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Boone
I wasn’t sure if it was the drugs or if Gabs’ mom normally favored her son over her daughter. The way, when we’d all walked in together she instantly focused on Christopher, not even realizing Gabs was in the room, left me frowning and not exactly jumping at the chance to interact with the woman.
After Christopher headed off to return to work, I pulled over a second chair and sat beside Gabs as she held her mother’s hand while chatting to her about random stuff until the woman nodded off to sleep. She had to be on some serious painkillers, which hopefully explained her moment of tunnel vision when we’d first come in. At least, I hoped it was not how she normally treated her daughter.
Gabs didn’t say a word to me about it, even after her mother fell asleep, so I didn’t bring it up either. Last thing I wanted to do right now was to add to her stress.
With a sigh, Gabs sat back into her chair and reached for my hand, which I readily gave her. She wrapped both of hers around mine and I leaned over to press a kiss to the top of her head as she rested against my shoulder.
“I got you, sweetheart. Rest while you can.”
It was a little awkward in the hard plastic chairs since I couldn’t wrap my arm around her like I had in the waiting room earlier. She shifted, keeping my hand clasped in one of hers, and with a deep sigh, relaxed against me and dozed. As she slept, I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes.
The sound of a man clearing his throat had me jerking awake, which in turn woke Gabs and left us both blinking up at the doctor waiting for our attention.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, but I guess I was more tired than I thought.”
Gabs spoke in a rush as she stood up. The doctor was on the younger side, maybe early thirties, and he looked damn tired, like he’d had an even longer day than Gabs and I had.
“That’s quite okay, ma’am. Trust me, I completely understand having to grab some sleep when you can. Are you related to Mark Rayne?”
“Yes, sir. I’m Gabriela Rayne, his daughter.”
I could tell she wanted to ask for news on her father, but the words got caught behind a small sob. I moved to stand behind her, pulling her back against me so I could wrap my arms around her waist. My girl was breaking my heart tonight.
“Your father is out of surgery and is in stable condition.”
“What about his leg?”
“Your father’s leg was severely damaged in the crash. His left tibia was shattered, and the fibula broken in three places. But we did manage to save the limb. We needed to insert steel rods into his leg. It’ll be a long recovery for him.”
She slumped back against me in relief. “But he’s still got both of his legs.”
The doctor nodded. “Yes, ma’am, he does.”
“Thank you, so much. Do you know when he will be out of recovery?”
I rubbed my palms up and down her arms as the doctor shook his head.
“I can’t give you an exact time, I’m sorry.”
With that, the doctor left, and Gabs turned around and buried her face into my shirt, her body shaking with her sobs.
“Shh, darlin’. I got you.”
What else could I say? Her father was damn lucky the doctors had managed to save his leg by the sounds of it, but she already knew that.
She shuddered one last time then pressing her palms against my torso, pushed herself back and looked up at me. Her red-rimmed brown eyes broke my heart. I’d give anything to be able to fix all this for her and see her smile.
“Thank you for being here. For staying. I know you have ranch stuff you probably should be doing right now, and we haven’t known each other that long but—”
Cradling her jaw in my hands, I pressed my thumb over her lips, silencing her.
“Gabs, I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. Liam and my father will take care of the ranch while I’m gone. Yeah, this thing we have is new, but it’s strong. I already care about you a whole lot, so this is where I want to be—with you, helping you however I can. Okay?”
I shifted my thumb and kissed her. Her hands tightened on my shirt, and she pressed her hips against mine, making my already hard dick throb for more of her. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t gotten naked together yet. I’d hoped tonight would end that way, but unfortunately life had other plans for our evening.
A loud knock came on the door. She jerked away from me with a gasp. I grinned as her cheeks flashed red and her eyes opened wide before she spun to face whoever it was that busted our heated kiss.
