Page 76 of Dirty Gambit

He blinked as if startled by her question. “Why did you get in the path of a bullet, Lena?”

“Why did you?” she countered. “Why were you willing to get shot for me?” That seemed to silence him. At least, he seemed not to know what to say as he studied her. Lena plowed on. “Why did you not let Travis take me? Why did you leave without telling me? Why did you try to protect me when there was a gun at your head? Why, Jaxon?”

Something dark and fierce blazed in his eyes, eyes that never wavered from hers. “Don’t turn this on me. I nearly lost you.”

“And I nearly lost you,” she argued.

“It’s not the same.”

“Why not?” He didn’t seem to have any words for that as he broke the connection and stared hard at her abandoned glass on the table. “You can’t be angry with me, not when you would have done the exact same thing.”

Green orbs flashed when they returned to her, hot and desperate. They were the last things she saw before he’d closed the distance between them and captured her mouth with his. His injured hand braced on the downy mattress next to her hip as his other one slid under the weight of her hair and cupped the base of her skull. He kissed her with the passion of a man counting his every blessing. It was restrained, almost gentle but with a violent underlay that made Lena want to beg.

Instead, she jerked back, a horrifying realization crowding through the glaze of passion he’d been weaving around her.

Jaxon peered down at her, expression dark, but concerned as his gaze dropped to her shoulder. “Did I hurt you?”

Rather than answer, Lena tilted her head back and discreetly held her breath. She kept it locked in her chest until he sat back, hunger replaced with worry. Once she was certain she wasn’t going to kill him with her dragon’s breath, she exhaled slowly.

“Lena?”

“I should use the bathroom before we do that again,” she murmured, avoiding his eyes.

Gingerly, she stroked her tongue along the surface of her teeth, expecting days of grime to have collected, but it glided smoothly as if freshly brushed.

“Babette has been taking care of all that for you,” Jaxon explained, realization twinkling in the crinkles around his eyes.

“Babette?”

“She was your nurse at the hospital. I asked her to stay with you here and make you comfortable. Come to think of it…” his eyes narrowed as he squinted across the room to the open doorway, “I should probably have her check you over now that you’re awake.”

Lena ignored the last part and focused on all the other things. “You asked a nurse to stay with me?”

His attention returned to her. “No one in my family, except maybe Frankie, is equipped to care for a gunshot wound. I thought it would be best if it were done by a professional.”

When he said it with such certainty, how could she disagree?

“You didn’t have to do that,” she murmured instead. “Thank you.”

He gave an imperceptible nod. “Are you hungry? Tired?”

She shook her head, despite feeling inexplicably exhausted. It was as if just by sitting up, all her energy had been zapped out of her, but she had so many questions still, so many blank spots that needed to be filled.

“What happened at the hospital?” she asked. “Who was the man trying to get into my room?”

He drew in a sharp breath that echoed loudly in the silence between them. His gaze lowered to her outstretched legs and the sheets draped over them. He didn’t draw away, she noted with some relief. He remained against her side, one hand braced across her lap, body close enough that she could easily touch him without even lifting an arm. His closeness eased some of the anxiety creeping through her.

“He was a journalist hoping to get a photo of you.”

Lena blanched. “Journalist? Why would…?” realization dawned even before his pale eyes lifted to her face. “I guess what happened made it into the papers?”

Jaxon snorted a chuckle. “In a big way. It’s promising to be one of the biggest stories of the year.”

A groan left her, and if her arms didn’t physically ache and one wasn’t in a sling, she would have covered her face. “How bad is it?”

He blew out a breath. “It’s been a busy week.”

“It’s only been a week?” she gasped.

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