by Emma Roberts
My mind swirling in vicious circles, I hurried down the hall toward Mina’s assigned room. When I’d finally tracked the car, I’d found it at the bottom of a ravine, crumpled like a tin can. A half dozen police cars had been situated at the scene, cataloging the details. For a minute, I’d been back in Fallujah, clutching my bleeding side, waiting for death to wrap clammy hands around my throat and drag me straight down to hell. It was the closest parallel I could draw to the sight laid out before me. The thought that she might be lying dead or broken in the ruined car left me completely paralyzed with pain.
If I’d stressed the importance of staying surrounded by traffic, she might have stayed on the main road. If I’d been with her in the car, I could have kept her on the only safe path forward. If, if, if. My life seemed completely saturated with doubt and the ever-present if.
Thank the saints I hadn’t been arrested. When I’d panicked at the scene because I obviously recognized the car, and Mina had already been transported by ambulance, I’d been questioned. Apparently, getting into an argument with an officer and trying to rush to the hospital to make sure the love of your life is alive can make one look guilty of pushing her off the road in a lover’s quarrel.
Love of my life?
Before I could take that thought deeper, a nurse called out to ask who I was there to visit. When I told her, she came out from behind her station, her chirpy voice grating against my nerves. “Sir, Miss Blakely isn’t supposed to be receiving guests at this juncture. If you’d come back at another time—”
“She’ll see me.” I was absolutely certain Mina wouldn’t turn me away at a time like this. Stubborn she may have been, but she needed an anchor right now.
“I’d like to hear that from Miss Blakeley or her power of attorney before I let you in there.”
I continued forward, outpacing her by a few yards. Let her call security. I wasn’t leaving until I assessed Mina’s health and safety for myself.
Her room was positioned at the end of the hall, near the stairwell. Handy, in the case that we had to bounce. I didn’t believe her attacker would follow the paramedics to the hospital, but on the off chance that another attempt was made, I could carry her out of the building.
Her door was propped slightly ajar, and it was a simple matter to push it open. I froze in the doorway, taking in the tableau with mounting fury.
Gideon Harvey stood in the middle of the room, an arm curled around Mina’s waist. She had one hand resting lightly on his bicep. His lips moved against hers in a gentle, coaxing rhythm.
He pulled away from her with a soft smile and murmured, “Think about it, alright?”
“Think about what?” I growled.
Harvey’s hands dropped away from Mina’s waist at once and she swayed. His hand shot back out, catching her before she could crumple to the floor.
“Shit, Mina. I’m sorry. You’re still concussed. Let me help you.” Harvey guided her to the edge of the bed and helped her to sit.
Mina’s eyes remained firmly fixed on me, guilt dancing in her eyes.
Gideon turned to face me, and his grin was back. I longed to punch it right off his face. Who the fuck did he think he was, laying a hand on her? She wasn’t his, no matter what he’d paid. What a disgusting, slimy cretin to press his advantage while she was injured.
But I was going to be having a meeting with hospital security as it was, and I didn’t need to add aggravated assault to my list of misdeeds, especially after having to go down to the police station and be interviewed. Though, on the other hand, the hospital was the perfect place for Harvey if he continued to touch Mina. He’d need a room right next to hers if I had any say about it.
“Mr. Farraday, wow. It’s nice to finally meet you. Miss Anwick speaks about you often. I think you might be her favorite mogul in the industry. I’m Gideon Harvey, by the way. I’ve met your father but never got the chance to speak with you personally since you took over as CEO of Farraday Industries.” Gideon’s gaze flicked back to Mina once, and his smile dimmed a fraction. “What are you doing here, if I might ask?”
“Logan is a friend of the family,” Mina said, dropping her gaze to the blanket draped across her legs. “He and my brother Keenan go way back, right Logan?”
“Right,” I ground out. “Could I speak to you alone, Mina? It’s about what we discussed the other day.”
Mina nodded, though her reluctance was palpable. “Gideon, could you go check on Heather, please? I’m a little hungry, maybe you could find the doctor and see if it’s okay for me to eat.”
