THE SCHOOL-DAY ALARM had just gone off when Nick’s phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he saw Captain Malone’s name and nearly had a heart attack in the two seconds it took him to accept the call. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Sam’s been in a car accident.”
“How bad?”
“I don’t know yet.”
The fact that she hadn’t called him herself wasn’t a good sign. His hands began to tremble, and his legs would’ve given out if he hadn’t sat on the bed. “Where should I go?”
“They’ll take her to GW as soon as they can.”
“What aren’t you saying?”
“They’re extricating her from the car.”
“Oh my God. Tell me she’s alive.”
“The first Patrol officer on the scene was able to confirm that she’s alive but not conscious.”
“I’ll meet the ambulance at GW. Call me if you hear anything else. Anything, Captain.”
“I will. I’m sorry to have to call you with this, Nick.”
“I know.” Nick ended the call and ran for the bedroom door, throwing it open and surprising Melinda, the agent on duty in the hallway. “I need to get to GW E.R. right away. My wife has been in a car accident.”
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Vice President. I’ll let Brant know, and we’ll get you there as fast as we can.”
“No motorcade,” he said in a tone that allowed for zero negotiation. “Two cars. No delays.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nick went into Scotty’s room. Sitting on the edge of his son’s bed, he had to force himself to remember to breathe. “Buddy,” he said, shaking his son’s arm. “Wake up.”
“Not yet.”
“Scotty.”
Something in his tone must’ve gotten his son’s attention because his eyes opened and he sat up. “What’s wrong?”
“Mom has been in an accident.”
Scotty sucked in a sharp deep breath. “Is she okay?”
“I honestly don’t know yet. I need you to get up and get dressed. We’re leaving for GW in five minutes.”
“I...I can go with you?”
“Of course you can. I’d never send you to school to worry all day.”
Scotty hurled himself at Nick, who caught him up in a hug. “Tell me she’s going to be okay.”
“Buddy, I promised I’d never lie to you, and I’m not going to start now. I don’t know her condition, but whatever I know you’ll know too. I can promise you that.” When Nick pulled back, he saw tears rolling down Scotty’s face, which broke his heart. “Just say a prayer, okay?”
“I’ll say all the prayers.”
“Hurry. I want to be there when they bring her in.”
“I do too.”
Nick went back to his bedroom to get dressed, taking the time to call Freddie.
“Nick? Hey, what’s up?”
“Did you hear that Sam was in an accident?”
“What? No. When? I just saw her. She was on her way home.”
“It must’ve happened then. They’re trying to get her out of the car and are taking her to GW.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Let me know if you hear anything, will you?”
“Of course. She’s going to be fine. This is Sam we’re talking about.”
Nick wasn’t sure who Freddie was trying to convince. “Yeah, for sure. I’ll see you there.” He threw on clothes, jammed his feet into sneakers, grabbed his wallet and ran for the door, calling for Melinda as he went. They’d better be freaking ready to take him to her right now, or he was going to raise holy hell. Luckily, they were ready.
Brant and Melinda were standing by the front door with Scotty when Nick came down.
“Mr. Vice President,” Brant said, “we’re sorry to hear about the accident, and we’re ready to take you to the hospital.”
“Thank you.” His heart lodged in his throat as he ushered Scotty out ahead of him and into the waiting SUV. Per his request, there were only two cars, and they made quick time getting to the hospital. They arrived at the same time as the ambulance.
Nick jumped from the SUV and ran for the ambulance before Brant could tell him he was supposed to wait. To hell with that. When Sam needed him, he wasn’t waiting for anyone. When they opened the doors, the first thing he saw was blood all over her face.
Staggering, he tried to speak, to ask her condition, to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat, blocked by a tight knot of fear. Then Brant took him by the shoulders and moved him out of the way of the paramedics.
Scotty grasped his arm.
Nick knew he should offer his son reassurances, but he had no words.
The paramedics ran as they took the gurney inside.
Their urgency sparked a wave of fear so great his knees buckled under him. What if... No.
“Dad!”
Brant and Melinda held him up, kept him from falling and got him inside, where the cold air made him shiver. He heard Brant asking for a private space for the vice president to wait and became aware of the crowded waiting room, people staring at him and whispering. He turned his back to them.
A nurse showed them into what might’ve been a break room.
“I...I need to know. Please...”
“We’ll find out what we can, Mr. Vice President,” the nurse said. “I’ll be right back.”
Scotty reached for Nick.
He wrapped his arms around his son and held him close.
“She has to be okay,” Scotty said, sobbing. “She has to be.”
“She will be, buddy. She’s tough.” He said what his son needed to hear, but panic had his heart racing and his chest tight. The image of her face covered in blood haunted him.
Time passed slowly with every minute feeling like an hour. He released Scotty and went to the door. “I need to know what’s happening.”
“We’re getting some info for you, sir,” Brant said.
“Please hurry.”
