Done [Running to Love 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Allyson Young Read Free Book Online

came in with a tray. She took in the situation with one glance and had Greg maneuvered and out into the hall, using the tray like a chair against a lion, and the door shut behind him. Lacey was so grateful to Sheila even as her heart longed for him. She let the other woman wash her face and hands with a warm cloth and accepted a pain killer to go along with the little bowl of broth and the cherry Jell-O cubes. She resisted sleep as long as she could, knowing it would be filled with dark and disturbing dreams.

Chapter Seven
     
    Greg sat outside Lacey’s hospital room. He had grabbed a little sleep sitting up, his head resting back against the wall, used to doing so in uncomfortable situations because of long practice on stakeouts over the years. The rest of the time he thought about what Lacey had said with such dark rage and pain coloring her voice. He didn’t doubt that everything she had said was true. He had truly fucked up with her. How could he have done those things to his beautiful, vibrant little Lacey?
    He had met her while trolling with his friends, looking for a warm body to take home and use. He took pride in never being unkind to women, letting them know the score upfront, but he knew now that what he did was tantamount to using them for sexual relief. He hadn’t been able to take or use Lacey, although he initially hoped he might have been able to, before he came to know her. She had been one of a large group of women out celebrating someone’s birthday in the restaurant that adjoined the bar he and the guys had been spending time in.
    Jace McEachern and Max Brewster had been considering a couple of the female barflies when the door had opened and the sound of female laughter filled the bar. They’d been drawn like bees to honey. Probably ten women, all in their midtwenties, were gathered around the big table in the middle, enjoying appetizers and fruity drinks, teasing one another and spreading mirth and joy. It was like looking at a group of colorful butterflies, but Greg had laid eyes on Lacey and the others simply faded into the background.
    She was just a little scrap of a woman, all curves and daintiness, feisty in the way that some small women are. Greg suspected that her demeanor hid a woman desperate to be taken care of, if only she could trust herself. The little black dress she wore with matching stilettos showcased her lovely body, the color setting her apart from the reds, blues, greens, and yellows of the clothing her friends wore. Her creamy skin glowed with health and enthusiasm, and her dark eyes sparkled above a short little nose and full, cupid’s bow mouth. She wore her hair in some kind of intricate style on top of her head, and Greg didn’t know the silk and heft of it until some weeks later. But he was smitten at the sight of her, and nothing and nobody deterred him in his pursuit from that moment onward.
    Lacey hadn’t fallen at his feet or into his bed. She dismissed him that night, clearly disgruntled by the way he and his buddies had tried to invite themselves into the all-girl party. The birthday girl, Julie somebody, had found Max irresistible, and Jace and Greg had been accepted by default, which had been a good thing, because Greg had been going to follow his goddess at the end of the evening until he could figure out enough information to get a name and an address, if they hadn’t been included in the celebrations. He had decided that he was going to pursue this woman and find out if she was his One. The chase had been met with spirited resistance.
    Lacey hadn’t wanted to date a cop, worried about the risks of his profession. He had reassured her about that, seeing as he had detective status and was far less likely to encounter anything really dangerous, unlike in his patrol days as a first responder, and then she resisted him because he was so “bossy.” Lacey was quite independent, and had moved out of her parents’ home and to the city so that no one would be