Gideon squeezed Mina’s hand once and stood, brushing his rumpled suit coat off with the other. Had the man been here all night? “Of course. I’ll be back posthaste, I promise.”
Harvey offered me a hand before he left the room, and it took every ounce of self-control to just trade grips with the man, and let him keep his fingers intact. When the door closed behind him, I rounded on Mina.
She raised her hands in a gesture of surrender and spoke before I could gather steam. “I know. I know I shouldn’t have gone off the main road. It was stupid.”
“More than stupid, that decision could have been lethal. What if there had been a tree in the way, Mina? Or a lake at the bottom of that ravine? Your front glass cracked, if you’d been unconscious you would have...” My throat constricted painfully. I couldn’t let myself even voice the fear aloud, it hurt so badly. “You cannot be that reckless again, Mina.” The words came out sharper than I’d intended and their effect on Mina was almost instantaneous.
Her hazel eyes went as flat and cold as an iced latte. Her spine shot ramrod straight, which pushed her chest forward. She still managed to look spectacular, even in the mottled green and gray of her hospital gown. I wasn’t able to appreciate the effect for long, because Mina stood and took a staggering step forward, using the bed for support.
Jumpy already, a sense of panic seized me when she swayed, and I stepped forward, extending a hand toward her.
She slapped it away on reflex. “Don’t you dare order me around, Farraday,” she hissed. “You aren’t my father and you have no say in my life. Not anymore.”
It was the second time in as many weeks that she’d compared me to Walter Blakely. Anger edged out my panic and I stalked toward her, wincing when she shrank back against the mattress. I hadn’t meant to frighten her, but she needed to get the point, damn it. Or she was going to get herself killed in a fruitless attempt to defy me.
I placed a hand on either side of her face, treasuring the heat and color that burned high in her cheeks. God, but I loved this woman. The pink flush in her cheeks was so damned lovely, especially when I’d feared I’d never see it again.
The image I’d been fighting the whole way here flashed before my mind’s eye. Mina, cold and still, her skin waxy and tinged blue-gray in death. Those gorgeous, flashing eyes fixed and glassy, never to glare my way ever again.
A shudder rocked through me and I tipped her face upwards so I could examine every perfect plane of it beneath the fluorescent light above the bed. My thumbs traced absent patterns into her skin and my voice came out rough and thick with the emotion I’d repressed on the ride over. “You can’t die. I couldn’t survive it, Mina. You’re the only good thing I’ve had in years. I can’t lose you too.”
Mina’s expression softened and she leaned into my palm, placing a gentle kiss above the curve of my wrist. “I’m not dead, Logan. And I don’t plan on dying any time soon. So relax, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”
I leaned toward her, drawn inexorably by the sweetness of her scent and the siren call that was her lips. I only meant for it to be a chaste kiss. Drowning in the overlarge hospital gown, she looked extremely fragile, like the slightest pressure might snap her in two. But as always, my best intentions went straight to hell where Mina was concerned.
She gripped a handful of my shirt, anchoring herself firmly against me. Throwing all caution to the wind, one toned calf curled around mine, drawing me closer. Her nipples rubbed agai
nst my chest through the material of her gown, and I’d have bet money that some enterprising EMT had cut her bra off before she made it to the hospital. A flash of unreasonable jealousy crashed through me at the thought, and I seized the hem of her gown and yanked it up around her waist.
Mina backed us into the bed, her free hand scrabbling at my tie, trying in vain to undo the Windsor knot with one hand.
It took considerable effort of will, but I dragged myself away from her, breathing hard. I released my grip on her gown and stepped far enough away that the scent of her wouldn’t tempt me into further action. “No.”
“Get back here,” Mina ordered, imperious as always. The stubborn note in her voice made me smile.
“No, Mina,” I said, guiding her gently to a sitting position on the hospital mattress. She didn’t go quietly, grumbling obscenities the whole way. She’d thank me later when the adrenaline wore off and the full extent of her injuries caught up with her.
“Why not?”
