It was the type of dress that screamed “attitude,” so I gave it some once I had it on. Raising my hands and curling my fingers like claws in front of me, I swiped the curtain back and prowled into the sitting area.
Katie was howling with laughter with each one of the impromptu shows I put on after that, but Dane’s eyes were growing darker with each one and his jaw was tense. It might not have helped that I’d taken to seeing whether I could move properly in each outfit by doing a dancing jig—at Katie’s suggestion.
As I was changing from a little black dress into a littler black dress, I was surprised to hear her teasing him.
“Is that a banana in your pocket, boss?” she asked, her tone light. “Or are you just really enjoying Leah’s moves?”
“Bananas are a fantastic source of fiber and potassium,” he retorted without skipping a beat. “I always make sure to keep one on me. Along with a roll of quarters. You never know when you might need a quarter as a makeshift screwdriver. Anything you see is either the banana or the quarters.”
Wow. Score one for the home team. I was impressed by how he’d handled that, but I was rooting for Katie to come up with an equally good response.
Before either of us could say anything more to him on the subject, his phone rang. I ran out of the dressing room without even zipping up the dress when I heard the tone of his voice a second into the call.
“Which emergency room?” he was asking as I stumbled out from behind the curtain. His blue eyes were wide and wild, his free hand tugging at his hair. “I’ll be right there. Just take care of him, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He ended the call and shoved his phone into his pocket, already on his feet and pulling his wallet out at the same time. A black credit card came sliding out of a slot, and he handed it over to Katie before glancing at me.
“I’m so sorry, but I have to go,” he said, panic bleeding into his voice. “Jefferson’s been admitted to the ER. Get what you need and put it on the company card.”
My heart fell as I watched him rush out of the store. According to Katie, Dane was a lot closer to Jefferson than people usually were to their bosses.
She reiterated the point as she watched him go, her brow furrowed as worry shone from her eyes. “I really hope he’s okay. He’s more like a father to Dane than a boss. We’ll all be devastated if something happens to him, but it has to break Dane’s heart.”
My teeth sank into my lips as I rolled them into my mouth. My stomach lurched as I sent out good vibes into the universe. Please let Mr. Killen be okay. I don’t think anyone is ready to lose him just yet. Please just let him be okay.
Chapter 12
DANE
A night in the emergency room was everything it was cracked up to be. The chairs were hard, even in the fancy-ass hospital Jefferson had been raced to, the coffee tasted like shit, and the stress took its toll.
Every other bad thought anyone had ever wondered about when trying to imagine what it might be like to spend the night there was probably also true. It was always a shitty experience, but this time had been even worse than before.
In fact, every time was worse than it had been the time before. It was becoming fucking terrifying to witness the decline in Jefferson’s health with each visit.
By the time I made it back to my penthouse, the sun had risen on Sunday morning and I hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. My clothes were wrinkled, I was worn out, and I felt like a swarm of hornets had stung the inside of my chest.
All I wanted was a hot shower and my bed, but I was going to have to settle for only the hot shower. My bed was going to have to wait.
Leah’s first television interview was being filmed in a few hours, and I needed to get to the studio to be there for her. Katie had texted last night to say they’d settled on enough items of clothing that Leah should be covered for anything that might come her way initially. She’d also promised to go over to the