it with efficient movements, not saying a word. She didn’t speak, either. Instead, she meekly went with him outside to the vet’s truck.
That told him everything he needed to know.
“Careful. I’ll help you in.” Knight unlocked the passenger door and wrapped his hands around her waist, the black material of her FBI-issue jacket crinkling beneath his hands. He lifted her into the truck as gently as he could.
“Are you in?”
She nodded. “I’m good, Knight. Just…damn, his shoulder was hard as granite.”
“He probably cracked ribs or something.” That would be his inexpert opinion, anyway. She still held one hand to her left side. He swore again—it was one of his favorite habits, after all—and reached around her for the seat belt himself. He was an extra-tall man; the awkward position put them almost face-to-face. Close enough he could see the little gold freckles dusted over her cheeks. “Let’s get you checked out, then we’ll come back and try again.”
“It’s a…deal.” She gave him a rueful smile. “Never dull in PAVAD. Better get prepared for that.”
He was supposed to only be observing. Not getting involved.
It was hard not to get drawn right in.
Right into her. It was the sunshine that did it. Miranda Talley exuded damned sunshine right from her pores. It was fitting, the red hair and the freckles. The sunny smile that was just too much most of the time. Sunny.
Screw sunny. He hated sunny. “Do you have to smile about everything?”
“Mmmm. Probably…better than growling over everything, don’t you think?”
He just grunted, then snapped her seatbelt into place, avoiding her hand when she tried to do it herself. “Keep your feet inside.”
“No kidding.”
He slammed the door in her face as she gave him another one of those sunny smiles despite the obvious pain she was in.
When he climbed behind the wheel, she was staring at him. Making him feel like a bug.
He felt like an ass, grumbling at her right now. She was hurting now; Knight wasn’t too stupid to see that. “Tighten your belt. Focus on breathing evenly. Try not to think about the pain.”
“I’m ok. It’s not the first time I’ve had cracked ribs.” She still watched him. “Didn’t know you cared so much.”
Knight just grunted and kept driving. “Infernal sunshine wears on a man, Talley. I want you ok, so we can finish this case and I can get away from all the happy sunshine that surrounds you.”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” She was talking better than she was before. He didn’t think the damage was too bad, at least. But she was getting looked over and signed off on before returning to work. An image of the last agent he’d worked with who’d been injured flashed in his head.
He’d always see Ian’s blood on the sidewalk.
“You. You’re so bright, you’re practically glowing. And no one is that happy all the time. It’s just not realistic.”
“I think it is. Happiness as a state of mind can be a conscious choice.”
“For you, maybe, Sunny. But not for the rest of the world. You’re going to burn yourself out. Quick.” He’d seen young agents like her before. With their pie-in-the-sky belief that everything always worked out for the good guys. That had been an attitude that had always pissed him off.
It wasn’t realistic. Not in the world Knight inhabited, anyway.
Worse, he’d seen it get young, inexperienced agents killed. Sometimes, it got the people around them killed, too. Far fewer FBI agents had been killed while on the job than most of the public thought, but each one was one too many.
People who were as naive as she was were a danger to all around them.
“Look, Knight, I get what you’re thinking. But I’ve been on this job since before PAVAD was formed. I know how things really are. I just chose a long time ago not to let the dark things in life keep me from enjoying mine.”
“I wish I had the same—” Mindset. The same outlook on life. But then again, perhaps Miranda Talley hadn’t been tested as much as he had. Knight fingered the scar on his temple almost unconsciously. He pulled into the ER parking lot. “We’re here.”
“Great. Time to get poked and prodded. Wonder if they give out cherry lollipops. Cherry is my favorite flavor of everything.”
“Stay there; I’ll help you down.” The last thing they needed was her falling from the big truck and hurting herself any more than she already had. “Do you always antagonize people just by sight like