On the verge of a sharp about face, Jake took a breath, flaring his nostrils as his little kitten squeezed a napkin to gingerly dab some food from Carter’s smug fucking grin.
Gentle Jake and Caveman Jake took two solid steps back. Master Jake had work to do. With determined steps, the Dom in him crossed the room, ready to unleash.
“Jake!” Carter popped to his feet. “God, what a night. Kathryn was saying—”
“I don’t really care what Kathryn was saying. It’ll be hard for her to say much of anything with her mouth full of—”
Jake considered finishing the sentence with the words a ball gag or my cock, choked back by the quickness of his reflexes.
“Food,” he finally said, taking a second to get a better look at the woman smiling up at him.
This. Isn’t. Kathryn.
Laughing off his Dom aggression, Jake smiled profusely as the woman batted her bright blue eyes and swallowed a spoonful of cheesecake. Jake was still staring when Carter locked him in a hearty handshake.
Regretful, Carter continued. “Kathryn was saying she couldn’t join us, and as much as I wanted to do this with her first, you’re here now.”
Confused, Jake repeated the statement back as a question. “Do this with her first? This what?”
“Give her the one thing she always said she needed. For me to get my head out of my ass and find happiness. Jake, this is my wife, Claire.”
“Your . . . wife?” Jake hoped his poker face could stand up to the scrutiny of being eye-to-eye with this Kathryn Chase doppelganger. The resemblance was uncanny.
Strawberry-blonde. Same frame. Same height. And what were the chances this one was a nurse? By her uniform, she was.
What can I say? The man has a type.
“Congratulations. I didn’t realize . . .” Jake couldn’t help it. His gaze fell to the third finger on Carter’s left hand. A credit to his old life, but Jake didn’t miss much.
Nope. No wedding ring.
And leave it to a surgeon’s attention to detail. The scrutinizing glance was noticed.
Carter rubbed his hand. “A surgeon’s lot.” Grinning, he tugged a gold chain out from under his shirt. A thick gold band dangled along it. “Wearing rings in surgery always poses an issue, and after a dozen hours hunched over a patient, my fingers swell like Italian sausages. Please,” Carter motioned to an empty chair, “join us.”
“Yes,” Claire said with so much warmth, the offer was tempting.
“I wish I could,” Jake said, honestly sorry to have to turn them down. “Perhaps another time. I’m trying to catch up with Kathryn.”
“Last I saw her, she was in Wing E. Turned down the dinner offer to treat a patient on a gurney.”
“How long ago?”
Thinking for a second, Carter shrugged. “I don’t know. Ten minutes or so. How about this, you head to the lobby and I’ll have her paged.”
With a grateful nod, Jake took several fast steps away. “You’re a lifesaver,” he called out over his shoulder.
“That’s what they tell me,” Carter called back without a trace of modesty.
“Paging Nurse Chase. Nurse Kathryn Chase, your party is expecting you in the lobby.”
Making a left at the emergency room lobby, Jake walked in, half expecting Kathryn to already be there. But if she was in the middle of a procedure, her absence was understandable.
It was the first time all day he’d really looked around. The long arrows painted along the floor provided direction to anyone who needed it, and the big blue one with the bold letter E was beckoning him.
The hall covered at least thirty rooms on each side, which Jake paced the length of twice, casual as he checked for any open doors. Each pass brought him alongside a patient sleeping on a gurney.
What did Carter say? Is this the guy Kathryn was checking on?
Gurneys in a hall? Typical. Patients on the gurneys in the hall? Less so, but under the right circumstances, it happened.
But a lone gurney in a hall when you could hear a pin drop . . . and plenty of vacant examining rooms available? Something seemed off.
He took several silent steps over, careful not to wake what looked to be a man. Even with most of the man’s face covered, as soon as Jake stood over him, the salt-and-pepper military haircut was unmistakable. Scott.
Jake pried open each of Scott’s eyes. Responsive, thank God. Fuck.
“Scott!” Jake pressed two fingers to the side of the detective’s neck, feeling the thud of his pulse, and he let out a relieved breath. The detective’s heartbeat was strong and steady. “Scott, can you hear me?”
Scott stirred, pinching his brows hard through several attempted blinks. His eyes settled and remained closed. In a long puff of air, he whispered, “Kathryn.”
Looking down at Scott, all Jake could think of was Kathryn. Kathryn had been here, had come across Scott mere minutes ago. With no response to the page, Jake had to assume the worst.
His girl was missing and in danger.
He pulled out his phone and pressed the contact of the one person he knew who could get this place locked down now. After the third ring, the call picked up.
“Hey, Jake.”
“Listen to me very carefully. Kathryn was working on a case. Detective Delaney is unconscious, and Kathryn is missing.”
“What do we do?”
“Get the hospital completely locked down. Carter is in the cafeteria if you need him. Paco can tell me the last room Scott was in. I’ll get that, text it to you, and head there now. Call the police. Let them know what’s going on.”
“I’m on it.”
“Thanks, Julian.”