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She placed her hand on her belly. “I want our baby to know love.”
His gaze flashed with intensity. “Our baby will only know love.”
He believed that, Megan was certain. She saw his truth written all over his face. Hell, she had no doubt that he wanted to believe everything was going to work out. But . . . “How can you be certain?” Her lip quivered, nearly pleading for him to explain all the things she couldn’t see.
“Because this”—he took her hand and squeezed it tight—“this is real and honest and good. Nothing will get in the way of that.”
Before she would have shut him down, thrown up a wall, not let him close to her heart. To protect herself. Not now. There was nothing keeping him out anymore. Because maybe if she put herself on the line, he’d mirror her action.
She placed her hand over his. “You’re the realest thing I’ve ever had. And now that I’ve had us, I can’t imagine life being any other way.”
The surprise in his eyes was a rare and stunning thing for Nash Blackshaw.
Though before he could respond, the nurse strode into the room. “How’s the patient doing?” she asked.
“Ready to be discharged,” Nash said, staring at Megan.
“That won’t be happening tonight, and there will be no arguments about it.” The nurse went for the IV and began looking it over and pressing some buttons. “But we can leave you alone for the rest of the night since you’re all topped up here.” She examined a second bag of fluid on the stand. “If you need anything, press the call button and we’ll come right in.” She turned to Nash and smiled warmly. “What you need more than anything now is rest.” She pointed to the morphine drip. “You have yet to take any pain medicine. Don’t be too tough. The first couple days of a burn are excruciating. The morphine is there to make you more comfortable.”
“Mm-hmm,” said Nash.
Megan rolled her eyes at the nurse. Tough Nash would never deign to take morphine. That would simply be beneath him.
“We’ll check in on you in the morning.” The nurse moved to the door and flicked off the lights, bathing the room in a soft glow that came from the small light above the bed.
When Megan looked back, Nash was still staring at her. He slid his fingers over the strands of hair near her face. “Freckles, why are you looking so sad?”
Tears she fought hard against welled in her eyes and she barely managed, “I’m just emotional.” Her
heart was weak, exposed.
“You’re killing me here.” Nash’s voice became tender as he brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “Please tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Oh, my God, stop.” She wiped away the tear. “You’re the one in the hospital. Let’s focus on you. You need to rest.”
“Megan.”
Her palms grew sweaty. Her head felt dizzy. She couldn’t talk about this right now. She needed to think past all the emotions. “The nurse said you should rest.”
He arched a defiant brow. “I say we have to talk.”
Desperate for space, and time to think all this through, she reached for the morphine drip and pressed the little red button.
Nash’s eyes narrowed. “You did not just do that.”
“Now you’ll sleep.” She forced a smile, keeping it together for one more second.
His eyes went a little cross-eyed. “Oh, fuck. Sleep. Yeah, that’s good.” A moment later, he was snoring softly.
Megan’s breath whooshed out, and then she let the tears fall, softly sobbing into her hands.
* * *
Late into the night, Nash opened his eyes to a dark room with only the full moon casting light into the space. The morphine haze made him slow to fully wake. It took a good few minutes for his mind to clear, and then he realized he wasn’t alone. Megan slept, all tucked against him like she always belonged there. Her head rested on his good shoulder, and she breathed deep with sleep. The other shoulder burned in agony. That didn’t matter now. He marveled at how she felt in his arms like this—so perfect, so right. Though also in that comfort, he remembered the pain on her face before sleep had stolen him away.
He felt like the world’s biggest asshole. He didn’t even question why she’d pressed the button. She had been raw, exposed, and he had crushed her. Brutally.
Yeah, he’d done that. You fucking idiot.
