He didn’t want to wake her by moving, but he needed to check in with the hospital about Olivia, see how she’d fared through the night. He was almost afraid to ask, but he owed it to her. The guilt was still there, but it wasn’t as raw and all-consuming as it had been yesterday. He couldn’t have stopped Liv from taking point on the ladder. Shouldn’t have tried to stop her, either. Yes, she was a woman, but she was also a trained professional, like him, and she’d chosen this job. He’d have come to that conclusion eventually, but it would’ve been later rather than sooner. It had taken Bella helping him focus his thoughts, well, elsewhere, to still his chaotic brain and open him up to the realization. Amazing what the love of a good woman could do. The thought rocked him, and his whole body tensed. Love? He turned it over in his head, looked at it from every direction and, letting out a long, slow breath, realized it was true.
