Sweet Heart (The Hearts of Sawyers Bend #2) - Ivy Layne Page 0,73

arm under him to sit up and ended up falling on his face. Another thump and moan.

“Fuck, stay still you idiot, you're not fine. What the fuck happened? You're bleeding all over the place.”

Not waiting for an answer, I yanked at his shirt, pulling it up on one side to reveal a thin slash along his ribs bleeding profusely. “I need something to put pressure on this,” I shouted to Daisy, somewhere behind me, still talking to West.

Before I could ask again, a bundle of fabric was shoved in my face. Clean napkins. I pressed them to the slice on Forrest's side, trying not to feel bad about his groan of pain.

“Just lay there and stop trying to get up.”

Forrest subsided, his forehead knit in a scowl. With one arm he reached over to hold the napkins to his side. I shoved his hand away. “Fucking chill or you're going to make it worse. Who did this?”

“Did you see her?” Forrest craned his neck as if he could spot his assailant still hanging around the office.

“The blond woman in The Inn uniform who raced past us down the stairs?” At his nod of confirmation, I pulled up my phone and called our head of security, alerting him to the possible suspect. I had a feeling she was long gone, but if she was still hanging around I didn't want to wait for West to get someone looking for her.

“She's not one of ours,” I said, and Forrest nodded, his green eyes dark with pain and frustration.

“I didn't recognize her. I would have remembered a blond that tall. And the uniform didn't fit her right. I was just processing all of that when she whipped out a knife and went for me. I think she was planning to stab me in the back, but I turned at the last second and my ribs blocked the knife.” He winced at the memory, reaching for his ribs again.

“And you have no idea who it was? Or why she'd want to stab you?”

Forrest's face was drawn with pain, but his eyes were clear. “Royal, I don't think she wanted to stab me.”

I was still processing his words when Daisy leaned over us, scanning Forrest, assessing his wounds. With a nod, she narrowed her eyes on me. “He's in your office, Royal. And if she came up behind him, she probably thought he was you.”

Fuck. They were right. Forrest and I are about the same height and build. Both with dark hair, a little longer than it should be and in need of a cut. Someone who was in a rush could easily have seen Forrest leaning over my desk and assumed he was me.

“What were you doing in my office?” I had to ask. We had an open-door policy at The Inn for the most part, but Forest had his own office. Why was he in mine, going through my desk?

“Looking for the Williamson contract. I wanted to double-check the time frame.”

“West is on his way up,” Daisy said, setting the bag with our lunch on Penny's desk and coming back into my office to stand over us.

Forrest shoved my hands away from the make-shift bandage on his side and lurched into a sitting position, leaning back against the side of my desk as another wave of pain hit him.

“Let me see,” I demanded, pulling his hands away from the napkins to check the wound. It was still bleeding but sluggishly. I pressed the napkins back into place and let him take over holding them. “You might not need stitches, but you definitely need to see a doctor.”

“Figured that,” Forrest grunted. His eyes lit as the elevator door opened. Sterling flew across the reception area into my office, dropping to her knees beside Forrest. “I'm okay—” he started.

“Oh, my God, you're bleeding! Forrest! What the hell happened?” Sterling turned to look at me accusingly as if I'd stabbed her new boyfriend. And when had that happened? There was no hiding the fact that these two were more than casual work acquaintances.

“We're trying to figure that out,” Daisy soothed, shooting me a look that simultaneously said What the fuck? and Not now. I was right there with her on the WTF? and could grudgingly admit that this moment was not the one to confront my sister over her office romance. Especially not while she was cooing all over my new CFO.

West had followed Sterling in and stood over us, shaking his head. “Can't stay out