Alex didn't mind the ego or the stomping. She was too busy being awesome. She was still at the hospital and kicking ass, and now she was in line to take over the gastrointestinal surgery department later this year. She'd insisted she wanted to continue on at this hospital, despite all the shit she'd endured, because it would give her a chance to prevent it from happening in the future. Now, she was finally getting some of the recognition she'd long deserved, and the Three Musketeers of Surgery—her, Cal, and Nick—got to staytogether.
Yay for nonstopsurgerytalk.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "That sounds like a trickquestion."
She shrugged and tugged her zipper. "What about this?" she asked, wiggling as she edged her jeans down herhips. "Hmm?"
My first thought was that we were kicking off opening day with a bang. Aside from missing the first pitch becausequickwasn't part of our lifestyle, there was nothing wrong with this approach. We were late to nearly every family gathering, dinner party, and event because we didn't know the first thing about quick. And it wasn't because we didn't know how to get down to business. There'd never been any issues there. But we didn't know how to bounce right out of bed and shake off the intimacy. There was love to make and photos to take, and none of that could berushed.
We'd been the last to arrive the day Shannon and Will's new baby Annabelle was born, and even four months later, my siblings were still joking about how nothing got us out of bed. And it wasn't about to change. I was certain we'd be late to meet Matt and Lauren's baby come that kiddo's arrival in July. We'd probably hold up the rehearsal dinner before Patrick and Andy's wedding—whenever that happened—and stumble into some shenanigans on thebigday.
And I was well on my way to excusing our opening day tardiness when I saw what she was hiding under thosejeans.
Batman panties.Fuck me.Fuckme.
The Bat Signal was shining on my favorite spot on this planet. And I thought the t-shirt and hat and Massachusetts tattoo were perfect. This was…this was my brain winding up for an explosion if I didn't do somethingrightnow.
I pointed at her. "Don't move," I said, pinning her with a heavystare.
Darting into the bedroom, I made for the closet and the box on the top shelf. It was a spot Alex couldn't reach, not even with the step ladder. Technically speaking, we didn't live together. My name wasn't on the mailbox but I did spend most nights here, and the majority of my clothes had made their way to the closet. We'd talked about making it official here or finding a new place together plenty of times, but then we always found something more interesting to do. The living arrangement discussion bore many similarities to the marriagediscussion.
For now, this arrangement was one that workedforus.
"Running away from a woman with her pants down is rather insulting," she called. "Did I blasphemeBatman?"
I returned to the living room, where my woman was exactly as Ilefther.
"Just tell me if you don't like it," she said, hooking a finger around the waistband. "It'snot—"
"You're perfect," I said. "Don't change anything. Ever." I knelt before her and wrapped my arms around her thighs, bringing the Bat Signal to mycheek.
Goddamn, I lovethisgirl.
"What's the deal, Riley? Why are you freaking out and running around the apartment? You freaking out is making mefreakout."
"I was going to wait. Do something really nice, like take you on a harbor cruise or to the butterfly landing at Franklin Park, or something special for your birthday. I wanted the rightmoment."
"We're really bad at the right moments," Alex said, laughing. "We're much better at thewrongones."
She ran her fingers through my hair, and I looked up, catching a glance at the crooked smile on her face. I shook my head, wishing the words would fallinline.
"Aly," I started, "I—I want, I mean,Ilove—"
"So you're saying the Batman panties are a hit?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with humor. She dragged her fingers over my scalp again and then brought her palm to the back ofmyneck.
"You're the most amazing woman in the world. You're fuck-hot gorgeous when you come home after seventy-two hours on-call. But these panties. Motherfuck. They make me want to bend you over and bang you like a drum. And then watchThe Dark Knight Riseswhile eating your cunt." I shook my head once and pressed my forehead to her belly. "Do you even understand how much I love you? Do you haveanyidea?"
"I have a good idea," she replied. "Doyoueven understand how much Iloveyou?"
I needed her to see howmuchthis was. How much we had here, together. How it was everywhere, all around us. How she was the only one, theonly oneI'd ever love with all of me. "Tellme."
"On a scale of elementary school cafeteria hamburgers to In-N-Out Double-Doubles, I'd have to say I love you bacon cheeseburgers from Harry's inProvidence."
"That's not on the scale," Ireplied.
"No," she said. "It's not. It's way,wayoff thechart."
Alex smiled at me, one of those desert-in-bloom, worth-the-fucking-wait smiles that made me want to touch every inch of her and then follow those touches with my tongue, my teeth, my cock. I pushed her shirt up and nipped at the soft rise of her belly. She was going to be the one beside me for decades to come, the one who opened up my wild and gave it space to roam free, the mother of mychildren.
