“You’re not. I was awake.”
I pulled back and looked at him. “You’re not sleeping?”
“Not tonight.”
He shrugged, making the cords in his neck stand out, and I noticed that although he looked exhausted, he also looked more like himself. More muscular, more filled out—stronger.
“You look good, babe.”
He started to laugh, surprising me. “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
“No, I mean it. You look more like your old self. Are you really feeling better?” I stroked his cheek. “Good enough to be out of your wheelchair?”
“It’s time. I’ll be fine.”
“Can I come to your next doctor’s appointment so I can ask Dr. Kim some questions?”
He gave me a tired smile, sinking back down on the bed. “Of course. I have an appointment later this week.”
“Thanks, I’ll be there. I don’t know when Jim’s service is going to be.” I shook my head, the reality of the previous day catching up to me. “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe someone shot Jim.”
“I know.”
His voice was soothing, and I let him pull me back under the covers and pull me against his massive chest.
“Try to go back to sleep—we still have a few hours.”
I relished the feel of his arms around me, which I was getting used to. Before, he’d only slept over on the occasional night he was off-duty. Otherwise, he was awake guarding me or on the couch. I nestled against him, loving his warmth. I’m getting spoiled.
Safe in his embrace, I fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep, at least until my alarm went off.
I hopped out of bed, kissing Wes lightly as he slept. My follow-up appointment with Dr. Lourdes Fisher was first thing—a fact I’d kept to myself and my three security guards. Dr. Fisher had been hounding me to come back in. If I cancelled again, she’d be all over me. I had enough stress to deal with at the moment.
“We’ll be back in time to meet with Levi and Ash to talk about increasing security. Please don’t mention this appointment to anyone,” I instructed Brian when we got to the office.
He frowned.
Brian was the lead guard assigned to me. He liked rules—following them, explaining them to others…following them.
“Okay?” I pleaded. “I don’t feel like having Wes and Lauren ask me if I’m okay three million times today.”
Brian didn’t say anything. He just continued to frown, looking sour.
I ignored him as the nurse ushered me in. I changed into a faded, pastel-pink johnny. I didn’t look at my body as I changed—I was pretty sure the bruises had faded, but I didn’t want to see any trace.
The nurse weighed me. “You’ve gained back ten pounds,” she said, checking my chart.
“Yay?” I said, trying lamely to make a joke.
“That’s really good.” She finished running through routine questions, updating my chart.
My knee bounced nervously as I waited for the doctor.
Dr. Fisher, who’d treated me and Lauren for years, smiled pleasantly when she came in. “It’s nice to see you finally made it in here.”
“I know. Sorry about that.”
Her smile quickly turned to a frown when she saw me fidgeting. “How’re you doing, Hannah?”