That Summer Night (Callaways #6) (32 page)

"I could have had more evidence if I'd started sooner, if I'd been a little more clever at getting it. I hope what I have is enough to destroy Abbott, even if it means I have to go down, too."

Reid had to admit he was both surprised and impressed by his brother's honesty and his acceptance of his mistakes. This wasn't the Robert he remembered, the one who'd tried to rationalize sleeping with his fiancée. This man was someone he could relate to.

"What?" Robert asked, giving him a quizzical look.

"Just thinking that you finally sound like my brother again."

"I'd like to be your brother if you're interested."

"Possibly. Let's see how the next few weeks ago."

"I'll take it." Robert paused. "So what's going on with you and Shayla?"

Reid gazed back at his brother. "That's our business."

"Fair enough. Just don't hurt her. She's very special."

"You're not in love with her, are you?" Reid asked, a little disturbed by that thought.

"No, not at all. She's like my little sister. I have absolutely no romantic feelings towards her. And she does not feel that way about me either."

"Yeah, that's what she said. But she does seem to like you. She was willing to risk her life for you."

"She's been a good friend. And she likes to save people, even if they don't always deserve it. She's kind of like you, Reid. In fact, the two of you make a good pair."

Reid stood up as Matt came into the room. He was actually grateful for the interruption. He didn't really want to talk about Shayla with Robert.

"We're ready," Matt said. "I'm going to take Robert to the meeting. Are you coming, Reid?"

Before Reid could answer, Robert jumped in. "No, he's staying here. He's going to protect Shayla until this is over."

Reid met his brother's gaze and nodded. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."

"I've got security outside and inside," Matt said. "You'll both be safe here." He paused. "There's food in the kitchen. Make yourself comfortable. It will probably be tomorrow before I can get back to you."

"Do what you have to do." Reid turned toward his brother, knowing that the next few days were going to be difficult. "Good luck Robert."

"Thanks. I think I'm going to need it."

* * *

After Matt and Robert left, Reid went looking for Shayla. She'd been on the deck earlier, but there was no sign of her now. He wandered up to the second floor of the beautiful home, thinking that this might be the nicest safe house he'd ever been in. Apparently, Matt's business was very lucrative.

At the top of the stairs, two double doors opened onto a luxurious master bedroom suite. He heard water running in the shower and realized he'd found Shayla. He was about to leave and give her some privacy when he heard what sounded like someone sobbing. Frowning, he inched closer to the door, torn between wanting to respect her desire to be alone and the fact that she was obviously upset and hurting.

He knew why. It was the come down after the rush. She'd been stoic and strong the last few days, but now she was falling, and he was going to catch her.

He knocked and then opened the door. "Shayla?"

She was standing naked in a steamy shower, her arms wrapped around her waist as she struggled with the sobs that continued to pour from her mouth. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw him, and he knew she wanted to hide her tears. But that's the last thing he wanted her to do.

"Go away," she said, the last word ending on a hiccup. "Please."

"It was the pleading blue eyes filled with pain that did him in." He kicked off his shoes and stripped off his clothes, then stepped into the shower and put his arms around her.

"You're crazy," she protested. "Your bandage is going to get wet."

"So you'll change it. Don't fight me, Shayla. I want to hold you."

"I—I don't want to fight you," she said, slipping her arms around his waist.

The warm water beat down on his shoulders as she put her head on his chest. He held on to her as tightly as he could, letting her cry her heart out. It was time to let it all go.

As the hot water began to turn lukewarm, Shayla's sobs began to subside. She drew in a shaky breath, then another, and lifted her head, gazing into his eyes with a soulful smile that took his breath away.

She was so damned beautiful. How was he ever going to say goodbye to her?

"Sorry about that," she said. "Once I started crying, I couldn't stop."

"Do you feel better?"

She nodded. "Yes. Thanks for holding me. I don't know what you must think of me."

"You want to know what I think?"

"Do I?" she countered.

He smiled. "Always so mouthy, but I like your mouth, and I like the rest of you, too. Seriously, Shayla."

"Seriously? I thought you didn't like to be serious."

"I think you're the most intelligent, generous, courageous woman I've ever met. Wait, did I leave out beautiful?"

"I think you did," she said, her eyes welling with tears again.

"Hey, hey, no more crying."

"I can't help it. I love you, Reid. I know I shouldn't say that, because it will probably scare the crap out of you. But I want you to know how I feel."

His heart turned over in his chest, and he had a little trouble finding his next breath. He'd thought love wasn't for him. That he was over that messy, complicated emotion, but it turned out he wasn't done with love at all.

"You don't have to say anything," Shayla said. "You didn't make me any promises. I know you're going to go back to your life, and I'm going to go back to mine. And it's good. I don't regret what happened between us. My only regret is that we didn't have a little more time together."

"Who says we don't have more time?" he challenged.

"Well, I guess we have tonight, since it's probably a good idea for us both to stay here."

"And we have tomorrow," he said. "Next week, next month, next year."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes, really, because I love you, too."

She shook her head. "Are you sure you're not just caught up in the moment?"

He laughed. "Only one way to find out."

"What's that?"

"We'll go on a date."

"A date?" she echoed, a smile blossoming across her face. "That sounds kind of nice."

"Oh, it will be better than nice." He cupped her face with his hands, then lowered his head and kissed her mouth. "I can promise you that."

"Well, I know you never make a promise you can't keep, so I'm going to hold you to that."

"There's something else I need to say."

"Okay," she said a little warily.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with my life. Maybe I'll work with Matt. Maybe I'll set up a wilderness camp in the mountains, I don't know, but what I do know is that I want to be with you. I don't know how much I have to offer, but—"

"But nothing," she interrupted. "I want to be with you, too."

"When you're not being a brilliant doctor."

