Sweet Seduction (Sweet #3)(57)

"Nathan Tucker, and thanks."

"No problem, man. We'll take good care of her, I promise."

Nathan leaned down and kissed her forehead again. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

She gave him a half smile. "Okay."

Nathan waited until she'd been wheeled out before he made his way to the waiting room. Connor was standing there, hands shoved into his pockets leaning against one of the windows. He straightened when Nathan came out.

"How's she doing?"

"Good, I think. They've taken her to X-ray to clear her spine, and they want to do a scan of her head to make sure there aren't any bleeds. She was still conscious. Shaky and scared out of her mind, but that's to be expected."

"You staying?" Connor asked.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, if you want, Pop and I will run your truck over and park it in the garage. I'll find you to give you the keys."

"Thanks. I'd appreciate that. Not sure what's going on here. They won't know if they're keeping her until they get the X-rays back."

"Not a problem. I called Pop and let him know what was going on. You might want to call her friend Serena. No sense worrying Faith if Julie's going to be all right. She and Gray are flying in tomorrow morning. I don't want to ruin their last night in Vegas."

"Yeah, I agree. I'll give Serena a holler when I know more. I don't want to freak her out."

"Okay, see you in a bit."

"Thanks, man."

"You bet," Connor said as he walked toward the exit.

Chapter 24

Julie breathed a sigh of relief when they unfastened her C-collar and carefully pulled it away from her neck.

"There you go, Miss Stanford. Can you move your head a bit?"

Julie stared up at the nurse and moved slowly from side to side.

"Good. Does that hurt? Any tenderness?"

Julie frowned. "Just a little stiff."

"That's to be expected. You're definitely going to feel it tomorrow."

"What about my head?"

"The doctor is just now getting the report. He should be in to talk to you shortly." She frowned when Julie winced. "Are you in pain?"

"Head," Julie muttered. "And my shoulder."

"Ah, yes, you have quite a bruise forming on that shoulder. As soon as the doctor gives me the okay, I'll give you something for pain. In the meantime, want me to let your young man back in? He's been pacing a hole in our waiting room floor."

Nathan. He was still here. For a moment, anticipation and something that felt strangely like joy surged through her veins like a shot of adrenaline. Where had he come from? She was still confused by the entire episode. Maybe she'd never really remember it all. One minute she'd been driving down the freeway enjoying having the top down, the next she was staring up at Nathan while he held her hand.

When she realized the nurse was staring at her, still waiting on an answer, she carefully nodded. "Yes, send him in, please."

The nurse smiled, patted her on the arm and turned to walk back out. A few minutes later, Nathan hurried in, concern shadowed in his eyes.

He did feel something for her. Something beyond lust and frustration. There was genuine worry for her reflected on his face. It made her feel warm and kind of funny on the inside. No one had ever really fussed over her like he had on the way to the hospital. It was strangely addicting.

"Hey," he said softly when he neared the bed. "I see they got you out of the bondage gear."

She chuckled softly, careful not to shake parts that didn't need shaking. "Yeah, it's a huge relief. That backboard was about to kill me, and having that C-collar on is like having someone's hands wrapped around your throat just waiting to squeeze."

He touched her face, smoothing her hair back behind her ear. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," she said ruefully. "I'd say I feel like I've been run over, but I guess I was."

His expression darkened. "Yeah, you were."

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked. "I don't remember a whole lot. It all happened so fast. I just remember spinning and thinking I was going to die."

"Are you sure you want to go over this now? I don't want to upset you."

"I'm sure. I'm okay, really. Just stiff and sore. Nurse says I'll be worse tomorrow."

"A truck coming up the on-ramp decided that yield meant run over the nearest car, and he rammed you right in the middle on the passenger side. Sent you spinning into traffic where, thank God, you didn't hit any other cars. You came to a stop against the concrete dividers. Your airbag didn't deploy, and you hit your head on the steering wheel."

She tentatively reached to touch her shoulder, wincing at how tender it felt. "That would explain the shoulder too." She glanced back up at him. "You saw all this?"

"Connor and I were behind you when you got hit."

"Oh."

"They say whether they're keeping you yet?"

She shook her head. "I'm waiting on the doc to go over the results of the scan. X-rays were all negative, so that's good."

"Yeah, that's great. You scared me, honey."