Page 69 of Lukas

Chapter Twenty-Seven

When Reina wokeup the next day everything hurt. She opened her eyes then immediately closed them again at the bright hospital lights.

All she could remember was sneaking around to go back inside the warehouse, knowing Lukas didn’t know Nicky was there and had a gun. And then, evidently, she’d been shot. She remembered the pain and Lukas crouching over her saying stuff, but she didn’t know what. Just knew that he’d been mad. Again.

“You can’t keep your eyes closed forever, princess. I know you’re awake.”

“Lukas?” Her voice sounded scratchy, weird. She opened one eye just the slightest bit, and sure enough he was there in a chair next to her bed, eyes red and a day’s worth of stubble on his jaw.

“You gave us quite a scare in that warehouse. You and I are going to have a serious talk about putting yourself in danger. You’re so fortunate the bullet didn’t do more damage. No organs hit, just the fleshy part of your waist.”

She felt the bandage over the left side of her waist. She had been lucky.

“I’m going to go get the nurse, baby.” Her mom’s voice came from the other side of the bed. Reina tilted her head so she could see her.

“Mom?” Was she really here? And sober?

“Yes, sweetheart, I’m here, where I should be. I left Peter, or I should say, he fled the state. I’m so sorry I was blind to what he was doing. Ruining your father’s company. Cheating people.”

“It’s okay.”

Lukas stood. “I’ll go get the nurse, Mrs. Torres. You stay here.”

They both watched Lukas walk out the door.

“That man loves you,” her mother said. “He hasn’t left your side from the moment you got out of surgery.”

Reina shook her head, trying to sit up a litter further. “If he knows about Peter, I guess he found out why I planted my program in his server room. That explains why he didn’t leave me to die at Simon’s hands.”

Her mom shook her head. “No. I was there when he got that call, and at the point that he agreed to trade himself for you he didn’t know the details about what Peter had done. Definitely not that it was you who was in the process of bringing it all to light.”

“But that doesn’t mean he loves me. He was so angry.”

Lukas stepped back into the room. “I have a temper, and I’m not always perfect at getting all the information before I make a judgment.” He crossed towards her. “But when I am wrong, I admit it. And I was so wrong at the club. I should’ve given you a chance to more fully explain.”

Their eyes locked as he stepped out of the way as a nurse entered the room followed by a doctor. It wasn’t a conversation either wanted to have around strangers or her mother.

After she’d been significantly poked, prodded, and questioned, the medical staff left. Her mother did too, promising to be back in a few hours. Lukas resumed his spot in the chair next to her.

“I’m sorry for what happened at the club,” he said, taking her hand and trailing his thumb over her palm. “Playing is one thing, even punishment, but that was something else. You were hurt.”

She couldn’t stop looking at him. There was no coldness in his eyes now. “Actually, the pain wasn’t too bad, except for maybe when Thomas was using the paddle.”

“I know. I wasn’t worried about that. Hell, woman, in a few months, you’ll be begging me to beat you that hard. I’m talking about the other.”

She knew what he meant. “I just couldn’t do it, knowing you hated me.”

He was up and leaning over her in under a second, both hands cupping her cheeks. “I never hated you. If you had stolen every dime I had, I still wouldn’t. I was pissed that you had deceived me. And believe me, I didn’t mind seeing you get punished for it, but not hurting your heart. None of us wanted to see that. Especially me.”

“I thought you didn’t want me anymore. That we were over. That’s why I got so upset.”

“You’ll never get away from me that easily, princess. I can’t promise I won’t blister that ass of yours again—as a matter of fact I can vow the opposite—but I swear from this day forward, I will never wound your heart the way I did at the club. I will guard and cherish it, with all that I am, if you’ll just give me a chance.”

She was smiling so hard it almost hurt her face. “As long as spankings are also included in that promise.”

* * *

4 weeks later.

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