“Hell no. I’m relieved.” He brushed my hair back from my face, calm where I was spiraling. “I’m not giving up more bone marrow anytime soon. Nothing to worry about, beautiful.”
“Pregnancy?”
“I’m not worried. You said you’re covered—I trust you, Jamie.” His gaze held mine. “And even if something happened, I’d handle it. I take care of what’s mine. And you…are mine.”
To prove his point, he kissed me again while his still twitching erection ground into me.
I was his. He trusted me. And I trusted him.
“Maybe you should sit down now. You probably need to get off your feet before you fall over.” I wasn’t even sure he was supposed to be out of the hospital yet.
“You questioning my stamina?” His brows lifted, amused.
Before I could answer, he pulled free and scooped me up with easy strength. “Never mind sitting. It’s hot as hell in here. We need a shower. Point me in the right direction.”
A shower sounded perfect, but when Eric took a step with me in his arms, he staggered.
“Eric, put me down right now.”
“Fuck.” He exhaled sharply, lowering me to my feet. “Sorry, beautiful. You might have to walk. I’m in a bit of pain. Think the meds wore off.”
“There’s ibuprofen in the bag in the bathroom. Go take some and get the shower started. I’ll find towels.”
The apartment was almost entirely boxed up, but everything was labeled. I found the linens quickly and carried them down the hall. By the time I returned, steam was already curling out of the bathroom.
He was standing in front of the mirror when I stepped in.
“Holy shit, Eric, your back...”
His entire left hip and lower back were bruised deep purple and blue, swollen in places, the skin stretched tight and angry. It looked brutal.
He glanced at the mirror, then back at me with a shrug that didn’t quite hide the stiffness in his posture. “Not as bad as I thought it might be.”
“Looks like you’ve been in a fight…with a car.”
“I’ll be fine.” He rolled his shoulders like he could shrug off the bruising and stepped into the shower. “Just a little pain.” His eyes darkened as he moved under the spray. “But if you really want to take care of me, get in here.”
Water ran down his chest, over muscle and ink and healing skin. He wrapped a hand around his cock with a crooked grin. “You take care of me. Then I’ll take care of you. Then maybe we see how generous we’re both feeling.”
A laugh caught in my throat. We had four hours before the movers showed up. Four uninterrupted hours.
Something told me we weren’t wasting a single minute of it.
He looked determined, not just to prove his stamina, but to prove something deeper. That he was here. That he wasn’t fragile. That loving me hadn’t cracked him open beyond repair.
I felt the same pull, fierce and certain.
But this time, there would be condoms. Passion didn’t cancel out common sense. Eric might be fearless when it came to consequences, but I knew better than to treat something as life-altering as a child like a casual byproduct of an impulsive moment.
“Get over here, beautiful,” he called over the rush of water. “Just keep me off my back, okay?”
He winked, and for a split second the world tilted the way it had the first day we met. That same magnetic pull. That same dizzy certainty.
My man.
The thought settled into me with surprising ease.
I stepped into the shower, and when his hands found my waist and his mouth found mine, everything aligned again. The noise in my head quieted. The doubts thinned.
