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“Love,” he said simply. “Love at first, second and last sight. Enduring, never-ending love.”
She stared at him, his words bubbling through her. “You’re –,”
“Completely, and utterly, foolishly, terrifyingly in love with you, Lauren. A fact I realised for myself only moments before I came crashing down to earth – metaphorically and physically.”
“Oh my God.” She clasped a hand to her mouth. “No.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said quietly. “It was my own. I shouldn’t have attempted the climb but I had been pushing myself, trying to get you out of my head, needing to exhaust myself in the hopes I could finally sleep without your ghost filling my dreams and reminding me of how much I’d lost – how much I’d pushed away. Are you really here?”
She laughed softly. “Yes. I’m here.”
“And you’re really not going anywhere.”
“Nope. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Kiss me again.”
She laughed. “Raf…you’re still recovering.”
“Mmmm. This will help.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“Then it’s just as well I’m sure enough for both of us.”
She dropped her head, teasing him by keeping her lips hovered just above his.
“You minx,” he muttered, before pushing up the rest of the way and claiming her mouth, his kiss robbing her of breath at the same time it filled her with hope. His tongue duelled with hers and she sighed, pressing herself lower without meaning to, her breasts against his chest, her body seeking contact with him.
The sound of a crashing door broke them apart. She pushed up in time to see a doctor striding in, and a moment later she realised why – Raf’s blood-pressure machine was skyrocketing.
“Whoops.” She grimaced apologetically, but the doctor laughed.
“This cannot happen again.” He checked the instruments then grinned at them both. “Though I suppose it is a good sign. You feel well?”
Raf nodded. “I’ll feel better once I’m out of this damned bed.”
“He’s not a good patient,” the doctor explained to Lauren.
Heat was making her cheeks pink, and she nodded a little. “I can imagine. He’d be the worst.”
“Hey, I’m right here,” he muttered.
Lauren nodded, moving back to Raf. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Water,” he agreed gratefully. She kissed his forehead. “I won’t be long.”
Lauren though took longer than Raf would have liked, and when she returned he realised why. She’d been speaking to his doctor, beyond the door. He could see it in her face, without needing her to confirm it.
“Don’t look like that.”
She nodded bravely but her lower lip trembled. “You need to remember,” she said quietly, “That lots of people get given the wrong information in situations like this. There’s every likelihood the feeling in your leg will return. There are amazing doctors, specialists, rehabilitation clinics –,”
“Yes, I have already decided I will take this course of action,” he said, brushing her concerns aside. She placed the water cup down on the edge of his table, before sitting on the side of his bed, a teacup in her hands.
“You’re not upset?”
He considered that. “Of course I am. How can I not be? I may never be able to walk unaided. But you’ve told me you love me and I have no intention of allowing you to go back on that, so whatever I face I know it will be with you at my side, and believe me, Lauren, after spending the last month believing I would never see you again, and that you would never love me, that I had fallen in love with a woman who considered herself to be married to another man? Nothing – nothing – could faze me right now.”
