Page 125 of Betrayal of a Billionaire

“Ohhh, don’t be so sure. That sister of hers is probably whispering in her ear about how terrible we are, and Luke is telling her about all the sails he wants to take her on, and how much he loves how she looks in that swimsuit on his wall, and–”

“Please stop, Sierra. She’s fine. She’s asleep. And Kyle is…fine.”

“Really? I’m really starting to worry about him. He looks so…normal. Why aren’t you dressing up in scrubs and a mask and sneaking into her room?”

His eyebrows shot up.

“Don’t do that,” Grant warned. “Just let Julia sleep. And I think you should, too.”

Sierra pouted. “Is there any way we could get Julia moved here with us?”

“No, honey, she’s…in another room already and…”

“And what? And Grant Harrington can’t pull a few strings to get her moved here with us? It’s not like it’s going to hurt her. Maybe it’ll help her to know her family is all here with her. I just…I want to see for myself that she’s okay.”

“She’s fine, honey,” Grant said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. “And she knows we’re thinking of her.”

“But nothing says I’m thinking of you like dragging her in here and making her sit with us.” Sierra sighed and yanked her hand free. “Fine, if you two won’t do anything, I’ll do it myself.”

“Sierra, get back in that bed,” Grant said.

“No. I’ll just drag my IV with me down the hall and make sure Julia gets moved here with us. I have incredible powers of persuasion, Daddy. You know this.”

“I know, honey, I know, but…I think right now…we should let Julia’s family have some time with her. We’ll have lots of time with her when we get home.” The words nearly stuck in his throat as he said them.

Sierra stared up at him, her legs still swinging over her bed. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it? Is Julia still mad at you?”

He shot a glance at Kyle, who closed his eyes and shook his head. “There is nothing to worry about, Sierra. I just don’t want to disturb Julia’s rest. I think she needs it.”

Sierra narrowed her eyes at them. “Why are you two acting so strange?”

“Strange?” Grant asked. “What do you mean?”

“The secret glances between the two of you. The weird thing about Julia being fine but no details. The whole bit about letting her sleep. What happened?”

“Nothing, honey. Nothing happened. We just…went to see Julia, and she was already asleep. That’s all. I haven’t talked to her. And I don’t want to disturb her. As soon as we get you home and settled tomorrow, I’ll come see her, okay?”

“I’m not going to leave this hospital until we’ve all seen Julia.”

“Fine,” Grant said. “That’s perfectly fine. We will worry about that tomorrow morning once Julia is awake, and after you get some sleep.”

Sierra narrowed her eyes at him before she nodded and slid her feet back under the covers. “Fine. I’ll go to sleep.”

Sierra adjusted her covers as Grant settled into the chair next to her bed. Within a few minutes, she had fallen asleep. He let his head fall back between his shoulder blades as he blew out a sigh of relief.

“That was close. She was almost on to us,” he whispered.

“No wonder. You nearly screwed it up with your inability to say Luke was nowhere to be found. You should have just said he wasn’t here!”

“I’m sorry. I did the best I could. I don’t want to get her hopes up.”

“Hopes up? What are you saying? You’re just going to roll over and die because some town cop says you can’t see Julia anymore?”

“What do you want me to do? End up in handcuffs again?”

Kyle lifted his shoulders as he crossed his arms. “Something. You know, the scrubs idea Sierra had isn’t bad. I could–”

“Don’t. Do not do it. If you get arrested, I amnotbailing you out, Kyle.”