Page 80 of Perfect Together
“She was driving Macy Donovan home. Both women walked away relatively unharmed. A damn miracle if you ask me.”
Sam was in his truck by the time he wound up the call. On the short drive over, a myriad of situations ran through his mind. Panic and the need to see her were paramount, but his cop brain also was on alert, thinking about Tyler’s old man hiring someone to scare Nicole into heading home.
Sam arrived on the scene to find one side of her car crunched, and his stomach twisted painfully. He parked and climbed out of his vehicle.
Burnett met him as he headed for the ambulance. “That was fast.”
Sam nodded. “I appreciate the call. What happened?”
“Looks like Mrs. Adler was driving too fast and ran her stop sign. She was driving without a license and wandered off without her daughter knowing.”
Sam winced, knowing that Mrs. Adler was in her mideighties.
Burnett shook his head. “Sad when they get old and lose control like that. Anyway, she slammed into Nicole’s passenger-side back door. According to Nicole, the car behind her wasn’t giving her much space to begin with and couldn’t stop in time, causing a second impact.”
Sam’s instincts went on alert. Was it that the actual accident was a coincidence, but the second occurred because Nicole was being followed?
“Who was the second driver?” Sam waited for a Russian name.
“Drunk driver.”
Sam ground his teeth together. “Local?”
Burnett shook his head, and Sam’s instincts went haywire. “You’re booking him, right?”
“Yeah, but he refused the Breathalyzer,” Burnett said, inclining his head.
“Make sure you hold him. I want the chief to run a full check on the guy.” In case he had been sent after Nicole, with his inebriated state an intentional diversion.
“What’s going on?” Burnett asked.
“No time to explain now. Where are the women?” Sam asked, wanting to get to Nicole.
Burnett tipped his head toward the ambulance. “Being checked out just to make sure they’re fine.”
“Thanks again.” Sam shook Burnett’s hand and headed to see Nicole for himself.
The paramedics had released both Nicole and Macy, and as Sam approached, they were reminded that should they feel anything unusual, they should head to the hospital immediately.
Nicole signed the form the paramedic held out for her, then turned, and her eyes connected with his. Shaking, he caught her in his arms before she could collapse.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she murmured.
His heart squeezed at the admission, and he held on tight. Turning to Macy, he extended his other arm for her and helped both women to his truck, grateful tonight hadn’t turned out so much worse. And with the way his brain had spun out alternative scenarios, he decided he wasn’t letting Nicole out of his sight for a good, long while.
***
An hour later,Nicole had showered, and now, wrapped in her favorite robe, she sipped a cup of tea and cuddled next to Sam on the sofa in her family room. After dropping Macy at home, Sam called Mike, at which point Nicole realized he believed the drunk driver behind her might have been sent to intimidate her into running back to Manhattan and Tyler for protection.
She had to admit that as the driver hovered on her tail, she’d thought the same thing. But she didn’t like Sam being uptight and stressed out, and he was both.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, obviously worrying about her the same way she was about him.
“Sore,” she admitted.
His arm around her tightened and she laid her head against his chest, inhaling his masculine scent that was both comforting and arousing at the same time.
“It’ll be worse tomorrow,” he said, his voice thick as his thumb rubbed comforting circles on her arm.