Midnight Promises Read Online Free PDF Page B

Though his hands were huge they were very gentle. “I can take care of her.”
    His voice was low and so deep it seemed to reverberate in Felicity’s belly. He switched his gaze to Felicity, light brown eyes warm in a fierce face. He was enormous, rough-looking, but for all his size he didn’t scare her.
    “At least I can stop the bleeding. There’s a clinic I know where we can do X-rays, reinfuse her. Completely off the grid.”
    Off the grid. Oh yes. Felicity nodded weakly. “Please,” she whispered, looking up at him. It was all she could say now.
Please
,
please
,
please.
She shivered, closed her eyes, drifted for a second, then forced herself to open her eyes. She wasn’t safe yet.
    “Yes. That place. Take me there.” Her voice was so weak that Lauren frowned and moved her head closer. The man didn’t seem to have any difficulty hearing her. She focused on his face, on those light brown eyes, her one lifeline. “Keep me off the grid.”
    He nodded. “You’re safe. Don’t worry. You’re safe with us. I promise.” That deep voice sounded so reassuring.
    Right words, wrong music.
    “Sounds nice,” she gasped. “Not true, but…nice.”
    Lauren’s head snapped back in surprise, but the man’s expression didn’t change. His deep voice was very gentle as he called to the other man in the room, the dark-skinned one, for his medic kit. That man was bare-chested, with a recent surgical scar. A little nursing station had been set up in the living room. Was the man kneeling next to her a doctor? He didn’t look like any doctor she’d ever seen but he opened the bag that had been brought to him and pulled out some gauze.
    Felicity looked up into Lauren’s pretty, worried face and felt it—that connection she’d felt over the computer. That this woman was her friend and that she could trust her.
    She tried to smile, though it came out shakily. “Nice to meet you, finally.”
    Lauren was clutching her hand, almost visibly trying to infuse strength into her. She nodded, eyes wet.
    Oh God
,
don’t cry
, Felicity thought. Because she’d start bawling too. She didn’t want to die, not after having just found a friend. Not just a virtual friend, either. A real friend, in meatspace.
    To stave off the tears she sketched another shaky smile. “You know,” she said weakly, “I’ve always wanted to say this.” She held out her hand, Princess Leia in the hologram. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”
    And she blacked out.
     

Chapter Two
    Sean “Metal” O’Brien took over.
    Lauren was shocked and his teammate Jacko put his arms around her. Lauren was Jacko’s priority but that was okay. Jacko wasn’t a trained medic and he was.
    The woman had fallen into
his
arms, like a wounded comrade. She was his.
    Her eyes fluttered shut, then she forced herself to open them. She didn’t want to let go, was afraid to.
    She needed care but she needed reassurance more. He peeled back the coat, pulled up the sweater and examined the wound.
    Thank God it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. She’d lost a lot of blood. God only knew when she’d been knifed and the wound hadn’t been dressed. But though the wound was about an inch deep and was going to require a lot of stitches, it hadn’t nicked any arteries or organs.
    He stopped for a second, overwhelmed with rage, willing his hands to stillness. The wound itself wasn’t that serious—the main danger was blood loss. With a blood transfusion and antibiotics it was just a question of healing time.
    He’d seen far, far worse in battle. Teammates who had been blown up, who’d been gut shot. This was nothing like that.
    But they had been warriors, trained for battle, ready and willing to inflict worse on the enemy. Not this.
    He looked at the slice, gaping slightly open, sullenly bleeding. It was an abomination on the smooth pale skin of this beautiful young woman. She was lovely, delicately built, scared at what had happened to her.
    What had happened