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As Kari walks away, rejoining the constant buzz of staff who rush along the halls, Hannah brings her eyes back to me and transforms her smile to a glower. “It’s clear you don’t know me as well as you think you do, but I’m not one to get bored or seek instant gratification.” Then she smacks my thigh, forcing pain along my leg and into my cast. “Now move the hell over and let me in. I’m tired, and you’re a jerkoff.”
“You’re a pain in my ass.” And yet, I shuffle to the right and make room for the woman I want to hold every single night for the rest of my life.
How is it I could feel so much for a woman I don’t deserve? How can a man’s heart beat for someone else, when he knows it shouldn’t beat for her at all?
“I want you to go to Rome, Sullivan.” I turn gingerly to my side and pull her down until her hair sits just below my nose, and her ass sits in my lap. Her legs hug my thighs, and her fingers twine between mine so we’re joined in every way possible…
Except thatone.
If Nicole wanders in here, we’re both in trouble. If Juniper comes looking for me, I’ll have some explaining to do that is sure to create a lasting core memory for the sweet six-year-old already dealing with her mother’s new romantic life.
It would be cruel to land the child with twowhat the fuckscenarios in such a short amount of time.
The sound of a functioning hospital right outside my door brings me calm. A monotonous, meditative hum that lulls me into a half-sleep and allows my heart to slow. To relax. My leg thunders with a deep ache, and my body smarts from my second fall in as many weeks. But Hannah’s touch is a balm. Her unapologetic, unending tenacity is soothing to my frayed heart.
Just because it would be a sin to accept what she’s offering doesn’t mean her presence doesn’t bring me peace.
“I want you to have a life that doesn’t include worrying about me.” I exhale a soft sigh and wish for the lights to be switched out, if only so we could be in here all alone. In the darkness. “I want you to travel, and get in trouble in Vatican City for not covering your shoulders. Ride on the gondolas in Venice, and maybe kiss a guy who hands you roses he just bought from a street hawker.”
“I want to do those things too,” she whispers. Bringing our joined hands up, she presses a gentle kiss to my wrist and tears another chunk of my heart away to keep for her own. “I want to do those things withyou.”
“Hannah—”
“But for tonight,” she cuts in before I can remind her again why that won’t happen. “I want to lie here with you. I want to smell your cologne in my lungs, and feel your fingers stroking my belly. I want to sleep while you wrap yourself around me. And every now and again, I wanna kick your leg to remind you it’s broken.”
From lulled relaxation, to my stomach jumping with her promise of pain. “I don’t need you to remind me. I know it’s broken.”
“I want to sleep with your breath tickling my ear,” she continues quietly. “And your pulse syncing with mine. And a year from now, I want us to move in together, and for you to refinish the floors after I pull up the ugly old carpet.”
“What carpet?” I close my eyes and allow, for tonight, anyway, my lips to curl up and her voice to be my lullaby. “You already picked out a house?”
“Yours, dummy. But your carpets are gross, and your paint choices hurt my eyes. So once you stop being stubborn, and instead decide to do as I tell you, we can change those out, then fix the fence out front, and add shutters to the windows to make them cute.”
“You’ve got it all planned out, huh?” I reach up and take a lock of her long brown hair between my fingers. To touch. To savor. To bring to my nose and inhale.
Because after tonight, it could be a day, or a month, or never again, that I get to share a bed with her.
“You don’t wanna travel, Han? Get out of this tiny town and explore the world?”
“Sure.” She snuggles in closer so we’re touching from top to casted toe. “With you. I’ll visit anywhere you want me to, so long as you come along for the ride.”
“Han—”
“I love you, Axel Feeney. I don’t wanna see Paris, or Rome, or Greece, or anywhere else, unless it’s with you right beside me. Soshhh…” She re-links our fingers to bring my hand up, then presses a second kiss to my wrist. “Sleep. Your leg won’t heal if you don’t rest. And if you don’t get back on your feet, you can’t dance with me when you finally ask me out on a date.”
She’s so fucking sure. So stubborn.
So adamant about not looking elsewhere for her future forever.
“Axel?” Her voice comes out in a whisper that slices my heart. “I love you.”
I draw a deep breath until it fills my chest and pushes against her back. Then I exhale again and nestle my lips against the back of her neck. “Yeah.”
Hannah
THE TRAGEDY ONE MUST FEEL
“Preston Danes.” I work the front counter of Juniper’s bakery and flash a flirty grin for my boss’ boyfriend. He carries June on his shoulders and bounces her enough to scare Nicole—if only she were out here to see the pair. “You want rainbows again?”
