Page 9 of Too Guarded to Love (Project VIPER #3)

A woman in scrubs came out of Olivia’s room. “I’m Brittany. Ms. Darren’s nurse. Are you Nic Romero?”

“Yes. Thank you for taking care of my friend.” He turned on his charming smile. Flirting with the staff never hurt. “How’s Olivia?”

“She’s going to be just fine. You can see her soon.” Brittany touched his arm. “Have you had anything to eat? Drink? I’m on my way to the cafeteria. I could show you where it is, or it would be my pleasure to bring you something back.”

Even though the twenty-something redhead eyed him like she had another type of pleasure in mind, not an ounce of desire stirred in his veins.

“ Gracias, senorita, but I’m good.”

He turned away as her lips pressed into a pout. He may be furious with Olivia, but he’d stick close until her brother got back.

His phone rang in his pocket as he opened the tin of peppermint candy he’d bought from the waiting room vending machine. “How’s Gran?”

“Alive. How’s Olivia?”

He reiterated the redhead’s report. “I’ll have eyes on her in a minute. What happened?”

“Gran was at bingo with Gage and Sally and stopped breathing. Gage gave her CPR until the ambulance arrived, but she coded on the way to the hospital. The paramedics brought her back, but”—he pulled in a shaky breath—“she’s in a coma now.”

Nic’s skin tightened around his chest. “I’m so sorry, hermano.

” He loved Gran like she was his own grandmother, and not because she cooked like a goddess.

A few minutes ago, he’d been worried about getting booted from her life because he’d messed around with her granddaughter.

Now he was in danger of losing her from this earth.

“Thank God Gage was there.” Kane’s voice cracked. “Gran would be dead if…”

“Yeah.” Gage was VIPER support. He possessed all his God-given limbs, but that didn’t make him any less deadly in a fight.

Or dependable, not only when it came to protection and support for the team, but for their loved ones, including driving Gran and his daughter Lucy, who had developed a special bond, to bingo.

“Gage usually drops Gran and Lucy off, but he stayed tonight because it’s Lucy’s birthday and Gran and her bingo friends had cake and presents.”

“Did Lucy see Gran collapse?” Gage’s nine-year-old daughter had witnessed a shooting when she was younger and hadn’t spoken a word since.

“No. She was in the bathroom when it happened. The staff kept her in the kitchen and let her help make hot dogs.”

“Good. Gran is going to be fine.” He said it for his benefit as much as Kane’s. “She’s strong and stubborn. And Olivia will be fine too. She’s just like Gran.”

Kane blew out a breath. “So you got to know my sister before you…did whatever with her? Why the hell didn’t she tell me she was coming to town?”

“I have no idea.” But he did have other ideas about Olivia.

Should he tell Kane she seemed anxious? That someone may have tried to deliberately hit her?

He sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling.

If he had a sister, and she was in trouble, he’d want to know.

“Listen, I don’t want to add to today’s shit show, but I think?—”

“Gotta go. Gran’s doctor is coming. He’d better have good news.”

Nic ended the call and sent up a prayer. As he finished his plea, Joe strode through the double doors at the end of the hall. Nic waved him over. “Thought you were at the bridge accident.”

“Gloria called and said you were here so….”

Joe shrugged as if the rest of the sentence didn’t need to be said.

It didn’t. VIPER was his day-to-day in the trenches family, but Joe’s clan was the kind who would drop everything if you asked for help, no matter how long it had been since you last talked.

Nic protected his status in both families like they were national treasures.

“Thanks for coming, man. Any word on who shot Olivia?” Nic had checked in with VIPER headquarters a few minutes ago. Nothing there yet.

“No leads so far, but we’re working on it. There’s a man—a Dr. Jonathan Garrity—in the waiting room claiming to be her fiancé.”

“What?” Kane hadn’t mentioned his sister was engaged. Neither had Gran. And he hadn’t seen a ring on Olivia’s finger. He’d checked. Was this another secret in the shadows? He’d met his surprise quota for the day. “Did you give this Jonathan guy any information?”