Another interminable twenty minutes passed before the nurse who’d promised to help returned.
“Your wife is conscious and worried about whether anyone got the SUV she was pursuing when she was hit,” the nurse reported.
Staggered by the influx of emotion and relief, he leaned back against the nearest wall, closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. When he’d recovered his equilibrium, he said, “I need to be with her. Please. Take me to her.”
“Right this way.”
Nick grabbed Scotty’s hand and pulled him along with him, even as he wondered whether he should bring him. The parent handbook didn’t address whether to let your thirteen-year-old son see his injured mother in the emergency room. As they followed the nurse, Nick caught a glimpse of the waiting room and saw Darren Tabor out there, which meant the press had learned of her accident.
He couldn’t be bothered to care about that. Not now. Not until he knew Sam was okay.
Freddie came through the double doors to the cubicle area and came over to Nick and Scotty. “What’re you hearing?”
“She’s conscious and asking about the SUV she was after before the accident.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“I know. Hey, can you call her dad and Celia, and ask them to let her sisters know?”
“Absolutely. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”
“That’d be a big help. We’re going in to see her now. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“I’ll be right here.”
Nick and Scotty went with the nurse into the cubicle where Sam was surrounded by people in blue scrubs. Her face had been washed clean of the blood and a butterfly bandage applied to her forehead. Seeing that she looked pissed off, Nick experienced another wave of profound relief. She was okay. And if she was okay, so was he.
She tipped her head, trying to see around the crowd. “I want to see my husband and son. Let them in.”
And his Samantha was giving orders to people who didn’t work for her. He held back a laugh, and glanced down at Scotty, who looked up at him with amusement.
“She’s fine,” Scotty said bluntly.
The doctors and nurses cleared a path for them to approach her bedside, but they stared at him like they’d never seen a vice president before.
Bending over her, Nick kissed her forehead next to the bandage. “Causing trouble again, my love?”
“It’s what I do best.”
“You scared us,” Scotty said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.
Sam ran the hand that wasn’t attached to wires and monitors through their son’s hair. “I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s the fault of the car that hit you.”
“I was speeding through the red lights,” she said. “And I need someone to tell me if they got the SUV.”
“Will you ask Freddie to come in?” Nick asked Scotty.
“Yeah, I’ll get him.”
Nick took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Where’re you hurt?”
“Bruises and the cut on my head. That’s it.”
“We don’t know that for sure yet, Mrs. Cappuano,” one of the doctors said. “We’re taking her up to X-ray now to make sure nothing is broken.”
“It’s Lieutenant Holland, and I don’t have time for this,” Sam said. “I’ve got someone killing people in my city. I’ve got work to do. There’s nothing broken. Just let me out of here.”
The doctor glanced at Nick.
He took the hint. “You’re not going anywhere, babe, until they’re sure you’re all right, so quit being a pain in the ass.”
“I heard the pain in the ass was back,” another male voice said as he entered the increasingly crowded cubicle.
Nick turned to see Dr. Anderson, who they’d had many an encounter with, unfortunately. “Hey, Doc. I’d say it was nice to see you, but...”
“What’d my favorite frequent flier do this time?”
“If you must know,” Sam said testily, “I was chasing the car that’s been used in the drive-by shootings and got hit broadside by some stupid idiot that doesn’t know what to do when they hear a siren.”
“She’s fine,” Anderson said.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell these people,” Sam said. “But they’re making me have X-rays! Tell them to let me go so I can do my job.”
“Did you lose consciousness?” Anderson asked.
Sam squirmed ever so slightly. “How the hell should I know?”
“She did,” Nick said, earning a glare from his gorgeous wife, who only became more so when she was mad. “When Captain Malone called me, he said you were unconscious when the first-responders arrived.”
“In that case,” Anderson said, “you’ll be our guest overnight. Yay. Lucky us.”
“No fucking way! I have a killer to catch before he can take out someone else. I’ve got a retired cop missing and another one not where he’s supposed to be. I do not have time for this shit!”
“Calm down, Samantha,” Nick said.
“Do not tell me to calm down,” she replied, her teeth gritted and her eyes shooting fire at him.
God, he loved her.
Scotty returned with Freddie.
“Tell me they got the SUV,” Sam said to her partner.
“I wish I could,” Freddie said, “but it was long gone by the time Patrol got there.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, motherfucking fuck!”
“Mom! Language!”
“I’ll put fifty in the swear jar.”
“That swear jar is going to put me through college,” Scotty said, making all the adults laugh, even his mom.
“And in case you were wondering, the driver of the car that hit you was fine,” Freddie said.
“Of course they’re fine, and I’m stuck here with killers to catch.” She reached up to take her frustrations out on her hair and winced.
“What?” Nick asked.
“Found another lump on my head, and it’s wet.”
“Let me see,” Anderson said.
Nick moved out of his way but stayed close in case she needed him.
She winced as Anderson examined the area.
