Free Sweet Affliction [Sweet Awakenings 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Nicole Morgan Page B

relieved. That was an easy question to answer.
    “Morphine. For the pain.”
    Again he was staring at her. Why? It was driving her mad. She could swear she all but saw the wheels turning in his head.
    “What aren’t you telling me, AJ?”
    She was thoroughly freaked out. Why on earth would he assume there was something she omitted from her answer? She was leaving something out, sure, but he didn’t know that.
    “I’m sorry?”
    “No offense, sweetheart, but you are a horrible liar. Don’t ever play poker.”
    Was that an insult or a compliment? She wasn’t a good liar? Who wanted to be good at lying anyway? Still it was a cheap shot.
    “I beg your pardon. I don’t know what you mean.”
    He threw his head back in laughter and quickly held his side. “Look, AJ. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
    “What’s the difference?”
    He merely shrugged. “No difference. They both end up with the same result.”
    “And that would be?”
    “You telling me whatever it is you’re not telling me now.”
    Good Lord, but the man was tenacious for just being shot a few days previous. She had a feeling he wasn’t bluffing. One way or another she would tell him whether she wanted to or not. Any attempt to play dumb would be pointless.
    “My father may have accidentally given you too much morphine. The first night you were here after he removed your bullet and stitched you up. It was…touch and go for an hour or so.”
    She winced at his expression. He was shocked, surprised even, but for some reason she didn’t see anger in him.
    “Wait, let me see if I understand this. Your father saves my life twice. Then he injects me with a near-fatal dose of painkillers?”
    He said it so calmly she was wondering if it was all a ruse and he was actually going to blow at any moment. She lifted her shoulders and took a deep breath.
    “Yes. That’s about right.”
    He shook his head at her. She would understand him being upset, even outraged because they could have killed him when he should’ve in fact been taken to a hospital. Yet she saw a smirk on his face. Damn, he was perplexing.
    “Anything else I need to know?”
    “Isn’t that enough?” she asked, exasperated by his question.
    “Oh no. That’s plenty. Believe me, but in light of everything I’ve found out and how my past few days have gone I can’t help but wonder that there’s more.”
    She saw his point. Everything that she’d told him would be a lot for anyone to take.
    “That really is everything. He’s fixes animals, not people. Plus he hasn’t been well.” She shook her head. “I know we should’ve gotten you medical attention, but he was so adamant that we needed to protect you. Kept saying over and over again that he hadn’t felt that feeling in over forty years. I saw his eyes. He believed what he was saying. So I believed what he was saying, too.”
    Surprisingly he touched her shoulder. It was a gentle and comforting movement and definitely one she hadn’t expected.
    “I understand, AJ. I wasn’t lying when I told you that. If your father felt something that strongly, then I believe he had good reason. Besides…” He gave her a wink. “Despite everything you still didn’t manage to kill me.”
    A bitter laugh bubbled up. It really wasn’t funny, but she couldn’t help but be amused at the irony of him trying to cheer her up for them almost killing him.
    “There are your clothes. Oh and here’s another bottle of water and some toothpaste. I don’t have a toothbrush for you, but we can see about getting you one. I’ll just wait outside the room here. Can you get dressed on your own?”
    Why had she asked that? He better say yes. She could not help him. It was one thing that she had bathed him and was privy to every part of his nakedness, but there was no way she could help him while he was awake. Aside from her whole face turning bright red with embarrassment she would probably be so mortified she wouldn’t be able to look