Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Damn. Yummy.
Jesus. What was wrong with her?
“I’ll heat it all up.” She tried to stand, but he put his hand on her legs.
“Whoa, wait up, Ladybug. Let’s get that wrist bandaged first. Then I’ll heat it up. You need to rest.”
Hack pulled out a bandage and removed the ice pack before wrapping her wrist up.
“Are you sure this is necessary?” Greer asked. How was she going to do anything with her hand wrapped up like this?
“Yep. It is.”
“But that’s my finger hand.”
“What? Both of your hands have fingers. I’d have noticed if they didn’t. I’m very observant like that.”
“I guess you have to be observant to get that awesome stethoscope. But this bandage is going to make it very hard for me to drive.”
“Is Sav’s SUV a stick shift?”
“No. But I have to keep one hand on the steering wheel at all times, according to Aidan.”
“Wow. What a party-pooper,” he said dryly.
“I know, right? I can drive perfectly well with no hands on the wheel.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening, Ladybug,” he told her sternly. “At least one hand on the steering wheel at all times.”
“But which hand am I going to use to give the finger to rude people?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “You need to do that often, do you?”
“As often as people like to beep at me, yes. This is cramping my style.”
“Well, I’m sorry about cramping your style. But the bandage stays on until I say otherwise. However, I’ll drive you to the clinic tomorrow morning. So you don’t need to worry about giving anyone the finger.”
“Oh, you don’t need to do that. I can make my own way there.”
“Seems pointless since I’m going to be here anyway.”
“Why would you be here?” she asked.
“I’m going to stay the night, of course.”
Of course. What was she thinking?
“You are?” she asked. “Why?”
“Because you can’t stay on your own with a sore wrist. I don’t want you doing anything with it until we make sure it’s not broken. So I’m going to stay and look after you.”
Please do.
Stay with me. Don’t leave.
She put her uninjured hand over her mouth to make sure she wasn’t saying any of that out loud.
That would be too embarrassing.
His eyes twinkled. “Are you worried you’re talking out loud without realizing it?”
Well, duh. Of course she was.
He gently drew her hand away from her mouth. “You can tell me everything you’re thinking. I promise, you’re not going to scare me off or embarrass me.”
“Yeah, but I’ll sure as heck embarrass myself.”
“I thought you'd be used to that by now,” he teased.
“Ha! You’d think so, but in the past eight years, I’ve only really spoken to my brother, store clerks, and an occasional hello to my neighbors.”
Shock filled his face.
Oh crap. She hadn’t meant to say that.
She put her hand back over her mouth. Maybe she should permanently gag herself. Was that a possibility?
“What do you mean that over the past eight years you’ve barely spoken to anyone? What about friends? Work?”
She removed her hand. “I was exaggerating. Of course I’ve talked to other people. Livvy. The boys. All the people. Heaps. I’m a social butterfly.” She sighed. “Or I’m basically a sad recluse with no friends whose only interactions with people were by spying on them or online.”
“Baby,” he said quietly.
“I don’t need any pity.”
“Hey, I am not pitying you. I promise.” He gave her a stern look. Then he suddenly sat on the sofa next to her. “Come here, please.” He held open his arms. “I need a cuddle.”
“You need one, huh?”
“Yep. And you’re not going to turn me down, are you? Surely you couldn’t do that to this face?”
He made the cutest puppy dog face she’d ever seen. Yeah. There was no way she could say no to that face. Which is how she found herself in his lap. With her face pressed into his neck.
“I’m guessing it was hard to put yourself out there and make friends when you moved to Savannah. You didn’t know anyone?”
“No,” she whispered. “Maybe if I’d gotten a job out of my apartment, I would have met people, but I was too scared. So I got a job where I could work from home. After a while, it just became easier to stay home, you know? To keep myself amused, I would make up stories about my neighbors. If I got bored or lonely, I’d read books. Or I’d go online.”
Yeah, she could hear how weird that sounded.
“You think I’m a wimp, don’t you?” she said. “Because I can’t go out and make real friends.”
“Seems I’m going to buy you another set of boots.”
She groaned. “You’re going to end up broke.”
“Then you better start following the rules. And stop calling yourself names. You are not a wimp, you’re the strongest person I know.”
“But I’m not. It’s taken me eight years to come back here. To where . . . where I was hurt.” She sucked in a breath. This was so hard, but she had to know. “Do you know what happened to me? Did Aidan tell you?”