"You do?"
Gregg nodded and put his mouth to her ear. In a soft whisper, he said, "I love you."
First time those words had come out of him . . . when he'd actually meant them.
As she croaked out an "I love you, too," he kissed her and kissed her some more . . . and felt like he owed the moment to a ghost.
Turned out his Cupid was a big shadow with a bad attitude. That didn't exist in the "real" world.
Then again . . . stranger things had brought people together, hadn't they. And all that really mattered was that the right pair ended up doing the Hallmark at the end. The means that got them there? Not what ultimately counted.
Besides, now he might be able to stop with the hair color.
Yeah, life was good. Especially when you powered-down your ego . . . and had the right woman in your bed for the right reasons.
He wasn't letting Holly go this time.
And he was going to take care of her the right way, just as she deserved for . . . well, forever had a nice ring to it, didn't it.
FIFTY-EIGHT
Back at the Brotherhood's private clinic, Xhex stood at John's side while Doc Jane X-rayed his leg. Once the pictures were up, it didn't take the good doctor long to come to the conclusion that he had to be operated on--and even Xhex, in spite of her usual panic at being where she was, could see the problem on the X-ray. The bullet was just too close to the bone for comfort.
While Jane called for Ehlena and then went to change into scrubs, Xhex crossed her arms over her chest and started pacing.
She could not breathe. And that had been true even before she'd taken a gander at what was doing with John's leg.
When he whistled softly at her, she just shook her head and kept moving, making a circle around the room. Turned out the trip by all the stainless-steel cabinets with their glass-front doors and their caged medications wasn't a big help: Her heart thundered even more in her chest, going all Bon Jovi on her--the pounding so loud her eardrums were getting an aerobic workout.
God, she'd been struggling since the moment she'd come in here with him. And now he was being cut open and then sewed back together?
She was going to fucking lose it.
Although honestly . . . if she tried to be logical about it, that was nuts. One, it wasn't her body getting worked on. Two, leaving that slug of lead in him was clearly not a good idea. And three . . . helllllllo . . . he was being treated by someone who'd already proven she knew her way around a scalpel.
Great rationalizations. All of which her adrenal gland middle-fingered and then carried right on.
Weren't phobias fun.
The second whistle was a demand and she stopped opposite John, lifting her eyes to his face. He was cool and relaxed. No hysterics, no freak-out, nothing but calm forbearance of what was coming.
I'm going to be fine, he signed. Jane's done this a million times before.
Jesus Christ, where the hell was all the air in this room, Xhex thought--
Like he knew he was losing her, he whistled again and held out his hand with a frown.
"John . . ." When no coherent words came, she shook her head and went back to the pacing. She hated this. She truly hated this.
As the door swung wide, Doc Jane came back in with Ehlena. The two were in the middle of a conversation about the procedure and John whistled at them. When he held up his forefinger to indicate he needed a minute, the females nodded and ducked out again.
"Shit," Xhex said, "don't stop them. I'll be all right."
As she headed for the door to call the doctor back in, a thunderous sound reverberated through the room. Thinking John had fallen off the gurney, she wheeled around--
No, he'd punched the stainless-steel table and left a dent in it.
Talk to me, he signed. And they're not coming in until you do.
She had the urge to argue and the vocabulary to do it--just not the voice, evidently. Try as she did, she couldn't manage to say a thing.
Which was when he opened his arms to her.
Cursing herself, she said, "I'm going to man up here. I'm going to so be twenty-one. You're not going to believe how tight in the head I'm going to be. Really. For real."
Come here, he mouthed.
"Oh . . . hell." Giving up, she went over and embraced him.
Into his neck, she said, "I don't do this medical thing well. In case you haven't noticed before. I'm sorry, John . . . damn it, I'm always letting you down, aren't I."
He caught her before she could pull away. Holding her in place with his eyes, he signed, You saved my life tonight. I wouldn't be alive right now unless you'd thrown that blade. So you aren't always letting me down--and as for this? I'm not worried and you don't have to watch--go and wait up at the house. It's going to be over quickly. Don't torture yourself.
"I'm not running scared." Moving quickly so she couldn't think too much and neither could he, she took his face in her hands and kissed him hard. "But maybe waiting outside is a good idea."