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He searched his brain for possibilities. She waited as if she’d expected him to.
“Spontaneous pneumothorax?” he asked. “You had a collapsed lung?”
“Yep.”
“Did your family find out, or did you tell them?”
“I told them, but O.B. said he knew something was going on, but he didn’t realize things were that bad. So,” she cupped her breasts again, “I teach myself to love the things everyone expects me to hate. Daily.”
“Would it help if I said I love them too?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “It would.”
“Sometimes, when I’m exhausted or stressed, I can’t read,” he found himself sharing. “I make mistakes. I get anxious, wondering if this is the moment everyone finds out. The moment I won’t be able to hide it. When it happens, I still feel ashamed. All these years later, and I struggle with it occasionally.”
“But you know you’re amazing, right?”
“So my wife tells me.”
“Saraci, I won’t judge you for something like that, and if we’re together when that happens, tell me. I’ll help you.”
“That’s the difficult part, accepting that I still need help.”
“The difficult part?” She sat up. “Lucas, you had two learning disabilities, and you went on to become asurgeon—one of the best in your field. You can do difficult things, baby. That means you can do this.”
A rock of emotion struck him in the chest, and the pain stung him down to his elbows. Raina didn’t want children, either, so it didn’t matter what future his brain tried to show him.
Who it tried to show him.
“Then I’ll extend the same sentiment,” he said. “I’m your husband. For three months, six months, forever…it doesn’t matter. I’ll support you. I’ll be there for you. And, to me, your body is amazing, Raina. Your gorgeous skin stretched to accommodate your lovely curves. Your DNA can be damaged by radiation from sunlight, so your body created a pigment to protect the heart of the cell, where your DNA is stored. Where the essence of who you are is stored. Maybe it’s because I’m a nerd, but I happen to find that stunning.”
The side of her mouth tipped up into a soft rise as she studied him, brows slack. “I’ll be honest,” she prefaced. “You make one hell of a sexy nerd.”
After slipping on her half-shirt, which did stop at the bottoms of her breasts, he went to prep for bed. His shower took a bit longer than usual—the image of her breasts remained imprinted on his brain, which then combined with the taste of her mouth and nipples and how wet she’d felt against his thumb.
Matters had to be handled.
So, he returned to a snoring wife.
If he could sleep, almost gleefully, next to this beautiful English Bulldog, he shuddered to think what he would be like if he fell in love with her.
He climbed into bed.
Less than a full minute later, one of her legs was across his. Her pillow fell to the ground next to the bed, and she fumbled until one arm smacked him in the chest in what he guessed was supposed to be a gentle stroke or pat.
“Good night, Lucas,” she said, the words muffled by her face pressing into the bedsheets.
The last woman he’d slept next to regularly was Emmaline, who was “perfect” in everything she did. Emmaline would have rather had her nails peeled off with pliers than snore in her sleep. In the mornings, he hadn’t been allowed to kiss her until she’d showered, brushed her teeth, put on her makeup, and had taken at least one sip of coffee. Now, Hell’s Tinker Bell had him trapped-by-leg.
Trapped by sexy, shapely leg.
“Good night, Rai,” he said.
More and more and day by day, he was starting to believe that this thing between them might actually be able to work.
ChapterFourteen
“Saraci,” Raina looked around, “I love it.”
