Luca tugged her to her feet. Eventually meant she needed to meet his friends officially, and that time was looking like right now. “You two should probably formally meet.”
She tipped her head to the side, smiling at Mr. Team Leader, and held out her hand. Everything Mack had told her about Hammer and his return to Renegade rolled through her mind. But he didn’t know that she already had the whole story. “Dr. Kira Yassan.’’
He held it almost as gently as Luca, placing his other hand on top so that she spotted a gold wedding band on his left hand. “Rowan Wallace.”
“Nice to meet you.” Kira smiled politely.
“Finally.” He let go of her hand and glanced at Luca. “Been holding out on me, bro.”
Luca cleared his throat. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Kira shifted away from the two of them as far as Luca’s hold on her hand allowed. “Well, I should go get some rest, or I’ll be worthless next time I’m on shift.”
“Hmm. I’m thinking that’ll probably be about the same time Luca comes back on duty.”
Kira said, “Hopefully you aren’t missing anything important at home.” By all accounts, he was involved with his son’s rodeo competitions, catching up on everything he’d missed.
Rowan shook his head. “They’re having a movie night. I’m trying to convince my son I don’t actually like popcorn, but he doesn’t believe me.”
Kira started to go and realized Luca was still holding her hand. “See you later?”
“I’ll walk you to the elevator. Hammer’s got this.”
Nine
She hadn’t objected to him holding her hand, but Luca only clasped her fingers loosely. Keeping it casual just in case she didn’t want to be the doctor seen in the hospital hallway holding hands with a guy.
She glanced over at him. “Are you delegating the duties the Marshals gave you?”
“I can’t be on duty twenty-four seven. That invites too much risk, because I need to sleep sometime. If I’m overtired, I could miss something, so I’ve got a couple of people switching off with me. But I’m doing the bulk of the time.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Hammer is on duty for a few hours, and then I’ll be back.”
He couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d told him about her father. Not that there had been much, just a “to be continued” type mention. There was so much about her that he didn’t know. He could find out through various channels that were available to him. But in the end, he would rather she chose to tell him herself.
He didn’t want to get ahead of himself, but this was going pretty well so far. Even if they had plenty they needed to get out in the open—between the two of them—he couldn’t help thinking that maybe he had finally found someone worth pursuing. A woman he could actually fall for.
Don’t let me mess it up.
As far as prayers went, that wasn’t particularly eloquent. But he’d always considered honesty and being real as the hallmarks of a solid relationship. Including the one he had with the Lord.
Kira hit the button for the elevator. “Thanks for walking me down here.” She seemed almost shy.
He squeezed her hand gently. “You’re very welcome.”
The elevator doors slid open, and she stepped inside. A second later, a man not quite as tall as Luca stepped inside, wearing a heavy overcoat under which he had a zippered sweater. Hood up, dirty jeans and work boots. Those weren’t things that should have set off his instinct for danger, ringing alarm bells in his head. But something about this guy wasn’t quite right.
Before the doors could shut, Luca slammed his hand on the side of the opening. He stepped into the elevator. “On second thought, I should grab my backpack from the truck.”
He eased over and stood by Kira, keeping the guy in his peripheral vision but not making it obvious he was looking at the man. “I need to give Hammer the twenty bucks I owe him before I leave.”
Kira lifted her gaze to him. Her eyes darted to the right, then back to him.
He nodded very slightly. “What are your plans for the day?”
“Apparently I’m going to have a handsome man walk me to my car.”
He smiled. “Where are you parked? I’m over in the west lot.”
“That’s a shame. I’m not far from the edge of the east lot. You shouldn’t come all the way over to my car. We can just say bye outside.”