Love Me if You Dare Read Free Page B

hold a pillow to your chest, but let’s wait till we get you up and moving a bit.”
    He swallowed a groan, knowing he had a rough few days ahead of him.
    “That young lady hasn’t left your side for more than a few minutes since you were brought down from Recovery,” the nurse said as she adjusted the blood-pressure cuff around his arm.
    A warm feeling that surpassed gratitude flooded through Rafe. One he wanted to keep with him for the rest of the day.
     
    Sara stepped out of Rafe’s hospital room and exhaled a sigh of relief. Her body ached from the long hours in the chair by his side, but now that she’d seen him awake, had spoken to him and knew he was going to be okay, her heart finally beat normally again.
    She shifted the crutches, getting comfortable for her trek down the hall to the elevator and then outside where she’d hail a cab to take her home.
    As she passed the nurses’ station, the women were huddled together over the newspaper, all talking at once and gesturing toward Rafe’s room. When Sara paused at the desk, the women fell silent and pretended to look busy.
    An uneasy feeling took hold, and Sara always trusted her instincts. “What’s going on?”
    “I have to go,” one of the women said.
    “Me, too.” Another one bolted for a patient’s room.
    “Fine,” said the third and only woman who remained. “I’ll tell her.” The young nurse handed Sara a copy of the Daily Post. “The Bachelor Blog,” the woman said.
    “Oh, no.” Sara drew a steadying breath and glanced at the paper, which had already been folded open to the correct page.
    Rafe’s official department photograph stared back at her. It had taken less than forty-eight hours for his heroics to land him the spot. Rafe was a man who valued his personal space and privacy. He wouldn’t appreciate the attention, and Sara knew firsthand just what kind of attention he could expect. Ironically, she’d already had experience with the fallout when her neighbor, Coop, had been picked as the blog’s featuredbachelor. Pathetic women had sent perfumed letters, candy and underwear. All of which merely reinforced Sara’s belief that only a desperate woman would find the Bachelor Blog the answer to matchmaking in the new millennium.
    With a sigh, Sara placed the newspaper back on the counter. “Do me a favor and try to keep this news from him as long as possible.” She pointed toward Rafe’s room. “He’ll just get upset, and he needs all his strength focused on recovering.”
    The nurse nodded. “I’ll do my best and spread the word. Although between the newspapers passed around and the people walking in and out during different shifts, there are no guarantees he won’t hear it anyway.”
    Sara nodded. “I appreciate you trying.” She turned to leave, but the nurse cleared her throat.
    “Umm…did you read the blog article?” the other woman asked.
    “No.” Sara had just looked at the photograph.
    The uneasy feeling returned as she picked up the paper once more and this time read through the entire blog, leaving Sara feeling blindsided and raw.
    The blogger had actually speculated that she and Rafe had romantic potential. All because of some words he’d apparently uttered before passing out on the rooftop.
    It felt damn good to rescue a gorgeous blonde with curves to die for.
    Words Sara hadn’t been aware of before now.
    Words she’d never be able to forget.
    In all the time they’d worked together, she and Rafe had shared chemistry on many levels. Some they’d acknowledged, like their in-sync partnership and ability to read each other’s minds—those had made his transfer so much harder to accept. As much as she’d understood his desire to spend more time with his fiancée, partnerships like theirs were rare. She’d yet to click with her new one even after a year.
    Then there was the sexual chemistry, the zing that traveled from her head to the pit of her stomach, then deliciously lower, whenever she so much as