Tempt Me

He turned her onto her back. “Hey, baby.” He looked into her eyes, his heart pounding with the thought that he could have lost her. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head and he glanced down, seeing flecks of blood staining through her clothes. Jesus Christ, she’d been shot. Nausea rushed through him.

He pulled her into his arms, covering her body with his own. “Fuck.” Anger and fury pulsed inside him, both at himself and the bastard who’d been so brazen as to shoot in a crowd.

He glanced around but they were surrounded by onlookers and the assailant was long gone. “Someone call 911!” he shouted to the people around them, then refocused on Mia. “I’ll get you out of here, just hang on. I’ve got you.”

Tears pooled in her eyes. “I’m fine. My shoulder burns but… I’m okay,” she said, as if he were the one who needed reassuring. “But—”

“Give me a second.” He ripped off his jacket and pressed it against the wound, applying pressure.

She winced at the pain.

“I’m sorry but I have to staunch the bleeding.”

“Ambulance is on its way,” someone yelled to him.

He breathed out a harsh breath.

Suddenly Mia grabbed his arm with her good hand. “Austin, I’m scared.”

He leaned closer, his lips near her cheek. “It’s going to be okay.”

“But…” She drew a shuddering breath, her gaze hesitant. “I’m pregnant. What about the baby?”

The sound of sirens blared and relief flooded him. She said it was her shoulder that burned but until he knew if that bullet exited and didn’t hit anything vital, he wouldn’t breathe.

He sucked in a shallow breath, possibility suddenly becoming definite. In the chaos of her getting shot, he’d forgotten his earlier thoughts about her possibly having his baby.

“I know you are,” he said with a soft smile. “I figured it out, but right now we’re going to focus on you, and when the ambulance gets here, we’ll fill them in.”

Her eyes opened wide at his admission. “You know?”

“I just figured it out as we pulled into the garage.” He pushed harder on the jacket as the ambulance pulled up to the curb.

Paramedics ran out and pushed Austin aside. He knew the drill but it still rankled. “She’s pregnant,” he informed them. “Make sure they’re both okay.”

“We’re on it. Just stay back,” a female said.

Austin couldn’t see over their backs or shoulders and he was in a panic of his own. Finally, they put her on a stretcher and he ran up beside her, grasping her hand.

“Sir, you can’t—”

“I’m her fiancé. I’m coming with her,” he said in his sternest, most insistent voice.

Mia’s eyes grew wide in her now pale face.

Ignoring her shock, he pushed past the paramedics and joined her in the back of the ambulance.

* * *

Mia lay on a bed in the emergency room, her shoulder burning, the pain agonizing, but she was fortunate the bullet had only grazed her. The amount of blood after the shooting had been deceiving as far as the damage done. They’d given her a painkiller, assuring her it was safe for the baby in the early stages of pregnancy, and considering the level of pain she was in, she decided not to argue. She’d take it to get over the initial pain and cut back as soon as possible.

Now she had to face Austin. The fact that they hadn’t let him back with her while they worked on her shoulder was a blessing because she didn’t want to deal with the baby talk on top of everything else going on. But now she was alone, it was quiet, and she’d have to deal with the fact of her pregnancy and her future.

The sweet nurse who’d been by her side through the worst of the cleaning of the wound had gone out to get her fiancé, as he’d called himself to the paramedics. Not that she blamed him. The label enabled him to stay by her side and she appreciated not being alone and afraid at the same time.

“Hello?” Austin pushed aside the curtain. “Is it okay if I come in?”

“Sure.”

He stepped into the small cubicle in which she’d been placed. One look at him and she knew he wasn’t doing well. He’d taken off his jacket to staunch her blood loss and now wore a rumpled white shirt, sleeves haphazardly rolled up. His hair stood on end as if he’d been running his fingers through it over and over again. He was pale, his eyes glazed, and her heart squeezed tight in her chest.

She hadn’t meant to put him through something so traumatic, and though she understood this was his job, even she had to admit he’d been affected by today’s events.