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“A piece of friendly advice?” Skylar asks.
I give her a weak smile and nod. “Yeah. I’m listening.”
“Luke is head over heels for you. Don’t be pissed at him for wanting to take care of you. He was shaking when he first walked in, and he was worried about you seeing him like that. I got dropped off a full half hour before he got here, and his instructions were that nobody see you until he and the doctor saw you first.”
“It felt like he wanted to make sure another man hadn’t touched me because it would make him jealous.”
Skylar snorts. “Have you met these men? They’re all jealous and possessive. But that wasn’t even on his mind. The only thing he wanted was to find out whether you needed extra medical care before he touched you. And yeah… maybe he wanted to make sure he didn’t need to hunt Pratchett down and slit his throat for hurting you.”
My eyes go wide. “You mean he doesn’t have Pratchett?”
Skylar shakes his head. “Nope. Let him go to get to you. Now, do you want me to get out of here and send him in, or do you want to make him suffer a little longer?”
“Honestly? I want to get out of here and be alone for a while.”
Skylar pats my arm. “I love you, but I’m not helping you escape without seeing him. If you want to leave, he’ll let you. I can’t promise he won’t send you with twelve bodyguards, but he won’t force you to stay.”
“This is so hard. I don’t know what to do,” I whisper, trying not to cry again. “I’m madly in love with him, but he’ll never be OK with my career.”
She crawls onto the bed next to me and lays her head on my shoulder. “I’m learning that being with men like Matteo and Luke means compromise.”
“What do you mean? I’ve built a life out of not compromising.”
She chuckles. “I want to go on a world tour.”
“So why don’t you?”
“Because doing that means Matteo either follows me and somebody gets wind that I’ve got the Italian Mafia in my dressing room every night, or he has to worry about me while I’m gone. So instead, I do the residency where I’m safe and can still do what I love without giving him a stroke.” She grins. “But sometimes I do fuck with him and pick outfits to wear onstage that I know will piss him off and make him jealous. But that’s just so he’ll fuck me harder when I get off stage.”
I choke on a laugh. “I get that. It’s hard to envision a world where compromise for me doesn’t mean giving up my identity entirely.”
“You said yourself the other night that you have retirement plans. Why not move those up?”
“It’s not that simple, but I get what you’re trying to say. I’ll think about it.”
“And you won’t try to sneak out of here without having a conversation with him?”
I nod. “Promise.”
A knock on the door interrupts us, and Dr. Singh sticks her head in. “Just checking on your fluids.”
The bag is almost empty, and she comes to the bed and prepares to take the IV out.
Skylar sits up and slides off the bed. “I’ll see you later, Zara. I’m glad you’re OK.”
As soon as Skylar leaves, Luke steps back in and I close my eyes.
He leans against the dresser and waits for the doctor to finish before he speaks. When she’s gone, he says, “I know you told me to get out, but I wanted to make sure you don’t need anything.”
“Just you.”
Chapter 32
Luke
Herwordsaresoquiet, I’m not sure I’ve heard her right. But when she climbs out of bed and walks toward me, I meet her halfway and scoop her into my arms.
She protests when I put her back on the bed, but I kick off my shoes and crawl into place next to her and pull her to me. “You need to rest, Flower.”
