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He slipped the ring on her finger, climbed onto the bed, and swept her into a kiss. By the time he was done, her head spun more than a little, and there was a strange clapping sound assaulting her ears. “Ignore them,” he whispered, cupped her jaw, and lowered his head for another kiss.
Confused, she looked beyond him, toward the door. Vern, Ginger, Ari, Lee Ann, Kylie, and Trevor gathered just beyond the threshold, clapping.
“About time, Snowflake,” Ginger called.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Ian called, never taking his eyes off her. His smile held wicked intent.
The door whooshed closed.
“I’m injured,” she warned as he moved in.
“I’m careful.” He traced the front opening of her hospital gown, barely grazing her flesh.
“I guess you are,” she managed, as his fingers parted the gown.
“And creative.” As proof he tapped the bed-adjust button and eased her into a more reclined position.
She raised a brow at him. “A nurse could walk in here at any moment to check on me.”
He leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers. “Then she’ll get an eyeful of you being kissed by the man who loves you.”
The enormity of everything she’d almost lost dropped on her like a falling sky. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him closer. He let her, but lingered on her lips, kissing her tenderly when she would have gone for the heat and the rush. He tipped her head back and kissed her again. And again, with a gentleness that brought tears to her eyes even as her body trembled. If she didn’t watch it, she’d start to feel…cherished.
“Missed you, Stace,” he murmured when they broke for air. “So damn much. Promise me—” She moaned and tried to draw him in. He evaded. “Promise you’ll never walk away from us again.”
“I promise—” Two words were all she managed, because he sent his lips trailing down her throat, her chest, stopping to bestow one slow, deliberate kiss directly over her heart. The sweetness of the gesture had her blinking back tears. Then his mouth was on the move again, placing soft kisses along the edge of the shockingly white bandage affixed to her side. When he finished, he looked up at her, and she saw all the raw fear and pain of the last twenty-four hours reflected in his unguarded expression.
“Ian—”
He shook his head and straightened her gown. “I could have lost you last night. When I saw you dangling from the light rig, I was so fucking scared. You can’t possibly imagine.”
Judging by the look on his face, she couldn’t. “I’m fine,” she whispered, and sank her fingers into his hair, “thanks to you.” To lighten the mood, she fluttered her lashes and sighed. “You’re my Halloween hero.”
His eyes didn’t quite lose their haunted look, but he flashed the cocky smile that had hooked her right from the start.
She gave his hair a quick tug. “Come here. I have to kiss that grin off your face.”
He hit the remote control for the bed and raised her up until their lips were tantalizingly close. “Only if you say the magic words.”
“Magic words?” She tried to lean in and close the distance, but he tapped the bed control and sent her sinking backward.
“Ian!”
“Magic words,” he prompted, and stopped the bed.
She made a grab for the remote, but he pulled it out of her reach.
“You can do it. Just repeat after me. I.”
“You really like that remote control, don’t you?”
“It’s a guy thing. I,” he said again, his clear green eyes blazing with triumph.
She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, “I.”
He hit the button and raised her a third of the way. “Love.”
“Love.”
