was going on.
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“Because I know you’re mad.” Eyes still tight. “I should have listened to you and let you drive me to work, but I was being stubborn, wanting to prove that I could handle this.”
He didn’t answer. Just pressed his mouth to hers.
His lips were heaven. Soft and gentle and moving in the way a man’s lips moved when they were expressing love. She wobbled on the bench, her world shifting so quickly that she grabbed his shoulders to steady herself before she wound up on the floor. Holy cow, restrained or not, the man could kiss.
Cody pulled back. “Does that feel like I’m mad?” Shelby shook her head. As for the concept of answering his question, she could barely breathe, so speaking wasn’t even close to being an option.
“And you handled things just fine. I couldn’t be more impressed by what you’ve accomplished or how you’ve raised our son.”
Shelby opened her eyes. And—
pow
—what she saw there rocked her world. Cody wasn’t telling her she’d screwed everything up. He wasn’t even mad. No, he was proud. Of her.
“And you driving to work, we thought it was a safe bet; it wasn’t, so you went for help. It’s exactly what I would have done in your situation. Does that mean I’m over it?” He kissed her. “Not even close. And am I going to drag you home and hold you in my arms all day until I stop hearing the panic in your voice? Damn straight.”
“Naked?” She wiggled an eyebrow, still shaken but trying to lighten the mood.
“That can be arranged,” he said, nibbling her lip. Then another tremor shook her body and Cody pulled her to him. He probably thought it was leftover nerves from finding two men in her car, and she figured she’d just let him go on thinking that. Too bad her eyes were watering.
Shoes sounded on the tile behind them and Cody pulled back—too fast. Then he straightened his shirt and cleared his throat, standing as if they hadn’t been making out in the halls. Shelby suddenly felt silly and didn’t know what to do with her hands or her—anything.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Faith stood a few feet away, looking uncomfortable for interrupting, but too concerned to do otherwise. “I just wanted to make sure you found Shelby because you seemed upset earlier and then the sheriff just pulled up, lights and sirens flashing, the whole protect and serve in full effect.”
Play-it-cool Cody was replaced by a frowning Cody, and not an aw-shucks-I’m-disappointed frown. No, he was good and mad. The second Shelby peered around an older couple headed toward the pharmacy, and spotted the sheriff headed their way with Mister and Ms. Luella in tow, she knew why.
“Dammit, Lulu,” Cody barked out.
“Watch your mouth, young man,” Luella snapped, waving what appeared to be . . . a short wooden stick?
“Where the hell’s JT?”
Jake? In the chaos, Shelby hadn’t stopped to wonder that if Cody was here, where was her son?
“Hey, Cody.” Jake steeped out from behind Ms. Luella’s skirt, looking busted.
Cody, on the other hand, looked pale and pissed all at the same time. “What happened to keeping an eye on him?”
“He’s right here, ain’t he?”
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Shelby asked.
“It seems your perp is more of a perpetual pain in my ass,” Logan said, hands still on the scruff of Ms. Luella’s blouse.
“Watch your language, there’s ladies present,” Mister scolded, taking off his dark blue cap and wrapping an arm around Ms. Luella.
“I wouldn’t push me, Mister, not today,” Logan said. “Especially since I’m betting there’s a Slim Jim in your truck that has powder-blue paint on it.”
“Now, it wasn’t his fault,” Ms. Luella chided. “I needed to talk to Shelby. It was an emergency. So JT and I came down here to wait. Then it got hot standing out there in that sun, with her taking her sweet time getting off.” Ms. Luella looked at Shelby like this was all somehow her fault, then back to Logan. “So, I called Mister and had him get me into her car. He tried to talk me out of it, but you know how I can get when my mind is set.”
“Why didn’t you just wait in here? Where the A/C is set to arctic?” Cody asked.
“That’s what I done told her,” Mister said, instantly losing all of his bluster when Ms. Luella shot him a look.
“And if I’d have done that I might have missed her. Plus, I knew if you”—she said, then glared at Cody—“saw me here, you’d take back your promise and I’d be out of a job.”
“Well, that’s still a very real possibility.”
“Wait.” Shelby took a step forward. This was too much. “
You
broke into my car? Good Lord, Luella, I thought it was some criminal. You scared me to death.”
“I didn’t break into your car, I was borrowing shade. And
that woman
is the criminal.” Shelby didn’t have to guess who
that woman
was, especially with Ms. Luella jerking her wooden stick back and forth. “She broke into my house and destroyed my lucky spoon, all in the cover of night.”