Bodyguard's Baby Surprise by LISA CHILDS Page B

cursed him. Getting Nick on either of their teams would have been a triumph.
    Nick hesitated. “But your team...”
    â€œIt’s the family team.” Or what was left of the family since Cooper and Parker had started their own franchises and Nikki had gone with Cooper. Logan felt a pang in his chest that the family was divided. He had the Kozminskis, though. And Gage. And if Nick was foolish enough to give up his career with the FBI, Logan wanted him, too.
    â€œBut, Logan—” Nick was going to argue, like he always did, that he wasn’t really family. But he was.
    So Logan interrupted him. “Can you work for me, though?” It was a valid question. “You’ve been running the whole River City PD since you came to town. Is being a bodyguard going to be enough for you?”
    â€œKeeping Annalise safe is all I care about,” he said. “That’s why I’m heading back to the hospital now.” When he stood, he swayed on his feet.
    Garek caught his uninjured shoulder. “You should check yourself back in.”
    â€œHe should,” Logan agreed. But they all knew he wouldn’t. It was clear that Nick’s only concern was for Annalise—not himself.
    It wasn’t until he left that Logan realized Nick hadn’t answered his question. Would being a bodyguard be enough for him? But then, Nick probably wasn’t thinking about the future. Hell, if he ran into another shoot-out like the one in the parking garage, he would be damn lucky if he survived the present.
    * * *
    Annalise leaned back in the passenger’s seat of the black SUV and drew in a deep breath. She’d felt suffocated earlier. She wasn’t used to people fussing over her. She wasn’t the one who’d been in the parking garage. She hadn’t been in a fight like Nikki, whose cheek had gone from red to purple. She hadn’t been shot like Nick.
    She shuddered as she remembered the blood soaked into his shirt and coat. She’d felt the clamminess of the blood through her clothes when he’d caught her in his arms. Despite his gunshot wound, he had stopped her from falling.
    To the ground.
    She’d fallen long before that moment in the ER. She’d fallen for him so long ago that she couldn’t remember the exact moment when it had happened.
    But she knew why. Because he was Nick.
    Because he was strong and honorable and heroic. For the past six months, she had been doubting that and cursing him. Then he’d risked his life to rescue his sister. And then, even injured, he’d caught Annalise.
    She’d had only that moment—seeing the dead man on the gurney—when her knees had weakened. There had been no reason for them to whisk her back into a bed. No reason for them to keep her for monitoring.
    When she’d finally convinced them of that, Nick was already gone. He’d checked himself out against doctor’s orders. He was gone, just like he’d been the morning after they had made love in his mother’s house.
    â€œWill you take me home?” Annalise asked the female bodyguard. Candace Baker-Kozminski was an Amazon—tall and strong and intimidating. But she had fussed, too. And so had Nikki and the River City detective who’d taken her statement about the carjacking. They were all so concerned about her—making sure that answering questions and looking at mug shots wasn’t too much stress for her to handle.
    Candace glanced away from the traffic for just a moment to meet Annalise’s gaze across the console of the black SUV she was driving. “Home?”
    â€œChicago.”
    â€œYou can’t be alone right now,” Candace said.
    â€œI don’t think I have a concussion,” she protested. The pain in her head was only a dull ache now.
    â€œYou can’t be alone. You’re in danger.”
    She shivered. She had been afraid before—over the break-ins and the previous car theft. But