Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
He scowled and she shied back. “You’re shaking and your hand is freezing. Why didn’t you tell me that you were cold?”
“Oh. I didn’t . . . I didn’t realize.” She wasn’t sure if she was shaking because of the cold, of if she was still reacting to everything that happened.
Don’t think about it.
“You have to tell me when you need something, girl,” he told her with a firm look. “I might not always notice. So you have to tell me.”
“I’ll try. I’m not always very good at asking others for things.”
“I’m not just someone. I’m your man. It’s my job and I have to do it well. But I’ll need your help, because I won’t always be able to figure out what’s wrong or what it is I need to do.”
She wondered why would his boss be his only family. Where were his actual family? Had they died? But then . . . those questions would lead to him asking her about her family. And while she intended to tell him eventually, she wasn’t ready to go into that right now. She was hanging onto her emotions by a worn thread.
“I’m not scared of you, Gray.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “Most people are.”
“Well, I think we know I’m not most people,” she shot back. She wasn’t letting him get away with talking shit about himself either. He still didn’t look convinced. But then, Gray wasn’t a man of words, was he? He liked to take action. So perhaps she had to show him that she wasn’t scared, that she trusted him. If anything, it was herself that she was afraid of. Her reactions. Driving him away.
That’s your mom talking.
Right. And she wasn’t letting her dictate Maeve’s life.
“No, you’re not.”
Okay, how did she do this? Let him in? Give him this part of herself and try to be vulnerable? Show him that she did need him.
“There’s something I need right now.”
“What is it?” He stood, glancing around as though something might jump out at him.
“Can you help me out of bed? I need to use the bathroom.”
“Of course. But you’re attached to monitors and oxygen. I’ll get you a bedpan instead.”
“I’m not peeing in a bedpan.” Holy. Crap.
He raised an eyebrow. “Really? Would you like me to find a diaper instead?”
“Gray!” She knew he was joking, but sheesh. “No.”
He tilted his head. “How young is your Little?”
Oh, he thought . . . wait. A diaper? Was that something she wanted to experiment with.
“I don’t know.” She twisted her fingers together.
His big hand landed over hers. Warm and reassuring. “We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.”
Okay. They’d figure it out.
“I don’t need a bedpan or a diaper.”
“I don’t want you getting out of bed by yourself. I’ll call the nurse. She should have been back already.”
The poor nurse. When she entered, Gray was standing and scowling at her.
She faltered slightly. “Can I help?”
“Maeve wants to go to the bathroom,” Gray told her. “Make it happen.”
“Gray!” Dear Lord, he was out of control. She turned to the nurse with an apologetic smile. “Would you be able to help untangle me from all of these? I’d like to go to the bathroom. And put some real clothes on.”
“Of course!” the nurse said, coming forward. “You can come off the oxygen now, anyway. Your levels are good. You’ll need to be careful moving around for a start. I can help you.”
“I will help her,” Gray told the nurse, watching her like a hawk.
“Well, all right then.” The nurse removed the oxygen tube and the monitor from Maeve’s finger.
“Thank you so much. You’re looking great today, by the way.”
The nurse blinked then gave her a shy smile. “Uh, thanks. Buzz me if you need anything else.” The nurse scurried off.
“You scared her.”
“So?”
“So that wasn’t very nice.”
“Who said I was nice?”
She sighed, shaking her head at him as he drew back the blankets. But instead of letting her stand, he picked her up, cradling her against him.
“The nurse didn’t say you had to carry me.”
“You’re not walking. You’re shaky. You could fall and hit your head. You want to get changed into something else after you’ve peed?”
“Um, yes thanks.”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed about having to pee,” he told her. “We all do it.”
“I know.”
He set her down on her feet in front of the toilet.
“Thanks for—”
Before she could finish that sentence, he’d reached under her hospital gown and pulled down the stupidest pair of underwear she’d ever seen. They were so enormous that they might as well be a diaper. And they were kind of see-through.
“Gray!”
“What?” he asked, giving her a surprised look.
“You can’t just . . . you can’t just pull my panties down!”
“Why not? Not like you can pee through them. Although not sure these qualify as panties. Pretty sure they’re bloomers.”
“Do you even know what bloomers are?”