Page 27 of Love From the Ashes

“Yes, sir.” Lawrence backed away to the car, watching Sofie as he held the door open.

Reid helped her into the back seat. He climbed in beside her, his body pressed against hers. “You’re shivering.” He drew her into his arms. “Is that better?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you run like that?”

“The guy that grabbed me kept trying to put his hand up my dress. I freaked out, I guess.”

“Did he…succeed?” Reid couldn’t help but picture the sickening sight of Geoff slipping his hand under the dress of the woman sitting next to him. Knowing Sofie might have unwillingly had the same thing happen made him angry.

“No, I stopped him,” Sofie said softly.

Reid held her tighter, thankful the asshole had failed in his attempt. He was proud of her for nailing the guy in the balls. Reid relaxed against the seat and closed his eyes. She’d scared the hell out of him when he’d seen her fall, and he hoped to God his doctor could confirm she was all right.

Reaching his home in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, Reid helped Sofie from the car and up his front steps. He was fumbling in his pocket for his keys when the front door opened, and his personal assistant, Anderson, was standing there wide-eyed.

“Sir?” Anderson said, stepping back so Reid could bring Sofie into the house.

“I need you to get a hold of Dr. Rowland and see if he can do a video chat. Sofie fell and has a cut on her head, and I need to make sure it’s not serious.”

“Yes, sir,” Anderson said, shutting the front door and disappearing from the foyer.

Reid led Sofie past the parlor and helped her up the stairs to the floor above them. Once there, he led her down the hall to his bedroom and had her sit on his bed. Reid gingerly removed her purse strap from her shoulder and placed her bag on the nightstand. Stepping back, he saw the wary look in her eyes. “I’m not trying to pull anything, I swear. I want to clean the cut on your head so I can look at it, and the antiseptic and gauze I need are in my bathroom. All right?”

Sofie nodded her understanding, a skeptical look still on her face.

There was suddenly a knock on the door. Reid turned, seeing Anderson standing in the open doorway.

“Dr. Rowland is available for a video call. He’s waiting by his computer.”

“Thank you, Anderson. You can go. I don’t think I’ll be needing anything else tonight.”

“Yes, sir.” Anderson backed away and disappeared down the hall.

Reid retrieved his laptop from his office in the room next door. He set it down on the table between the two wing chairs by his fireplace. Taking a seat in one of the chairs, he opened it and dialed Dr. Rowland.

“Good evening, Reid. I understand you’re with a young lady who fell and hit her head. Let’s start with you telling me what happened.”

“Certainly, Doctor. Sofie was running down the sidewalk and tripped. I was behind her, and from my angle, it looked like she landed on her side and then hit her head on the concrete. Sofie has some abrasions on her left forearm, so she must have slid. Since she was running so fast, I’m worried she might have hit her head pretty hard and could have a concussion. There’s a cut near her hairline that I haven’t looked at yet. I was getting ready to clean it.”

“I’d like to see her. Can you put Sofie in front of the screen?”

“Yes, hold on while I get her over here.” Reid got up and motioned to the chair. “Sofie, you’ll need to come over here and talk to Dr. Rowland so that he can look at you.” He backed away, taking a seat on the bed.

Sofie walked to the chair and took a seat, turning to face the laptop’s screen.

“Good evening, Sofie. I’m Dr. Rowland. Hmm. The cut on your forehead doesn’t look too bad. Can you show me your forearm?”

“Yes.” Sofie held her arm up so the injury faced the screen.

“I have to agree with Reid. It looks like you slid on your arm. It’s not as bad as I expected, so you must have landed on your hip or shoulder first. Do either of those areas hurt?”

“My hip does a little bit, but it’s not bad.”

“Is there any bruising?”

“I don’t know.” Sofie stood and grabbed her hemline, pulling the dress above her left hip. She turned in a quarter circle so the doctor could see the area.