Drawing The Line Read Online Free Page A

after knocking,” Serenity said crisply, her words punctuated by a smaller crash and a huff of irritation that slapped him back to the hospital room without pause.
    “I’ll take that as a no.” Jason cocked his ear toward her, eyes still purposely trained away even though a deeper, baser part of him was sorely tempted to look. “Can I help you, ah, find your hospital gown? Or would you like me to get a nurse?”
    “No thank you to both.” Fabric rustled in a series of quick movements, followed by the sound of a zipper being tugged into place. “It’s safe to look now.”
    He blinked, his confusion quickly clicking into realization at the sight of her in a navy blue T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. No way was he going to let her jump the scene without giving a statement, and anyway, she’d just taken a pretty serious whack to the head. Jason might not be a doctor, but he was fairly certain all the up-and-about wasn’t in the game plan.
    He needed to slow her down, and he needed to do it now. “What’s the hurry?” Jason asked with a manufactured smile, but before Serenity could answer, a nurse rushed past the curtain, her gaze locked onto her patient with laser-like attention.
    “Is everything okay in here? I heard a crash from the nurse’s station.” The woman looked down at the still-overturned blood pressure monitor, then narrowed her eyes on Serenity’s wardrobe change. “You shouldn’t be out of bed. And where’s your gown?”
    Serenity’s dark eyes went as round as her mouth , and she took a step back, bumping to a halt against the edge of the bed rail. “I, um…I…”
    “It’ s actually my fault,” Jason said, stepping in to give the nurse a sheepish smile while he blocked Serenity from the woman’s view. “I knocked right into this thing while I was helping Ms. Gallagher back to her bed so she could rest while she waits for her release papers. I’m so sorry, I didn’t even see it.” He tossed up his hands in a whoops -like approximation, cranking up his most winning smile as he reached down to set the rolling stand back to rights, and God bless her, the nurse bit hook, line and stethoscope.
    “ Oh.” The nurse blushed, her attention diverted. “I apologize, detective. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay down here.”
    “Everything’s great,” Jason said, choosing as much genuine truth as possible while still cultivating an advantage. “Sorry to alarm you.”
    The woman ’s glance flickered over Jason’s shoulder, where Serenity must’ve given some sign of acknowledgment, because the woman headed toward the door without wasting so much as a step. “Just use the call button if you need anything. And please stay in bed, Ms. Gallagher. Just because your MRI came back clear doesn’t mean you should be running around. It’s easy to get dizzy with a head injury, even if you think you feel fine.”
    He waited until the door bumped shut against its frame before tur ning to lift his brows at Serenity, who perched on the edge of the bed even though every inch of her body language had her poised for the door.
    Nope. No chance. Jason angled himself directly in to her exit path, smiling to temper the move. “Now where were we? Ah, right. I was helping you get back into bed,” he said, stepping in to pull back the thin cotton blanket and offer up his hand.
    Her expression was wary, but she balanced it out with a firm grip of her fingers over his as she replaced herself against the mattress. “Why did you cover for me?” Serenity asked, and Lord, he was a sucker for a woman who got right to business. Her eyes flicked to the spot on his shoulder that blocked her view of the door, and okay, yeah. She meant a lot of business.
    “ I didn’t think you getting on the nurse’s bad side would help either of our causes,” Jason said, shocking himself at the straight answer.
    Her brow popped high enough to disappear under the dark fringe of her