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As soon as the door shut behind her, I turned to face him. He had dark bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept in a week, and that made me love him even more if that were possible.
He gave me a tired smile. “How ya feeling?”
“Not bad actually. I’m a little afraid of what it’s going to feel like when the pain meds wear off though,” I admitted, gesturing to the IV’s still stuck in my arm.
He squeezed my hand. “You got this, babe. Toughest girl I know.” He held the bag of chips up. “You mind?” he asked sheepishly.
I wasn’t allowed to eat yet, but I truly didn’t mind, especially since I heard he hadn’t left my side since he’d been allowed in here early this morning when I was still unconscious. He must’ve been starving. I nodded. “Go for it. And Duke…”
He searched my face anxiously. “You good? You need–”
“I’m good,” I smiled, trying to calm him. “Thank you.”
He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I wished so badly to be able to go back to my bedroom and hide away from the world with him again. Cuddling with him yesterday had been like a dream come true for me… and I was hopelessly afraid our connection would end again just like it had the first time we’d gotten together.
“Wish we could go back to yesterday,” I admitted. “Before all this.” I gestured to my hospital gown in all its gross glory.
“Yeah… I’d like to not relive the scary parts,” he said, popping a chip into his mouth. “But the other stuff?” His eyes smoldered over as he looked me up and down. “Hell ya.”
I laughed at his over-the-top flirtiness, then sighed. “Not gonna lie, I am kinda embarrassed that all this happened after… ya know…?”
It was probably just a coincidence that the pain really started to kick in consistently right after we hooked up. Especially because the cause of it was probably from the lift that had gone wrong in the rink lobby a couple days ago.
He ran a hand over his buzzed hair and looked very tired all of a sudden. Short hair was actually kind of a look for him. He seemed older, tougher, less pretty boy, even though I did like him looking like a pretty boy as well.
“Yeah, I wish it wouldn’t have happened after our first time either,” he said with a thoughtful face. “I mean, I told them about the spill you took on Jackie boy’s shoulder and everything, but when I talked to the doctors later, I was as detailed as I could possibly be. Told ‘em how I grabbed your hips and was having you ride me like a cowgirl. So, it’s probably somewhere in your medical history that we made love,” he said with a goofy grin on his face.
“You are kidding me, Duke Michael Callahan,” I deadpanned.
He gave me a solemn nod. “Needed to make sure they had all the info so they could fix ya up. Didn’t want any more of it to be my fault.”
I looked at him curiously. “Noneof it was your fault.” But as I said it, he looked away from me, seemingly to hide emotion. His jaw throbbed, like he was grinding his teeth. I covered his rough hand with mine and he stared at it for a beat.
“Hard to feel like it’s not my fault.” He cringed. “Could’ve avoided the rupture if I would’ve taken you in earlier. Could’ve had little incisions instead of a bigger scar, and a quicker recovery.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Don’t say that. I’m the one who brushed you off. I don’t have a good gauge for pain. You helped me when I really needed you and I’m really grateful, Duke,” I told him earnestly.
“Now you admit you don’t have a good gauge for pain,” he said with a sarcastic told-you-so look. “Your dad’s on his way here by the way. I called him and filled him in on everything.”
“Everything?” I felt my face burn red. “My dad knows you were over in the middle of the night?”
His forehead creased. “Well, I couldn’t exactly lie to him, Claire.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess not… but you probably could’ve—”
His mouth dropped open and he was looking at me like I had a third head, so I shut up.
“Well…” I started to say what I was thinking, but a laugh bubbled up in my throat instead.
He rubbed a hand over his tired face. “Do I even want to know why you're laughing?” he asked in a resigned voice.
“I’m just imagining how many big dick jokes you can make after all this.” I imitated a fake macho voice and said, “Yeah, fucked her so hard, her appendix burst.” I covered my mouth to muffle my giggles.
But instead of joining in with my laughter, his eyebrows pinched together and he looked pained. “It’s really not funny yet, Claire. I’m not sure this will ever be funny to me. You scared the shit out of me. You passed out in my arms, you…”
I patted his hand. “Everything’s fine,” I told him. “Except maybe…”
“What?” he looked at me hesitantly.
