Caro resisted the urge to rest her forehead on the door and weep. She'd cried enough today, she wouldn't let Renfro have the satisfaction of knowing he'd broken her. “They'll do what they think is right. Thanks for the warning.” She pushed the door open, leaving him standing in the hall. She pressed her back against the door and closed her eyes.
“Caro?”
She jumped at the sound of his voice. “Dell!”
“What's the matter?” he asked. He didn't know how long he'd been out. Hours? Days? But Caro was still in her fire suit. Battered and bruised, his dick still reacted in predictable ways. Something to be thankful for, he mused as she crossed to his bedside.
“Hey, you're awake. How do you feel?”
He closed his eyes and groaned. “Like I got hit by about a dozen cars?”
“It's a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much,” she said. “I guess if you can joke about it, you aren't hurting too bad.”
“I'll live,” he said, trying to sit up. He winced at the pain in his ribs and dropped back to the mattress, grabbing his ribcage with his good arm. “Son of a bitch!”
Caro's lips curled into a malicious smile. “Yeah, you might not want to move too fast for while. You have some bruised ribs, mostly on your left side. Nothing's broken though.”
“Could have fooled me,” he said, through clenched teeth.
Caro reached for the call button. “Now that you're awake, we can go home.” She signaled for the nurse. “The doctor wanted to keep you overnight, but I told him you wouldn't want to stay.”
“Thanks,” he said, infusing the word with all the sarcasm he could muster.
“What? You want to stay here?”
“No,” he barked, wincing again as his knee-jerk response earned another protest from his ribcage. “You're right. I want to go home. How soon can we get out of here?”
The duty nurse stepped in, and having heard Dell's question, she answered for Caro. “You can leave in a few minutes, Mr. Wayne. I need to check your vital signs. I'll have the business office send someone up with your paperwork. As soon as you sign on the dotted line, you're free to go.” She checked this and that, and all the while Dell watched Caro flit about the room, gathering…stuff. He had no idea what, and didn't care. Her eyes were red and swollen as if she'd been crying. Shit. A memory, or was it a dream? flitted through his brain. Whispered words. Caro's voice telling him she loved him.
“Your heartbeat is elevated,” the nurse said. Dell glanced at his wrist where the nurse pressed her latex-covered fingers to his pulse. He willed his heart to slow. It was Caro. She did that to him. He closed his eyes as the nurse silently counted his heartbeat again. This time, she dropped his wrist. “There, no problem. It's a little fast,” she glanced at Caro who was engrossed in folding his fire suit and stuffing it into a plastic bag with the hospital logo on it, “but that's to be expected.” She slapped a pressure cuff around his bicep and pumped it up until Dell's eyes bulged. When she was through, she winked at him. “You're good to go.” She folded the cuff and replaced it in the basket on the wall above his head. “Under the circumstances, a little high blood pressure is probably a good thing,” she said.
“Thanks,” Dell said.
“No problem.” She bent close and lowered her voice. “Don't crash this time. This race might be one you really ought to win,” she said, then she patted him on the arm and left.
Right. Caro's whispered declaration, real or imagined, echoed through his brain. He didn't deserve a woman like Carolina. He had no business thinking of a future with her. She gave herself to him once, and then she said it was a mistake. Wasn't that the understatement of the year? But he couldn't quit thinking about her, or remembering the feel of her skin beneath him, enfolding him in her wholesome goodness.
She was everything a woman ought to be, and he was nothing a man should be. Hadn't his dad said it enough times? Caro deserved a winner, someone to stand beside her, someone to support her. He wasn't that man. He didn't know how to be that man. But it didn't stop him from wanting to try, as futile as the effort might be.
He congratulated himself for making it to her car in the parking lot without collapsing, but it was a near thing. Everything on him hurt, and whatever they'd given him for pain wore off long ago.
“We'll stop at a pharmacy and fill your prescription,” Caro said as she drove down the ramp to the lower level of the parking structure.
“No, take me back to the track. Aspirin will do. I'll be good to go in time for practice runs this week.”
“Look, Dell,” she said. The hesitation in her voice compelled him to look at her rather than the road.