“Did you hear that?” he asked, and I knew exactly what he meant.
“She called you Daddy.”
“Yeah.” He nuzzled my neck, and after a moment, hot tears dripped onto my skin. “How did you do this?”
“I really have no idea. I think I was in a fugue state her first few months.” I shuffled closer, as close as I could get, and he squeezed me tighter. “I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
“Me too,” he choked out.
“You’re missing your—”
“Don’t care. I’m not thinking about it.”
I sucked in a breath, looked at the ticking clock hanging above the door, and almost laughed. “Oh my god. It’s only been five minutes. An hour is going to be forever.”
This surgery was much more routine than the two Katty had had as a baby. It should have been less than an hour with little recovery time. It was the anesthesia that made me nervous. All the possibilities of complications—
“Hey. I canfeelyou spiraling.” Ben pulled back to look at me, his brow furrowed. “Would you rather never have to sleep again or never have to eat again?”
Groaning, I rolled my eyes. “Sleep, obviously. Think of all I could get done in those eight hours.”
“That you never get,” he added. “That was an easy one. Who’d willingly give up eating? Food is the reason.”
I poked his rock-hard abdomen. “Says the man who eats veggies and chicken every meal.”
“Wait until the offseason. I go wild.”
That made me laugh. “More wild than usual?”
“Oh yeah. I’m all ice cream, all the time.”
Gripping his T-shirt, I yanked him closer. “Would you rather give up ice cream or sex?”
“Ice cream,” he shouted.
I slapped my hand over his mouth, relieved he hadn’t shouted sex…for many reasons. When I let go, he wagged his finger at me.
“That was an evil choice you forced me to make.”
I shrugged. “Isn’t that the purpose of the game—to drive people mad?”
He poked his bottom lip out. “I really don’t want to live without ice cream. Don’t make me.”
“Don’t worry.” I pushed up on my toes, brushing my lips against his. “I won’t make you live without either. And since you’re almost in the offseason, maybe we can get some ice cream later.”
His eyes lit. “And then sex?”
“Yeah.” I dropped my forehead to his chest. “Ice cream and sex.”
“Hell yes.” He gathered me in his arms again. “You really know how to make me feel better, baby.”
I circled my arms around his waist and sighed. “Now we have something to look forward to when we get through this.”
“Damn right. We’ve got a hell of a lot to look forward to.”
Ben pulled me over to the small love seat, the two of us squishing close to fit on it together. It was hard as a rock, but it wasn’t like either of us was interested in getting comfortable. We were simply sitting there, willing time to pass as quickly as possible.
“Distract me, please.”
