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I slowly open my eyes and look up at him. He beams before leaning down and kissing me with such tenderness that a tear slips down my cheek. “There’s my girl,” he whispers against my lips, and I place my hand on his cheek, my eyes closing again as I just breathe him in.

“I missed you.”

He nods. “You never get to leave me again. It’s a new rule. Like, I won’t even let you take a damn shower by yourself.”

“I like the sound of that.”

He smiles against my lips, and I can just picture that cocky little smirk he flashes me sometimes. “That’s real good, Kitten, ‘cause I wasn’t askin’.”

“Such a charmer,” I mutter, leaning back into my pillow to look up at him. He pulls back slightly but his lips are still hovering over mine. “I suppose I’ll let you get away with it if you marry me under the stars like you promised.”

“You heard me?” he asks, his grin replaced with a boyish smile that melts the stress off his face. I nod.

“I did and I’m so making you do it.”

“Alison James, you should know by now that I’ll give you absolutely anything you want. You only have to ask.”

“Am I interrupting?” someone asks from the doorway, and Logan says yes without even looking at them. I laugh and peek over his shoulder. Detective Rodriguez stands in the doorway, and I wave him in.

“Come on in.”

Rodriguez chuckles and walks into the room, sitting down in the chair on the far side of my bed. “I didn’t realize you had woken up. I was just coming to check in on you.”

“She’s only been awake for a couple of minutes,” Logan tells him, and he nods.

“Let me go grab the doctor, then.” He stands and leaves the room, coming back a few moments later with a gorgeous woman with bright red hair.

“Hi, Ali. I’m Doctor Brandt. How are you feeling?” she asks, shining a light in my eyes and looking me over. Rodriguez leans back against the wall and begins taking notes.

“Tired,” I answer, and she nods.

“The bullet nicked an artery, and you lost nearly your entire blood volume. If it hadn’t been for the towel your fiancé wrapped around your arm, you might not be here with us now.”

I glance up at Logan and smile. “You saved me.”

“Promised you I would,” he answers, pressing his lips to my hand.

“Other than that, you’ll probably be quite sore for a while. We also need to keep bandages on your hands since some of the nails were ripped out.”

“What?” Logan asks, his voice horrified as he looks down at me. “He ripped your nails out?”

I shake my head and bite my lip. “He dragged me down the hallway, and I was just trying to grab on to anything.”

“They look good, and I’m sure they’ll heal up just fine. We want to monitor you for a couple days but once you go home, you’ll still need to get lots of rest. Will you have someone there to take care of you?”

Logan clears his throat and nods. “Don’t worry about that, Doc.”

She nods and offers me a smile, telling me she’ll be back to check on me later before leaving. Logan sits in the chair next to the bed and holds my hand as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Rodriguez steps forward and sits in the chair on the other side of my bed.

“Are you feeling okay to go over a few things?”

I nod.

“Okay, so why don’t you tell me what happened?”

I sigh and begin reliving that night for him, feeling stronger than I expected as I retell it. Rodriguez takes notes, and Logan’s grip tightens on my hand periodically. I’m sure this is hard on him, too.

“And did you know the assailant?”