I pull her onto my chair and wrap one arm around her, pulling her close.
“I love you, Isla, and I’ll love and protect you for as long as you want me around. I’ve loved you since the moment you walked into the clubhouse. I’ll fight for you, I’ll stay strong for you, and what I lack in body, I’ll make up for in devotion. You’re my everything.”
She puts her hands around my neck and I kiss her slowly and soft, letting every emotion bubble up out of my chest and into the kiss. My hand slides up her back, and holding her in my arms feels so fucking good.
With my other hand I wheel over to the bed, and Islajerks back as I bump into the bedpost. “Sorry, you’re distracting me.”
She smiles and climbs off my lap, and I grab her hand before she can go anywhere. “Is Cody down for the night?”
She glances at the baby monitor where the screen shows him peacefully sleeping in the basinet. “He shouldn’t wake for a few hours at least.”
I brush my thumb over the pulse of her wrist, feeling it beat against my callused skin. “Stay with me.”
Her gaze meets mine, and I bring her hand to my lips and kiss the tender skin of her wrist. She gasps as I graze my lips over the underside of her wrist, her pulse throbbing against my lips.
“I want to show you what you mean to me.”
Isla smiles shyly. “I’d like that.”
She looks between me and the bed, and I see the question in her eyes. My instinct is to ask her to turn away while I use the transfer board to get myself onto the bed. But if I’m going to be her man, she has to see all of me. I have to show her my vulnerable side, and that’s scary as hell.
I pull out the plastic green transfer board I keep by the bed and position it next to my chair. Isla tilts her head, looking curious, and suddenly I don’t want her to see this.
“Turn around.”
Isla furrows her brows at me. “Why?”
“I don’t want you to see this.”
She puts her hand on her hips. “Luke, if you think I’mgoing to be scared off by seeing you use a transfer board to get into bed, then you’re stupider than I thought.”
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “How do you know what a transfer board is?”
“You’re not the only one who knows how to use Google.”
She reaches for the board and places it on the bed, near the pillow. “May I?” she asks, and I nod before she slides the other end under my body.
“You learned how to do this?” My voice chokes on the emotion welling up inside me. While I’ve been Googling how to look after a newborn, Isla’s been searching for how to look after me.
“I might have watched a couple of videos.” She smiles. “Did I do it right?”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak.
I place my hands on the board and pull myself onto the bed. It’s less embarrassing than I thought it would be. And Isla slides the board back in its place beside the bed then climbs onto the bed like it’s no big deal.
My heart swells for this woman, for her acceptance of me.
“I love you, Isla.” I pull her down to the mattress, and we lie side by side. Tendrils of hair escape from her messy bun and tickle my nose. I sweep them away and cup her cheek in my hand.
“I swear I’ll do all I can to protect you, to love you and to give you and Cody the best life I can.”
I don’t make oaths lightly, but this is one is easy to make.
I run my hand over her cheek, and she leans into it. “And the other babies we’re going to have,” she says.
My eyes widen, and I jolt onto my elbows in shock. “You want more babies?”
Before I got blown up in Afghanistan, I was too young to think about having a family. And after the accident, I didn’t think I’d ever have one. Now, the thought of having kids with Isla loosens something deep inside, a longing I never knew I had.
