Read Online Reaching Rachel by L.L. Collins - Free Book Online

came in. The second I saw him, I swear I stopped breathing. He was the most captivating man I’d ever seen. He walked right over to me and asked me to dance, and we spent the whole night together. From that night on, we were inseparable. Like two parts of one whole. I knew right away that he was it for me. I was done. Without him, I was only part of myself. We were together for two years when—when …” She broke off as her phone started ringing.
    Looking at the screen, she saw that it was Justin. Tapping the screen to answer, she put the phone to her ear, purposefully not looking at Kayley. She couldn’t believe she had even said as much as she did to her. What was she thinking? It didn’t make her feel any better to tell her. All it did was make the stabbing pain start up again around the walls of her heart.
    “Hey Justin,” she answered, trying to keep her voice from shaking. That was all she needed was him asking her what was wrong.
    “RACHEL!” Justin’s voice boomed over the line. Yanking the phone away from her ear, she immediately stood up at the tone of his voice.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked. Kayley stood up with her, searching her face.
    “I need your help! Please!” His voice was strained, agitated.
    “Are you hurt?” She tried hard to not make her voice hysterical, but her stomach clenched in anticipation of what he was going to say.
    “I’m—I’m …”
    “Justin!” Rachel shouted. “What’s wrong? Where are you?” Maybe he was in shock or something; he wasn’t making any sense at all.
    “I’m at the hospital. I had an a—accident at work. Can you come get me?”
    Rachel hugged her friend goodbye and ran for the car, her stomach clenching in fear.
     

     
    Justin slid into Rachel’s car, careful not to bump his hand. They had just left the hospital with 35 stitches in his hand and forearm after a stupid accident at work. Thankfully it wasn’t worse than it was. He hoped he still had a job after that bonehead move, but it was time for the next part of his plan¸ one that would land him at Rachel’s house.
    “You okay?” Rachel touched his non-injured hand softly, and it was all he could do to not grin. Nothing worked better than playing on a woman’s desire to take care of people, even a woman like Rachel.
    Justin laid his head back against the head rest as she pulled into traffic, headed to her house. “It hurts pretty badly, but I’ll be okay. Thanks, babe, for coming and taking care of me.”
    Rachel smiled at him. “Of course. You scared me to death when you called. I’m glad, even though it looked pretty nasty, that it wasn’t any more serious than it was. Have you always worked construction? Seems like a really dangerous job. Have you hurt yourself like that before?”
    Not doing work¸ Justin thought to himself. “A few minor injuries, thankfully nothing major. This is the worst I’ve ever hurt myself. I’ll be okay, babe. Nothing a little TLC from you won’t fix.” He purposely evaded her question, and she dropped it. He wasn’t getting into his past, especially when she wouldn’t get into hers. He couldn’t imagine that anything she had done in the past could compare to his story, though he hadn’t had the time to do the digging he wanted to do. This would be a perfect opportunity to find out exactly what Rachel Dawson was hiding.
    “And a few weeks of vacation,” Rachel teased, pulling into the beach house. “Guess we will get to play nurse and patient.”
    Justin’s eyes flashed at her suggestion. “I may only have one working hand, but I can play a mean game of nurse and patient. Lead the way, Nurse Rachel.” Justin followed her into the house, feeling smug. She felt sorry for him now. This was going to be a piece of cake.
     

     
    Devin stood in the small kitchen, looking out to the backyard. This was it. Home now. The house was good enough to suit his purposes. His new boss, Andrew, had helped him find it, and he hadn’t even seen it in