A slight knock tapped on the door, and my heart leapt in my throat.Jordan.It had to be her. “Yeah, come in,” I rasped out. I wanted to see her, read her facial expressions like my favorite book, and determine how badly I’d fucked this up.
It creaked as the metal door slowly swung toward the wall, and there she was. My future wife.
“Youasshole.” Her eyes flashed as she practically ran toward the bed. Her hair had been styled at the restaurant, but now it was everywhere, like she’d run her fingers through it a hundred times. She wore an oversized coat and fluffy boots, but her beautiful jaw-dropping dress was still on. She looked beautiful. I let myself scan her head to toe before I met her gaze.
“Baby,” I said. Her eyes were red and her makeup smeared. She’d cried. She criedfor me.“I’m okay.”
She blinked a few times while her bottom lip trembled. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, hard. It was clear she struggled with what to do. I reached out a hand, gesturing her to take it. Instead, she threw herself on top of me in a bear hug. I grunted, hard.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I just need to hold you. Hug you. Please.” She lifted her head, our mouths a few inches apart.
I could feel her breath hit my face, feel her heat, and see the erratic pulse at the base of her neck. Her concern for me was almost tangible. I cupped her face, rubbing her earlobe, as an easy smile formed on my own. “You’re cute when you worry.”
“Do you feel okay? May I hug you?” She gulped. She looked nothing like the confident, take-no-shit woman I knew. She was nervous, unsettled. She kept chewing the corner of her lip and adjusting her coat.
“Get in here.”
She wrapped her arms around me, resting her head on my shoulder as she squeezed me. She smelled the same, spicy and citrusy, and her hair tickled my nose as I buried my nose against her temple. She exhaled, her body relaxing against me. All the tension in her body disappeared when I kissed the top of her head.
“Fucking hell, Preston. I know you wanted my first date to be memorable, but this was not what I pictured.”
Snorting, I hugged her as tight as I could without pain. “Smartass. That was my first thought when I woke up, you know.Is Jordan gonna be pissed I ruined our date?”
“That was your first thought? You idiot.” She lifted her head up, narrowing her beautiful eyes at me. “You didn’t ruin it. Your appendix did. Kind of an asshole move.”
“No. I definitely did. I had all these plans.” My voice was gruffer, deeper. “I had all these things I wanted to do, to experiencewith you. I wanted your first date to pretty much make sure you never wanted to date anyone else ever again.”
“Ha. Well, job well done then because I was scared as hell and felt like my heart was gonna stop.” She rubbed a hand over my chest, my arm, intertwining our fingers. “You’ve never been sick. I’ve never seen you ill, and you kept groaning. It scared me to death.”
“I’m sorry.” I kissed the back of her hand, my heart swelling with how much I loved her. “I hate scaring you or having you worry.”
She stared at me, her expression different than I had ever seen. “Do you have to stay here long or can you come back to the house? I can take care of you. Like, if they say you need someone to help you or something, it can be me.”
I couldn’t stop my smile. She sounded like she loved me, and even though she’d never admit how she felt, her concern charmed the hell out of me. “I’ll stay the rest of tonight, but tomorrow I should be discharged.”
She sighed, relief on her face as her phone buzzed. “Oh, your family is here. Can I—should I let them in?”
“You’re not leaving,” I said, holding her gaze. “You can get them, but you’re not leaving me.”
Her answering grin was slow, but she nodded, a pretty blush covering her face. “Okay, yeah, I’ll get them and come back.”
She left the room, glancing back at me with the tenderest expression, and I winked at her. She ducked her head and disappeared, leaving me alone again. Everything hurt like a bitch physically, but mentally? Emotionally?
Jordan might’ve fought her feelings for me, but they were glaringly obvious, rolling off her like neon signs, and I was gonna use that to my advantage. I wasn’t beneath that, and I grinned like a maniac right as my parents and brother barged into the room.
“Oh, honey.” My mom walked up and kissed my forehead. “Jordan told us everything. Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?”
My mom mothered me, pushing my hair out of my face and checking for injuries.
“I just had surgery, Mom. I feel like a truck hit me.”
She clicked her tongue and shared a look with my dad. “You’re still a smart ass, so that’s a good sign.”
It was weird seeing my mom and dad together. Since they told us about the divorce, the entire notion of family shifting had been circling in my brain. We’d never have holidays together again, no long weekends with them in a cabin. Yet we were together now, and it didn’t feel strange.
“Where is the nurse? I want to ask about healing. You’re in the middle of career season.” My dad scanned the wall where the nurse wrote my vitals.
I wasn;t sure what he hoped to find or understand, but it was so him I snorted. “Two weeks, probably. Then I can practice again.”
