Page 39 of Little Sunshine

“If you don’t let me go, I’m going to scream.” Her threat may have been genuine, but her body contradicted her words. It leaned into me. Her grip on my arm wasn’t to shove it away or dig her nails into my flesh.

Instead, she held my arm to her like it was a seat belt she wanted to keep in place.

Or so I thought.

Because with my guard down, Mila struck.

Keeping hold of me with one hand, she used the other to dick punch me. She missed most of the good stuff but caught enough to make me instinctively loosen my hold.

When I did, she bolted to her feet and raised a fist at where Miles filled the doorway. A slight breeze would’ve knocked her over, but that didn’t stop her. “Get out of my way, or you’re next.”

Christ, that was hot.

Dick punch or not, I had to fight getting as hard almost as much as I had to fight a smile.

Not the time and all that.

Miles’ face stayed blank, but I’d worked with him long enough to catch the amusement in his slight brow rise.

I wasn’t about to back down, no matter how much rage she packed in her tiny, five-foot-nothing frame. “Mila, if the doc?—”

Dr. Pierce didn’t have any balls against her steel ones, though, because he cut me off. “I understand. Let me at least give you something for the pain. Are you allergic to anything?”

I opened my mouth to ask what the fuck was going through his thick skull but caught myself.

Getting her some relief is most important right now.

I’ll stop her from leaving after that.

Remaining silent, her gaze darted between us—like a skittish doe surrounded by predators—but it kept returning to me.

Like she knew I was the wolf to watch out for.

“Mila, allergies?” he prompted. When she shook her head, Dr. Pierce grabbed a bottle from his kit.

After a long, hesitant minute, she asked, “Just some pain meds, then I can go?”

“Absolutely.”

Absolutely fucking not.

Mila shot me a look that bordered on gloating before accepting the pills and a fresh bottle of water. She tossed them back and gave Dr. Pierce—that spineless bastard—a small smile. “Thank you. Sorry for the trouble. And sorry I can’t…” Her words trailed off as she scowled before wincing.

“Sit and let those kick in.”

A beeping filled the air, and Mila jolted, her hands going to her ears.

It wasn’t my cell, but I quickly silenced mine anyway while Pierce looked at his. “I need to take this.”

Mila watched him go, shifting forward when Miles stepped aside to let the doc out. When he returned to block the door, she let out a small, frustrated huff. “One minute. Then I’ve really got to get home before...”

Before someone notices? Someone misses you? Someone gets worried and reports you missing?

“Before what?” I prodded when her sentence trailed off. “Is there someone waiting for you?”

If she had a man at home—and he wasn’t the one responsible for the accident—it wasn’t a dealbreaker. An inconvenience, sure, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

It could always just be a roommate she was worried about, and that meant even less.

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