“Everything went well, Mr. Norris. Sierra is resting comfortably and should be out from the anesthesia soon. You can go and wait for her in the private room you purchased.”
He nodded and they both rose to go and see Sierra. As he stood in the doorway of her room, he couldn’t ignore the flashbacks of the last time he saw her in the hospital bed, unconscious. It took time before he could shift away from how she’d looked then—tubes and wires and mechanisms to support her shattered limbs—to how she was now, sleeping on her side with her hand tucked under her cheek, just like Kaitlyn liked to sleep. They both now had a lot of work to do but one final thought echoed into his head as he walked over to her—he knew that he was never going to let her go again.
Chapter 27
Sierra wiped the counter with a damp cloth, cupping the crumbs from Kaitlyn’s sandwich into her hand, then disposing them in the garbage underneath the sink. She looked at her watch, willing the time to say 2:30 because that was when Jacob was supposed to be home from his bachelor’s trip with his brothers. Next month, she and Jacob were going to be married. It was going to be a close, intimate ceremony instead of the lavish one they had the first time.
She couldn’t believe how much had changed between Jacob and her after she came home from the surgery. The day she’d been released from the hospital, she’d fallen asleep the moment she made it to her room. When she’d woken up, Jacob was sitting up next to her, leaning back against the headboard, with his legs stretched near hers. She’d leaned her head back as he looked down at her with a serious expression.
His hand had lifted and his finger traced her cheek and along the scar there. “I know I told you that I wanted a marriage with no strings.” Then he’d slid down on the bed until he was facing her. She’d held her breath because he was looking at her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him, but he’d still not dropped his guard completely.
His incredible blues were sincere as he continued. “But I want more with you. I want to see where this will go with us, and this time it will be the two of us working together on this relationship and marriage.
“I tried, Sierra, I really did, but you were right. I still had feelings for you that I thought were dead and with you being here, being close to you and being apart from you, has ignitedmy need to be with you.” He had moved his head closer to hers, pausing in his confession. When he’d continued, his voice was even huskier.
“But I don’t want our marriage to just be an all-consuming passion we have for each other.” His smile was rueful, and it had stirred sadness in Sierra to see. “All it takes is a look or touch from you.” His finger grazed her lower lip, and his eyes dipped down before glancing back up.
“I want us to take it slow, without the sex clouding our way. I want this time around to be different and new.” He lowered his hand onto the bed between them and she almost made a sound of protest missing his touch, but he now looked so solemn. “And I think you want that, too. Don’t you, Sierra?”
She nodded, her throat tight from holding in her emotions. He was going to give them a chance, a real chance. She did want something new with him. She’d been crazy in love with him before, but it had been about lust and control with the image of the man she’d wanted Jacob to be, not who he really was. Now being here again after time away, she was seeing him as he was. Yes, she still wanted him like crazy, but she also wanted more now. She needed the love and cherishing that came with loving someone, and she was falling in real love this time with her ex-husband.
“Mrs. Sierra Wallace-Norris, will you date me, and this time build something stronger between us?”
He’d moved his head closer, his eyes looking into hers, and she’d smiled like he had given her all the treasures in the world and he had, offering her another chance.
“Yes Mr. Norris, I thought you’d never ask.”
He’d chuckled, the sound low and deep, then cupped the back of her head, raining kisses on her face and mouth.
Sierra sighed. Dating Jacob was different and new, and they were both enjoying the discovery of each other and growing closer. When they didn’t go out, their nights were spent cuddling and talking; sometimes, there was even some heavy petting, but he would always pull back and walk her to her room and say good night. She was cherishing those moments.
Was everything all flowers and roses, no. They did argue over little things, but it didn’t get to the point that it boiled over into a shouting match. They would work on their differences and made promises to always talk things through.
Like when he was annoyed and hurt when she finally owned up to being a famous erotic thriller author and when he picked one of her books to read and came across a familiar sex scene.
He’d come into his and her office, where she was sitting at the little desk he had purchased for her to work on her writing and looked like a heavy-breathing dragon.
“You wrote about our sex life in your books, Sierra!’
She’d sat back in her chair, nonplussed about the situation and grinned at the outrage on his face. He looked like an old woman with his face all pinched up like that. Sierra then wiggled her eyebrows and said cheekily, “Yes, but I had to amp it up a lot.”
He’d scowled, clearly not amused with the humor she found in the situation. “Now everyone who finds out what you do for a living will know about this.” He shook the book at her, pages flapping indignantly.
Sierra had lifted her eyebrows at him. “Yes, and know that I am one of the luckiest women in the world,” she said impishly.
“Seriously?” His eyes were almost bugging out and she stifled a laugh.
Without missing a beat, she’d asked. “How hard did it make you?”
He rolled his eyes and then laughed and shook his head, turning around to head back out. “Like a rock.”
And she’d burst into laughter.
The persistent sound of the doorbell ringing pulled Sierra from her memories. She frowned and checked the monitor to see if Kaitlyn was still asleep. The new nanny had taken her upstairs for a nap before heading out to pick up groceries. The sound machine was still on and Kaitlyn seemed to be resting peacefully. She must have turned back because she left the keys with the fob to the house. The door was currently set to lock automatically behind anyone after they left. And she knew it wasn’t Jacob because he took his keys with him when he went to go be with his brothers.
Kaitlyn was doing well after her bone marrow transplant, but the operation happened too late for her to attend her uncle Colin’s wedding. Surprisingly, the other Norris brothers had managed to find partners in marriage within the deadline. The only exception was the youngest, Bronson. Jacob was the second-to-last to get married and his brothers had taken him up to their cottage to drink and fish and celebrate.
Though she was making progress in walking without her cane—sometimes bad weather made things worse—Sierra approached the door as fast as her legs would allow. Though she suspected the ringer to be the nanny, she couldn’t help feeling suspicious. Looking through the peephole, Sierra felt her stomach dip with dread. Jacob’s father was standing patiently on the other side of the door.
