Make Me Risk It by Beth Kery Read Free Book Online Page A

wearing his suit from last night.
    “I didn’t think you’d be up so early,” he said, trying to read the expression on her face, and failing.
    “I’ve been up since three thirty,” she said, setting aside the magazine she’d been reading. “I thought I’d look for the pool when it got light. It seemed like a better option than waiting in your bedroom, wondering where you were.”
    “I’m sorry. Shit. I’ve been saying that a lot lately, haven’t I?” he muttered, clamping his eyes shut briefly.
    “What happened?”
    He opened his eyes. She
was
irritated with him, but it was concern he read most clearly on her face at the moment.
    “I had to take her to the hospital,” he said.
    She lifted her feet out of the water and stood, facing him.
    “Is she all right?”
    He nodded. “Her date had left her, and she’d gotten into the hotel room’s liquor. She sounded bad off when I finally got a hold of her last night. By the time I got to the hotel, she’d passed out. I took her over to UCSF’s emergency room, but there wasn’t much they could do except assure me that she was going to be fine and give her an IV to rehydrate her.”
    “Didn’t the doctor recommend that she go back to rehab?”
    “Of course he did, and they had a social worker come and talk to her to try to convince her to return. But they can’t force her to go, and Regina was flat out refusing.”
    “Where is she now?” Harper asked, stepping closer.
    “Back at her hotel room, sleeping.”
    “Do you think she’ll be all right? Alone?”
    “No. Last night I arranged for Elizabeth to fly in and stay with her. Elizabeth will get her back to Napa later today. Regina has a psychiatrist there that she trusts. I’ve let him know what happened. Regina agreed to go back last night. Let’s hope she remembers the agreement this morning.”
    She touched his face with cool fingertips. The caress took him by surprise. He hadn’t been prepared for tenderness on her part. He would have thought he’d be reassured by it, but instead he was even more worried. Her calmness somehow made him wary . . . like she was pulling away from him. He would have preferred accusations and tears.
    “You look exhausted,” she said quietly.
    He reached up and held her wrist, keeping her fingers in place on his skin . . . always doubtful something would pull her away.
    Even now.
    “So do you,” he replied, his gaze running over her face. The scar near her mouth looked even paler than usual, and there were light purple circles beneath her eyes.
    “You did all that for her,” she whispered.
    He grimaced. “I didn’t feel like I had a choice. She’s been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she has a history of cocaine and heroin abuse. I wasn’t sure what else she’d taken, besides alcohol. She couldn’t tell me, the state she was in. That’s why I took her to the hospital.”
    “I understand.” Her fingers slipped off his face. He saw her swallow thickly. She looked achingly beautiful to him in the pale morning light.
So far out of your reach
.
    “It’s just all been . . . unsettling. I had no idea you cared about another woman that way, especially one so beautiful. And to wake up and realize you were gone . . .”
    “I thought I’d get back before you got up. I didn’t want to wake you last night. Damn it, I don’t know how else to tell you to make you believe me.”
    “Tell me what?”
    “I’m not sleeping with Regina. It’s not like that.”
    “You don’t have to keep saying that. I believe you. What kind of a friend would you be, abandoning her when she was in so much trouble,” she said, staring down at the ground. “I guess her date—that guy, David?—wasn’t much of one. A friend, I mean. He left her alone?”
    “Yeah,” Jacob replied, frowning.
    “It seems like you’re used to it.”
    “What?”
    “Riding to her rescue,” she replied quietly, studying his pant legs. “When you were called away the other night,