Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (interesting books to read for teens TXT) 📕

up Carly’s small living room. Cuffed with his hands behind his back, Andy glared at everyone sullenly. His face had started to swell, the bruises purple where Micha had hit him.

Carly gasped when she got a good look at Micha. “Your head,” she said, her eyes wide and worried. “The back of your head is all bloody.”

Grim-faced, Charlie eyed him. “I’m going to radio for a couple of EMTs.”

“No need,” Micha started to say. But Crenshaw shook his head and ignored him.

Carly put her small hand up along his cheek. “That needs to get looked at. At least let the EMTs clean it and see if it needs a few stitches. What did he hit you with?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m thinking the butt of the rifle.” Though he felt a little bit foolish, Micha had to admit his head hurt like hell.

She winced. “There’s an awful lot of blood. I can start getting it cleaned up and take a look at it.”

“Since you’re a nurse, I’d rather do that,” he agreed.

Her stern look coaxed a smile from him. “I still want the EMTs to look at it. Promise me you’ll let them.”

Since he could deny her nothing, he agreed.

Two more uniformed officers arrived after everyone had gone inside, ringing the front doorbell. Carly let them in and they took custody of a still-sullen Andy, escorting him to their squad car.

“He’ll be held downtown,” Sean told Micha.

“Locked up, right?” Carly asked. January had finally pried Carly off Micha and stood with her arm around her cousin’s shoulders, clearly trying to comfort her.

The EMTs walked right in, making Carly realize the front door sat wide open. Shaking her head, she went to close it, then led the paramedics over to Micha.

“There’s better light in the kitchen,” she told them. “Follow me.”

They had Micha sit at the kitchen table. With a gentle kind of competence, one of the men got to work checking out his wound while the other took his blood pressure. He almost protested that, but one glance at Carly’s steely gaze had him holding his tongue. She went and got a bowl of warm water and a clean washcloth and began carefully cleaning up his head wound.

“Are you sure you don’t want to let us take him to the hospital so they can do that?” the EMT asked.

“I’m a nurse,” Carly replied. “And I know he won’t go.”

“He might need antibiotics,” the man continued. “And as you know, only a doctor can prescribe those.”

“We’ll be all right,” Carly said, smiling. “I work at the hospital, so I can get him in to see a doctor if necessary.”

The man nodded. He shone a small light into Micha’s eyes. “You probably have a concussion,” he said, getting to his feet. “But if you’re absolutely against letting us run you to the ER, I think you’re in good hands here.”

Micha mumbled his thanks. Carly got up to let the two men out, and they spoke quietly for a moment at the door. He let his gaze follow her as she made her way through the still-crowded living room, the pounding in his head making him ache to close his eyes. He resisted, partly because he seemed to remember something about not going to sleep with a concussion, but mostly because he didn’t want to look away from Carly.

“Are you in pain?” Carly asked when she reached him. “Don’t even answer that. Let me get you something.”

She left again, returning to hand him a couple of pills and a bottle of water. “Nothing prescription,” she said. “But they should still help with the pain.”

The steady hum of voices from the other room made him long for quiet. As if she understood, Bridget scooted over under the table and rested her head on his leg. Micha stroked her head, glad to have her company.

More than anything, Micha wanted everyone to finish their business and leave so he could be alone with Carly. Soon, he told himself. Despite his aching head, he wanted to hold her and kiss her and show her exactly how much she meant to him. Catching him watching her, the heat in her gaze told him she wanted the exact same thing.

Charlie had Jones in the hallway, taking notes while Jones finished giving his statement. Judging from his exhausted expression, Carly’s brother couldn’t wait to get out of there and go home.

“Carly, I’m ready for you next,” Charlie said, motioning her over. She nodded but went to Jones first and gave him a huge hug. He hugged her back, his gaze meeting Micha’s over the top of her head. Once she released him and walked over to talk to Charlie, Jones dragged his hand through his hair and headed toward the front door. Micha pushed to his feet to join him.

“Thank you,” Micha told him, walking him out.

“For what?”

“For keeping Carly safe. I don’t know what Andy would have done to her if he’d caught her here alone.”

Jones shuddered. “That guy is seriously unhinged.”

“Yeah.” Micha considered his next words. “Some of what happened over there really messed with a lot of the guys’ heads. I didn’t know Andy all that well, but from what I was told, before the crash he was career military. They said he put all of his focus on an upward track. The chopper crash kind of ended that for him.”

“I understand being bitter about that,” Jones said. “But why blame you? Why not blame the pilot?”

“The pilot was killed,” Micha replied, his voice quiet. Even now, remembering the crash brought back a lot of pain. “And I guess Andy needed someone to pin his anger on, so he chose me. After all, if I hadn’t been captured, there wouldn’t have been a rescue mission at all.”

“That’s flawed thinking.” Jones shook his head and unlocked his truck. “I’m going to head home now. I’ve got a lot of unwinding to do before I can even think about going to bed.”

“Thanks again, man,” Micha said.

“You take care of