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“I am really sorry about your pa,” he said to her. “I am anxious to hear updates and good news. Believe me, this is a huge privilege to be here. This is how we do it.” What he wasn’t telling her was that sitting there beside her, close enough that he could feel her warmth and the lion could hear her heart beating and the blood rushing beneath her skin, Thomas felt like the proverbial schoolboy who finally got to sit next to the prettiest girl in the whole school.
One of the hospital staff arrived and informed Lorena that, unfortunately, there were no updates yet. The sun sank and set. Darkness settled in outside.
While Lorena was talking to one of the hospital staff, Thomas called one of his lions. He asked the shifter to bring a thermos of coffee and some bottled water and to pick up a couple of those plush throw blankets that never failed to be comfy and warm.
The items were delivered in under an hour. Still, there was no word on the progress of his mate’s father.
Thomas waited until the shifter left, then he unfolded and stretched a plush throw over Lorena’s legs.
“You know how to wait in style,” Lorena told him.
“If you’re hungry for something beyond the Oreos from a few hours ago, say it, and I’ll get it here.”
“As you can probably guess, my appetite is zero right now.”
“You are not alone. I know how you feel, and this kind of vigil is fairly recent in my history.”
“I suspect it is,” she replied. “We don’t need to get into that. I am quite grateful you’re here meeting me at my level.”
Thomas was exhausted. He could see that she was too. He liked what he was feeling. He liked the feelings of attraction and electricity he saw she had for him.
The lion rumbled from deep down, telling Thomas that this good woman was smitten with him and guilty about something. The lion smelled guilt from a mile away.
She was hiding a secret.
The secret affected Lorena’s ability to get too close to Thomas.
But right then, he was too tired to care about secrets and was too stimulated from being next to Lorena to care about what complicated and unfinished business she might be hiding. He wanted to lean over and give her a loving kiss.
He reached over and readjusted the plush throw blanket so Lorena’s legs were covered. He also adjusted the sweater she had over her shoulders. She turned her head slightly so her face was close to his. He smelled her skin, and she was heaven. Absolutely. She smelled of cinnamon, jasmine, and vanilla.
“I need to thank you again for all of this,” she said to him. “But there aren’t enough words in the world to say thank you any more than I already have. You’ve made this survivable. You’ve made this whole situation less painful.”
Thomas didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His head turned slightly, then her head turned more. Then he pressed his lips to her lips. Her touch, her taste, filled his soul. He felt her resistance to him weaken, and his own walls came down with them.
The loss of his mother and the contention he dealt with while rebuilding the broken heart of the pride … it all fell away. It was a desperate yet hesitant kiss. Their desire for one another warred with their need to get to know one another first.
The kiss was gentle, but it was also filled with electricity as their lips and bodies melded together.
And as they kissed, Thomas felt their hearts intertwining and becoming one.
Chapter9
Lorena
Lorena managed to get a few hours of sleep after her father was out of surgery. The neurosurgeons were able to relieve the swelling before any more brain damage could occur. Alfredo was in recovery, and his vital signs were stable. He was also sleeping well, and that was when she finally thought it was safe to go home, shower, and rest.
Her cell phone alarm sounded earlier than she cared for, beeping obnoxiously.
Lorena jolted upright, her eyes shooting open and her heart racing as she was jerked out of sleep. But she quickly remembered she had set the alarm, so she wouldn’t sleep the day away and could head back to the hospital to be by her father’s bedside once more.
Blinking, she looked around her bedroom as awareness settled in. “Geez, that time already? That felt like ten minutes' sleep, not three hours. God, I feel like death warmed over.”
Lorena rubbed her bloodshot eyes. She knew she would’ve remained sleeping had it not been for the alarm.
Last night in the waiting room, she was a bag of nerves. It took all the energy she had to stay sane, expect the best but emotionally prepare for the worst. Once the emergency was over, the worst never happened, and her father’s status was stable. So Lorena drove home and simply collapsed.
Pulling on a new pair of slacks and a comfy top, Lorena headed out the door with her purse, keys, and the biggest to-go coffee mug she owned. No two-ounce double espresso would cut it today.
