Naomi waved my hand away from the radio knob. "I don't care if it's your car. It's still driver's choice."

"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’s current tour.

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 in dread.

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 a coma, 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 fail just then.

“I’ll take care of it,” I promised her.

Whatever that meant.

* * *

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 room assignment.”

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 edge himself.

"Are you sure you want me to come in?" Naomi murmured to me as Liam disappeared amongst the parked cars. "That you don't want privacy?"

"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 Delaney family.

"Well," she said. "I was trying not to be that blunt, 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 broad shoulders.

"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 concrete parking lot.

She pulled away to murmur, "I see how it is. You kiss me to make me shut up."

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-brown eyes.

"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 and public?"

"Are you ever going to relax again?"

"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 my brothers."

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 me anxious.

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't worry."

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 I needed her.

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 high above.

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 I followed Liam.

Mitch had a private suite on the fifth floor. Liam entered the dimly-lit, quiet room without knocking. To my surprise, the room was empty.

"Where's security?" I demanded. "Someone put Mitch in a coma and there are no police here?"

"I don't know." Liam stood for a minute by the hospital bed, worry written across his face, and then took a step back. "I have to go to the nurse's station; I'll ask."

"Fine. If they aren't going to get the job done, I'll call Joe. Ask him about private security."

Liam nodded impatiently.

When Liam had gone, I finally, reluctantly, had to turn to the hospital bed.

Mitch's tall, broad-shouldered body looked hollow. A tube ran down his throat, white medical tape partially obscuring his features. For some reason, I flashed back to my father laughing, on the sailboat we took out on long weekends in Rhode Island. His dark hair was caught in the salt-tinged breeze. When his lips turned up in that square-jawed face, his eyes lighting up, it was hard for anyone not to smile along.

Liam came back in and drew a seat next to Mitch's bed, the wooden legs of the chair squeaking along the linoleum floor. "They're going to send the doctor in soon to talk to us."

"Good."

Liam raised his eyebrows at me, then jerked his head towards the seat on the opposite side of the bed. "You gonna sit down?"

"I'm fine." I waved it off, leaning against the wall. "Just had a long car ride. Don't want to sit."

For a few minutes, the two of us watched Mitch in silence. The room was eerily quiet, creating a creeping sense of expectation that something had to happen soon. When the door opened and two doctors came in, I felt a sense of relief. I stood away from the cool wall.

"I'm Doctor Nielson and this is Doctor Brown," the first doctor, a petite woman with white hair said. The doctors shook our hands in turn. She explained that Mitch was stable, but that there was nothing to do for him at this point except wait for him to emerge from the coma.

"Which is unlikely, right?" Liam asked flatly.

"It does happen."

"Where are the police?" I asked.

"I don't know anything about that. Do you have any questions about your father's care or treatment?"

Liam glanced at me. "Did you have anything?"

I said, "No. We're fine. Thank you."

Even though the Delaney family, at the moment, was far from fine.

As soon as they had left, I called Joe. I saw Liam roll his eyes as he leaned forward to speak softly to our father. The low murmur of his voice was lost in the gloom of the room.

"Yeah, I know a firm," Joe said. "Good friends of mine, good guys. I'll get someone over to the hospital ASAP."

"Whatever it costs," I said.

"Well, I won't tell them that. Take care."

"I'll try," I said, hanging up the phone.

Liam looked up. "What's the word?"

"Joe's going to get us some security help."

"Okay. And then what?"

"Then I'm going to find out who did this to dad."

"You think Grandma's safe?"

"I think I want her and Naomi locked down at the house while we figure out what's going on."

Liam quirked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Why? Someone hurt Dad. Who knows why."

"Yeah? So what does that have to do with Naomi?"

I shook my head, irritated. "I want to cover all my bases."

"You like her, and you want an excuse to cage her up at the house." Liam shook his head. "Don't do it, brother. She's going to cage you up."

"Don't talk about Naomi like that."

Liam whistled. "You are..."

I took a step towards him. All my pushed-down adrenaline was rising, even though Liam wasn't the right target. But the hospital door swung open almost as soon as someone rapped on it.

Naomi rushed in, followed by a security guard. Her face crumpled with relief when her eyes met mine. "Oh, you really are here."

"What's going on? What's wrong?" I asked. Naomi hurled herself against my chest, and my arms closed automatically around her. "Naomi?"

"Did you want to file a report?" The guard in the door asked impatiently.

"Whatever, I don't know." Naomi waved him off. She sounded cold, dismissive, but I knew her better than that.

"Give us a few minutes, please," I said, steering her over to the chair in the corner. She sat heavily, and I knelt in front of her, my hands on her knees. Naomi’s eyes were wild. "What happened?"

“Did you call me?” she asked. “Did you call me to come up here? Because I don’t get reception in the hospital.”

“Naomi, what happened?” But her face was still frantic, waiting for my answer, so I said, “No, I didn’t call you.”

She raked a shaking hand through her hair. "I was reading when this man came up to me. He said, the Delaneys asked you to come to their room. I tried to call you, but I don't get any reception in the hospital." She held up her cell phone, her hand trembling. "He said yeah, that's why they had to call down to the reception desk. And he was dressed like the greeters at reception. With the logo t-shirts, you know?"

"Okay," I said, rage boiling through my veins.

"But then we walked through the hospital to the elevator bank in the back. I was getting kind of lost. I was trying to make small talk with him and it felt weird... off. And so we get in the elevator and there's no one else in there and he pressed the button for down."

"To the parking garage," I said, because I could see where this was going.

"I think he grabbed for me, but I jumped out of the elevator as the doors were about to close and I ran all the way back to the main lobby and I wouldn't go anywhere until Security came. And I still wasn't sure about them."

"Well, you're here now with me," I said, hugging her close. "You're safe."

“Maybe it was a mistake. Someone else called reception and it got mixed up.”

“Maybe,” I said, because that might help her shake her fear. I squeezed her tight. I sure didn’t think it was a mistake. Even as I held her, I felt my body on high alert, ready to fight off any attack. Someone had to be watching us.

I whispered into her hair, “Whatever happened, you’re safe now. I’ll keep you safe.”

Safe, and I was never going to let her out of my sight again if I could help it.