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Jack Trainer sent the young nurse a sizzling smile, and she melted.
“Well, all right, I guess we could make an allowance this time.”
Dylan rolled his eyes and followed.
He found Piper seated on a bed, wearing a sling and looking pissed off, sweet, and sinfully beautiful with her clothes torn and dirty and her hair all over the place.
“Surely I don’t have to wear this sling for that long, Doctor?”
“She’ll wear it,” Dylan said, walking into the room. “Now be a good girl and say, ‘Yes, Doctor.’”
Her smile made those pretty eyes sparkle, and it was all for him.
“Yes, Doctor.”
He leaned in and kissed her. He could do that now, as often as he wanted, because one thing he’d realized up there on that mountain was that wherever this woman was he wanted to be. Right there beside her from now on.
“Okay, here’s your script for the pain meds, and other than a few bruises you’re actually in good shape. But that shoulder will need rest.”
“She’ll get it,” Dylan said, lifting her off the bed and settling her on her feet.
They walked down the hall together, her hand in his, and Dylan swung it slowly as he thought about what he wanted to say to her.
“It’s okay, Dylan.”
“No, it’s not. I was wrong, and I hurt you, Piper. My only excuse is that what I was feeling for you rocked me, and I wasn’t thinking straight. All I could see was that you’d betrayed me and I was a fool for finally thinking a woman could be special to me. It was like I was vindicated yet again for thinking no woman could ever be everything I wanted her to be.”
“It hurt, I’m not going to lie.”
“I’m sorry, and I’ll say it as many times as it takes for you to believe me. But I can only hope in time you’ll forgive me, sweetheart. I love you so much, baby, more than I believed myself capable of loving anyone.”
“I love you too.” She let him gently ease her close. “But I don’t know what that means for us, Dylan.”
He smiled down at her, his eyes running over every inch of her lovely face.
“It means that we’re having a life together, woman. It means that I want to be there to help you raise Grace, and that I want to be her daddy.”
“What? I-I… really?”
“Is that so hard for you to believe?”
“I-it’s just that this change in you is so sudden, and you always said you would be leaving soon. That your life is in New York.”
“It was, but now it’s wherever you are, and as that’s likely here, I guess that means my life is here too. We have stuff to work out, I know that, and that it’s hard for you to accept that I’ve changed so quickly, but tonight, not knowing if I’d see you again, I realized nothing else mattered but being with you.”
“Oh, Dylan.”
He dropped down to one knee and held her hand. “Marry me, Piper.”
“What? Oh... oh yes.” She tugged him upright.
“We’ll work out the rest, but for now all that matters is that we love each other, and that I realized tonight I can’t live without you.”
She touched his face, mapping his features, and Dylan was fairly sure he’d never been happier in his life than at that moment. Maybe because he’d never allowed himself that chance, but whatever the reason, standing in that empty hospital hallway, he knew that in his arms was everything he’d wanted. Someone who loved him unconditionally the way he loved her.
Chapter 41
“Daddy!”
