I grabbed the front of his cashmere sweater as I shook my head. “No, you were perfect.”
Then I slammed our mouths together, kissing him with all the feelings I was afraid to voice.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
RYDER
When tearing Kenny a new asshole, I might have gone overboard, but the way Alex had tried to dive down my throat afterward let me know he didn’t mind my aggressive approach at all. Someone had to put that little punk in his place, and I knew the situation was complicated for Alex due to his mother’s feelings on the matter. The funny thing was, I didn’t balk at saving Kenny’s ass from violent drug dealers, and I would have bailed him out of jail in a heartbeat if he’d shown an ounce of remorse and asked for help. But instead, he’d run his mouth. What I wouldn’t tolerate was him talking shit about Alex.
Not a fucking chance.
After Alex kissed me senseless, he helped his mom finish getting ready to head to the hospital. Since they didn’t have a modified car with space for her motorized wheelchair, he had to help her into a manual chair, then into my car, where he folded the chair and stowed it in the trunk.
All before seven a.m.
It was exhausting, both physically and emotionally, but Alex never complained.
And Kenny never came back out of his room.
And Alex couldn’t figure out why I liked doing things for him, why I wanted to spoil him.
No one deserved it more.
The weather had changed, bringing the warmth of spring, which made getting around easier. I no longer had to worry about Alex driving on snow and ice in his old beater of a vehicle. For some reason, he wouldn’t let me buy him a new car, no matter how many times I asked.
Stubborn man.
When we arrived at the hospital, we wheeled her to the OR check-in window. From there, she was whisked away to prepare for surgery, and we had a few hours to kill.
“Want to grab a coffee at that little shop on the first floor?” I asked after saying goodbye to his mom.
Alex nodded. “Unless you need to go. You don’t have to stay with me.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I know.”
“Okay, then coffee it is.” He bumped my shoulder, then took my hand, making me smile.
I got it. This relationship thing was new to both of us, and he needed to make sure one final time that I wanted to be here.
Which I did. Over the past few weeks, I’d discovered I’d happily sit on a trash heap just to be next to Alex.
Throwing my arm around his shoulders, I tugged him to me as we strolled down the hallway. “Or we could find a supply closet and reenact what went down in the shower this morning,” I whispered against his ear before kissing the side of his head.
He glared at me with the same scowl that used to annoy me. “Jesus, Ryder.” He shifted his hips as he walked.
“Something wrong?”
“Yes, something is wrong. I’m fucking hard in the middle of the damn hospital.”
“Mmm, I love making you hard, especially when you grow on my tongue. Wanna know what my favorite thing is?” He didn’t respond, but the furrow in his brow told me he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to strangle me or push me against thewindow and fuck me. “My favorite thing in the whole goddamn world is taking you in my mouth in the morning when you’re still soft and sleepy. I love the way you get so fucking hard on my to—”
He stopped so abruptly that I stumbled, but the way he shoved me against the wall of windows prevented me from falling. “Shut up,” he said with a growl as he slammed his palm over my mouth. “Just shut the fuck up.”
I smirked beneath his hand.
“You cannot say shit like that to me in the hallway of a hospital.”
Since I couldn’t speak, I raised an eyebrow.Why?
