Tattoo (Take It Off #7)(27)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“I’m glad you came by,” she said, her voice already drowsy.

I didn’t respond, but I did prop my boots up on the side of the bed and make myself comfortable. The papers at the station could wait. Silence settled over the room and I closed my eyes, thinking longingly of the hat I lost in the basement. It was always good for shading my eyes when I wanted to catch a few Z’s. I didn’t really want to leave. I liked sitting here with her. It was comfortable… It felt right.

Sleep wasn’t hard to find. In fact, it claimed me rather quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy to keep. The earlier events made me a little twitchy. I’d learned to become a light sleeper because sleeping in a house full of drug addicts and criminals was never a good place to let down my guard. Add that to the fact I had been shot and threatened just hours before, and you could say I was extra… cautious.

Okay, pissed off was more the term.

The door to her room creaked open and the sound of light footfalls approaching the bed stirred me awake. I didn’t move a muscle, just stayed reclined in the chair, listening. It was almost like they were creeping into the room, toward us, and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand tall.

The person stepped around me, avoiding my chair. I felt rather than saw the person reach out toward the precarious tubing leading straight into Taylor’s hand. I reacted swiftly, snatching the hand out of midair, stopping them from taking hold of her tubing. The chair I was sitting in skidded back across the room and hit the wall when I jumped up out of it and pulled the intruder up against my body, pinning them with my arms.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I growled low.

A small whimper escaped, and I blinked, fully taking in the situation. A woman dressed in blue scrubs was rigid and breathing heavily up against me.

“Shit,” I muttered, releasing her gently. “I’m sorry,” I told the nurse. “I was asleep and you startled me.”

“I tried not to wake you,” she said, looking at me warily and taking a step back.

“Yeah.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Sorry, I’m a little jumpy today.”

The nurse softened. “That’s understandable.”

“Brody?” Taylor asked, looking between me and the nurse. Her eyes were wide and I wasn’t sure if she saw what happened or not.

“Nurse just came in to check on you.”

“I’m just going to check the fluid here and the IV,” she explained, looking at me and not Taylor.

I nodded and she did her job quickly. After making sure Taylor was comfortable, she hurried toward the door.

“Mr. Shaw,” she said cordially, slipping past Taylor’s dad who was standing in the doorway.

I wondered how long he’d been there.

“Everything okay?” Taylor asked him.

He was carrying a white Styrofoam cup with steam coming from the top. “Absolutely,” he said, smiling down at her.

“I gotta get to the station,” I said, wanting to get down there to see if they brought in Snake yet. Besides, if the nurse hadn’t been calling for security before, she probably was now.

Taylor focused those big green eyes on me. “You have to leave?”

It was very satisfying to hear the disappointment in her tone. Ignoring her father, I leaned down, caging her in with both my arms, and let my eyes wander over her features one last time. She really was a beautiful woman. “Take care of yourself,” I whispered and kissed her on the forehead.

The little sigh I received was almost just as good as a full-on kiss.

“Bye,” she whispered, watching me go.

“Mr. Shaw,” I said as I passed Edward, who was standing there watching us with a displeased look on his face.

Poor guy, he probably wasn’t used to someone not caring what he thought.

A few steps down the hall, he called out my name behind me. I stopped and pivoted around. “Yeah?”

“I’d like to speak to you a moment,” Edward said.

I joined him beside the door to Taylor’s room without saying a word.

“I saw what you did to that nurse,” he said, getting right to the point.

“She caught me off guard.” I shrugged. I wasn’t going to apologize to him for reacting in a defensive way. I had a right to protect myself and those that belonged to me.

Whoa. Those that belonged to me. That was just a tad possessive, even for me. Maybe there was something in that shot the nurse forced on me.

“She was reaching for my daughter,” he said, like he was telling me something I didn’t know.

“And?”

“And your instinct was to protect her.”

I stared at him in stony silence. Was he pissed that I was protective of his daughter?

“I’d like to hire you,” he said. It was the second time in the span of ten minutes I was caught off guard.

“I don’t have any experience in finances,” I said. “I’m a cop.”

“I have all the employees I need at my bank.” He waved away my words.

“About that.” I interrupted. “One of your associates literally stepped over your bleeding daughter to get the hell out of the building. Even after Taylor protected her.” I crossed my arms over my chest, getting pissed all over again just thinking about it.

“Who?” he said coolly.

I shrugged.

“I’ll take care of it.” He spoke like it was a done deal, and I had no doubt that woman was going to be fired. “I want to hire you to protect my daughter.”

I couldn’t help but be surprised. “You want to what?”

“Obviously, the people I hire are complete morons. The guard in the bank couldn’t thwart the robbery. The guard I hired to be here outside her room never showed… Apparently even when you have money, reliable help is hard to find.”

“Money just makes it harder to find trustworthy employees.”

“You’re right.” Edward agreed. “I may not like you much, but it’s clear you have a softness for my daughter.”

He didn’t like me. Big fat fucking deal. But the fact he seemed to pick up on the way I felt for Taylor made me a little uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to having softness. “I’m not a bodyguard,” I replied. “I work for the RPD.”

“I’m sure I could arrange to borrow you from the force.”

“Do you always throw money around to get what you want?” I asked.

“When it comes to my daughter’s safety, yes.”