His Dark Desires: A BWWM Billionaire Romance by Nina Evans Page B

you have.
    “Well, you were in a car accident, and we had to treat you for a mild contusion, but you seem to be okay now. It’s just standard procedure for the doctor on staff to update the patients when they first wake up from something like this. But yes, sugar, you’re okay.” And then Cee-yun-dee smiled as sweetly as anyone has ever smiled. Then she walked around to the other side of the bed to fiddle with something over there. I don’t even know what exactly she was doing.
    “Excuse me, Cindy?” my dad asked.
    She shot up like a buck from where she was hovering over the back of my bed.
    “Yes, sir?”
    “My understanding is that only family is allowed to visit in the ICU, isn’t that correct?”
    Cindy rubbed her hands together and smiled that killer smile again.
    “Way’ull, technically, yes. Only family is supposed to visit. But that’s not really enforced. Besides, based on the way our patient looks, she’s probably going to be out of the ICU within the hour.”
    “Uh-huh,” my dad grumbled. “Well, I’m getting ready to ask you to enforce it.”
    Oh my God. Seriously, Dad?
    I couldn’t believe what measures he would go to. He pointed at James.
    “That man right there, is NOT family, and I’d like him gone, STAT.”
    The smile drained from Cindy’s face, and James crossed his arms over his chest. I couldn’t believe my dad was going to have him removed. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wasn’t sure if he was still the father of my baby because I wasn’t sure if there was even still a baby. No one had even answered my question yet. I hadn’t had a chance to even ask the question yet.
    “Yes, of course, sir,” Cindy answered in her best southern I’m-so-sorry-to-have-inconvenienced-you accent with a fake smile from here all the way to Texas.
    And then she looked at James. “I’m sorry, but we do have to enforce the rules if there’s a problem.”
    Without batting an eyelash, James leaned down and kissed me on the lips. The tears were streaming down my face. I didn’t want him to leave, but at the same time, I was a tiny bit relieved. But only because I just couldn’t deal with the tension anymore. I had never felt so conflicted in all my life. I think I was too tired and too drugged to really be able to process my emotions all that well.
    I really wanted my parents to leave, though, not James. I wanted to get the nurse alone so I could be free to speak my mind and feel whatever I needed to feel or say what I needed to say without fearing recrimination.
    “I’ll call you later, okay?” James spoke in a normal voice before changing to a whisper and adding, “I’m only doing this to keep the peace. I’ll have you by my side again as soon as possible. And that’s a promise.”
    I watched him leave and the nurse followed him out. I imagined they exchanged words outside of the door. Probably Cindy apologizing profusely for having to ask him to leave.
    “Now, sweetheart,” my dad said. “You can get the rest you need without that man here to interfere.”
    My blood began to boil. I knew in his own mind, he thought that he was protecting me, but his behavior had become maddening.
    And now, it was my turn.
    “Daddy, I know you’re trying to help, but James is not interfering.” I chewed my bottom lip for a few seconds, getting up the courage to say what I needed to say.
    “You and Mom need to leave now. I’d like to be alone.”
    You’d have thought I was asking him to murder his best friend.
    “Of course,” he said solemnly. “Your mother and I will get some dinner and be back for one last visit tonight.”
    I shook my head and gritted my teeth. I didn’t want them to come back but I couldn’t get into an argument then. I needed answers to questions. And I needed my parents to be gone. And why had they gone from practically disowning me to completely crawling up my ass? It made me sick to think that the reason they had come back around could have been because I was no