“You’re still up,” he groans, the tips of his fingers dancing over my shoulder.
“Yeah..”
“Thinking about me, I hope.” The smile in his voice drawing out mine.
“And if I’m not?”
He groans, nuzzling his bearded face into my neck. “Then I hope it’s at least good things. I want you to be happy, River.”
I swear my heart explodes in my chest. Gray can be infuriating sometimes, especially throughout this recovery process, but he’s also the sweetest man I’ve ever known.
Turning to face him fully, his eyes pop open, the brown turning to an eerie gray in the moonlight shining through his windows. “You make me happy. You drive me crazy, but make me happy, too.”
Our lips brush in the softest caress. “Then why are you awake, fidgeting with the comforter?”
“Because of what you said.”
“That I am going to marry you?”
“Well, yeah. I—” My lips press shut, unsure how to phrase what I need to say without sounding insensitive. “It’s just my career.”
He chuckles, pulling me into his side. “River, I know how hard you’ve worked to get where you are. I would never jeopardize that, nor do I want to. But make no mistake, I’m going to marry you one day. I won’t have it any other way.”
My heart does a somersault in my chest. With a declaration like that, how could I not want it? And I do, but I need to be respected by my colleagues, too.
I’m just unsure if both can exist in the same space.
If this perfect life I’m building with Grayson Garrison can exist in a world where Dr. River Thompson, orthopedic surgeon, has to prove herself every day just because she’s a woman.
“Get some sleep. We both have work in the morning.”
“I love you,” I whisper so low I doubt he heard it.
Yet Gray squeezes me closer. “You don’t have a choice. You are the beat of my heart and the blood in my veins. You’re the swirl of colors that fill the sky at the beginning of each new day. Without you, I don’t exist. Know that you mean that and so much more when I say I love you because the words don’t cover it.”
Pressing my eyes shut, I let his words wash over me just as sleep claims me, too.
“River, come here,” Gray calls from across the field.
Sprinting through my field of cows, I race over to his side. He’s standing next to one of the retired bulls he rescued. A massive white and brown beast I’d named Fester.
“Is he okay?” I breathe, wondering why he called me over.
“He’s great. Come on.” It’s then that I notice Gray has a rope wrapped around the bull’s neck, as if it’s the most docile creature known to man; I don’t trust it. I’ll likely never trust a bull again.
Since Gray’s accident, I’ve been wary around the bulls. They’ve all acted as they always have, nudging my hand for the pets and hugs I’d once given them without fear. Are they like other animals, where they can sense that I feel differently toward them now?
“Where are you taking Fester?”
The bull huffs as if acknowledging that I used the name I gave him, though he already had one.
“Just relax,” Gray chuckles, leading us into a smaller fenced-in area I know he uses to practice or work with the horses at times.
He leads us through the gate before latching it behind us.
“Come on,” Gray flags me closer. He grips my waist, hoisting me up in the air. “Get on.”
My body immediately jerks, feet and hands flying out in protest. “Absolutely not.” Yet gray’s hold on me doesn’t waver. Somehow, switching from gripping my waist to wrapping his arms around me, without my feet finding the ground again. “Hell no. Put me down. No!”
