Page 3 of Hot Pursuit (Love To The Rescue #1)

TWO

LOGAN MONROE

I rolled my head right to left.

I hated hospitals.

They weren’t my favorite place to be. No matter which one you went to, and I’d been to a bunch thanks to my job, they were all the same. They smelled like the millions of gallons of antiseptics they used through the years that had somehow found a way to cling to the beige walls.

Not to mention that no matter what, the food and coffee were always shit.

“You’re still here?” My buddy and paramedic Ron stood at the doorway of Violet’s room.

“Yeah.” I stood up and stepped out into the hall.

“How is she?” he asked. I turned to look at the woman who had stolen my breath with one look.

“Doc said she’s fine. Resting,” I shared.

“She hasn’t woken up yet?” I shook my head. “Thatmean you’ve been here since we brought her in?” I could see the concern in his gaze.

“Ron,” I groaned. Not that it stopped him from reacting. His brows rose to his hairline, and if I weren’t so damn worried about the woman in the bed, I would have snapped a picture because it looked hilarious.

“How long have we been friends?” he asked. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

“For way too fucking long,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Come on, humor me.” He bumped my shoulder with his playfully. We were about the same height and build.

“I don’t know, twenty years?”

“So… in those twenty years, how many people’s bedside have you sat by?”

“Ron—“ He didn’t let me say another word as he chuckled.

“That’s what I thought.” His lips twitched.

“She doesn’t have anyone,” I shared.

I didn’t try to hide what I was feeling. My eyes left my buddy and went back to the still sleeping woman. Her dark hair was a wild mess, and her face had been wiped clean of the makeup that had been run through by sweat, blood, and tears while she’d bravely waited for us to get her out.

And I had never seen anyone more beautiful.

“How does someone not…” I started to ask, but emotions got the better of me. I shook my head and glanced at Ron.

“It happens.” He shrugged . I knew he’d say that.

We had each met our fair share of people who didn’t have anyone.

Cases where people had lost everything. But it’d never hit me this hard.

This deep. There was something about Violet that wouldn’t let me leave.

I couldn’t believe a woman like her, one who looked like a princess and an angel all wrapped up in a pretty bow, could be walking through life all alone.

No emergency contact. My buddy at the station had called her selfish roommate, who couldn’t be bothered to show up.

She’d simply said that sucked because, and I quote, “This totally ruined my day. Now I’m going to need to find a new roommate if she dies. ”

“She’s pretty,” he noted.

“She’s fucking gorgeous,” I mumbled and found myself adding. “But that’s not why?—“

“I know.” Now my brows rose as I stared at him.

“Don’t look shocked. We’ve known one another for fucking ever.

I’ve seen and been around the kinds of women you’ve dated and, well…

” He was too much of a gentleman to call me a fuckboy, which I had been when we were younger.

“I’ve never seen you like this with anyone.

Ever. Just don’t stay too late and don’t be weird. ”

“Weird?” I growled.

“Obsessive?”

“Me?” I scoffed. Never in my life had I been obsessed with anyone.

“Man, you haven’t left her side. You don’t even know her name.”

“That’s not true,” I quickly defended. “Her name is Violet. Violeta.” I didn’t have to turn my attention from the woman in the bed to know Ron was watching me closely.

“Just be smart. Don’t jump into anything too crazy.” I turned to look at him and noticed the emergency doctor on duty who showed up behind Ron. Dr. Jack Leon was a good guy. A solid one who cared about his patients and community.

“Hey, you two. How’s it going?” He patted Ron on the back.

“Good, Doc, and you?”

“Can’t complain.” He shrugged. “I saw this chase on TV. I couldn’t believe what happened to her.” He pointed the clipboard towards my girl, and I frowned. “Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, right?” He shook his head, nose deep in her chart.

Was she at the wrong place at the wrong time? Could I agree with that if it felt like everything had somehow aligned perfectly so we could meet?

“Mind if I check our patient?” he asked, and I frowned.Usually, I didn’t mind Dr. Espinoza. He was cool and easy going. About our age. Ron and I had even watched more than a handful of games at the sports bar close to the hospital in the past with him. But he was also tall, dark, and good looking.

What if she wakes up and he is the first thing she sees?

When I didn’t answer, Ron did it for me. “Of course. Do your job, Doc.”

Dr. Espinoza slipped past us and moved towards her. As he checked her vitals, I couldn’t tear my eyes off them when a green-eyed monster swept over me. I didn’t like him touching her. Looking at her. Logically, itdidn’t make sense. I didn’t know her. Not really.

But I knew how to trust my gut.

In my field, that could mean the difference between life and death.

And my gut was shouting at me that she was it.

She was mine. The one. There was a pull I felt I’d never felt before.

Ron hadn’t been lying. I’d been a fuckboy, a manwhore or whatever you called it.

I wasn’t about relationships past the ones I was born into or the ones I’d built with the people I worked with.

But I had a feeling those days of easy flings and one-night stands were behind me.

Violet was mine.