Ride Wild(52)

And then it was as if his brain just needed to shut down, because he  fell asleep again, his head against her hip, their hands laced together.  Because he knew now-knew with clarity.

Slider never wanted to let Cora go.



The first thing Cora was aware of was the warm weight of Slider's head  against her, and it made her smile before she managed to force open her  eyes. Even a little fuzzy, he was the sexiest man she'd ever seen, not  that she was really in any shape to be thinking about sex. Apparently.

Her head lolled as she tried to take it all in. Lots of things hurt. Her  face, her side, her shoulder, her arm. But she had an odd floaty  feeling that told her she had drugs on board, and that was good.

"Hi, there, hon," a nurse wearing pink scrubs and a black Afro said. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay I think. A little sore," Cora said as the woman checked her vitals.

"Do you need pain medicine?"

Cora nodded. "Maybe."

"Okay, hon, I'll get that ready for you."

On a sudden inhale, Slider blinked awake, his gaze going from Cora to the nurse and back again. "Hey, is everything okay?"

"Yep," the lady said. "Just checking in."

"What's wrong with me?" Cora managed. She remembered the truck, and the popping sound of gunfire, and then . . . Nothing.

"The doctor will be by within the hour to talk to you, but you suffered  four gunshot wounds. They patched you back up real good though," she  said with a friendly smile. "Let me go get that pain medicine."

Wow, that was a freaking lot to take in. "Four," she said.

"Yeah," Slider said, leaning closer, those pale green eyes intense and  clear. "I talked to the doctor earlier, and he said they were able to  repair everything. You had a few broken bones and a punctured lung, but  they put you back together again."

"What about the others?" she said, having a vague recollection of Slider  saying everyone was okay before. But still, there were a lot of kinds  of okay. And Cora needed to know.

"Wait, sweetheart, there's something else you need to know," he said.

"What is it?"

"It turns out . . . Cora, you're pregnant," he said, his expression so full of love.

The room went spinny around them, and then his words really sank in.  "I'm pregnant. They said that?" He nodded. "They're sure?" she asked,  awe and disbelief and wonder shaking the ground beneath her. Because . .  . because she was going to be a mom. And Slider was going to be a dad  again-with her.

"It showed up in your bloodwork," he said. A tentative smile played  around his mouth and just brought out the hint of his dimple.

Then Cora gasped. Four gunshot wounds. Four. "Oh, God, do they know if  the pregnancy will be okay?" Panic shot through her, and the pulse  monitor spiked.

"Ssh," he said, stroking her face. "Don't worry. It's very new but so  far it's fine. You just worry about healing you and the rest will work  out the way it's meant to be."

Love and desire rushed through her because she wanted this baby to live.  God, she wanted it so much, this child that she and Slider had made.  But did Slider want it, too? "Does that mean you'd be okay if I had this  baby?"

"Oh, Cora. I would be fucking ecstatic if you had this baby," he said,  so much emotion in his voice that it choked her up. He kissed her cheek,  just a light brush of skin on skin. "For something so beautiful to come  out of so much pain would be an amazing gift."

"I'm so glad, because I want it, too." She couldn't stop the tears from  falling no matter how hard she tried. Tears of hope and fear and love.  She was going to be someone's mom. She and Slider were having a baby  together. And they were going to love this child-and Sam and Ben, too-so  much that none of them would ever wonder if they were wanted or  cherished or loved.                       
       
           



       

"You're gonna be the best mama," Slider whispered, catching every one of her tears.

And then the nurse returned with a syringe of pain medicine. "This will  make it better," she said, sliding the needle into the line.

The next time Cora woke up, she had the sense that it was daytime. The  room was brighter, noise filtered in from the hallway, and flowers lined  her windowsill. Oh! And she had more visitors. "Boys," she said. "Hi."

They rushed to her, one on each side.

"Watch her arm, Sam," Slider said.

Almost reverently, Sam nodded. "Hi, Cora," he said, a little shyly.

"Hi yourself." Her gaze went to the thick gauze on his bicep, and her  belly clenched. She'd tried so hard to protect him, but he'd still  gotten hit. "You too, huh?"

"Yeah," he said, not taking the bait of her humor. "But you more."

"I guess we'll have to help each other get better then," she said.

"I will, Cora. I promise. I . . . I love you," Sam said.

The words absolutely filled her chest. Here she was in a hospital, in  more pain than she wanted to admit and recovering from getting shot, and  yet she felt lucky. "Oh, Sam. I love you, too. Both of you guys." She  smiled at Ben. "So much."

"And Daddy, too," Ben said.

She peered up at Slider where he stood next to Sam. "And your daddy, too."

An aide came in with a lunch tray and settled it on a rolling table.  "Good afternoon," she said, in almost a sing-songy voice. "How are you  today?"

"Thank you, okay so far," Cora managed. But she wasn't interested in the  food, because she still didn't know who else had been hurt. So when the  lady left, she met Slider's gaze. "Who else?"

His shoulders fell, which meant the news wasn't good.

"Who else?" she asked again.

"They're both okay," he hedged. Both? Cora's belly rolled as Slider  finally told her. "Caine was discharged in the middle of the night with a  single shot through his wrist." Slider pressed his lips together for a  long moment. "And Haven will be released within the next few hours. She  took one in her shoulder, too."

"Haven? Oh, God," she gasped, her stomach dropping to the floor and  tears immediately flooding her eyes. "She's okay? You promise me?"

Slider eased onto the bed by her knee, and his hand went to her thigh.  "I promise you. In fact, she's going to come see you as soon as she  can."

Cora sighed, impatient to see her now. "And what about Davis?" She was almost afraid to ask.

He squeezed her thigh. "He's gone, Cora. And so is the man who shot at  the house. That guy ran the dogfighting ring, too, and that's all over  now. All of it." It felt weird to celebrate such macabre news, but Cora  was glad these men were gone. There were too many people in the world  who thought it was okay to hurt, abuse, or exploit others, and Cora was  happy to see a win for the good guys, for once. If that made her a bad  person, she could live with that.

But what she couldn't live with was waiting to see Haven. The two hours  until she was finally discharged felt like a million. But then Haven was  sitting there in the doorway, Dare pushing her in a wheelchair.

"Hi, Cora," Dare said. "Brought you a visitor."

"They won't let me walk," Haven said as Dare rolled her closer.

A little chuckle spilled out of Cora, and she groaned. "Don't make me laugh."

Haven took her hand, and her blue-eyed gaze ran over all Cora's bandages. "I'm sorry. God, Cora. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I'm just glad you're okay. I would never want to be without you," Cora said.

"I feel the very same way. You're like a sister to me. And we're going  to survive this just like we've survived everything else." Haven gave  her a watery smile.

But her best friend was right. "Yes, we will. We all will." Her gaze went to Slider then. "And we'll be stronger for it."

He gave her a nod and a look full of so much love it had to have healed some part of her.

And that night, when it was just the two of them again, Slider made Cora  even stronger by telling her just how much he wanted her. "I couldn't  live without you, Cora. Or, at least, I wouldn't want to. Along with the  boys, you're the best thing that's ever happened to my life. I know we  have a lot going on right now, and you'll need time to heal. And I'm  going to give that to you, that and everything else you need. But I just  want you to know. You're my forever, Cora. And when you're ready, I'm  going to be asking you a question and hoping you'll say yes."                       
       
           



       

She exhaled a long breath that released every bit of the loneliness and  abandonment she'd ever felt. "God, I love you, Slider, and I already  know what my answer will be. So just know I'll be waiting for you to  ask."