“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Now, Foxy. I need to feel you beside me.”
Still shaking, she climbed up beside him as careful as she could, and when she wriggled in close, one of his arms slid around her shoulders, and he pulled her in tight. That’s when she felt it.
He was shaking, too.
They lay there, wrapped around each other for a while, neither one speaking, just holding on. She’d had conversations with him in her head while she’d waited for him to wake up. But now, her tongue wouldn’t form the words. She was still too overwhelmed by everything that had happened, by the strength of her feelings for the wounded man in her arms. And those wounds weren’t just physical.
She tried to sit up. “Do you need anything? I should probably get a nurse or something. They’ll want to know you’re awake.”
“Stay right where you are.” His grip tightened. “They know I’m awake. I opened my eyes four hours ago. Law’s been in here as well.” His thumb moved against the bare skin of her arm. “He told me you haven’t left my side in four fuckin’ days, Foxy. You’ve barely left this room.” His mouth pressed against the top of her head, and he spoke against her hair. “Tell me. Why’d you do that? Why have you sat at my side, holding my hand, for four days?”
His voice was rough, full of need and anguish. It broke her heart all over again. “I…I couldn’t stay away. Reid…I…”
“Say it. I need to hear you say it, Rusty.”
He sucked in a breath, and she felt him hold it, chest stilling and staying that way, while his heart hammered against her hand. She tipped her face back and stared up at him, then, reaching up, cupped his jaw. His beard, thicker than usual, tickled her palm. Looking into his eyes, her mind cleared. All the speeches she’d practiced weren’t important anymore, none of it was.
She brushed her thumb over his whiskers, across his lips. “I didn’t leave because I love you, Reid Parker. More than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life. And from now on, I’m staying right here, by your side.” She turned her face into him and kissed his chest, then looked up into his eyes. “That a good enough reason for you?”
He released his breath on a whoosh and squeezed his eyes shut for several long seconds. “I won’t fuck it up again. I promise you that. I’m sorry, Rusty. I…”
She placed her fingers over his lips and shook her head. “Just promise me we’ll always be honest and upfront with each other. That if you go to that dark place again, you won’t shut me out. Promise me you’ll talk to me.”
He kissed her fingertips. “I promise, baby.”
“Now say it,” she whispered. “I need to hear it, too.”
His eyes heated, and he slid his hand into her hair. “I love you so fucking much, Rusty.” His gaze searched hers, and she could see it, right there in his pale eyes. “Now come here and give me your mouth.”
She shimmied higher, placed her hands on either side of his face, and did as her man asked—she kissed him. Kissed him with all the love in her heart, with everything she had.
When she pulled back, he smiled up at her and said it again, said the words that made her heart soar, made her the happiest woman on the goddamn planet. “I love you, Rusty West, and I’m never letting you go, not ever again.”
She grinned. “Good, ’cause the only way they’re gonna get me off this bed is with a crowbar.”
Then her smile got a whole lot bigger, because he threw his head back and laughed.