“That’s going to require a couple of staples.”
“No way,” Sam said. “No fucking staples in my head.”
“Better make it a hundred bucks,” Scotty said. “I have a feeling this is gonna be a long day.”
* * *
THREE HOURS, MULTIPLE X-rays and five staples later, Sam was moved to a private room upstairs. Nick and Scotty had been with her the whole time, but they’d sent Scotty out of the room to stay with Freddie while she got the staples. Her dad and Celia had come to the hospital and had taken Scotty to get something to eat, leaving her alone with Nick after Freddie went back to work.
“You and I are in the biggest fight of our lives,” she announced the second the nurse left the room.
“What’d I do now?” Nick asked, nonplussed.
He wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of her, and that pissed her off even more. Clearly, she’d gone too soft on him. “You just had to tell them I lost consciousness, didn’t you?”
The bastard snorted with laughter. “Sorry if I’d rather not wake up to find you dead in our bed, you big baby.”
She directed her fiercest glare at him. “Who you calling a big baby?”
“You.” He took her hand and kissed the back of it before she could yank it out of his grasp.
“I’m mad at you. No kissing.”
Leaning over her, he propped an arm on either side of her hips and pressed his sexy lips to hers. “Yes, kissing.”
For a second, she forgot she was mad, because his lips were so soft and sweet and perfect. Then she remembered his betrayal and turned her head away from him.
He refocused on her neck, making her want to moan from the pleasure.
Bastard.
“Stop trying to kiss your way out of trouble.”
“Stop being a big baby about hospitals and admit you’re hurt and right where you belong.”
“I am not where I belong! I need to be with my squad looking for the sons of bitches that’re killing innocent people in this city!”
“Then have your squad come here, but you, my love, are going nowhere.”
“Biggest. Fight. Ever.”
“You. Don’t. Scare. Me.”
“I know! I need to work on that. I’ve been babying you.”
He laughed so hard he shook with it. “Babying me? When the hell have you ever babied me?”
“I must be doing something wrong if you think you can totally throw me under the bus during a huge case and get away with it.”
Shaking his head in disbelief, he smiled at her, and oh, that smile... That smile was potent. Focus! You’re mad at him!
“A, I did not throw you under the bus. B, you are in fact injured. And C, if it makes you feel better to blame me for that, then have at it. I can handle you.”
“You’re not going to be handling me for a long, long time at this rate.”
“Whatever.” He sat beside the bed, put his feet up on the frame and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Um, excuse me, we’re having a fight here. Could you please put your phone away and pay attention to me?”
“I will when you stop being ridiculous.”
“I am not being ridiculous!”
“Okay,” he said, still focused on his phone.
“Nick!”
He glanced at her. “Yes, dear?”
Her mouth tightened, and her eyes shot flames at him again.
His lips quivered with amusement. “You’re so hot when you’re pissed.”
“I must be on fire right now then.”
“Mmm.” Standing, he slid the phone into his pocket and approached the bed. “Move over. I’m coming in.”
“What? Wait! We’re fighting!”
“We’re done now.”
“You don’t get to decide that! This is my fight!”
“That you’re having with yourself. I’m just your unwilling victim.”
“I’m going to punch you, and I’m going to make it hurt.”
“Easy, killer.” He wrapped his hand around the fist she aimed at him. “It’s not my fault you’re here. I understand you’re angry about being sidelined with an extremely upsetting case going on, but you’ve got the best people working with you, and if you tell them what to do, they’ll do it.”
“Don’t do that.”
“What am I doing now?”
“Being all logical and calm when I’m mad at you.”
He cupped her face in his big hand and compelled her to look at him. “You’re not mad at me. You’re mad at the person who hit you and took you off the job at a critical moment.”
“No, I’m actually mad at you.”
Smiling, he kissed her.
She started to resist, but honestly, who would she be hurting by doing that? Only herself. His kisses were to die for, even when she was mad at him.
“There,” he said, after kissing her into submission, “that’s better.”
“Stop managing me.”
“You’re often unmanageable.”
“You love that about me.”
“I love everything about you, even when you pick fights with me, because you’re so damned sexy when you’re mad.”
“You’re just saying that to make me mad again.”
“Does that mean this storm has passed?”
“For now, but I won’t forget the way you gave me up downstairs.”
“I can live with that as long as I’m living with you.” He continued to caress her face. “You scared me. You should’ve seen how much blood was on your face when they brought you in. I almost passed out.”
“Sorry. I hate that I did that to you—and Scotty. The poor kid is going to need PTSD treatment after living with us.”
“You mean after living with you.”
“Us.”
“You.”
“Shut up and kiss me some more, or there’s gonna be another storm.”
“Yes, dear.”
The kiss started slow and built in intensity, the way kisses with him usually did. She had wrapped her arm around his neck to keep him there when the door swung open, and Scotty let out a protracted groan.
“Seriously? Even in the hospital?”