Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
A low groan of pain escaped her mouth.
Ouch. That freaking hurt.
But the edges of her vision were growing dark and she knew that she had to get her head down between her knees.
Which was pretty damn impossible in the state she was. But she managed to move her injured arm away from her chest with a great deal of effort and quiet moaning. Then she pressed her face to her bent knees.
You are not going to faint.
You are not going to vomit.
And you are definitely not going to pee your pants.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t entirely sure that she wouldn’t do all three. Which was going to be hell to clean up with only one arm and a spinning head.
“Devi? Devi, what the hell? Where is she? They can’t be doing tests at this time of night . . . Kent, where the fuck is she?” Hayes snapped.
For some reason, tears entered her eyes. She should call out. Should tell him to walk around the bed.
But she just . . . couldn’t.
Why was he here now? Where had he been?
Don’t ask.
He’s not your Daddy or your man.
No matter that she wanted him to be both.
Hayes was the guy who felt protective of her for some reason. But he had no obligation to help her.
So she stayed quiet. Of course, she wasn’t exactly thinking properly, because he wasn’t just going to leave without seeing her.
“What?” Kent asked.
“Where is Devi?” Hayes asked urgently.
“She should be in here. She hasn’t left. Is she in the bathroom?” Kent replied.
She heard their footsteps, but couldn’t look up.
“Shit! She’s here, Hayes. Devi, are you all right?” Kent asked.
She felt him come closer, however she couldn’t move her face from her knees. Although she wasn’t sure if that was due to dizziness or embarrassment.
“I’m fine,” she told him. “Just thought I’d sit here for a moment.”
“Devi! Fuck! What are you doing down there? Did you fall out of bed?” Suddenly, she found herself lifted into the air. She couldn’t help but let out a small moan of pain and she felt him stiffen.
“Shit. Fuck. Sorry, baby.”
“Do you want me to call the nurse?” Kent asked.
“No,” she snapped, then she winced. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude.”
“It’s all right, Devi,” Kent told her. “You don’t have to apologize.”
But she did. She felt terrible. Why was she snapping at Kent?
“I am sorry. I just . . . I don’t . . .” God, no crying. Where did crying ever get her?
Nowhere.
So she didn’t need to start doing it now.
A warm hand landed on her back as she lay cradled in Hayes’ arms. Hayes let out a low growl which was weird, then he cleared his throat.
“Sorry,” he said gruffly.
“There’s a lot of apologies going around,” Kent said, sounding amused.
Which was kind of odd.
“And no one needs to apologize to me. Devi, is there anything you need? Anything I can get for you?” Kent asked.
She forced herself to open her eyes and turning her head, she looked at him. “You’ve all been so nice. I don’t know how to repay you all.”
Kent smiled at her. “You already have.”
Huh?
“One day I’ll tell you what I mean. But you don’t repay family and you don’t need to apologize, either. Not for being a bit grumpy when you’re in pain. We all understand that.”
“But I’m never grumpy,” she explained.
“Then you’re overdue,” Kent replied.
Overdue to be grumpy? That didn’t seem to make much sense, but she decided he was probably tired.
“You should go get some sleep,” she advised him.
Kent smiled again. Huh, he was actually an extremely good-looking man. She guessed she never really looked at anyone else when Hayes was around.
She tended to just get very focused on him.
“I look that bad, huh?”
Devi’s mouth dropped in horror. “Oh no! That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry.”
“Kent,” Hayes growled.
“Hey, I was just teasing you. My turn to apologize. Family tease each other.”
She hated to disappoint this kind man. But she had to point something out. “We’re not family.”
“We will be. I consider everyone who works for me to be my family. But especially those that don’t have their own families.”
Dear Lord. She just had to keep disappointing him. “I don’t work for you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Huh? This was getting very confusing.
“Kent,” Hayes barked, making her jump slightly.
Ouch. God. Maybe she should have asked to stay on the IV drugs a bit longer.
“Yes?” Kent replied.
“Leave. Now.”
Her eyes widened as Kent whistled cheerfully as he left.
“You shouldn’t talk to him like that!” she told Hayes.
“Why?”
“Because he’s your boss. He could fire you. If I’d spoken to Aaron like that, he wouldn’t just refuse to let me have a lunch break, I’d have been out of a job. You should speak nicer to Kent, I bet he’s a much better boss than Aaron. The dick.”
It felt good to call him that out loud instead of just in her head.