“Well, for one, I doubt the good doctors would appreciate my taking advantage of their patient. Two, you’ve been concussed and bruised. I won’t hurt you further, Mina.”
Fat tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and she blinked rapidly, trying to dispel them. The first rolled onto her cheek and streaked down her chin. A second followed, and then a third.
“Damn it,” she whispered. “Why can’t you just fuck me, Logan?”
“I won’t hurt you,” I murmured again, brushing one crystalline tear from her cheek before it could drip onto her gown.
“You’re already hurting me. This whole thing hurts so fucking much.” She grasped my biceps, squeezing, gazing earnestly up at me, the pain in her eyes raw and unguarded. Fresh tears hazed her eyes. They fell so thick and fast that I couldn’t catch even half of them.
“I love you,” she confessed with a great, hiccupping sob. “I meant it when I said it before. Do you know what it’s like, watching you with her? She has you, whether I like it or not. And I can’t stop her. I couldn’t find a way through to get to the blackmail evidence. My fucking brother saw to that. To love you and know I can’t have you? It’s torture, Logan.”
I knew the feeling exactly. It welled up from somewhere primal every time I saw her in Harvey’s arms. I drew her more tightly against my chest, cradling her head in the hollow of my throat. Her breaths fanned across my neck in short, shuddering gasps.
“I’m sorry.” The words came out as a barely audible whisper. “I’m so fucking sorry, Mina. I’m sorry I’m a bastard and I’m sorry I drew you into this clusterfuck in the first place. I’m going to make it right somehow.”
And I meant every goddamned syllable. I’d find a way out of this miserable mess and come out the other side a free man, freeing her in the process. And then Mina could have me in every sense of the word.
With any luck, I’d find a way to have her as well.
Chapter Eleven
Mina
The weather in the Heights may have risen to a broiling one hundred and three degrees, but the interior of Logan’s car was frostier than ever.
I peeked at him in my periphery. Still no change.
Logan had been uncharacteristically still for the remainder of my hospital stay, with the exception of my quiet breakdown. It seemed like his anger with me hadn’t abated much. After a short nap, I’d awoke to find him bent double in a chair, staring at his steepled fingers as though they held the answers to life’s problems. He’d been largely silent throughout the parade of doctors, ignoring my distress as I was poked and prodded like a particularly vocal pincushion.
I’d been given the go-ahead to return to work in a day or two, and instructed to have someone drive me to and fro for the next day and a half until the dizziness subsided.
Naturally, Logan had volunteered his services to that end. And so we’d spent the last hour plodding toward my penthouse, making our way through the rush of traffic in near total silence, the only sound the radio.
When I could take it no more, I slammed an open palm onto the radio’s off button, silencing a rendition of Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. “Alright, I’m getting really tired of this.”
Logan tore his gaze away from the stick figure family plastered to the back of a soccer mom’s minivan. He raised one perfect brow at me, his face utterly unreadable.
“What?” He took the turn off of the main drag, onto the side road that led to my apartment.
I waved a hand at him. “This. This hot and cold routine. It needs to stop. Either you care or you don’t. But don’t jerk me around, Logan. I don’t have time for it.”
Logan was saved from immediately answering by the obstacle of my front gate. He rolled down his window, letting a draft of baking air into the cool interior of the Escalade. In a moment he was situating his SUV in my usual space.
I glowered at the designated parking sign. It was yet another reminder of what I’d lost. No mechanic in the world could save the pretty white Lexus after the dive I’d taken into the ravine. It was worth little more than scrap at this point.
“I’m trying to sort things out,” he muttered, more to himself than to me. “You’re sure it was a woman driving the BMW?”
I sighed. We’d gone over this at the hospital. On the rare occasion he’d spoken to me, it was only to press for details of the crash.
“Positive. Unless there was a hair band revival that I missed. I haven’t seen long, luxurious locks like that on a man since Steven Tyler.”
Logan snorted once in amusement and then lapsed back into silence.
