Page 76 of Luck of the Draw

“Brennan,” Skye attempted on another shallow breath. Breathing hurt, and she couldn’t move her left arm. It was immobilized from an injury that sent shooting pain up and down her entire side. Her right foot was encased in a cast. She sucked in more oxygen and tried again. “Just wait. Come back.”

He crossed the room at lightning speed and held her face again, his other hand picking up hers so he could kiss it. He leaned toward her and scattered kisses all over her face, cradling her cheeks like her head was the most precious thing in the world to him. “Fuck, I’m so glad you’re okay. Holy shit, baby girl. I can’t even believe you’re awake again.”

Before she could respond, his lips were on hers.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmured against her mouth. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I’m not okay,” was all she could mumble back. “I don’t feel good.”

“Tell me what hurts, sweetheart.”

“Everything.”

“I need to call the nurse.”

Skye located his wrist and squeezed it. “Justwait,” she pleaded through a choked sob. “Stay here. Stay with me. I need you.”

But she didn’t need him. That was new. What she needed was to get away from what she guessed had landed her in this state. What she’d been fighting for years to get away from.

Jesse had found her.

And what she really needed was to leave.

But somehow, there was now a new need. Him. Brennan. Though it wasn’t really him. It was that feeling of safety that he seemed to be the source of.

“I’m here, baby. I’ve been here, and I’m not going anywhere,” he said, sitting on the bed next to her.

This was a hospital room. She skimmed her gaze over the small space. It didn’t look like an emergency room. That meant she’d probably been in the hospital for a while.

Light poured in from the windows, so it had to at least have been the next day. Maybe longer.

“How long have you been here?” The bed was wide enough to accommodate them both, but she nestled against his torso, lifting one hand to rest on his thigh.

“I’ve been here every day, honey. I’ve come and gone, but I came back every day. They wouldn’t let me sleep here, but I did try.”

She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against his chest. “How many days?”

He looked at her below a tenderly knitted brow. “A little more than three weeks. Almost four.”

“Oh God.” Skye whimpered again and turned her face into his shirt. His scent fell at the intersection of leather, citrus, incense, and black coffee. It was like a home that she didn’t have the privilege of calling her own. After all, Skye had no home. She’d never had one.

“Oh honey, baby, sweetheart…sweet Skye.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer against his side. “I know you’re scared, but everything’s going to be okay now. You’re out of the woods. You woke up on your own. That’s a really good sign.”

“But I’m not out of the woods.” He didn’t know, and she couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. “I’m so deep in the woods that I don’t think I’ll ever find my way out.”

“Just breathe, Skye,” he said in a low, soothing voice, face pressed against the side of her hair. “They said you’d probably be confused when you woke—”

“I am not the least bit confused, Brennan.”

I am fucking terrified, that’s what I am.

“You might be a little.” He wrapped his other arm around her, encasing her in a cocoon of his body. “You had a lot of injuries, and you’ve been out for a long time.”

He was being dismissive because he didn’t know. And if he didn’t already know, the only way he was going to find out is if she told him. And she couldn’t tell him. And because she couldn’t tell him, her melting against him, basking in all his affectionate comfort, smacked of fraud and deceit.

“Brennan, I need to go.” There was no point in wasting any more time, and she needed to nip this in the bud right then and there.

“No, honey.” He kissed the side of her head, and this wasbad. “You don’t need to go anywhere. You need to stay right here until you’re well enough for them to discharge you.”

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