Hotter Than Ever

“No.”

The desolation in his voice tore at her insides.

“His girlfriend says they’re taking him into surgery tomorrow for a triple bypass, to apparently ‘alleviate the obstruction’, whatever that means.” He continued to dress in a hurry, his panic thickening the air. “He had a heart attack a few years back, but he told me he was doing fine. He never said a goddamn word about…” Aidan swore softly. “I have to check the flights…and call a cab…and I have to…”

He trailed off, his eyes so wild Claire snapped into action.

She marched up to him and grasped his chin this time. “Aidan. Hey. It’s going to be fine.”

His blank expression was a tad worrying. “What?”

“I’ll handle the flight, okay?” She was already grabbing her laptop from the end table. “I’ll take care of everything you need, baby.”

The endearment slipped out without warning. It was the first time she’d called him that, and it seemed to shake him out of the numb trance he’d fallen into.

“Go make yourself a cup of coffee,” she ordered. “You need the caffeine.”

Twenty minutes later, Claire found him pacing the kitchen with a mug in his hand.

“All right, your flight leaves in two hours. We have just enough time to get you to the airport before the check-in counter closes.” She held up the sheet of paper she’d printed in his office. “This is your confirmation. Come on, let’s go.”

Aidan blinked, startled. “You’re coming with me?”

“Just to the airport.” Her lips tightened in displeasure. “There was only one seat left on the plane. I could have booked us on the next flight, but it leaves five hours from now and I know you want to get there as soon as possible.”

His gorgeous eyes flickered with an emotion she couldn’t make out. “You would have gone all the way to Chicago with me?”

“Of course.”

He placed his mug on the counter, and she noticed his hand was shaking. “Why? Why would you do that?”

With purposeful steps, she crossed the kitchen and stroked his stubble-covered jaw. “Haven’t you figured it out by now? I’d do anything for you.” She smiled. “I love you, silly.”

Surprise, pleasure and awe flooded his face, along with a flash of uncertainty that had Claire immediately regretting saying those words. Not because she didn’t mean them, but because now wasn’t the time. In fact, it was the worst time to drop an L-bomb, when his mind was on his father, when his shoulders were rigid with fear.

Not only that, but she didn’t want to put him in a position where he was forced to say it back before he was ready.

Which was why she quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and took a step back. “Come on, time to go, baby. I didn’t break nearly enough speeding laws on my first trip to the airport tonight. But the second time’s the charm, right?”

It was eleven o’clock the next morning when Aidan finally walked into the hospital. He’d come straight from the airport and wasted no time in stalking up to the nurses’ station and demanding to know which room his father was in.

After he got the information he wanted, he took off like a light toward the elevator bank. The nurse had told him his father was in the ICU, and as he rode the elevator, his heart was pounding so fast he feared it might actually stop. Wouldn’t that be just f**king ironic. Father and son bonding over heart attacks.

He felt like a total slob in sweatpants, a ratty black hoodie and cross-trainers, but had to chide himself for giving a shit about his appearance when his father was about to go in for triple bypass surgery.

When the elevator dinged open, he hurried down the fluorescent-lit corridor toward yet another nurses’ station, where he had to show his ID in order to be taken to his father’s room. He hadn’t thought the intensive-care unit enforced its “family only” policy so strictly, but apparently it did, and as he and the nurse passed by the waiting area, Aidan was startled to see a familiar face.

“Wait,” he said abruptly. “That’s my father’s wife waiting in there. You have to let her in to see him.”

The nurse frowned. “She said she was his girlfriend.”

“Yeah, well, she’s his wife,” Aidan lied. He signaled to Veronica Hanson, who jumped up when she spotted him.

Veronica was a pretty woman in her fifties, with blonde hair streaked with gray and kind blue eyes that were brimming with tears. “Aidan!” she burst out.

The next thing he knew, he was enveloped in a breath-stealing embrace by a woman he’d only met once. Bringing his lips close to her ear, he murmured, “Play along”, then pulled back and glanced at the nurse. “Veronica and my dad got married a few months ago. She just hasn’t had the chance to go through the whole name-change process yet.”

“So much paperwork,” Veronica murmured.

The nurse eyed them suspiciously before shrugging in resignation. “Follow me.”

She led them through a pair of restricted doors, then down another long hallway until finally coming to a stop in front of his father’s room.

“He can only have one visitor at a time,” she said briskly. “His cardiologist should be here shortly to discuss the surgery.”

After the nurse left, Aidan turned to Veronica and said, “How is he? Did the doctors at least tell you anything?”

She nodded miserably. “They said he went into cardiac arrest twice in the last four hours. They’re worried he might not be stable enough to undergo the surgery.”