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“Thanks,” I mutter before I take off down the hall, searching for the elevator or stairs since I’m assuming the number means he’s on the second floor.
I hear several pairs of footsteps behind me and assume it’s my brother and RJ.
What are they really doing here? I don’t buy that they were looking for me. They didn’t even try to call me…did they?
Pushing aside those questions for later, I find the stairwell and start up.
“Wait for us,” RJ calls out, so I hold the door open for them.
“Hurry up!” I snap at them, needing to see Lyla, to lay my eyes on her, and hands if she’ll let me, to know for sure that she’s okay.
As soon as I come out the door on the second floor, I see her walking out of a patient room.
“Lyla!” I call for her when she starts toward the elevator at the other end of the hallway.
She spins around, her eyes widening when she sees me.
“Barrett?”
Maybe I’m just lying to myself, but I swear her face looks relieved to see me when she walks over.
I’m distracted by the gauze on her head, on her hands, searching for other injuries.
I don’t like seeing even a scratch on her, but fuck, I know it could’ve been so much worse.
“Are you okay?” I ask when we meet in the middle of the hall.
Instead of giving me a verbal response, she throws her arms around my neck. Her lips find mine, and the rest of the world, the hospital, fades away.
Vaguely, I hear a voice – Jordan’s, maybe – say, “Over here!”
I see the kid holding open a door, so I walk Lyla backward without pausing our kiss to have some privacy.
At first, I thought it was just going to be a long, deep kiss between vending machines full of sodas, snacks, and coffee.
But then Lyla starts undoing my pants.
And while I want her again more than anything, I stupidly find myself breathlessly telling her, “Wait. Stop.”
I can’t have sex with her with this gigantic secret hanging overmy head. It’s wrong. She’s probably not fully forgiven me for shooting out Thane’s tires yet.
I take a step back so that we’re no longer pressed together. It may only be about three or four inches, but I hate that small distance.
“What’s wrong?” Lyla asks.
“There’s something I have to tell you first, before we… I can’t lie to you and then have sex with you again.”
“Okay. What is it?”
I lower my gaze and swipe my thumb over my lips, not trying to wipe away the taste of her but savoring it as I figure out how I’m going to be honest with her. The truth will hurt, but lies will be even worse. Fuck, I don’t want that to be our last kiss.
Finally, I say, “I have to tell you the truth about what’s going on here.”
“Okay, then tell me, Bear. I can handle it.”
My eyes lift to hers. The conflict raging inside me fades, softens. “You called me Bear.”
Lyla’s cheeks blaze red. “Oh, sorry. I thought that’s what your brothers called you.”
