Jared was at her side immediately, looking down at her with those fathomless eyes. “Hey, sunshine. How are you?”
Sunshine. She liked that.
“Feels like I fell off a horse again. But it’s getting better.”
“Good. Excellent.”
The nurse busied herself taking Libby’s vitals and writing it on a chart. “The doctor will be by this morning,” she said. “I think she’s going to let you go home so long as you promise not to do any dancing.”
“Thank heavens,” Libby replied. “Not that the hospitality isn’t great around here, but it’ll be nice to sleep through the night without someone waking me every few hours to check my temperature or poke me with a needle.”
The nurse smiled. “That’s the down side of hanging out with us, I’m afraid. Breakfast will be here in a few minutes. After that, you can shower if you like.”
She would definitely like that. Once the nurse was gone, she pressed the button to bring the bed upright—and thought for the first time since she’d entered Riverstone that she must look like hell. She dropped her gaze, suddenly embarrassed that Jared was looking at her.
She picked the covers nervously. “Thanks, um, for being here.”
“I told you I would be.”
“I know. But surely you had to eat sometime. Sleep? Shower?” She waved her hand around. “You know, all the normal stuff.”
“I did all the normal stuff. I did it when I knew you were medicated and unlikely to wake.”
“Oh, of course. That combat medic training of yours.”
“Yes.” He didn’t say anything for a moment and she kept staring at the blanket, picking at it. “What’s wrong, Libby?”
“I don’t want you to see me like this,” she blurted.
“I’ve seen people in the hospital before. It’s nothing new for me.”
Heat flared in her cheeks. “My hair has to be a mess, and I haven’t showered since yesterday at your house—” Her eyes widened. “It was yesterday, right? Please don’t tell me it’s been a week or anything.”
“It was three days ago, honey. The pain meds knocked you out for a lot of it. You had to have surgery to stop some internal bleeding, and they wanted to keep you for observation.”
“Oh shit,” she groaned. She remembered being told about the internal bleeding before, but she’d been so tired and groggy that she didn’t remember a whole lot about the past few days. “Now I know I look like hell. And no wonder my abdomen feels like I got kicked by that horse after he dumped me.”
“You look gorgeous to me.”
Her heart thumped despite everything. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Jared Fraser. But a girl might like a little time to make herself presentable, you know.”
He stood. “Do you want me to go?”
“I…” She closed her eyes. “I don’t what you to go. But I want you to disappear for about half an hour or so.”
She thought he’d be angry with her, but instead he grinned. “Fine. I’ll go. In fact, when your breakfast arrives, I’ll go until you text me and tell me to come back.”
“Text you? Oh wow, I can do that, can’t I?”
“Your phone is on the bedside table, plugged into the charger. A brand new phone with your old number ported over, so all your contacts are there.”
Relief washed over her, as well as a little current of sadness at the idea of one contact in particular. “Thank you.”
He picked up the phone and handed it to her. “I think you might want to have a look at your messages. Some new friends have your number, and they won’t stop texting.”
She must have looked confused because he continued.
“Maddy, Tallie, and Angie have been texting you. They were worried.”
“Oh,” she said, her heart throbbing.
“You have friends, Libby. Kristin Martin may not have been a real friend, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others who care about you. Women who’d cut a bitch for you, as Angie told me last night. She said you were one of them, no matter what.”
Libby couldn’t help but smile. She loved those women. She’d spent a lot of time worrying that she was going to lose them when this was over, but maybe she wasn’t. Her poor heart wanted to believe, but her head kept telling her not to get her hopes up. Everyone always left her, one way or another.
“What else did she say?”
“She said if you need anything, to call her. Maddy and Tallie said the same thing.”
“That’s so nice.” She held the phone tight. “Thank you for telling me.”
The door opened and the nurse came in with a breakfast tray, which she place on the table over the bed. Then she rolled it up to where Libby could reach everything.
Jared walked to the door and stopped. “We’ve got a lot to talk about Liberty King. But there’s time. Call or text me when you’re ready.”
It was closer to two hours before Libby texted Jared, but between breakfast, showering, and the doctor coming to examine and release her, it took more time than she expected. There’d been a fresh outfit waiting for her in the closet. She’d teared up at the sight. It was the pair of jeans and pink sweater Jared had bought for her when he’d been taking her to his place after they’d left the mountain cabin.
There was fresh underwear, a bra, socks, and her boots. He’d thought of everything. Or maybe it hadn’t been him. Maybe one of the women had told him what he should bring. Still, didn’t matter, the clothes were there and she was touched more than she could say.
They didn’t say much once they were in his truck and moving down the road. She didn’t know if he was taking her back to her place or his, but it soon became apparent the destination was his house. She teared up again, but turned her head to keep him from seeing. Stupid emotions.
Jared helped her inside with a hand firmly on her elbow and the other wrapped around her waist. Gently, of course.
“Do you want to sit on the couch or would you prefer the bed?”
“I want to be where you are,” she said somewhat shyly.
“You tell me where you’d be more comfortable, and that’s where I’ll be.”
