I hope he will understand. And, I hope, one day, he will be that man.

When I near his building, I hear the sound of sirens wailing. As I grow closer, I see the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles.

What the heck? I crane my neck to get a better look. There’s a police car, a fire engine, and an ambulance out front. My heartbeat quickens, my thoughts immediately going to his elderly neighbor, Ms. Robbins. I know she had a fall a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been making sure to check in on her whenever I can.

I park the car, keeping one eye on the front door.

As I’m grabbing my bag and getting out of the car, I see two EMT’s, neither I know, wheeling a stretcher out the front door. Is it Ms. Robbins? I hurry towards the building to see if I can be of any assistance.

But when I get closer and get a glimpse of the person on the stretcher, my heart falls, my brow creasing in shock as I freeze to the sidewalk.

Oh my God.

It’s Lexi.

The medic turns the stretcher and her face is gone from my sight.

“Lexi!” Panic grips me, and I start to shake. What the hell?

What’s happened and why is she even here?

My mind blanks, my knees go weak. Move, Emmeline, move. I snap out of my daze, rushing over to them. “Lexi? Lexi?” I push past the medic, grabbing for her hand.

I look for blood, bruising. She has no visual injuries or trauma, which brings me some comfort. A cloudy smile crosses her face. “Emmeline? You’re not supposed to be here, you had an appointment. I was trying to surprise you.”

“What? Why? What happened?”

“Ma’am we’re going to need you to step back.” One of the medics moves his body between me and Lexi. “We’re going to get her to the hospital, you can’t ride with her, but you can follow in your car.”

“But what happened?”

“Your husband will fill you in as soon as he comes down. We’ve got to get her in the ambulance.”

Husband….

I go to correct him, but swallow my words. It doesn’t matter.

“I’m fine! Babe, it’s all good.” She winces in pain. “I fell and hit my head, and Rawley called the ambulance…”

Rawley? He’s here? I look around, and finally see him in front of us, talking with the EMT’s. He hasn’t seen me yet.

But they’re moving her inside the ambulance.

I want to talk to her, to hold her hand, but I stand back, letting them do their jobs. His gaze lands on me and his eyes brighten. “Emmeline.”

He rushes to me, taking me in his arms. “Baby, Lexi’s going to be fine. She slipped from a rung of a ladder and hit her head on the coffee table. She said she was fine, but I think she might need stitches, so I called 9-1-1 just to be safe.”

“Oh, thank God.” My hand goes to my chest, and I exhale. “When I saw the ambulance, I thought it was Ms. Robbins. Then when I saw Lexi lying there, my heart just sank. How hard did she hit her head?”

“Not too bad but after hearing you talk about your experiences working in the ER, my mind instantly went to concussion.”

“I wouldn’t rule it out without a CT scan, she did seem a little out of it. What was she even doing here and what on Earth was she on a ladder?”

He runs a hand through his hair, watching as they close the doors. “She said you had some kind of appointment today. She wanted to decorate the apartment with graduation stuff to surprise you when you got home. Asked me to come down and let her in on my lunch break. She was hanging gray and scarlet streamers when she fell.”

Gray and scarlet...UNLV’s colors.

My stomach sinks. “I hate she got hurt trying to do something nice for me.”

“Don’t think of it like that.” He grabs for my hand. “Come on, let’s go. I’ll drive.”

My hand shakes as he takes it in his. I can handle the emergencies of strangers but now that it’s someone I love, I find my nerves crumbling. I’m glad he’s the one driving. “Thank you.”

We make our way to his car and he looks over his shoulder, catching my eye. “What appointment were you at anyway?”

I give my head a shake. “It was nothing.”

My confession can wait.

Chapter 12

Emmeline

We arrive at the hospital and take a seat in the waiting room until we’re called. Rawley holds my hand, telling me light, funny stories to keep me mind from worrying. After almost an hour of waiting, a young doctor in blue scrubs comes out to fill us in on Lexi’s condition.

His demeanor is cool and collected and I find myself taking note of his tone for when I’m the one in the scrubs, delivering news.

Tags: Jane Henry Billionaire Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net