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“The last time it came back was only six months after the last surgery, and the tumors are non-resectable. My surgeons described them as ivy wrapping around a trellis, except the trellis is my heart. They’ve just infiltrated in a way that makes them inoperable.”
“Dr. Wallace mentioned a transplant. Moving up on the list?”
Nora sighed. “I’m type-O blood, which has the longest wait time for a donor. Type AB has an average of less than a month. Type O is well over a year. Even with a higher status on the list, it’s not likely it would ever happen. Plus, the average survival rate in people with my type of damage is only sixteen months after a transplant.”
“You keep saying average, but are there people who live full lives? Who are healthy into their seventies and eighties?”
Nora cupped my cheek. “I’ve come to terms with my fate. I want to enjoy the time I have left. I’m sorry this is going to be hard on you. But I’m not sorry I met you, Beck.”
My voice broke as I looked into her eyes. “Nora, I’m in love with you. I can’t lose you.”
“Oh, Beck. You weren’t supposed to do that.”
I shook my head. “I couldn’t stop it. Wasn’t an option. Falling for you was a necessity.”
CHAPTER 26
Nora
“I’M FINE. Igot it.” I swatted Beck’s hand away as I pushed myself from the wheelchair outside the front doors of the lobby four days later. I felt weak, but never so ready to get out of the hospital. I’d spent way too much time in them over the last decade. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.Fresh air.Something I’d taken for granted for the better part of my life.
Beck stood dutifully by my side as I walked over to the waiting car. He opened the door and watched me like a hawk as I folded into the passenger seat. Once I was sitting, he pulled the seatbelt shoulder strap out and started to buckle me in.
“Can you possibly pretend I didn’t have a heart attack? You’re treating me like a five-year-old. I can do that myself.”
Beck smirked. “You know they don’t take away your women’s-lib card for allowing a man to help, especially when that manwantsto take care of you because he’s in love with you.”
And there it was again—in love with me.It was like the cork had come out of the bottle, and now it didn’t fit anymore. I hadn’t told Beck I loved him back, but he’d said it at least a half-dozen times over the last few days.
I stuck my tongue out. Beck eyed it and groaned. “I miss that mouth. It’s going to be a long four to six weeks.”
Beck clicked my seatbelt into place, and I grabbed his shirt as he went to stand. “The doctor said no sex for four to six weeks, but there are other things besides sex…”
“Nice try. I stepped out and asked the doctor to define sex. It includes any activity that gets your heart rate up too high. With us, that probably means no arguing too, since that tends to be our foreplay.”
I pouted.
Beck chuckled but shut my door and jogged around to the driver’s side. The hotel was only a twenty-minute drive. A few days ago, I’d asked Louise to check me out of my room and put my suitcase in hers. There was no point in paying for a hotel when I was in the hospital. I’d asked Beck to see if a new room was available for me before picking me up. He’d said there was. But when we arrived at the hotel, Beck walked toward the elevator bank, when I needed to go to the front desk.
“I have to check in and get my bag from Louise.”
“No, you don’t. Your bag’s already in my room. I upgraded us to a suite. And we’re having lunch with Gram.”
I stopped walking. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Beck.”
“Well, you better warm up to it quick, because I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Beck…”
He rested his hands on my shoulders. “I’m done with your rules. I get that you were trying to protect me. You didn’t want me to get too close so I wouldn’t get hurt. But that’s over now. It doesn’t matter if we’re in separate rooms or if you’re in my bed. I’m with you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“But…”
Beck cut me off by pressing his lips to mine. It took less than two seconds before I melted into him. We stood in the middle of the lobby like that for a long time. When our kiss finally broke, I was missing that hospital wheelchair because I felt dizzy. As if he sensed it, Beck kept a tight grip on me.
“One room,” he said firmly. “I want you next to me. And if you’re thinking it’s because I want to watch you, make sure you’re okay, then you’re giving me too much credit. I want you naked next to me, your body pressed against mine, even if I can’t have you yet.”
With a declaration like that, how could I say no? So I took a deep breath and nodded.
