seen him get knocked around, bucked and nearly trampled, but nothing had terrified her more than the sight of his totaled car.
The trooper stepped away and Piper inched closer on still shaky legs.
Ryan caught her eye and offered that crooked smile. “Hey, Red.”
That smile could melt the panties off any woman...and it had according to rumor. But Ryan was her friend so her panties had stayed in place over the years. Though she wasn’t blind—her bestie was the sexiest cowboy she’d ever laid eyes on.
With that dark, messy hair usually hidden by a black Stetson and heavy-lidded baby blues, yeah, Ryan Grant was one very fine-looking cowboy and he did some mighty nice things to a pair of well-worn jeans.
“You need to be seen,” she informed him, raking her eyes over him to look for other visible injuries. “And I won’t take no for an answer.”
“I’m just sore and banged up a little, that’s all.” He reached out, grabbed one of her shaky hands and squeezed. “You look tense. I’m fine, Piper.”
“You will be checked out because you’ll want to come to the hospital anyway when I tell you who I saw.”
Ryan shrugged, hissing and grabbing his side again. “Who?”
Piper’s eyes darted down to his ribs. “If they’re not broken, they’re bruised, so you’ll be going straight to X-ray when you get there, big boy.”
“Who did you see?” he insisted.
All joking aside, she leaned in and said, “Alex.”
“Alex?” he repeated. “Alex Santiago?”
Piper nodded. “He was in the back of that semi.”
“Piper...” He eyed her as though she was the one who’d hit her head. “Alex was in the truck?”
She merely nodded, crossing her arms and silently daring him to argue.
“How in the hell did he get there?” Ryan asked.
Piper nodded toward another ambulance and guided Ryan toward the open back. “He doesn’t remember.”
Ryan, still holding his side, put his foot on the back step. “He doesn’t remember how he got into the semi?”
“He doesn’t remember anything,” she whispered. “He didn’t even know his damn name was Alex when I was talking to him. He didn’t recognize me and he was totally clueless.”
“Damn it.” Ryan glanced around at the group of Mexicans being tended to by EMTs and talked to by the cops. “He has amnesia?”
Piper shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. He had a good-size knot on his head, but that could’ve happened from the accident. He’s on his way in the squad I came with, so we’ll catch a ride with another. Right now I think we both need to get to the hospital for multiple reasons.”
“I don’t need to get checked out, but I’ll appease you only because I want to see Alex for myself.”
Piper studied him, as if she could see beyond the surface and actually make an official diagnosis.
“You all right?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”
Piper caught his worried gaze and smiled. “I’m fine. And if the doctors give you the go-ahead and release you, I’m going to kick your rear end for worrying me to death when I saw your overturned car.”
Ryan’s wide, signature smile spread across his face. “There’s that Piper love. Come on. Let’s get to the hospital.”
“Oh, God, Ryan.” She held a hand on his arm before he could step into the back of the ambulance. “What about Cara? Someone needs to call her.”
Piper couldn’t even imagine what Alex’s fiancée, Cara Windsor, would think when she was told he was alive. Piper was stunned and thrilled, but she was worried about how extensive this memory loss was.
“Let’s get the facts from the doctor first,” Ryan suggested. “We can’t have her running all in there in hysterics and shock. We need to prepare her for this and have concrete information.”
Piper nodded. “I agree. Let’s get to the hospital. And while you’re getting checked out, I’ll find out Alex’s status.”
“Red—”
She held up a hand. “The fact my heart rate is still out of control after not knowing if you were okay or not gives me the right to override anything you say. Now get your butt in and let’s get to the hospital.”
Two
“Nothing broken.”
Piper stood inside the thin white curtain separating Ryan’s cubicle from the rest of the Emergency Room.
She crossed her arms and smiled. “Anything else you want to tell me?”
Ryan shrugged. “Not really.”
Narrowing her eyes, she stalked forward. “Keeping the bruised ribs and concussion to yourself?”
Busted.
“I’m fine,” he assured her. “Nothing a little over-the-counter pain meds won’t fix or a good shot of my grandpa’s bourbon. A cure-all, he always claimed.”
Piper rested her hands on her hips, pulling the buttons across the chest of her cute little EMT uniform. Damn, but she was pretty when she was angry or about ready to light into him like some mother hen.
“You have a concussion, Ryan. No drinking.”
“You medical types always take the fun out of healing.”
As he’d intended, she took his joke and rolled her eyes with a hint of a grin.
“Seriously, I’ve had way worse getting bucked off a horse.”
“You’re staying at my place tonight,” she told him, pointing her finger at his chest. “No arguing.”
As if he’d turn down that invitation. Piper wasn’t only his best friend, but a friend with whom he’d always wanted more. Yeah, he may have a concussion from that accident, but he wasn’t dead.
He’d never pursued anything beyond friendship with her for a couple of reasons, the main ones being he was always traveling and she’d never shown any interest in him on an intimate level.
Added to that, her father had been a rodeo star and he’d heard Piper swear on more than one occasion that she’d never, ever fall for a cowboy.
But he was home now and ready to see if something beyond friendship could exist.
“Fine, I’ll let you pamper me. But only if you’ll make that chicken soup I love so much.”
Piper threw her arms in the air and sighed. “Don’t milk this, Ryan.”
He laughed and extended his hand for her to take. She moved closer and he wasn’t about to mention the trembling he instantly felt when they connected.
“Tell me about Alex,” he said, stroking her palm with his thumb. “What are the doctors saying? Did you call Cara?”
Piper eased a hip onto the edge of his very narrow, very thin E.R. mattress. “The doctors are still unsure as to whether or not the amnesia was caused before or during the accident. He has old bruises, so he was in a fight or some other accident before today. His wrist has several breaks and he’ll be going to surgery soon to repair that. More than likely they’ll either do a plate or at the very least pins.”
Broken bones were reparable, death was not. Ryan couldn’t even believe that Alex was here after all these months of wondering what had happened—whether he’d run away or been the victim of foul play. But now he was back and hopefully this amnesia was short term so he