Storm Watch(53)

Cece let out another smile, this one sleepy, and she leaned her head against Hunter’s chest, further shocking Lizzy.

“It’s okay, Liz,” she murmured quietly. “He’s one of the good guys you’ve been telling me is out there.”

As the baby yawned and nodded off, Lizzy felt Jason looking down at her, and she met his gaze. He touched her cheek as gently as he’d touched the baby’s, running his thumb over her skin, catching the single tear she hadn’t realized she’d let fall. “Ah, Lizzy,” he murmured so softly as to be almost inaudible. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

A promise. And he hadn’t failed her, not yet.

Nope, the only one who had failed here had been her.





17




THE NEXT DAY, Lizzy went into work. The electricity had been restored, but there’d been significant damage to the east wing of the E.R., plus they were inundated with patients. She’d been running for four straight hours with nothing more than a shot of caffeine in her system when she was paged to the front desk.

She went hustling down the hall. It couldn’t be Cece. Her sister was at home, doing wonderfully, and so was Hope. Lizzy had spent a couple of hours, holding her niece, stunned by the love that bubbled in her heart from just looking at the baby.

Then she’d gone to work, for the first time in her life just a little bit jealous of her sister, who had not only gotten her life together but was moving it forward.

Progress.

She needed that, too. Yeah, she’d had the UCLA thing planned, but she knew the truth now—it was no longer what her heart wanted, and hadn’t been for a long time. She’d turned down the scholarship this morning.

She’d find a new dream.

As she headed to the nurse’s station, she saw Cristina standing in front of the desk with a clipboard. She was in full firefighting gear and looked filthy. She’d probably just pulled someone out of a fire and was checking on them. Cristina’s partner, Blake, was across the hall, downing from the water fountain. Lizzy waved a hello in his direction and went straight to Cristina. “You okay?”

“I am.” Cristina accompanied this with an amused look. “You?”

“I’m fine.”

“Good, because there’s someone here to see you.” She put her hands on Lizzy’s shoulders and turned her forty-five degrees so that she could see the other side of the desk.

Where Jason stood.

Unlike how he’d been almost the entire time she’d spent with him, he was completely dry. The odd thought almost made her smile, but she didn’t. Couldn’t. Not when he was standing so close, watching her, his eyes unfathomable, his hands tucked into his pockets, a pensive look on his face that turned into a smile when he saw her.

Not his full-wattage smile, not his usual confident-in-his-skin smile, but one that said he wasn’t entirely sure of his welcome.

“You two had quite a time out there, I hear,” Cristina said quietly.

“Yeah.” She couldn’t take her eyes off Jason.

“Do yourself a favor, Lizzy, and keep him.”

Lizzy huffed out a breath. “When I suggested that to you about Dustin last year, you nearly bit my head off.”

“Yeah, well, I’m meaner than you.” Cristina accompanied this with a little nudge.

But Lizzy didn’t need a nudge.

She didn’t let herself think, she just did what came naturally, and walked up to Jason.

His arms closed around her, warm and solid. “Hey,” he murmured in her ear.

“Hey.” God, he smelled good. She wanted to bury her face in his neck, but she was extremely aware that she stood in front of the nurse’s station and there were curious eyes on them, so she pulled back, firmly putting her hands in her pockets to keep them off him.

She’d told him she didn’t want to do this, which had just been a way to protect herself, and now seemed dumb.

So very dumb.

In any case, she truly was so happy to be able to lay her eyes on him she could barely keep her heart in her chest. “I’m happy to see you,” she said. “But what are you doing here?”

“I came to ask you out on a date. I was thinking lunch.”

She had to laugh. “Food.”

“Of course,” he said on a smile. “So…? Yes?”

She couldn’t believe he was standing here, looking so good. “A date? Really?”

“A first date,” he clarified. “And why not?”

“Well, because we’ve already been through so much for one thing. The crazy drive, the white water rafting, the Olympic swim, the…um…” She felt her face heat as she thought of the other activities.