Page 54 of Guarding Salvation

“She slipped on a tree root.”

“You really should be more careful when you get older.”

Bein grabbed Aoife around the waist as she went to move forward, probably to give the woman a piece of her mind.

He brought his lips to her ear. “Cool it, slugger. We don’t want her to remember us and you punching her lights out might hinder that.”

Aoife angled her face to him, her eyes bright with fire and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her until neither of them could breathe. “Then maybe you should quit flirting with her.”

Bein smirked and kissed her cheek. He fucking loved her fiery side as much as the sweet one and how it had come out more in the last few weeks, showing him who she really was.

Turning back to the receptionist he cleared the smile from his face and gave her a hard look. “How long will it be?”

“It depends on what comes in, but the wait is around an hour at the moment.”

“Thank you.”

He walked Aoife over to a hard plastic chair in the corner away from others with Snow and Titan positioned so that nobody could get close to them. He was fairly confident Doyle hadn’t found them, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

He dropped a kiss on her head as he wrapped a protective arm around Aoife.

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah, just hate making a fuss. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Maybe but I want to make sure and you’re not making the fuss, I am.”

Aoife cocked an eyebrow at him. “That’s true. You’re a bit of an old woman sometimes with your fussing.”

The smirk on her face told him the ibuprofen he’d given her was working and the pain had let up. It also let him know he was forgiven for his non-flirting with the receptionist. Aoife wasn’t afraid of him and was happy to tease him or call him out on things and he liked that about her. He didn’t want a wallflower; he wanted an equal, and until now he’d never even realised that.

“An old woman! I’ll show you old woman later when I get you home.”

“Promises, promises.”

Bein laughed; his head thrown back with humour. This woman was going to be the death of him, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

It took an hour but eventually, they were called back and a young doctor looked at Aoife’s leg, prodding and pressing before he decided he needed an X-ray on her ankle and knee. That involved more waiting around followed by sitting in the cubicle waiting for the doctor to read the scan. The curtain pulled back and Bein tensed, his hand going for his sidearm before he relaxed seeing the doctor with his head buried in the papers he was holding.

“It seems you’ve fractured one of the small bones in your foot and twisted your knee. We can give you crutches to help you walk and you need to wear sensible, flat shoes or boots for a while. Keep the leg elevated and rest it for a few days.”

Bein hated the thought of her in any pain. “What about pain relief?”

“I can give her something but over the counter pain medication should suffice. I did want to ask you about the implant in your leg though, Ms Smith.”

Bein felt his entire body go cold, every cell and synapsis waking up and sensing danger. Aoife looked at him blankly and he knew in that second exactly how Doyle had been tracking her.

“Implant?”

“Yes, in your right thigh, just above your knee. The technicians couldn’t place it as anything they’d seen before. Have you had surgery abroad at any time?”

Bein jumped in to answer before Aoife could. They had to be careful now. They had no idea what they were dealing with and didn’t want to alert the doctor to anything being amiss.

“Debbie broke her leg when we backpacked through Europe but that was years ago. It was a clean break so I have no idea why they would’ve put an implant in there.”

He looked at Aoife hoping like hell she could read his cue.

Aoife turned to the doctor. “Can I have it taken out now?”