Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
“You’re screwing with me, aren’t you?”
My smile widened. “I want to hear it again.”
Bennett stood and ever-so-carefully climbed onto the bed next to me. “Oh yeah? What part do you want to hear?”
“All of it.”
A smile spread across his handsome face, smoothing out some of the worry lines. He snuggled his mouth to my ear. “I love you.”
I grinned. “Again.”
He laughed. “I love you, Annalise O’Neil. I fucking love you.”
After I made him say it a dozen or more times, Bennett filled me in on my injuries. The soreness in my chest was due to a broken rib. I hadn’t even noticed the cast on my left wrist from a fractured ulna, and apparently I had bumps and bruising all over. The worst of it had been a partial collapse of one of my lungs, which they had treated with a needle to suck out the air from around the outside of the lung, and it had re-inflated on its own. Basically, I was damn lucky.
More things started to come back to me the longer I stayed awake. I remembered that Mom, Matteo, and Madison had all been here. And Andrew, too. He had two black eyes and a bandage on his nose, but he’d said he was fine.
“Did everyone go home?”
Bennett nodded. “I promised your mom and Matteo I’d call if anything changed. They’ll be back first thing in the morning. Madison threatened my life if I didn’t text her updates every few hours.” He fed me more ice chips. They felt so good on my sore throat. “She’s pretty damn scary.”
“What about Andrew? Were you arguing with him earlier in my room?”
The smile on Bennett’s face fell. “I’d been calling your phone all night. When I finally got through, he answered. And the douchebag told me you were in bed. Didn’t mention in the hospital or anything. Then he hung up on me.”
Oh boy. “You must’ve thought…”
The clench of his jaw answered.
“You thought I went back to him?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
“How did you find out what happened?”
“I camped out in front of your apartment. Eventually Matteo showed up.”
Wait... “So when did you speak to Andrew then?”
Bennett shrugged. “I don’t know. Early in the afternoon. Maybe about one?”
“But you waited in front of my building even though you thought I’d gone back to Andrew?”
He cupped my cheek. “I wasn’t losing you without a fight.”
That made my heart swell. “You would have taken me back even if I’d—”
Bennett put his finger to my mouth and stopped me from continuing. “Don’t even say it. I don’t even want to know why you were in the car with him. Just tell me we’re good and it won’t be happening again.”
“Nothing happened with Andrew. I was giving him a ride home because he said his car was in the shop. He was at Lauren’s house for dinner.”
Bennett’s head dropped. “Thank freaking Christ. Because I quit my job. You’re stuck with me here in San Francisco.”
My eyes went wide. “What? Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m not letting you move to Texas.”
“Uh…I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. You’re the one who would be moving to Texas when I win.”
Bennett rolled his eyes as he smoothed hair away from my face. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But either way, we’re both staying put now.”
Chapter 49
* * *
Bennett
“You’re supposed to be resting.” I tossed my keys on the kitchen counter and set down a bag of groceries. I’d gone to the office for a few hours while Annalise’s mom took her to a post-release check-up.
“I’m fine. I got this. The doctor said I’m doing great.” Annalise bent to dig a pot out of the bottom of the cabinet. The view of her ass was spectacular, but I didn’t want her to hurt herself. I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her out of my way.
“Let me.”
She sighed when I emptied the contents of the cabinet onto the counter so she could pick what she needed. “You know, I’m going to have to function on my own anyway. You need to start looking for a new job, and I should probably be going back to my apartment. I’ve been here almost two weeks, and you’re going to get sick of me soon.”
I pushed a piece of hair from her face. “The doctor said you need to go slow because your lung is still recuperating. You’re not ready for three flights of stairs in your walk-up. You need an elevator.”
I’d made Annalise come home with me after she was released from the hospital. She’d agreed because I hadn’t given her much choice. But she was getting stronger every day, and soon enough she’d be fine to go home, even if that day wasn’t today. I just wanted her here.
“I could stay with my mom for a while. She has a spare bedroom on the first floor.”