My phone buzzed against my hip, startling me from my irritation. Flicking the screen on, I perused my notifications. There was a missed call and three texts from Gideon. Shit. I’d forgotten we were due to meet for dinner this evening.
The most recent message read only, You OK?
“I need to call Gideon,” I muttered. “He’s probably beside himself.”
Logan’s grip tightened on the wheel. “It’s none of his fucking business. He doesn’t own you.”
“And neither do you, Farraday,” I snapped. “This is business, so take your possessive bullshit and shove it. I’m missing work and he deserves to know how long I’ll be indisposed.”
Logan glowered and got out of the car.
The trip from the Escalade was a slow process. After the adrenaline had finally trickled from my system, stiffness had set in. I staggered forward with all the grace of a B movie zombie and was grateful for Logan’s hand on my elbow, though I’d never admit it.
The lobby’s air conditioning felt like nirvana after the heat. Heather was waiting for me by the wall of P.O. boxes situated near the front desk. She turned a ferocious scowl on Logan the moment we stepped through the doors.
“I can take it from here,” she said coolly, slinging an arm around my shoulder. “You’ve done enough, Farraday.”
The arctic note in her voice was so chilly that even I shuddered. I’d never heard her take that tone with anyone, even her ex-boss. It warmed a small part of me to know Heather was still willing to go to bat for me, even against a powerhouse like Logan. But there were other matters to be dealt with and if I were being totally honest, I trusted Logan to at least get me safely upstairs.
“Actually, Heather, I need you to talk to the building manager about my parking arrangement. I’d rather not have Logan’s Escalade towed because he’s in my spot. Could you explain the situation?”
Heather’s withering stare said he deserved that much and more, but she finally shrugged. “I’ve been called in for a job in an hour or two. Will you be okay alone with him?” She spat the pronoun like a curse.
I grinned in spite of my sour mood. Oddly, Heather’s antagonism lessened the weight of my own. “I’ll be fine. Logan won’t let anything happen to me.”
Of that much, I was confident. He’d probably be circling like an attack helicopter for the next few days. I trusted him to keep my body safe. But my heart? That I needed to guard. It was alre
ady bruised and I wasn’t sure it could take another beating.
Heather didn’t seem happy about it, but she left Logan to guide me to the elevators without further protest.
I dialed Gideon’s number on the way up to the penthouse. Logan slouched in the corner as I waited for him to answer, hands clenching around the metal bar.
“Mina?” Gideon asked in a rush, picking up on the first ring. “Are you okay? You weren’t answering your phone.”
Finally. A man who made his feelings perfectly clear. I smiled, touched by his worry for me. “I’m fine, Gideon. But I’m afraid we’ll have to reschedule the dinner tonight. I look like I’ve been through ten miles of bad road and I don’t want to scare your family.”
“It’s fine, Mina, really. You were in an accident. Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell them I have to work late and we won’t be able to attend.”
“Thank you, Gideon. I’ll owe you one. I know this isn’t what we had planned.”
“Hmm. I suppose I could forgive you if you’ll allow me to take you on a real date sometime.” His tone was light and teasing, but the words made my stomach clench nonetheless.
I glanced in Logan’s direction. He’d gotten a white-knuckled grip on the bar and stared at the floor of the elevator like he could burn a hole into it with his gaze alone. So he’d probably heard.
“We’ll see.”
“Get well soon, Mina.”
“I’ll try.”
Gideon bid me farewell as the doors dinged open at the penthouse. I barely had the time to shove my phone into my handbag before Logan pulled me through the doors and braced my back against my foyer wall. One calloused hand skimmed my waist and hoisted my blouse out of the way. His fingers splayed against the small of my back, hauling me into the solid wall of muscle that made up his torso.
His lips came down on mine and a hard nip to my bottom lip drew a gasp from me. He pressed his advantage, tongue tangling with mine in a dance for dominance that was familiar and exhilarating.
His hips pinned mine into place, and already his arousal pressed eagerly against my stomach. Want unfurled in my belly as he ground the evidence of his excitement against me. A slow, throbbing ache began in my core, competing with the rest of my body’s discomforts.