Page 29 of The Deputy's Secret Double

And she couldn’t lose this time.

JJ’s thoughts hyperfocused on everything she knew about her mission. So much so that she almost missed the knock at her door. She must have still looked out of it after inviting them in.

Price’s eyebrows drew in, concerned as he walked inside.

JJ mentally pulled herself together, along with the imaginary mask she had been wearing in public since moving to Seven Roads.

She held up her hand to stop his words before he could say what she guessed he would inevitably say.

“Some people don’t like hospital food—I don’t like hospital beds.” She narrowed her eyes at the bed, untouched since she’d been moved out of the ER. “Downstairs, I understood the need to be in one but now I see no point. Especially since I have this handy-dandy rolling IV.”

Price’s expression of concern turned into a laugh. He wasn’t shy about going over to that same bed and patting it.

“Then you won’t be offended if I take a load off here for a bit, right?”

He didn’t wait for an answer and sat down at the foot of the bed. His long legs nearly reached the ground, but there was a small enough gap between his shoes and the floor that it made for a humorous image. When he swung them a little, JJ felt the urge to smile.

Instead, she took a really good look at the man.

Price had not only ridden with her to the hospital, but he’d also stayed with her in the room she’d been assigned in the ER. Not only had he stayed by her side, he’d done more than just stand there idly.

In the ambulance, he’d held her hair back as she’d gotten sick. In the ER lobby, he had spoken to the front desk clerk to get her checked in. In the room, he’d talked to the attending nurse and doctor, asking more questions than even she had about her own condition.

Price had only left her after she’d been sent to the second floor andthat, she thought, had mostly been because of her insistence that she was fine and he had more important things to do than babysit her.

It had only been in his absence that she’d felt an itch of disappointment that he wasn’t standing next to her.

That itch she’d decided to scratch a second after that thought had come into her head. Staying beneath the radar might have proven useless in the last week or so but she could at least try to stay off Price Collins.

But there he was, swinging his feet while sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, no more than a few feet from her and her IV pole.

He was his usual smiling self.

However, the rest of him seemed to be lagging a bit.

JJ hurt from her fight with the unknown man. She couldn’t imagine fighting him and then having to carry two people from a burning house.

He must have been tired and hurting.

She doubted he’d admit it though, just like she doubted she could convince him to leave her alone again.

Maybe if she went a different route this time…

JJ pointed a finger down at his shirt. It was slightly destroyed from the earlier hustle and bustle.

“You know, it might not be a bad idea for you to head home and change into something less almost–flame broiled. I know you said you have a friend who works here, but I’ve worn her scrubs before, and I don’t think they’ll fit you.”

Price was unfazed. He plucked at his ruined shirt and then shrugged.

“I think this could be a new style trend. Like those jeans with the holes all in the knees that Winnie said was all the new rage. It even has a nice, outdoorsy smell built right in.”

He grinned.

JJ retroactively felt bad, once again, for hitting him the week before.

She caught herself from grinning right back.

Instead, she made sure to harden her expression, letting the jolly man know she was serious.