“I should go. I didn’t mean to… Ryan, I’msosorry.” My voice was a croak. It was rough from being sick and maybe screaming, but there was also a painful lump in my throat that no matter how many times I swallowed, wouldn’t go away.
“I can’t stay here…” I muttered, trying to get to my feet, but Ryan wrapped his arms around me and crushed me against him. I winced as his arms jostled my wound, which was bleeding again, but I didn’t have the strength to pull away.
I was so tired.
“You’re not going anywhere, angel. Come on, let’s get you back in bed.”
I shook my head against his shoulder, biting back what I was almost positive was a sob.
“No. I just almost killed you in my sleep, Ryan. We can’t sleep in the same bed.”
He chuckled and tugged me to my feet, positioning my body so I could lean on him.
“I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting you to try to off me for trying to wake you up from a nightmare, but now I know better. It’ll just be a bit of a learning curve, baby. We’ll figure it out. Do you have nightmares often?”
“Yeah, I—” I paused as I took a minute to process his words. “Wait… did you just call mebaby?”I asked, completely flabbergasted.
He smiled at me as he steered me back into bed.
“Yeah. Is that okay?”
I gaped at him.
Was that okay!?
I swallowed and nodded.
“Of course it’s okay, ginger snap.”
He beamed at me and gave me a kiss on the forehead as he settled me on the edge of the mattress.
“I’m going to clean this up.” He gestured back to where I had been sick on the floor. “And I’ll bring you a toothbrush and a cup of water. Here, you can rinse and spit in this cup you used earlier to take your pills…” He was already in what I was now affectionately calling‘Ryan Mode.’It was this no-nonsense, straight-to-business persona that he seemed to fall into when there were tasks that needed to get done.
When he was like this, he wouldn’t stop until his checklist was complete, and I knew there was no fighting it.
“I can walk to the bathroom, you know…”
He shot me a withering glare and nearlysnarled.
“You will do no such thing. You definitely tore a stitch, if not while you were suffering through that PTSD response, then you definitely did when you tried to bolt for the door. I’m going to have to get Dr. Callahan in here to check you out…”
“Dr. Callahan?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.
Ryan bustled into the hall and reappeared with paper towels and a mop.
I watched him get to work cleaning up my mess, and he nodded.
“Yeah, he’s a doctor Cass knows. You owe him your life. He’s the one who patched you up.”
Huh. Interesting.
“I thoughtyoupatched me up, ginger snap.” I smirked at him as he finished up and brought me a toothbrush with some paste already squeezed on it. I got to work brushing my teeth while he shrugged.
“I just kept you alive until he got here.”
Spitting out my toothpaste into the cup Ryan had instructed me to use, I cocked my head to the side.
“Justkept me alive until he got here?” I reached out and brushed a strand of ginger hair out of his gorgeous, brandy eyes. “That sounds pretty heroic to me, baby.”
