BREATHE: A Billionaire Romance, Part Four Read Free Page A

worse, but I could tell he didn’t care.
    And likely awaking from sounds of our outbursts, Derek began to stir. My head snapped to look at him. His movements were slow, and he sighed with every one of them.
    “You need to leave,” Dr. Freeman said, looking at me as he made his way towards Derek with his stethoscope.
    “No,” Derek said and sighed, extending a weak hand out to me. I felt my heart leap for joy. He was asking me not to leave.
    “She needs to go for now, Derek,” Dr. Freeman reiterated sweetly to him in a calming tone. I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe that he was going to pretend to be sweet now.
    “She isn’t leaving!” Derek shot, as if he wasn’t even remotely fatigued at all.
    “I’m your doctor. Listen to me,” Dr. Freeman demanded, slapping his stethoscope in his ear.
    But Derek didn’t care what he said, or what he was doing for that matter. Because angrily, and with more energy than I thought he even possessed, he grabbed Dr. Freeman’s stethoscope from his ear and looked at him, danger in his eyes before whispering a single “No.”
    “Derek—” Dr. Freeman began again, but Derek held his hand up to interrupt him.
    I could do nothing but remain frozen in my spot, and watch as it all unfolded.
    To say that I was entertained would be an understatement, but all the while, I was also worried.
    “Don’t exert too much energy, Derek,” I called out to him, but he ignored me.
    “I don’t give a damn if you’re my doctor or not,” he said. “I will find myself a new doctor; one that cares about giving me what’s best for me.”
    And I shuddered at how intimidating he was, despite being so weak… and so incredibly frail.
    With a nod, Dr. Freeman turned to me, pulled his stethoscope back down, and wrapped it around his neck. He sighed and angrily grumbled, just beneath his breath, as he rose up and walked from the makeshift room.
    I huffed an exasperated breath. It had been a long night; and it was about to be even longer as memories of the evening’s events ran through my mind. Sides of my brain kept fighting with one another until I looked down and saw him looking at me curiously and with concern.
    “Are you okay?” he whispered faintly, as I took a seat in the chair beside the bed.
    My heart thudded and lumped in my throat. How could he had been thinking about me?
    I leaned forward, smiling widely and rubbed his forearm. “I’m okay.” My tone was calm, probably for the first time that night, but words couldn’t describe how incredibly happy I was to be looking at him, talking to him, have him smiling up at me. No matter how faint or how weak he was, he was functioning. And not only functioning, but he was being Derek.
    “You gave me a scare,” I said with a sigh.
    His hand slipped into mine and gripped me firmly, startling me from my thoughts. My eyes shot open, and I gazed into his gorgeous orbs, feeling more blessed than I ever had before that he was still with me.
    “I…l-love…y-you,” he whispered weakly, giving me the best sideways smile that he could muster.
    I felt a large lump form once again in my throat. My heart panged against my chest, and my stomach jolted and lurched with whirling emotion. I loved that man more than I ever dreamed possible, and to hear him say that, after what he had just gone through, I knew that he felt the same way about me.
    I felt it after his weak whispering declaration more than I ever had before.
    My mind wandered back to something I had blocked out upon entering the hospital. It occurred when the doctors had finally let me in to see him, after what seemed like decades after he had been rushed back.
    It had taken everything in me not to freak out more than I already had been. There was still traces of blood and vomit, and all there was, was a very unconscious Derek. It was a miracle he was still alive—at least to me, it seemed that way. And I could do nothing more than thank my lucky stars that that was the case.
    There