“No. Gloria said Olivia’s brother…” Joe glanced at his notepad again. “Whoa.” He shook the pages like they were a supermarket tabloid full of juicy gossip. “Kane Darren is Olivia’s brother? As in Kane, your VIPER bestie?”

Nic clenched the tin of peppermints in his steel hand. The metal container dented between his fingers. “If you say bestie like a twelve-year-old girl one more time, I’ll punch you.”

“Did you know who she was?” Joe glanced around the bustling ER and stepped closer to Nic. “Please tell me you didn’t fuck your buddy’s sister.”

“No and no.” But damn, he would have enjoyed her in as many ways, as many times as he could before the tow truck came.

Joe leaned forward and tapped his pen against Nic’s cheek. “Are you sure? This bruise wasn’t here earlier.”

Nic grabbed the pen. “Shut up and tell me about this Jonathan guy.”

“Okay, Captain Cranky Pants. Gloria said her brother authorized you, and only you, to receive information about his sister, but this Jonathan is adamant about seeing her. Apparently, they had a little argument in the airport terminal after flying in on separate flights and she stormed out.”

Nic snapped the pen in two. Was this Jonathan prick the reason she’d seemed uneasy?

Joe eyed the broken pen as an eyebrow shot to his receding hairline. “The fiancé?—”

“Alleged fiancé.” What he’d done with Kane’s sister had been bad enough. Doing it with Kane’s engaged sister bordered on criminal.

Joe pulled another pen from his pocket and scratched something on his notepad.

“Ms. Darren’s alleged fiancée is all worked up because he told her not to drive in the rain, but she left anyway.

When she didn’t return his calls, he figured he’d find her with her friend, who owns a place on the bay. Nobody was home, so he came here.”

Nic initiated a mind comms call to headquarters.

“ Status?” Ryan asked.

“Secure. Run a check on a Dr. Jonathan Garrity. He’s here claiming to be Olivia Darren’s fiancé. ”

“On it.”

Nic ended the connection and pulled a mint from the container. He’d discovered recently that sucking on something calmed the buzzing in his neck.

Joe tucked his notepad into a pocket in his utility vest. “Want me to get rid of Doctor Garrity?”

Nic shoved the mint into his mouth and cracked it with his back teeth. Was she engaged? Running from her alleged fiancé because he’d hurt her?

A positive answer to the first would piss him off. The outcome of the first question had no bearing on the answer to the second. No man had a right to scare a woman.

His steel fingers twitched at his side. He curled them into a fist and reminded himself why he only gave women what he could afford—his charm, his body, his protection—and not a damn thing more.

He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

Olivia’s scent of rain and flowers still lingered in his nostrils.

So had his moment of vulnerability when he’d wanted to answer every question she’d muttered about his steel.

And not just her clinical inquiries, but share how much his surgeries had hurt.

How thankful he was to be alive, yet still suffered, and how nightmares about losing it all plagued him in his sleep.

He feared if he got any closer to Olivia, he could lose everything. Actions, especially ones in situations without all the intel, had consequences. Hadn’t history proved that? If this Jonathan guy were a threat, Joe could handle him.

Stay with my sister. Keep her safe.

But hell, Olivia wasn’t safe, and he’d made a promise.

She may have lied by omission, but his gut told him Jonathan was trying to lie his way in to see her.

His gut also told him Olivia’s near head-on collision wasn’t by chance, and the anxious glances over her shoulder had been real.

So was the bullet he damn well hoped he wasn’t responsible for.

The morbid connect the dots in his brain didn’t lead to a clear picture, but if the man scaring her was on the other side of those doors…

He scrubbed the back of his neck with his knuckles. Fuck, he’d already screwed up once tonight with Kane’s sister. He shouldn’t chance screwing up again, but fear of his nightmares becoming reality rooted his steel leg to the floor.

Joe could handle Jonathan Garrity. He was a good cop. A good guy.

Yeah, but what kind of guy does that make me?