Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Several flashes went off as photos were taken.
Romney barked, “Get those cameras out of my face. What is taking so long. I need a doctor. I’m bleeding to death.”
Then Mary Astrid appeared at his side. With a strained laugh, she patted his shoulder. “What he means to say is he is here to check on the welfare of his beloved bride, Charlotte Manwarring, whom he bravely tried to save by stepping in front of a bullet.”
Romney lowered his head in dramatic fashion as he gripped his arm. “Unfortunately, my mortal flesh was not able to stop it from hitting her.”
I didn’t give a fucking damn if he wanted to steal the glory.
But there was no goddamn way, I was going to let that bastard claim my girl as his beloved bride.
Fortunately, the paparazzi had already shifted their attention down the hall as Lucian, his son Luc, and daughter Olivia rushed into the hospital with Lucian bellowing at the top of his lungs, asking for a status on his daughter’s well-being.
If I’d learned anything in the military, half the strategy behind battle tactics… was timing.
Marching over to Charlotte’s former fiancé, I grabbed Romney by the shirt front, lifted him out of his wheelchair, and punched him squarely in the face.
CHAPTER 32
CHARLOTTE
Asteady, high-pitched beeping was the first thing I heard as I started to wake up.
My entire body ached, and I didn’t want to open my eyes.
I wanted to let the drowsiness take me back under.
My head was swimming, and even though I was lying in an uncomfortable bed with rough sheets, all I wanted to do was fall back into unconsciousness.
Then I felt a warm, rough hand gripping my fingers. I ran my thumb up and down the familiar skin, trying to use that as my anchor to come back to reality.
“Are you awake, princess?” a deep, familiar voice asked me. It took me a second to place the voice, but it instantly made me feel safe, wanted, and at peace.
I opened my mouth to answer him, but my throat was too dry.
“Come on, beautiful, open up those gorgeous eyes for me. Let me see them so I know you’re okay.”
The light was blinding and sent sharp jabs of pain through my head, but for him, I would endure it.
It took several moments for my eyes to focus, and I could see Reid clearly sitting at the side of my bed, holding my hand.
He looked different.
His jaw, which was usually clean-shaven, had a thick cover of stubble. More than a five o’clock shadow, like he hadn’t shaved in a few days.
I kind of liked it.
What I didn’t like were his bloodshot eyes and the exhausted way his body slumped in the chair next to the bed.
“What—” I tried to ask what had happened, but the dryness in my throat made it impossible.
I struggled to sit up, but he gently touched my shoulder and held me to the bed.
Reaching over me, he grabbed the little remote for the bed and pressed the red button at the top to call the nurse, then pressed one of the arrows that slowly raised the bed so I was in a sitting position. The movement hurt a lot, but it was much better than trying to sit up on my own.
I tried to speak again, but Reid gave me a soft smile and shook his head.
“How is the patient doing?” A loud and far too cheerful voice came from the doorway. A large woman wearing dark teal scrubs and Uggs walked into the room.
“She is awake, but she can’t speak. Why can’t she speak? She wasn’t hit anywhere near her vocal cords. What did those overpaid quacks do to her?” Reid stood taller with every angry word.
My brain was still fuzzy, and he reminded me of a colossal grizzly bear, face all covered in fur as he made himself bigger to scare the nurse away from his injured mate.
The nurse shoved him aside like she had dealt with men like him her whole life and was no longer intimidated. “Mr. Taylor—”
“It’s Sergeant,” he growled like the big bear he was, and I had to suppress a giggle.
“Fine.” The nurse looked at me and rolled her eyes, and I pressed my lips together. A single laugh escaped, and I winced at the pain in my stomach and chest as my head started spinning again.
“Sergeant Taylor,” she started again. “We have been over this. If you don’t get out of my way, I will have security come up here and tase you again, and this time, you won’t be able to charm your way past the night nurse to get back in this room. Now move.”
Reid stared her down for a long minute, then relented by stepping back.
She stared him down for another moment, watching as he moved across the room and stood against the wall, arms crossed.