She smiled a watery smile. Darn him for being so perfect. “I want to sit on the couch then. Maybe read some Tolstoy.”
He snorted. “Liar.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, maybe not Tolstoy. In fact, I don’t really want to read. I want to talk.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” he teased.
He got her settled on the couch with a pillow behind her back and a blanket over her lap, even though she’d said she wasn’t cold. He unzipped her boots and took them off for her, placing them neatly on the floor under the coffee table. Jared was nothing if not neat and tidy.
He fixed her some hot tea, even though she didn’t ask for it, then sat in the chair opposite and waited.
Libby sipped the tea. Though she’d said she wanted to talk, she didn’t know how to begin. “Thanks for everything, Jared. I don’t think I’d like being alone right now. I could probably call my cousin, but she’s busy with her boyfriend and, well, I’d hate to bother her. But I hate to bother you too…”
Her stomach twisted with nerves. He got up and sat next to her. Not too close, but close enough he could take her hand. “You aren’t bothering me. This is where you belong.”
Her heart thumped. “Is it?”
He ran his fingers across her cheek. Lightly so he didn’t hurt her bruises, but just enough she could feel the heat of him. “I need to tell you some things,” he said.
“Okay.” Her stomach twisted with nerves, but she wanted to hear it. If this was the I like you, but speech, it was best to get it over with now. Before her heart built more castles in the sky.
“You’re right that I felt guilty for what happened. I shouldn’t have let you go into Ninja Solutions. I felt like it was my fault for not insisting we do the job another way.”
“Jared,” she whispered.
He put a finger
over her lips before she could continue. “My father was abusive, Libby. He beat my mother, and he sometimes beat me. And there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it, no matter how much I wanted to. I was too young, too small, too scared maybe. He left us before I got big enough to give him the ass beating he deserved. Best thing he ever did was leave. But I carried a lot of guilt that I didn’t do a better job of protecting my mother, and I swore I wouldn’t stand by and let that shit happen to anyone else.”
Her heart ached for the little boy he’d been. For the honorable man he was. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t tortured by the thought I could have changed something. When I was a kid, and then three days ago when they took you away in a helicopter. I should have done something different. I should have stopped it from happening.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she repeated. “Not when you were a child, and definitely not now. Nobody forced me to go to work. I had to do it. If I hadn’t, Paul would have died for nothing. He really is dead, right?”
Jared nodded. “The police found his remains in a cave on the mountain, close to where you were held. I’m sorry.”
A knot of tears lodged in her throat. “He was awkward and sweet. But he had a moral code, and that code wasn’t going to let him sit idly by while the company profited off something he knew wasn’t right. I wish he’d seen the danger to himself, though.”
“And to you,” Jared said. “He put you in danger, whether he meant to or not. And you’d still be in danger if you hadn’t gotten the media card. Logically, I know it’s true, even if I wish I’d found another way to retrieve it.” He caressed her cheek again. “You were brave, Libby. You handled yourself well.”
“I just did what made sense at the time. But I thought they were going to kill me before you could get there. I didn’t stop believing you’d come. Not even when Daniel took my phone outside and shot it.”
His eyes flashed. “I’m sorry for everything that happened, and I’m sorry you were scared. But thank you for believing in me.”
“I can never repay you for what you did for me. You took a bullet for me, Jared. Even if you were wearing body armor, it was much braver than anything I did.”
He was shaking his head. “No, it wasn’t. And you don’t owe me anything, Libby. It’s what I do. I protect the innocent.”
“Like a knight in shining armor,” she said with a smile.
He nodded. “Like that.” He sucked in a breath, his eyes closing for a second. When he opened them again, blue eyes bored into hers. “I thought I’d lost you when you were forced onto that helicopter, and that nearly gutted me.”
The moment stretched between them while she processed what he’d said. Heat flared in her cheeks, flooded her skin, made her hot everywhere. Her heart hammered a staccato beat and she wasn’t sure what he was saying. Was it guilt? Something more? She desperately wanted to know what he meant by that, but she didn’t know how to ask. So she did a typically Libby thing and blurted “I think I love you.”
He blinked like a startled owl. Inside, the scared little girl who expected rejection, who expected to never be good enough to keep, was cringing. But then a smile lit his face. The best smile in the world in her not so unbiased opinion.
“Liberty King, you just can’t stand not stealing the show, can you?”
“Oh god,” she said, closing her eyes as humiliation cascaded through her. “I’m an idiot. Please don’t say anything. Let’s pretend it never happened—”
“Shut up, Libby.” He tipped her chin up and placed the most delicate of kisses on her lips. She wanted him to deepen the kiss, but it would hurt and he knew it. He took such care not to hurt her. She adored him, even if she wanted to disappear.
“I love you, too, baby. Even though you only think you love me.”
Libby wanted to sink into the cushions. “I love you, Jared. I was just nervous. And hedging my bets in case you were about to tell me it was a sense of duty that made you feel guilty.” She shook her head. “I’m babbling. Why do I do that?”
