Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
For some reason, when she was anxious, watching something even more terrifying helped.
She was just weird like that.
Hack unlocked the door and stepped into the room. “Right, I have—”
He was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. He dropped his bags and shoved the person rushing at him . . . with a pillow in their hands.
They fell down with a pained scream.
Fuck!
“Greer-baby!” he yelled, falling to his knees beside her. “Where are you hurt? Shit. I didn’t know it was you. Fucking hell.”
She moaned. “That hurt.”
“Why on earth did you run at me like that?” he asked as he moved his hands over her, searching for injuries. “I could have seriously hurt you.”
“I think my butt is broken.”
“What?” Alarm filled him. “All right, let’s carefully roll you over.”
She stared past him, her face ashen and eyes filled with pain.
What was she . . . he turned to look. Shit. The door was still open. Getting up, he closed it. Then he rushed to her bed to grab her weighted blanket.
Awesome.
He was doing such a wonderful job of taking care of her. He laid the blanket over her, then took hold of her face between his hands. There was a chilling noise . . . was that the sound of a chainsaw? He looked up at the TV, noting the gory movie playing. Jesus. This was what she’d been watching while he’d been away?
Obviously, she needed to be watched even closer than he’d first thought.
And didn’t he like the idea of that?
Easy.
He’d just pushed her down and hurt her. And left the door open during a snowstorm.
He had to do better than this.
“Hey, Greer. You’re all right. You’re okay.”
Her breathing was fast, but he didn’t think she was in the middle of a panic attack. Placing one hand on her wrist, he took her pulse. It was a bit fast.
“Greer. Look at me. That’s it. Now, just breathe with me. Good girl. You’re doing so well.”
The sounds of screaming from the TV had him wincing. He wanted to turn it off but he didn’t think he should leave her yet.
“You’re all right,” he added.
She stared up into his eyes. “Except for my sore butt-butt. It hurts.”
He ran his thumb over her cheek. “There she is. And you deserve a sore bottom for watching that crap while I was away.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“You scared yourself half to death, didn’t you?” He got up and turned the awful movie off. “That’s why you ran at me when I opened the door.”
Guilt filled her face as she bit her lip. “Umm.”
“Right. No more scary movies for you. That’s another rule.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I don’t think you can make all these rules for me.”
“Baby, I just did. And while you’re my responsibility, you will follow them.”
He was expecting an argument, so he was shocked when she didn’t say anything more.
Did she want more boundaries?
“Let’s check your bottom,” he said. “I’m going to roll you slowly over.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary.”
“It is necessary if it’s hurting you. You might have bruised your tailbone, which would make sitting in a car for hours painful.” He helped her roll over, supporting her.
“Is it all right if I raise your sweater and lower your pants slightly?” he asked, aware that she’d tensed up.
Of course she was going to be nervous about being in a position like this with him looming over her. He needed to be more aware of her reactions.
“I . . . okay,” she whispered.
“I’m only going to touch you lightly. I won’t pin you down or anything.”
“I didn’t think you would.” Her voice sounded stronger now, so he thought it was safe to move her clothes.
“Good girl.” He had to distract her. “Why did you drive instead of flying to Billings?”
“Fly? With my bad luck? No way. Not happening. I’d probably cause the plane to crash and kill all those people.”
“Your luck is that bad, huh?”
She sighed dramatically. “It’s the worst.”
He bit down on his lip. It wasn’t really funny that she thought she had such terrible luck that she’d cause a plane to crash. But he had to admit that he liked when she got so dramatic. It was cute.
And a bit crazy.
“Poor baby. Maybe we should see what we can do about getting rid of your bad luck.”
“What? Like an exorcism?”
“I don’t think you’ve got the devil in you, baby,” he told her gently.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“All right, so your tailbone doesn’t really seem to be broken or too bruised.”
“You’re sure it’s not broken?”
“I’m sure. But I’ve got an ice pack in my bag. I’ll activate it, and you can lie on your front for a while with it on your bottom.”
“You carry ice packs in your bag of tricks?” she asked as he helped her stand. “Is it like a magic medicine bag?”
“It is.”