Blindsided (Sentinel Securities) Read Online Free PDF

before he shook his head. "No, why? Have you come across guys like that before?"
    She eyed him suspiciously for a few more moments, unsure if he was serious or not. She could usually read people easily, a habit that came with the job, but not this guy. He seemed extremely … controlled. "Not personally, but I know women it's happened to."
    "I'm not after anything , Briella. I just wanted to make sure you were okay after today and to apologise for giving you a fright."
    Something about his intense scrutiny didn't match the casual explanation, but at the same time, he wasn't setting off any alarm bells. Briella gave a mental snort at that—like she was the expert on listening to internal alarms, what a joke! When it came to men and going on past experience, she was about as capable of picking a loser, as she would be flying a space shuttle.
    "So tell me more about you. Where did you come from, how long have you been here?"
    Briella gave a small off hand shrug, "I'm pretty boring. I moved here from out west when I was twenty-one, to do my Nursing degree at Uni. Worked for a couple of years after I graduated, then went overseas nursing for a few years. Came back about four years ago and here I am."
    "You're a country girl , huh?"
    "I grew up in the country, but I've lived in the city long enough to call it home. I don't have any close family left out there now. What about you?"
    "Family? Nah, none to speak of. I never met my dad, he was killed before I was born and my mum and I haven't spoken for a while. She isn't really the maternal kind."
    Briella hid her reaction to this; she was used to keeping an impartial opinion about people. She took enough patient histories each day to no longer be surprised by some of the admissions she was told in the act of gaining an insight into a patient’s mindset and wellbeing. But it always made her feel sad that everyone hadn't been as lucky as she had as a child. Her parents had been in their late fifties before they'd miraculously had her. They'd been trying for so many years that by the time they'd given up hope, she'd come along when they'd least expected it.
    His stiff movement as he placed his cup back on the bench jolted her from old memories. "So you're not really as injury free as you made out yesterday, are you?"
    "What makes you say that?"
    "I come across tough guys now and again who don't like to admit they're in pain, because they think it somehow makes them seem weak."
    "Some people might have a higher pain thresh hold than others."
    " Some people don't understand that when we ask if they're in pain, it's for their own good."
    "Rest assured there was no harm done."
    "So you always favour your right shoulder then?"
    His eyes crinkled a little at her comment, but he didn't deny it. "I've had worse."
    "Do you want me to look at it?" She knew she should have insisted about the damn ambulance this morning.
    The twinkle left his eye and it took a moment for her to recognise that intensity from earlier had returned. "I'd hate you to have been walking around with internal bleeding all day or something," she added, wondering at the sudden awkwardness that had fallen between them.
    Slowly he reached back with one hand and pulled the shirt over his head. She noticed he kept his right side unnaturally still. 
    At first glance, Briella could appreciate the well-defined muscles that his shirt had been disguising, but the sight of the nasty red bruise covering his side and right shoulder, soon wiped all but the most professional curiosity from her mind. With gentle fingers she palpated around the edges and searched for signs of anything out of the norm. To his credit, he didn't so much as flinch even though she knew it had to be tender. Satisfied that there was nothing broken, she felt somewhat better about not driving him to the hospital like she should have.
    Standing this close, she could smell the leather-like scent he wore and the warmth of his breath close to her neck as she leant down