I inhaled sharply, darting a look to his mom and dad.
“He’s been saying that all morning,” his dad whispered, a mischievous grin on his face.
“Where’s my one true love?” his mom said, smiling through her terrible impression of him. “You do know that we plan on getting a ton of mileage out of that one, right?”
I swallowed thickly. I mean, yeah, I’d been in love with him practically from the beginning, but I figured we’d need a few more months before it was reasonable for us to say it out loud.
“Uh, sure. Now if we can just get him to say it when he’s not high on painkillers, that’d be sweet.”
His mom patted my chest. “I’ve never seen my son like this before.”
“Oh? He wasn’t this way with his first surgery?”
“No, Rhys. I mean I’ve never seen him so smitten. So in love. Makes me happy.”
Sev’s dad nodded in agreement. “Martha, why don’t we let these two have a few minutes together?”
They took each other’s hand and walked out of the tiny recovery area. Biting my lip, I pushed Sev’s hair back from his face, then whispered, “You’re my one true love, too.”
Always, if I had anything to do with it.
Severin
This surgery had gone so much better than the first, and having Rhys here made all the difference in the world.
He made everything better, to be honest. From the very beginning—well,almostthe very beginning—he’d brought out the best in me. Even though we’d only been dating a few months, I already knew that I was madly, deeply, stupidly in love with him.
Since everything with the surgery went well, Rhys was able to take me home by midafternoon once the anesthesia had worn off. I’d still be down for the count for a few days, but at least I could recover from the comfort of my own bed.
As he tucked me in, I caught the smile that Rhys had been wearing most of the day.
“What’s this smile about?” I asked, touching the tip of my finger to the upturned corner of his mouth.
He huffed out a laugh. “Not sure if I should tell you.”
“Okay, now youhaveto tell me.”
“It has to do with something you said while heavily under the influence.”
I thought back through the things we’d talked about at the hospital and drew a blank.
“I have no clue. What did I say?”
He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “You called me yourone true lovein front of your mom and dad.”
“Shit,” I said, not one bit sorry. “I was supposed to wait until a reasonable amount of time had passed to say it.”
He gingerly settled alongside me, resting his head on his meaty fist. “Ah, well. I said it back, so maybe neither of us was in a reasonable mood today.”
“You said it back?”
“Mmhmm.”
“But… I didn’t hear you. I was out of it.”
“Do you want me to say it again?” he asked, smiling through a kiss to my temple.
“Yes,” I responded, feeling awfully pouty.
