Mr. CEO(64)

“I’m sor-” I start to speak, but she interrupts me.

“I talked to the nurses,” she says as she goes to the corner of the room and drags a chair across the floor and brings it closer to the bed. She flinches and mouths, sorry when the leg of the chair scraping along the floor causes a loud scratching sound.

She clears her throat and picks my hand back up. “They said it’s curable.”

Her eyes move from where our hands are clasped to my eyes. “They said the odds are in your,” her voice breaks and she lets go of my hand to cover her face.

Fuck. It breaks my heart to see her like this.

She takes in a ragged but steadying breath and angrily wipes under her eyes.

“Rose, my Rose. I’m so-”

“I’ll stay with you.” She interrupts me again and takes my hand with both of hers. My lips part and my heart swells. I want so badly to be a selfish prick and not push her away.

But she deserves more.

“I might not make it through this…” A small sob is ripped through her throat again as I press on and say, “You deserve so much more.”

She shakes her head and refuses to look at me. She needs to let go. She should just move on with her life. I should’ve left her alone. This is my fault. “I never should have done this to you.” She’s quiet for a long moment. My heart is shredded. I don’t know how I let this get so out of hand. “You have to go, Charlotte.” Her eyes snap up at me at the use of her first name. I have to send her away, it’s the right thing to do.

“I won’t go, Logan Parker, and you can’t make me.” She’s angry. Furious even. I didn’t expect this reaction. I take in a sharp breath and remember the woman I first met. The one who came into my office and was ready to bite my head off for toying with her. “I mean it,” she says and her voice takes on a hard edge. “You will not throw me out, Logan.”

“It’s what’s best for you.” I try to reason with her.

“I am a grown-ass woman and if I want to stay with you, I’m going to.”

My head falls back against the hospital bed. My heart aching and the desire to keep her to myself clouding my judgment. I can’t look at her as I say, “Rose-”

“I love you,” she says harshly. “I love you, Logan and I’m not going anywhere.” My heart does a flip in my chest and I have to stare at her in shock for a moment. I try to comprehend how she could forgive me so easily. She shouldn’t. She shouldn’t love me either. Not after what I’ve done to her.

She cups my face and like the selfish man that I am, I lean into her warmth. I open my eyes and stare into hers. There’s nothing but love reflecting back at me.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. She kisses me deeply and I reach up to cup the back of her head to deepen it. “I don’t deserve you,” I say and I know I’ve never said truer words.

“You don’t see yourself clearly.” She tells me the words I told her months ago.

I tell her something that’s equally true in return. “I love you, my Rose.”





Chapter 33





Charlotte





“You need to take it easy,” I scold Logan, standing over him like a worried hen, my hands on my hips.

It’s the second week of Logan’s radiation treatments, something that usually leaves him drained and tired, but today he seems to have energy.

The first week was really hard on him, and it seems to be getting better each day. But I can’t get over how difficult the first week was. Today’s a new day, I think, closing my eyes and breathing in deep.

He hasn’t needed my help with getting out of bed nor with putting his clothes on. He’s even lifted a few things, despite me telling him not to, and hasn’t seemed to exhaust himself doing it. Still, I think he should be in bed resting like Doctor Wallace ordered, but he doesn’t follow the rules no matter how hard I try to enforce them.

Logan gets what Logan wants. Everything else be damned.

Such thoughts would’ve turned me on in the past, but now I’m constantly worried. This is his health at stake. He needs to conserve every ounce of energy so he can fight the battle that lies ahead, not use it on work that will be there whenever he’s ready to come back to it.

For the past hour I’ve been trying to get him to get some much needed rest, but he’s refused, opting to answer business emails and go over contracts on his laptop instead.

“The company is running fine without you, trust me,” I assure him. If only Logan would relax, I think to myself, it would make my job so much easier.

Since Logan’s left the hospital I’ve become his unofficial nurse, checking up on him and handling all of his immediate needs. It hasn’t been easy with his constant desire to keep tabs on Parker-Moore, and it makes me frustrated. His health is more important.