He laughed. “Hell if I know, but it’s one of the things I love about you.”
“Oh please. You wanted me to shut up when you first met me.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But then I got used to the chatter and now I can’t live without it. Besides, you say the funniest things when your mouth is running ahead of your brain. You make me laugh.”
She rolled her eyes, but it was a teasing gesture. Inside, her belly was doing somersaults and her heart was shaking some serious-assed pompoms. “Just what I always wanted. To make the man of my dreams laugh.”
“Nothing wrong with that. But just in case you were wondering, there are other things you make happen for me.” He settled her against him, cradling her gently.
“Such as?”
“Well, you make me hard. No doubt about that. In fact, it’s going to be torture for the next few days wanting to make love to you but having to refrain because I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Maybe we can get creative.”
He kissed her on top of the head. “Maybe. We’ll see. Let me think… you also make me realize what I’ve been missing in life. I’ve always been a loner, and I thought I liked it that way. Hell, I’m pretty sure I do still like it that way. But now I want to be a loner with you. You and me, baby. Except I know you need people and interaction, so I’ll have to venture out of the cave to hang out sometimes too.”
“I like being alone with you, Jared. And I’m learning that the only people I need to give my time to are people who care about me. I’ve spent too many years wanting approval, craving it. But none of those people were worth my time. None of them loved me for me.” She sucked in a pained breath. “Not even my family.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Did she? Yes, with him, she did. She told him everything. About her childhood, her dad’s strict beliefs, the arranged marriage she’d refused, and the way her family had cast her out when she did.
“I’m sorry, Libby.” His voice was gruff as he spoke. “You deserved so much more.”
“I think that’s why I don’t trust that people will stick around. If a parent can turn their own child away, if they can care more about what they believe than about their own flesh and blood, then how can you ever trust anyone to really love you? Aren’t your parents supposed to want the best for you and love you no matter what?”
Jared frowned. “You’d think so, but it doesn’t always work out that way. My dad was an asshole, but I try to remember he was once an innocent kid too. Doesn’t make me hate him any less. It’s okay to be angry about what your dad tried to do, and it’s okay to be angry with your brother and sisters for not taking your side. But those things are their burden to bear, not yours. There’s nothing wrong with you, Libby. You just got a raw deal when God was handing out family.”
“So did you.”
“Half a raw deal. I had my mom, and she was terrific.”
“My mom loved me. I know she did. But I don’t think she’d have gone against what my father wanted if she’d been alive. She’d have watched me drag my suitcase up that dusty drive too. She’d have cried, probably, but she wouldn’t have said a word.”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore, honey. I’ve got your back. Always. And not just me. BDI has your back too. You’re one of us now. Even if I wasn’t crazy about you, even if I didn’t plan to spend my life with you, you’d be one of us. You went to the mat for us, and you didn’t break. You’re tough and honorable, Liberty King. We all know it, too.”
Happiness swirled inside her. “I love you, Jared. I love all of you, really.”
“Oh great, now I’m just one of the gang.”
She could hear the humor in his voice. “Hardly. I love everyone at BDI, but it’s not the same as the way I love you particularly.”
“And how’s that, sunshine?”
“I plan to show you in detail. Soon as I’m able.”
>
He chuckled. “I look forward to it. But for right now I’m content just holding you.”
“I’m not. I want more.”
He stroked her hair as he held her. “We’ve got all the time in the world, Libby. In fact, I think you should move in with me.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
“Good oh or bad oh?”
“Good oh. Definitely good… But I don’t have a job anymore. I can’t pay my share until I find one.”
“First, this house is paid for. Second, I’m pretty sure you won’t be unemployed long. If Ian doesn’t have anything for you at BDI, he’ll know someone who does. Third, I’m not asking you to split costs with me.”
She huffed. “I don’t see why not. I’m not a freeloader, and I’ve had a roommate before. I’m fine with splitting costs—”
He put a finger over her mouth. “I’m not doing this right, I can tell. I’m not asking you to be my roommate, Libby. I’m asking you to move in and be mine in every way. And then, when the time is right and not when you’re recovering from injuries, I plan to ask you something else. Something involving rings and churches and forever. But not right now, because we can’t celebrate properly—and I don’t have a ring to give you. But soon. So think about that, and think about your answer so you can say it right away when I get up the courage to do the deed.”
Libby couldn’t help but laugh. He was so serious, and so perfect. He was exactly what her heart needed. This man was constant. Unwavering. Her bright and shiny knight.
“There’s nothing I would rather do than say yes to your, er, proposition. When the time is right, of course. When you actually ask me. Consider this a preview of my answer.”
He snorted. “Damn, I love you. You’re always going to make me laugh.”
“Probably. And not always on purpose. But I hope you never get tired of it. Or me.”
“Not a chance, sunshine. Not a frigging chance in hell.”
He pressed his lips to hers. It wasn’t the kind of kiss she wanted, but it was the kind of kiss she needed right now.
Black Knight (A Black's Bandits Novel): HOT Heroes for Hire: Mercenaries Page 24
