“I missed you so much,” she whispered. “There’s so much we need to talk about.”
“Tomorrow, Mae. Tonight, I just want to sleep with you in my arms.”
“Okay,” she sniffled. “Tomorrow, then.”
Nine
Who knew it took forever to be discharged from the hospital? Stone felt like he’d been jumping through hoops for days, and the end never came. Talk about going stir crazy. The only thing that wasn’t going well was recovering whatever went missing from his memory.
“What about intimacy?” he asked as Dr. Anderson finally got his discharge paperwork ready.
“Stone! No, don’t answer that. He’s healing. We don’t need to worry about that.” God, he loved the way Mae’s face turned a brilliant shade of pink.
“Well, there is something to be said about the link between intimacy, love, stress-reducing hormones and the effects it all has on healing… both physically and mentally. I would say there are no restrictions from a neurological standpoint at this time. So let your physical healing guide you. I’d suggest starting slow, and building yourself up to the full act of sexual intercourse.”
Mae buried her head next to Stone’s hip and groaned.
“Careful, Mae. I’ll want to get started before the brain doc has even left the room.”
“Stop. It.” Her growled words had the opposite effect, Stone now laughing and wincing as he reached up to place his hand over his healing wound.
“Ow, ow…”
“See? Got what you deserved with that one.” Mae giggled, and the pain subsided the second she smiled at him.
“Welcome home.” Mae pushed open the door to his apartment, five days after he’d first woken up, and smiled. “Let’s get inside and get you situated.”
“The only thing I’ll be doing is taking that bag from you.”
“Absolutely not. The doctor’s release instructions were clear. Lots of rest. No over doing it. Which is why I’m carrying the bag, and why I’m also going to help you get out of that jacket.” Mae tossed the duffle to the ground before reaching out for the bulky outerwear. Christ. He could manage to dress and undress himself.
And after jumping through a thousand hoops in the hospital and promising to keep up with all his discharge rules and rehab programs, Stone nearly had to pull Mae to the car himself. She hadn’t left his side since he woke, and as beautiful as he thought she was no matter what, he could see that everything was taking its toll.
“And he also said I could do some light exercise to build my strength back up.”
“What do you think walking from the car to the apartment was? I tried to get Jake to loan me a wheelchair from his clinic for today but Hawk vetoed that.”
“Thank God for that. Although I am surprised he’s on my side about anything. I guess getting shot right after he found out about us was a blessing.”
Stone had almost fallen out of his hospital bed and had aheart attack right then and there when he woke up, with Mae still in his arms, as Hawk sat in one of the visitor’s chairs. Although he’d reassured Mae the night before that he didn’t care about her brother, he’d definitely thought there would be more time. Stone quickly snapped out of his panic, ready to stand up for his relationship with his best friend’s little sister, but Hawk just sat there with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. It felt like Mae skipped over some of the details, but she did explain that Hawk knew from the morning… of his… yeah, his shooting. That was wild to wrap his mind around. But Hawk really seemed to take the news well. There was no more sneaking around for them, and for that, Stone was thankful.
“Hush. Do you want to eat? Take a shower and get into bed? Crash and watch some TV on the couch? The apartment is your oyster and I’m here to serve.”
“I can take care of myself, Mae. And I can dance.”
“Dance?”
Stone nodded.
“There’s a reason I told everyone to leave us alone for my homecoming. I love them all, but there is only one thing I want to do right now. And that’s dancing with my beautiful girlfriend, who I love. This is the first time back in the apartment, just the two of us. And there’s no more sneaking around. Hawk knows. Now that it’s out in the open, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted. So yes.” He grabbed his jacket out of her hands and threw it on the floor next to his bag. “I want to dance with you. Right here in the entryway. Right now.”
His hands slid down to her waist.
“I’m not going to break,” he whispered into her ear. “You can put your hands on me. You can press up against me. You can lay your head on my shoulder.”
“I don’t… I don’t want to hurt you.” He heard the fear in her voice, but he couldn’t let her live in it. Better to rip the bandage off the second he was home than to wallow in the weird stiffness between the two of them.
“The only way you’d hurt me is by not letting me hold you right now. Come on.”