"When I'm not being that," she said, meeting his gaze.

"Because you are going back into the hospital. You are going to do amazing things in your life, and I am going to cheer you on."

"Right back at you," she said, pulling his head back to hers. "Why don't you start making good on that promise now?"

"Anything you want, Doc. I'm all yours."

Epilogue

Two weeks later

Shayla finished up her first shift back in the E.R. at seven o'clock a.m. It had been a long Saturday night of injuries and illness, but she handled each and every patient with calm competency, and she was damned proud of herself. After getting off work, she walked out to her car, surprised and happy to see a man waiting for her in the parking lot, a man with deep, penetrating green eyes and a sexy smile.

Reid greeted her with a bouquet of flowers and a kiss.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"You said no one ever gave you flowers."

"They're beautiful. What's the occasion?"

"First day back at work. How was it?"

"It was good," she said. "I didn't freeze once."

"I never thought you would."

"You've always had more confidence in me than I've had in myself."

He gave her a tender smile. "It goes both ways."

"It was nice of you to meet me, although we could have done this at your place or mine."

"There's more to my surprise." He waved her toward his truck. "You can leave your car here. We'll get it later."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to breakfast."

"That sounds good. I'm starving."

"I figured you would be."

She got into the truck, sniffing the beautiful scent of flowers. "I love lavender."

"I know," he said as he started the engine. "Every time I smell it, I think of you. By the way, it does nothing to calm me. Gets me all worked up instead."

She smiled. "I like you all worked up. But if we're really going to have breakfast, we better table the hot talk until later."

"Good point."

"Where are we going to eat?"

"You'll see."

She could tell she was not going to get any more information out of him. "I've been so busy the last few days I haven't had a chance to ask you how things are going with Robert. Is the case still on track?"

Since Robert had met with the federal authorities, Hal Collins and two other executives at Abbott had been arrested and were currently in jail awaiting trial. There was also a thorough investigation being conducted by several agencies including the FBI and the FDA. Robert had been in seclusion while the authorities worked with him on their case, so Shayla hadn't seen him since the day they'd gotten back from the mountains.

"As far as I know, it's all going forward," he said. "Lisa called me last night."

"No way," she said, looking at him in surprise.

"She asked me if I'd consider helping her by telling the authorities she couldn't possibly have known what her husband was up to."

"That sounds desperate. What did you say?"

"That she was a smart girl, and I had no doubt she knew exactly what kind of man she was involved with. She hung up on me."

"She had some nerve to call you."

"It actually made me laugh," he said. "To think I wasted any time at all trying to get over her."

"Well, I'm glad that you are over her. Because now you're with me."

He smiled. "Me, too."

"What about Robert? When did you last speak to him?"

"Yesterday. He's all right. He's doing what he needs to do."

She was happy to hear the pleased note in Reid's voice. The brothers had talked a few times in the past few weeks, and their truce seemed to be holding. "You're actually a little proud of him, aren't you?"

He tipped his head. "Let's just say I've seen him in a different light."

"I'm so glad."

"And because of that light, I've agreed to a family dinner when everything is over, which probably won't be for a few more weeks. So I still have time to get ready for that."

"That's great," she said. "Family is important."

"I hope you'll feel the same when you come with me to dinner."

She looked at him in surprise. "You want me to come, too?"

"Yes, of course."

"But it's
your
family."

"And someday, maybe it will be yours, too." He slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. "I wasn't going to do this now, but I can't wait."

She stared at him with breathless anticipation. "Can't wait to do what?"

"Propose to you. I want to marry you, Shayla. I know it's fast. And a man should not propose to the woman he loves in a beat up pickup truck. I don't even have a ring. Thank God I got the flowers."

He was rambling in a way she'd never seen before. Reid was usually so self-assured, so in control, but not now.

"Here's the thing," he continued. "I know I don't have it all together. But I'm getting there. I have a job with Matt, and he pays really well, so I can provide for you."

"I can provide for myself."

"Okay, then we can take the extra money and get a real place to live."

"Reid, slow down."

"I can't. I want you to be my wife, Shayla. And to quote someone very smart and very close to me, if you say no, I'm just going to ask you again. And I'm going to keep asking you until I get the answer I want."

Her heart swelled with love at the deep and intense look in his eyes and the way he recanted her words. "Apparently, you do listen to me once in a while."

"Always. I know your career is important to you, and I won't get in the way of that. I won't put demands on you. We'll be engaged for a year or two or however long you want. But I want you to know that when you're ready, I'm waiting."

"I can't believe you're proposing. After what happened before with Lisa, I didn't know if you'd ever have the desire to walk down the aisle again."

"With you, I have absolutely no fear," he said. "I trust you completely, Shayla."

"I trust you, too."

"So you don’t need to answer me now. I'm rushing you. You can think about it."

She saw the sudden nervousness in his eyes. "I don't need to think about it, Reid. I love you. I want to be your wife. I want to have your kids. You want kids, right?"

"With you, I want it all."

"Good, because I want it all, too, maybe not right away, but down the road." She licked her lips. "We should skip breakfast and celebrate our engagement."

He groaned. "I'd really like to do that, but we can't."

"Why not?" she asked as he started driving again. "You know this is kind of a crazy proposal, Reid. You didn't even kiss me. And now you're driving like a maniac."

"I know. I've messed it all up," he said, flinging her a smile. "Sorry. I'll make it up to you." He pulled the truck up in front of a diner with a sign that read Mabel's Pancake House.

Her heart melted. "Oh, my God, you remembered."

"The blueberry pancakes from Mabel's, the place where your family celebrates important milestones. I remembered. And today you get extra blueberries and whipped cream because you're back at work. You've conquered your fears. You've climbed the metaphorical mountain."