Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
With Danny, it was different. He’d seemed to understand from the first that her prostheses were an indelible and treasured part of her, not attachments to be ignored or seen as lesser. When they raced, she was the one who usually suggested she take them off so she’d be lighter and he could run faster.
“Still a cheater,” he’d said with a grin last summer, hailing back to the very first time she’d joined the family camping trip—after Ísa met and fell for Sailor, one of Danny’s two older brothers.
Danny had been bare chested that summer’s day, all gilded brown skin and sleek muscle as he grinned down at her. Bare feet, board shorts, saltwater-tangled hair, and sand stuck to his calves, he’d struck her as beautiful.
Quickly shaking off that random thought, she’d pointed at him. “You want to win or not?”
“I always want to win, princess.” He’d watched her remove her legs. “That foot’s new, right?”
“Yep. The lab’s testing a new everyday foot and asked if I wanted to be a guinea pig.” Thanks to her mother’s insane wealth, Catie had never had to fight to pay for a prosthesis, a privilege she never forgot and that she did everything in her power to pay forward—including by funding continuing research on low-cost prostheses that could be built from scratch by those on the ground in the developing world.
That day Danny had picked up the foot, examined it. “Has a futuristic look to it. Robotic stuff in there?”
“Microprocessors.” She’d grabbed back her foot. “You can ogle to your tech-geek heart’s content later. It’s race time.”
He’d gone down on one knee, she’d hauled herself onto the smooth warmth of his back, and they’d run to the starting line. Sea winds riffling his hair, he’d been all fluid muscle and strength against her—and when he’d laughed at a comment from his brother Jake, she’d felt the vibration in her bones.
Danny was meant for sunlit beaches and rugby fields, not a stark hospital bed.
After shifting her hand to wrap it around his, she made a call she didn’t want to make—but his family wouldn’t thank her for keeping them in the dark.
Her sister picked up the phone, sounding breathless. “Catiebug!” Love, so much love in that single word. “How’s it going down there? I hear the temperature’s dived. Oh, did you run into Danny?”
Wrapped up in the warmth of Ísa’s affection, Catie told her what had happened. “Doctors are running the tests now, and from what I can see on the monitors, his vitals are steady.” Catie had spent enough time in hospitals to have picked up the basics of reading the onscreen output.
“Oh, sweetheart.” Ísa’s shaken response. “Let me get Sailor.” Half a minute later, she said, “I’ve put you on speaker. Sailor’s here.”
“Catie, darling.” Sailor’s deep voice. “I’m searching for tickets for the next flight down. Mum and Dad are going to want to be there for Dan.”
Catie’s heart squeezed. Sailor was surely her first real crush—but not in a weird way. She loved how he loved her sister, loved how he was with their children, Emmaline and Connor. Sailor Bishop had spoiled Catie for dickheads and losers. She wanted a man who loved her the way Sailor loved Ísa.
No holds barred. Now and forever.
Sailor was part of why she’d been able to kick Ward to the curb without regrets. He’d somehow slunk in past her dickhead radar, but she’d seen him for who he was in the end and she’d known she deserved better.
“Danny’s going to be mad at the fuss,” she said.
“Yeah, Mum is real scared of his wrath.”
Laughing softly at Sailor’s deadpan tone, Catie squeezed Danny’s hand. “I’ll keep you updated on his condition.”
“Looks like there are no flights till morning,” Sailor said. “You’ll probably get a call from our parents soon. He look okay?”
“Yes.” Not like himself, but his color seemed better.
“How are you doing, Catie?” Ísa, the mama bear. “Do you have support? Laveni’s there, isn’t she?”
“I haven’t had a chance to tell her what’s going on, but Viliame’s been amazing. He’s currently out spreading the rumor that Danny and I vanished together because we’re hooking up.” She made gagging sounds.
A male snort came down the line. “Danny must be looking okay if you’re being your usual self with him. Make sure you take care of yourself too while you’re looking out for him.”
“Yes, boss.”
She didn’t have to wait long for the call from Alison and Joseph. It always made her heart ache, seeing how they were with their boys. Warm and loving while raising them to be tough, independent men. You’d never know that Joseph was Gabriel and Sailor’s stepfather—he treated all four boys as his own, and the brothers never used the word “half” for each other. They were brothers. End of story.
When it came to the parent thing, Jacqueline had gotten better over the years, but she’d never had and never would have this kind of love for her children. Not her fault. It was the way she was built: for creating empires and being CEO.