He remained silent, watching me like I was the only thing in the room he wanted. After thirty seconds, he said, “Haley needs to rest and heal. I let you catch up, but now, she needs to be checked out by the doctor.”
“I’m alright, Collin,” my best friend said softly.
“You were beaten by two men, Haley. I wouldn’t define that asalright,” he snapped, looking at her.
I folded my arms over my chest, despite the warm feeling in my chest rising at the sight of him giving a damn. “I’m staying with her,” I declared once he looked back at me.
“No, you aren’t. Go to your room.”
“No.”
His jaw ticked, but he remained in his spot by the door. “Karina.”
“Go, Kay. I’ll be alright,” Haley whispered. I turned back to face her.
“Are you sure?”
“I've been fine for the last few weeks. If he wanted me dead, he would have killed me already,” she sighed as her head fell back onto the mountain of pillows.
This wasn’t the time to argue.
I bent and kissed her forehead, whispering that I loved her into her skin before walking out of the room.
He followed, shutting her bedroom door behind him. I pressed on, not having the strength to look at him—Ray Romano’s son—in the eye.
I was almost to the end of the hallway, the home stretch and then…
“Karina.”
I halted.
He was behind me in an instant, his body so damn close to mine that he made all my hair stand up at attention. Despite my best efforts, as his breath fell onto the skin of my neck, my nipples hardened. It didn’t matter whose bloodline he came from; he was the only man my body reacted to.
“Stop defying me,” he growled, and my knees nearly buckled from the sound.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
“I just wanted to spend more time with her,” I argued.
“She needs her rest,” he snapped.
I turned, pointing a finger at his handsome face. “She needs to go home! We both do! How long are you going to keep us here, huh?” I shot back.
“You have two seconds to get your finger out of my face,” he warned.
“What are you going to do? Bite it off?” I hissed.
He chuckled darkly. “Cannibalism isn’t really my style, angel.”
I slowly dropped my hand from his face.
When he called me angel—
“I need you to come with me,” he ordered, brushing past me as he cleared his throat.
“No,” I snapped, turning to face him as my arms found their place across my chest.
“God-dammit, Karina! I do not have time for this,” he snapped, causing me to flinch.
