Page 72 of Forbidden Wish

“Over here, so quit taking your clothes off in front of my sister.”

For so long, their intimacy was a given. They’d both taken it for granted. How odd it was to have full entitlement over something one day, and absolutely none the next.

“I came here to change and I was going to call you,” he said.

“About dinner?”

“Yeah, but they’re weaning Mila off the sedation. It’s possible she’ll wake up soon.”

She leaped up. “Oh my God. You should’ve called me!”

“I was going to,” he said, crossing the room to grab a holdall that he dumped on the back of the couch. “We don’t know for sure. The doctors are happy the swelling is going down, but don’t know if there’s been any aftereffects.”

“Like what? Like a concussion?”

Lachlan opened the holdall to grab out a clean tee-shirt. He discarded one to don another. “Maybe. I don’t know, babe, I’m not a doctor. We can find out when we get there.”

“Okay, good.” Immediately, she headed for the door. “Come on.”

“Hold up a second…”

Not what she wanted to do. “We have to get over there.”

“We will.” He came over to cradle her face in both hands. “You look tired.”

“Thank you. Just what every woman wants to hear.”

“Are you taking care of yourself? You know I’m here if you need anything.”

“Her brother’s still in the room, asshat,” Ford called, “dial it back.”

“That wasn’t what he meant,” she called to her brother. “Get back to your porn.”

“Porn?”

“It’s a long story,” she said. “Why are we waiting?”

Her father and Sersha appeared from the bedroom.

“Lach, you’re a jerk,” Sersha said, barely pausing for breath.

“Good to see you too,” he said, his hands dropping from her face. “You holding meetings here now?”

“It’s my apartment,” Sersha said. “You don’t like it? Leave.”

“Why are you here?” she asked, knowing it was unusual. “Are you staying here?”

Better than a hotel. He’d left her in the apartment they’d shared. They’d paid the rent for the year, and she was at Jagg’s, shame for it to sit empty.

“Sersha had her heart broken, she needs a keeper.”

Like she was some kind of zoo animal. While Strat regarded Sersha as an equal, Lachlan morphed into Ford when it came to the way he treated his sister. In some respects anyway.

“I do not need a keeper, a minder, a bodyguard, or a therapist,” Sersha said. “You’re a squatter. An unwelcome houseguest who won’t go away.”

“Like you said, I’m at Ford’s. If you want to use our place, I won’t be back there for a while.”

That was as specific as she could be. Living with Jagg wouldn’t be a bad thing, but if she hung around too long, she’d cramp Ford’s style and he’d have no problem telling her that.

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