With Hearts to Hear| ✔

|29|

After a short argument, Killian was relegated to sleep on the pull-out futon in the living room beside Diana's cot.

He had argued that he would go home then come back tomorrow to take Rachel and Diana home, but Rachel had told him it made no sense for him to make the two-hour drive back to his pack in the middle of the night and then again, the next morning when he could stay and only have to make the trip once.

Anita, hearing he had a two-hour drive between him and his home, had immediately put her foot down that she would not be responsible for him getting hurt if she let him make the journey in the middle of the night.

Rachel had handed Diana to Killian so that she could message her roommate. Diana fussed, but eventually settled into his hold, her light-coloured eyes staring unblinkingly at him with what looked like a new kind of curiousness.

Rachel shot a text to Ai.

Hey, you around tomorrow morning?

Yep, I'm on the twilight shift tmrw.

Her response was practically instantaneous, which came as no surprise. For Ai, her phone was always next to her pager on her hip; working in a small-town hospital that was short staffed meant she barely got any downtime.

Dr Do-little keeps asking about you...

I'm running out of ways to stall the man.

About tht, you may not have to...

Rach, xx

as your bff, x

before you make a deal with the devil

I must say

10/10 do not recommend. x

The dude has great hair, but he's a dickbag with no sense of personal hygiene. xx

Rachel snorted, unable to hold back her laugh. There was something about the fact that her friend could never send one long text message that made the whole thing funnier to her. She could practically imagine Ai's facial expressions with each message as if they were having the conversation face to face.

She had no doubt that Ai's assessment of her colleague was completely accurate— she had a keen sense for people, whether by intuition or observation, but she was hardly wrong. Besides the one instance that Rachel had met the doctor in question, he had leaned in far too close, with words far too familiar for a stranger with garlic breath.

That's one mistake you don't have to worry about me making... Something happened tonight, so I'm staying at my mum's tonight, but I'll explain everything when we get back tmrw. Promise!

Her roommate had sent back a raised brow emoji to her cryptic message, and after realising Rachel would not explain any further relented with a cheerful:

Alrighty!

Night, see ya soon! x

Just as she slipped her phone back into her pocket, she looked up to realise that Killian was watching her curiously, with baby Diana in his arms starting to doze off. He was watching her so intently that she didn't think that he noticed his daughter had fallen asleep in his arms.

"You're so beautiful when you smile like that," he murmured gently. His eyes hugged her with its warm look, a small smile pulling at his own lips. "I would say I'd forgotten how beautiful it looked but that would be a lie, but my memory pales in comparison to the real thing."