Read Online The Bad Boy's Baby (Hope Springs) by Cindi Madsen - Free Book Online

nothing.”
    “We’re going to err on the side of caution and do a CT scan. From the sounds of it, we might have to hold her down…” Nurse Welch was mostly false threats, but she followed through with a look that made most people too scared to push their luck—even headstrong Grandma Bev, which was why Emma requested she be the one to treat her. “I just thought you should know.”
    The words “just thought you should know” struck her as slightly ironic. She’d used them on Cam, and she saw now how ineffective they were at soothing frayed nerves.
    “Can I talk to my grandmother for a minute?” Emma wanted to lecture her, but that’d never done any good, and more than anything she wanted to hear for herself that she was okay, so she figured she’d see how she sounded and then take it from there.
    Apparently phrases were striking her right and left today, because now she was thinking about Cam again, and the way he’d told her, “We’ll take it from there,” all demanding, in a way that should bug her but seemed more like second nature to him.
    She glanced toward the window of his cabin, thinking that maybe it was more that the guy was simply hard not to think about.
    …
    Zoey started dancing around, a dance that looked suspiciously like—
    “Go potty,” Zoey said.
    Cam looked to the front door, praying for Emma to come through it, but he could see her pacing outside the window, still on the phone. He didn’t want her to think he couldn’t handle a few minutes alone, even though he wasn’t sure he could.
    I have no idea what I’m doing. One thing was sure, he was definitely in over his head.
    “Um, bathroom’s right there.” He pointed at the door.
    She grabbed his hand and started toward it. Once they stepped inside the bathroom, she looked up at him like he’d know what to do.
    “Need help?” he asked and she nodded, handing him the doll. Tucking it under his arm, he helped Zoey get her pants down and lifted her onto the toilet. She smiled at him, kicking out her legs and looking toward the ceiling for a moment. Then she was done, and he exhaled a relieved breath.
    But as soon as he got everything back into place and her hands washed, she demanded candy.
    “I don’t have any candy,” he said.
    She pointed at the toilet. “Go potty. Candy.” When he simply continued to stare, she wrinkled her face up, and he could tell she was about to cry, the way she’d done after he’d stopped her from climbing on the nightstand earlier. But that was when Emma was still inside, and she wasn’t now.
    “All right. I’ll find…something.”
    Zoey followed him into the kitchen, and he opened the pantry and eyed the sparse contents. He had several leftover MREs from his army days, but he figured she’d be as unimpressed with the ready-to-eat meal contents as he was after a week straight of choking them down in the field.
    The bag of marshmallows he’d bought for hot chocolate caught his eye. He glanced at the door again, feeling like he was about to get into trouble for reasons he wasn’t even sure of. So he quickly opened the bag and handed Zoey a marshmallow. She shoved the entire thing in her mouth and smiled at him, one cheek popping out.
    Emma walked inside, and he could immediately tell something was wrong.
    “What happened?”
    “Vera Mae’s punch,” she grumbled, then she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long exhale. “My grandma mixed it with her meds, and she passed out at bingo. She was adamant that she was fine, but she sounded a bit loopy, and long story short, she’s going in for a CT scan and I need to head over to the hospital. So Zoey and I have to go.”
    Cam glanced at the time—they’d only been here for a little over a half hour, but it was getting late, nearing the cutoff of usual hospital visiting hours. In the past few minutes, he’d also witnessed how busy Zoey was. The girl never. Stopped. Moving. He couldn’t imagine she’d be still in a hospital,