In reality, he took a single step before his knees gave out. He tumbled to the cold floor, his head smacking against the tile. Black swarmed his vision.
His last thought was that the fabric of his hospital gowndidn’t reach all the way around, and an exceedingly frigid breeze was traveling up his legs and bare back.
CHAPTER 9
An Awful Patient
The next time Nikhail woke, he was no longer alone. The scent of fresh rain flooded his senses, pulling him firmly out of the land of dreams back to reality, warning him that someone else was in the room.
He inhaled deeply, the pleasant aroma filling his lungs as he slowly opened his eyes. The lights were brilliant suns, and their unwelcome glares seemed to shine directly at him. It took a minute for his vision to adjust, but as soon as it did, he swung his gaze to the left, where the fresh rain was the strongest.
His breath caught in his throat, and for the longest moment, he didn’t move. He couldn’t, lest the fragile moment shatter like a piece of glass.
River was slumped over in a red hospital armchair, her chin resting in her hand. Her eyes were closed as she dozed. Strands of brown hair were escaping her ponytail, and shadows darkened the skin beneath her eyes. Even in wrinkled pink scrubs, she was beautiful.
Nikhail hadn’t seen River since she left his house the morning after the storm. He’d picked up the phone to call herseveral times since then, his thumb hovering over her name, but he hadn’t done it. He wasn’t sure what her coming to him meant, and he wasn’t ready to ask her yet.
He couldn’t get that night out of his mind, couldn’t stop thinking about the desperate way she had looked at him. She’d placed her trust in him that night, and he was certain it meant something. Just as it meant something that he kept thinking about how well she had fit in his arms and how good his bed had smelled after she spent the night in it.
Nikhail had spoken to Ryker several times since that night. Even though he knew his best friend would want to know about his sister’s storm, Nikhail kept that information to himself. Breaking River’s confidence felt deeply wrong, and he refused to do it.
It was unbelievable how quickly River had turned his world around. For years, Nikhail had been dealing with his feelings for her without any issue, but she’d tested his carefully cultivated control the night she showed up on his stoop.
Every day since then, remembering why his best friend’s sister was off-limits was more difficult than ever.
It wasn’t that Nikhail had completely ignored River over the past four years. On the contrary, she’d been the central player in his fantasies that whole time. When it was late, and the stars were his only witness, hers was the face he pictured when he sought relief with his hand.
That had been fine. He’d been all right with the way things were. The way things had to be.
But now, everything had changed.
Now that Nikhail knew how good River felt in his arms, now that he knew how fucking stunning she looked inhisbed, covered inhisblanket, it was harder than ever to remember why they couldn’t be together.
River called to him in a way that no one else ever had. His soul was drawn to hers.
He shifted, trying to get a better look at her, but he moved too quickly. The paper-thin hospital gown crinkled—this one was free of blood, so someone must’ve changed him—and the sound was akin to a roar in the otherwise silent room.
River’s head shot up, and her brows knit together. A heartbeat later, she was on her feet.
“Nik.” She breathed his name as if it were half-curse, half-benediction. Her gorgeous eyes swept over him studiously, as if she were checking him for injuries. When she didn’t seem to find any, her gaze returned to his face. “You are anawfulpatient.”
The words were so unexpected—what happened to “how are you feeling?”—that a laugh burst out of him. In hindsight, that was a mistake.
A blaze raced through him, and his abdominal muscles screamed. He cursed, clutching his side.
“See? What did I tell you?” Crossing the room, River placed her hand on his forehead. The most adorable frown overtook her features, and it took all his willpower not to rub out the crease between her eyes with his thumb. What had gotten into him? “You sustained serious injuries, Nikhail Galebringer. You need to be more careful.”
He knew he was being scolded, and he should probably feel bad that he’d worried her, but he couldn’t seem to wipe the smile from his face.
River was touching him, and for once, he wasn’t thinking about all the reasons why he was supposed to stay away from her. The contact felt good, and he wasn’t strong enough to pull away from her.
“I know,” he murmured.
His gaze was trained on River’s face, and even though he knew he should be careful, even though it felt like his feelings for her were rapidly careening out of his control, he was finding he didn’t care.
Would she keep touching him if he remained still?
Her frown deepened, and she brushed her thumb across his forehead. “Do you?”