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I was suddenly reminded of the baby, and I thought of trying to keep that secret from Dillon when he would probably want to stay by my side the entire time. “I don’t need—”
“Yes, you do,” Dillon said firmly. “Did he knock you out?”
I held his gaze for a while before nodding with resignation. “Yeah.”
“Then you need to get checked.” He turned to the sheriff. “Is there any way one of your guys can meet us at the hospital?”
Sheriff Wayleigh nodded. “I’ll send my deputy to take your statement.”
I nodded too. “I’d like to get it all out of the way as quickly as possible.”
Dillon wrapped his arm around me protectively before turning away. “Come on, babe. Let’s get going.”
My heart thudded at the sound of him calling me that, and I briefly wondered whether he’d heard my thought that I wanted him to call me babe outside of bed. The two of us walked slowly out to the parking lot, where he led me to an unfamiliar pickup truck that was idling by the door. Despite the fact that I didn’t remember the truck, I did recognize the man standing next to him.
“Hank!” I cried, walking over to him and reaching up to fling my arms around him. He hugged me in return, wrapping his arms around me tightly but carefully.
“We were real worried about you, honey.”
“I’m okay,” I said, feeling the tears roll down my face. “I’m okay.”
“Thank God,” he said, touching my face with a sort of familial affection. He pulled back from me, opening the door to the back seat and holding it for me. I climbed in, surprised to see that Dillon had gotten in with me. As the sirens and flashing lights died away, I finally felt the adrenaline start to die down and allowed the tears to start flowing of their own accord. Without giving a second thought to the fact that we were still moving, Dillon unbuckled my seat belt, reached over, and pulled me onto him so that I was sitting on his lap. He cradled me, not saying anything as he pulled my face into his chest. I gave in to the feelings, simply allowing them to move through me.
“We going to your place, Dillon?” Hank asked from the front seat.
“Hospital,” Dillon replied, soothing my hair down and kissing my face, not seeming to care that the tears were flowing freely onto his shirt. “But make a detour to Main Street for a second? I have to make a pit stop.”
I looked up at him curiously, and he shook his head, smiling before leaning down again and devoting his energy to kissing me once more. I was tempted to point out that we weren’t alone, but most of me couldn’t be bothered.
When he pulled up to Main Street, Dillon stroked my cheekbone with his thumb before climbing out and heading up the street behind me. I was too tired to try to watch for where he went, so I just settled into the seat, sighing.
“I know you’re safe now,” Hank said, from the front seat, catching my eye in the rearview mirror, “and that means you can go back to your normal life, but I hope you’ll consider staying. I’ve never seen Dillon like this before, and I hope it’s a permanent change.”
I blinked up at him, surprised. “You’ve never seen him like what?”
“Happy. In love.”
I didn’t bother to hide my surprise as my mouth dropped open. I didn’t say anything in response to his outlandish statement, despite the fact that I knew it was mutual.
“I can think of a good number of girls in this town who would love to know how you did it.”
I gave a harsh, disbelieving laugh. “I don’t even know how I’d begin to answer that. I couldn’t have planned anything about this situation, especially not Dillon, or anything to do with him. I thought I’d die never being able to trust anyone again, and as for the rest—”
I clamped my mouth shut, looking away from him. I couldn’t say the words out loud to anyone before I’d told Dillon himself.
“Well,” he said, turning around in his seat, “I know you didn’t ask, but for whatever an old guy’s thoughts are worth, you should tell him everything that’s in your heart. If you don’t, you could wind up losing out on something that might make your life everything you ever wanted it to be.”
I looked at him, and in that moment, I knew just how much he’d seen when I’d snuck down to his gas station. I swallowed hard before turning away from him.
Just then, the car door opened, and Dillon got in, taking my hand again and looking at me with a tight smile.
“What was that about?” I asked, leaning into him.
“I had to get some stuff done. It couldn’t wait. But also…” Out of his pocket, he pulled out a bag of mini peanut butter chocolate cups and his cell phone.
I couldn’t help my slightly hysterical laugh. “Seriously? After all the shit you gave me?”
“I figured after everything you’ve been through, you deserve some chocolate.” He held out his phone, and I was amazed to see that it was open on a contact card: Eliza Renner.
