Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Then handle it, dumbass.
It wasn’t very helpful, but it was incentive enough for me to address the injured party. I had jumped and half slid down the embankment until I could crouch down to meet her at eye level, then instantly regretted doing so when she lifted her head.
“No, don’t move, honey.”
“I’m…”
“Don’t talk either. You could have a serious head injury—”
“I don’t—”
“And I said don’t—”
“Well, you’re just as bossy as ever, aren’t you!”
“Until I can get you out of the car and make sure you haven’t broken anything, it really is best if you remain as still as possible. Do you think you can do that for me, pixie?” When she began to nod her head, I shook mine. “And that includes your head. Your chin is bleeding and you can have whiplash and a concussion.”
“I don’t think—”
“Are you a doctor?”
“Are you?”
I was sorely tempted to state I was but had never been one to lie. “No, but I’m afraid I’m all you’ve got unless you’d rather hang around and wait for me to fetch one?”
Her giggle was cute but also accompanied by a wince and the tip of her tongue slipping out of her mouth as if she thought she’d be able to reach her injury and soothe it.
“Unless you’ve grown a tongue the length of a giraffe’s and developed a taste for blood, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warned, dropping one of my hands to pull a handkerchief out of my pocket. Holding it up, I quirked my eyebrow.
“Yes, please.”
Grinning, I gently wiped the drop of blood away, grateful not to see another immediately welling to take its place. I felt an almost irresistible urge to lean forward and kiss the boo-boo better but was saved from making a fool of myself when she groaned.
“Can you tell me what hurts?” I asked.
“My ankle. I thought you were some rabid bear reaching in to grab me, and I was trying to get out the window.”
“All that kicking got your foot tangled up in the seat belt. Give me a second and I’ll get you out of the car then we can see what’s what, okay?”
“Okay,” she said bravely but I saw the twinge of pain she’d been unable to disguise.
“I’m going to step back, but let’s see if we can get you a little more comfortable so that your head isn’t hanging down and putting strain on your neck.” A quick assessment showed her arms appeared uninjured. “Okay, I’m going to help you move your arms up. That will lift and straighten out your back. I’ll take it slow, but the moment you even think something’s wrong, you say ‘yellow’ and we can pause and reassess. But if something instantly hurts, you call out ‘red,’ and I’ll immediately stop. Understand?”
“And green if I’m hunky-dory, right?”
That caught me off guard, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on her choice of response. Instead, I grinned. “Well, I’d hardly call you a hunk, but yes, you’ve got it. Ready?”
“Yep, green to go.”
Between us, we soon had her arms crossed to rest on the window frame. This allowed her to lay her head on her folded arms to relieve the stress on her neck and also helped straighten her back. She’d only whimpered a bit but I could see the pain in her eyes.
“Good girl, I know that hurt, but you did great. Color?”
“Green-ish yellow. My ankle is throbbing pretty bad.”
“I know, pixie, but we’re almost there. I’m going to get into the backseat. Stay as still as possible, okay?”
“Okay.”
Turns out stuffing a six-and-a-half foot man into a car the size of a soup can took a bit of contortion. It also proved that Livvy wasn’t above giggling at my expense as I backed out for the third time to try to figure out the logistics. “What on earth had you buying a vehicle not much bigger than a Hot Wheels car?”
“It’s cute,” she declared with a shrug that had my brow arching.
Her eyes widened, her shoulders ever so slowly relaxed as if trying to be as invisible as possible, and her cheeks flushed—and I’d not said a word. Interesting. It appeared that the traffic-light system wasn’t the only thing Livvy hadn’t needed an in-depth discussion to understand.
“Cute, huh?” I grinned to let her know I wasn’t a total ogre. When she smiled again, I rubbed my hands together as if preparing to go into battle. “I can deal with cute.” Turns out only about three quarters of me could fit into the car, but it was enough to take care of the seatbelt. It would have gone a bit quicker if she didn’t giggle and twitch her foot every time my fingers slid over her bare flesh. Without conscious thought, I reached up and popped the seat of her overalls.