“Yeah, a little.”
“Headache?”
“Not really. I’m thirsty.”
“We’ll get you some water. I’m happy to report that none of the blood on the clothes we cut off you is yours.”
“No, it isn’t.” Cheryl passes me a bottle of water, and I nod in thanks before drinking some of it down. It soothes my dry throat. “I’m so sorry.”
I turn to Rome, and he cradles me against his chest, kissing the top of my head.
“Hey, no, baby. You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”
“She came up to me, startled me, and I didn’t trust her.”
“Loveland?”
I nod and press into him harder. “Iknewsomething was off. One of my guards was gone, and the other one wouldn’t look at me.”
“Matthews,” he says, and I jerk back to stare up at him. His voice is hard and angry.
“Yes.”
“He’s being dealt with.”
That makes me shiver, and I cuddle back into him.
“She pricked me when I wouldn’t go with her, and I fuckingknewshe’d drugged me.Took me out of that shopping center, and someone threw me in the back of a car.”
He growls against my hair but gently rubs his hands up and down my back.
“I don’t know how she came to work for my father, or why, oranything.But she was so mad at me. She kept hitting me, over and over again, even after my father yelled at her to stop. But she wouldn’t, so he shot her. And she fell on me and bled all over me. God.”
I can’t stop sobbing. God, I’m such a mess.
“Hey, you’re safe. You’re safe, firefly. We’ll get answers,” he assures me. “Right now, I don’t want you to worry about any of that. I want you to rest and recover.”
“That’s exactly what you need,” Dr. Asgood agrees. “I don’t need to keep you for observation, but I’m only a call away if you need anything. Thanks to that drug, it might be hard to eat for the rest of the day but try to at least get some broth in you. You need calories. Just eat what your stomach will tolerate.”
“Okay.” I turn my face to offer her a small smile but don’t let go of Rome. “Thank you.”
“Of course. Let’s not do this again.”
With a wink, Asgood leaves, and Rome lifts me into his arms. My left arm is in a sling, and I must be on some good pain medication because it doesn’t even bother me right now.
It just feels good to be in Rome’s arms. To feel his warmth against me.
I might never let go of him ever again. He’ll have to carry me behind the bar so I can do my job.
I smirk at that, and he looks down at me in surprise as we ride up the elevator.
“What’s funny?”
“I don’t want you to ever put me down. You’ll have to carry me like this when I go to work.”
His lips twitch, and he leans in to gently kiss my lips. “Deal. I have no problem with that. I may never let you out of my sight again.”
When we get to the penthouse, he carries me upstairs and through the bedroom to the bathroom. I’m still in the little gown that someone put on me because my clothes were cut off, so when he sets me on the counter, I yelp from the cold marble hitting my bare ass.
