Page 28 of A Soldier's Pledge

“Are you sure? No internal bleeding or anything?”

“No, Ethan. I’m find, really. He didn’t do much besides smack me a few times. You are the one who almost died. You promised to be careful.”

“I was careful and I didn’t die, did I? I’m right here.”

“Yes. You are. And we’ve all been waiting for you to wake up.”

“All?”

“Yup, Steele’s been keeping me company, and Adria.” She nodded toward the corner of the room where the two of them were sitting together, whispering.

“Oh, and Steele might have let a certain cat out of the bag yesterday while we were waiting for you to get done with surgery.”

“Cat, bag? What?”

“Yeah. Apparently, the ESP crew looked into my finances during the investigation. There were some questions about money I’d been taking out of my accounts. Why didn’t you just ask me?”

Shit. Maybe he should have died on the operating table if she was going to break up with him now. If he’d had the strength he would have gotten out of bed and killed Steele with his bare hands. “Did he also tell you it wasn’t my idea?”

“Yes, he mentioned that, but again, why didn’t you ask me about it?”

“There wasn’t a good time, we were caught up in the investigation and you were just starting to trust in us. I knew you weren’t involved in anything bad.”

“You did? You trusted me that much?”

“Yes, was I wrong to?”

“No. You weren’t wrong. So, ask me.”

“Ask you what?”

She sighed, and he was confused. Maybe the anesthesia hadn’t worn all the way off. But at least she was still sitting there, she hadn’t told him to screw off, hadn’t left, wasn’t even yelling. In fact, it looked like she was smiling. Maybe he was still drugged up.

“Ask me what the money is for.”

“I don’t care, it’s your money.”

“Ugh, sometimes, Ethan. If you hadn’t just saved my life and almost lost yours. I might have to hurt you. The money is for Tag’s new rehab facility and clinic. I’ve been taking the money out of various accounts to spread it around. So you see, nothing nefarious.”

“I knew there wasn’t, but thank you for not getting mad at me.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t mad, but after Steele explained it was all his idea, I understood. Besides, how could I be mad at you? You risked everything to save me.”

“I was so worried. You have no idea.”

“We’ll work on it. I’m sorry I’ve made things more difficult than they should have been.”

“It doesn’t matter, baby. I love you. We’ll figure it all out.”

“Yes, we will.”

“And Steele and Adria? I guess you’ve been matchmaking?”

“Who, me? What is it they say about people who are happy and in love? That they want to share it with the world, or something like that.”

“Yeah, something like that. Does that mean you’re happy and in love?”

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to let you in on a little secret. Ethan Price, you’ve swept me off my feet, and I’m totally cow jumped over the moon in love with you.”