Taming The Wild CEO novel Chapter 83

Ella stiffened at the man’s voice but did not bother to open her eyes as she lay on the hospital bed. Him. The man she had heard the nurses called as her fiancé. The one she couldn’t remember no matter how hard she’d tried.

“Come on now. Open your eyes. I know you’re awake,” his voice softened and for a moment, she was not sure why but she felt that he was smiling. “You know I could always tell, Ella.”

Feeling that there was no use in pretending to be asleep or unconscious, she slowly opened her eyes. The second her eyes registered her surrounding, especially the man who was currently standing next to her bed, her pulse kicked again. She pressed her fingers to the space between her brows and wondered for a moment why the man’s face had such an unsettling effect on her. Did she know him? There was something about his voice, something that tugged at the fringes of her memory. But whatever it was, the memory stayed just out of reach. Giving up, she tried to focus on her own dilemma. But the more she tried to remember what had happened and how she had ended up in a hospital, the more her head hurt. She jerked her head up and winced at the movement.

“I should tell the doctor that you are awake now!” The man sounded ecstatic as he went to press the button on her bedside then as if it was not enough to alert the on-duty nurse, he opened the door and rushed outside.

She tried her best to remain awake but she was feeling incredibly tired. Weariness washed over her, stealing the last of her reserves. Her eyelids felt as if they were weighted with lead. Keeping them open or even trying to think became impossible. So she gave up the battle.

Yet the moment her eyelids fluttered shut, storm clouds seemed to engulf her, muddling her senses, dragging her deeper and deeper into some dark abyss. There was blood everywhere, dripping from her thighs all the way down to the soles of her feet. She was screaming and screaming but nobody seemed to hear her. Faces and voices became jumbled. The need to escape this situation grew stronger. She needed to get some help. Fear climbed in her throat as she ran and ran. She tasted the salt of tears and the excruciating pain from her head and mostly from her stomach. What the hell was wrong with her?

As Ella slipped into the well of unconsciousness that beckoned, she heard that deep baritone voice once again and this time he was calling her name.

“Ella, can you hear me? Miss Stanford, are you still there?”

Pain knifed through her skull, and she whimpered as she battled through the heavy fog surrounding her.

“You’re going to be alright.” His breath was a soft rush of air against her chilled skin. Warm, long fingers caressed her cheek. Instinctively she moved closer toward the source of that heat. “You are going to be fine. Nothing is going to hurt you anymore. Please open your eyes. Open those pretty brown eyes for me.”

Another missile of pain fired inside her head, but she muscled through it. She wanted, needed to get closer to that warmth, to see the face that belonged to the voice that had comforted her during the long night of dark dreams. When at last she managed to force her eyes open, two things registered simultaneously. First, the man’s face was every bit as compelling as his voice. He looked very handsome with jet-black hair, razor-sharp cheekbones, a square movie star jaw, and eyes the color of the deep sea. And second, she did not have a clue who he was.

He stared down at her with an intensity that she found disturbingly intimate. “Hi there,” he said in a voice that packed a sensual punch and sent a shiver of awareness through her.

“Thank you,” she murmured and worked to put a name with his face.

“You feeling okay? I have called the doctor. I have no idea what took them so long.”

“No,” she told him, wanting a moment to get her bearings. She was in a hospital, and her name was Ella Stanford. She remembered that she was an only child and her mother’s name was Eleanor Stanford. She vaguely recalled some parts of her childhood too although it was all still blurry. However, there was one thing she could not remember. Who was the GQ hunk who was watching her with anxious baby blue eyes? She frowned and tried her best to remember. A flutter of panic danced along her spine when she came up blank. Pushing to sit up, she winced as the movement set off new explosions of pain in her head and ankle.

“I am so grateful that you are okay,” he said, his voice raw. All traces of humor were gone. He squeezed his eyes shut a moment. “When the nurse and police called me that you were in an accident, I thought that—” he paused as if he could not even say the word. “I have never been that scared in my whole life.”

“It is okay,” she said, moved by the anguish in his voice, in his eyes. Reaching out, she touched his clenched fists. “I am okay.”

He stiffened momentarily at her touch. Something dangerous flashed in those baby blues but before she could pull her hand back, he closed his fingers over hers and held her. “I know. It is just that—” He whooshed out a breath. His expression grim, he continued to stare at her while he seemed to engage in some inner struggle. “I don’t ever want to experience that again.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I guess you’re just going to have to add one more sin to my list of transgressions but after last night, after thinking that I might lose you forever. Forgive me, but I really have to do this.”

And before she realized his intent, his mouth touched her own. He brushed his lips against hers in a kiss so soft, so gentle, that instead of pushing him away, Ella rested her palms against his chest. Muscles flexed beneath her fingertips, and she could sense the strength, the tightly leashed control, the fire held in check. The sweetness of his restraint moved something inside her. Curling her fingers in his shirt, she returned his kiss.

When he lifted his head, he stared at her. Surely she had made a mistake, she started to retreat. But before she could, he angled his head and his mouth came crashing down on hers again. Then his mouth was shaping hers, claiming her lips in a hungry kiss that made her blood heat, made her heart thunder in her chest. For a moment sanity deserted her. Her senses whirled beneath the searing demand of his mouth. Feminine need shuddered through her and throbbed in her womb. Instinctively she arched her body toward him.

His groan hit Ella like a slap. Shocked by her actions, she snapped open her eyes. Sweet heaven, what on earth had she been thinking? She did not even know this man—not even his name. Shaken, she unclenched her fingers from his shirt and shoved at him—hard. He released her at once and had she been standing, she was sure she would have fallen. “W-who are you?” she demanded, hating the tremor in her voice, a tremor that she realized was not caused by fear alone.

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