Page 25 of Fighting for the Forbidden
“I’m fine.”
“You’re lying.” Leaning forwards, she asks the driver to stop at a pharmacy on the way to our hotel.
She picks me up the strongest painkillers they will allow her to buy over the counter. I’m not sure they’ll quite cut it, but at this point, anything is better than nothing.
I swallow them down with the bottle of water she also picked up for me, and we continue our journey to the hotel.
“How did you know where to find me?” she asks, looking out the window at the passing city.
“Your emails.” Turning back to me, she narrows her eyes in question. “I heard snippets of your conversation planning this trip. I knew whoever you were talking to had sent the confirmations over, so it wasn’t all that hard to find out.”
An unamused laugh falls from her lips. “I should have known I wouldn’t be able to escape you.”
“Oh, baby, you’ve no idea.”
The taxi pulls to a stop outside a swanky looking hotel, and I’m reminded that Danni’s family business is probably doing better right now than mine is. I really shouldn’t be here chasing Lauren halfway around Europe. I should be a home fixing the business like I set out to do before my world came crashing down, quite literally.
“Are you okay? You’ve gone really pale.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She doesn’t look convinced, but she lets it go and gets out of the car.
“Hi, we have a booking under Daniella Abbot.” The receptionist clicks about on her computer for a few seconds before agreeing. “I was wondering if it’s possible to make it two rooms instead of one?”
“You’re shitting me?” The receptionist’s eyes widen at my outburst, but she quickly rights herself.
“I’m sorry, Ms Abbot, but we’re fully booked.”
“Right, okay. Well, thank you for checking.”
Lauren reaches out and swipes the key card from the marble counter, collects her things, and marches towards the lift after the woman has given her some brief instructions to find ouroneroom.
“Do you need to look so smug?” Lauren asks once we’re in the lift.
My lips twitch up at her frustration, and she huffs out another breath.
“Well, that’s disappointing, although I reckon we could push them together. What do you think?” I ask when we step inside the room and find two single beds.
“I think they’re staying exactly where they are, and you need to stop getting any ideas. Nothing like that is happening. And anyway, you need to rest.” She drops her bags down on the first bed. “This one’s mine. It’s closer to the door in case I need to escape.”
I stalk towards her, and she casts her eyes away. I don’t stop until there are only millimetres between us.
“You’re not going anywhere, and you know it,” I say, breathing in her scent. My fingers twitch to reach out and pull her to me, and my cock swells. “You might tell yourself that you can say no, but we both know you can’t. This thing between us…It’s too powerful to deny. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now. I wouldn’t have been fucking you when you’re meant to belong to someone else.”
“Fuck you,” she spits. Her hands land on my shoulders in an attempt to push me away. Unfortunately, all it achieves is to cause me pain. “Fucking hell. You need to rest.”
“Wrong. What I need is you,” I admit through gritted teeth as I will the ache in my ribs away.
“Ben, please. Just stop.” The fight’s left her voice, leaving her sounding tired. “I’m going to go and get us some dinner. You try to make yourself comfortable or something.”
“Are you going to be my nurse? I hope you packed your uniform.”
Her stare hardens and she slips away from me. “This is going to be a long three days,” she mutters as she reaches for her handbag and quickly leaves the room.
Blowing out a long stream of breath, I gently climb on the bed she didn’t claim and attempt to get comfortable. What I really need is a shower, but I know I haven’t got the strength for that. I might tell Lauren that I’m okay, but it’s far from the truth.
I must have drifted off again, because the next thing I know she’s walking back through the hotel room door with two giant pizza boxes in her hands. My stomach grumbles right on cue and it reminds me that I’ve no idea how long ago it was that I actually ate something.
“Hungry?” she asks with a laugh and I delight in seeing a genuine smile on her face.
