Harlequin Intrigue April 2020--Box Set 1 of 2 by Carla Cassidy

Author:Carla Cassidy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Chelsea heard a voice in the distance but she couldn’t move, couldn’t respond. If only she could open her eyes… Nate?

It was probably wishful thinking that had her hearing his voice. She wished he was there, wished she could see him. She’d thought about him more than she cared to admit while she’d worked. His deep timbre normally washed over her, stirring a physical reaction. This time, he sounded concerned, and her body had a different kind of reaction to him. It went on full alert.

She wanted to shout to him, to tell him where she was, to stop him from being concerned about her. There was so much noise drowning him out. Crackling and popping.

Chelsea took in a breath and choked on it. She coughed. Everything burned; her eyes, her nose, her throat. Her lungs clawed for oxygen but came up short.

Out of seemingly nowhere something was being placed on her face. Then someone’s arms lifted her like she weighed nothing. And then she took in a breath of air. She coughed like she’d just chugged water after being lost in the desert. Her lungs ached.

Time passed, Chelsea couldn’t be sure how much before she finally took in a real breath. She heard several male voices telling her to stay awake. All she wanted to do was to sleep. She fought the urge.

“Skylar needs you,” Nate said, his voice like a whisper in her ear.

Skylar’s image popped into Chelsea’s thoughts. She had to stay awake so she could get home to her daughter. Chelsea locked on to the thought.

By the time she could blink her eyes open, she was in the emergency room. Breathing still hurt and a headache threatened to split her head in two.

She forced her eyes to open and stay that way.

There he was, standing by her side, holding her hand.

“Nate—” Trying to speak caused a coughing jag.

“I’m here.” He bent next to her bed while a nurse called for the doctor.

“Well, hello,” the nurse said. “My name’s Willow. I’ll be taking care of you tonight.”

Chelsea shook her head. She needed to get home. If word got home about the fire…damn, her restaurant had just gone up in flames. She’d cry if she could squeeze out a tear. Instead, she just felt deflated and drained of energy.

“It’ll be okay,” Nate reassured her, but he was wrong. Nothing was okay. Her livelihood had just gone up in flames. She’d been shopping around for insurance but hadn’t settled on a company yet. Her to-do list was scary long. She’d been making progress, knocking off item after item.

And now this. This.

“Don’t worry. Everything will work out.” Nate squeezed her hand, causing all kinds of inappropriate volts of electricity to rocket through her. All she could think about was her mother and Skylar. How would Chelsea support the two most important people in her life now? That little voice tried to point out that Nate felt pretty darn important. She quashed the thought before it could gather steam and fought to stay conscious.

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