Her Dominant SEAL(33)
“I don’t think so,” he reached out and tried to push a lock of hair behind her ear, but she blocked him.
“Don’t try to placate me.” Then she noticed her wristwatch. “Dammit. I haven’t called Lacy. It’s almost nine o’clock.” She shoved off the sofa and gasped.
“What?” Drake immediately had his hands on her shoulders, steadying her. “Karen, you didn’t tell me you injured your ribs.”
“How did you know?”
“The way you just moved. You need an x-ray.”
“I do not. They’re not broken. I’ve had broken ribs before. They’re just bruised.”
“You can’t know that unless they do an x-ray,” he said stubbornly.
“Dammit, I know my own body. I’m telling you, I’ve had cracked ribs. I had them tape me up. I’m fine.” She winced. Yelling was not helping her feel good.
“Woman, you should be in bed with ice,” he said as he gently pushed her back down onto the couch.
“That’s what the EMT’s told me,” she admitted ruefully.
He looked around the room and quickly spied her purse. He opened it up and pulled out her phone.
“I didn’t give you permission to go through my purse.”
“Tough,” he said as he handed her the phone.
She punched in Lacy’s number.
“Where are you?” Lacy asked.
“I had a break-in this morning, but everything’s fine,” Karen immediately lied. Drake rolled his eyes. “I have some things to take care of. I won’t be able to make it into school today. Can you ask the vice principal to cover my class today?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lacy asked worriedly.
“I’m fine,” she assured her friend. “I might need to take tomorrow off too. I’ll let you know in the morning.”
“I’ll be over after school,” Lacy said.
“No,” she said quickly. “You can’t come over tonight. I uhm. I’m...” she looked at Drake desperately.
He took the phone out of her hand. “Hello, Lacy?”
Karen could hear Lacy’s shocked voice, “Who’s this?”
“This is Drake Avery. I’m here with Karen. She had a shock this morning. I’m going to take care of her.”
She couldn’t hear Lacy’s response.
“Yes. I promise she’s going to be fine.”
Drake paused while he listened to her friend.
“Here, you can talk to her.”
Karen snatched the phone.
“Are you all right?” Lacy demanded. “Is that really Drake Avery?”
“Yes, that’s really him. He helped me with this morning’s intruder.” Karen sighed. “You know Piper’s staying with him, well I’m going to be spending time there too.”
“That’s good. That’s really good.” She could hear the smile in her friend’s voice.
“I’ll call you tomorrow morning.”
“Are you really okay?”
“I’m just a little frazzled,” Karen said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
She hung up the phone and handed it to Drake. He put it back in her purse. “I suppose you’re happy you got your way.”
“You’ll learn that my way is the best way,” he said with a smile.
“I’ll pack a bag.”
“No, you’ll direct me, as I pack the bag for you,” he corrected.
“Okay,” she said. It was tough to keep the smile off her face, but she managed. She didn’t want him to realize how happy she was to get him out of her house before the sheriff arrived.
Chapter Seven
“I’m tapping out,” were the first words out of Aiden’s mouth when he got back to the house.
Drake was holding a fragile Karen in his arms. He knew Aiden wouldn’t be saying he needed to leave the house unless it was important.
“Okay. Call me in an hour.”
“Done.”
The senior chief was out the door as Drake eased Karen onto the couch in the living room. It scared him how she had lost all of her spark as he drove to the chalet.
“What does she need?” Trenda asked.
“Ice,” Drake said.
“I can speak for myself.” Karen gave him a half-hearted glare as Trenda rushed to the kitchen.
“Miss Eastman, what happened to you?” Piper knelt next to her, there were tears in her eyes. “Is this because of me?”
Drake watched Karen struggle, he knew she wanted to lie to his little sister.
Karen put her hand on the young girl’s shoulder. “Yes, Piper it is. But Drake saved me, and that’s because of you too.”
Piper started to cry. “I hate Dad.” She looked up at Drake. “I really, really hate him.” She turned back to Karen. “Was it my dad who hit you?”