Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 687(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 458(@300wpm)
She’s so fucking beautiful, it’s hard to look at her without feeling a burn.
As if waking from a daze, Dahlia springs up and stares between me and the patient, her posture stiffening.
Seeing her transform into protective mode in the blink of an eye is fascinating.
“What are you doing here?” she asks in a clear, hard voice.
Well, fuck. I came without a second thought, so I didn’t properly think of an excuse.
“An early-morning checkup before practice.”
“Don’t you have private doctors?”
“I do, but I needed to undergo tissue testing with a machine that’s only available here.”
She narrows her eyes. “How did you know I was in this room?”
“Jude.”
“Jude?”
Sorry, big man. I owe you one.
I motion behind me to the other inert patient in the room. “That’s his personal guard.”
“Oh.” She frowns. “I’ve never seen Jude visit him.”
“Not when you’re here since he doesn’t like company. If you don’t believe me, you can ask him.”
She hikes a hand on her hip. “Then you ask him. Call him and put it on speaker.”
“It sounds like you don’t believe me.”
“I don’t. Go on.”
Fuck.
I pull out my phone and call, but Jude doesn’t answer.
Good save.
“Probably still asleep,” I say as I hang up and then shoot him a quick message, pretending to frown at my phone.
Me
At the hospital. You better be on your way.
Dahlia’s wide eyes are still narrowed, but she releases a sigh and tidies up her space. “You can go now. My sister is wary of strangers.”
“Pretty sure she can’t tell if she’s in a coma.”
She glares at me.
“Too soon?”
“Just go away.”
I sit on her chair and throw a fleeting glance at the slumbering patient.
“Half-sister?”
She sits on the bed, blocking my view. “Why do you think that?”
“You don’t look alike.”
“Foster sister.” Her voice softens as she takes her sister’s hand in hers. “She’s the only family I have.”
“What happened?” I feign interest.
“We don’t really know, but she was attacked and dropped off at a hospital in Stantonville. She’s been in a coma since.”
“I’m sorry.”
Her eyes meet mine, glittery, with an unnatural shine. “Thanks, but she’ll come back. I know it.”
I want to tell her not to hold on to false hope and to hit her upside the head with hard facts that comatose patients don’t just come back and she should give up, but I can’t bring myself to.
Usually, I don’t give a fuck about people’s feelings.
Dahlia is proving to be an exception in ways I fail to recognize.
But I still say, “If you want to handle her medical bills, isn’t it a smart idea to take the offer I gave you?”
“The foundation pays for her bills.”
“Then you can have an internship with reasonable hours, higher pay, and with enough prestige to add to your résumé. It’s the smartest thing to do.”
She releases her sister’s hand and whisper-yells, “You sure it’s not so you can have access to me at all times for your sick games?”
I pull her by the arm until she crashes against my chest, her face a breath away from mine. “Our sick games, and I can have access to you whether or not you’re on the team.”
Her breathing escapes in long, choppy sounds, her eyes flickering between dark green and furious brown.
I see it then. The reason she’s been avoiding me.
“You’re scared, aren’t you?” I murmur in hot words against her skin.
“I’m not scared.” She pushes my chest.
“You’re trembling, frightened that you love it so much. You’re appalled that if I hunt and chase and fuck you so brutally, you’ll fall apart all over again. Admit it, wildflower, your inner animal was made for mine.”
“You made me do it. I’m not as sick as you.”
“Then say ‘red’.”
She purses her lips.
I let my mouth curve in a smile. “You didn’t even think about that word, did you? You were enjoying it too much to consider stopping it. Bet you touched your tight little cunt to the memory.”
“Shut up.”
“As you wish.”
I lean closer, my attention on her mouth. Her fractured breathing skims over my skin.
I don’t even like kissing, but ever since she kissed me, I’ve been fantasizing about biting her lips, sinking my teeth into them and devouring her through them.
“Get a room and stop disturbing the patients,” Jude grunts, walking in with an ugly expression.
Dahlia stumbles back, her face paling and all traces of heat disappearing from her delicate features.
Fucking Jude will get his ass kicked in practice today.
We watch as he places a basket of fruit on his guard’s side table.
Dahlia stands upright, moving slowly to the other bed as if she can protect the patient. “You really know Mario?”
“What’s it to you?” He faces her fully and we exchange a look. “Besides, shouldn’t you be gone around this time so I can visit in peace?”
Dahlia frowns but says nothing.
I stand and offer her my hand. “Let me take you to get breakfast.”