Chapter 20
Two damn days!They had been back on board the command ship for two days and Corey had not come by to see her while she was with the medikos. They had treated her for oxygen deprivation, a multitude of bruises, and even a few places that had been burned. She hadn’t even known about the burns. In that whole time, Corey had only been by once, at the beginning. She saw the entire Estro family, most of the warriors she had trained, but no Corey. Well, she’d had enough of his evasive shit. If he was ending things with her, he would damn well do it to her face. She’d learned her lesson about clear communication from last time; she wasn’t going to let some stupid misunderstanding stand between her and what she wanted. Not again. Life was too short for that.
She dressed, ignoring the mediko’s objections that it was too soon, and put on her shoes. Just as she reached the door, though, it opened. Corey stood there with flowers in his hands.
“Where are you going?” Corey demanded.
“I…” She looked at the flowers, then his face. He took her arm and helped her walk over to a chair.
“You shouldn’t be up yet.”
“I’m pretty much cleared to leave,” she told him, ignoring the mediko behind her as he mumbled something about stubborn females. She shot the mediko a glare and he turned his back on them with a sniff.
“Where were you going?” Corey asked.
“To find you.”
“What?” he looked at her in confusion.
She glanced around the room. Two medikos worked at a desk across the room. There weren’t any other patients, but warriors could come in at any time to be treated for injuries. She didn’t want witnesses. “Let’s go somewhere more private to talk.”
“Okay. My quarters are closer,” Corey said as he helped her to stand and offered his arm for support. Neither of them talked while they moved down the corridor. Warriors passed by, stopping them just long enough to tell Nix that they were glad to see she was doing better. Nix was touched by their concern, but she hadn’t realized how tired she was. By the time they reached Corey’s quarters, she was ready to collapse in the nearest chair, which she did.
Corey sat on the edge of his bed. “Why were you coming to look for me?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I haven’t seen you in two days. We need to discuss the things that happened between us and what they mean. If they mean anything at all.” He looked at her with a look she couldn’t decipher.
“I’ve actually been by to see you quite a few times, but you were either resting, sedated, or the medikos kicked me out for being an ass. I just couldn't stand seeing you lying there helpless, and I, uh, might have yelled at them to do more for you, to make you heal faster.”
She snorted. No one had told her that, but she could definitely see him being a thorn in their side. “So you haven’t been ignoring me?”
“Why would you ever think that?”
“You did it before, when we were intimate months ago.”
“Dammit, Nix! That was only because I couldn’t remember that night. I’ve been kicking myself for that ever since you told me what happened. I would never walk away from this thing between us, unless you told me to. And even then, I’d put up a fight.”
“You turned away from me on the shuttle.”
“I was angry when you said you had set those explosives off on purpose. The thought of losing you was too much and I needed to get my emotions under control.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay then, let’s talk about the other thing.”
“Other thing?” he asked, confused.
“What is this thing between us? Is it temporary? Will you walk away...”
He moved so quickly she almost didn’t see him. He knelt in front of her and took her face in his hands. “I would never willingly walk away from you. It would be like ripping my heart from my chest. I’m in love with you, Nix, and I have been from the very first time you kicked my ass.”
Tears streamed down her face as she leaned forward to kiss his lips. “I’m in love with you too, Corey, since the first time I kicked your ass.”
They both laughed. Then he turned serious eyes on her. “I love you so much it hurts.”
She nodded her head, “Me too.”
They kissed and Corey pulled her down out of the chair to straddle his thighs as he sat back on his heels. “I don’t know what the future holds, Nix, but as long as you’re by my side I will face it head on.”
“I will gladly stand by your side and love you, Corey, forever.”
“Forever my beautiful warrior.”
“Forever,” she agreed and offered him her lips again. He already had her heart.
