“You have a point.”
“It’s like you said, it shouldn’t take something catastrophic happening for us to have a conversation. You have to let me in.”
“I am. I will.” He sighed and burrowed his face into my neck. “Maybe you could come with me to my next NA meeting? See what I do every day?”
“I’m there, Daddy. Always for you.”
“Fuck yeah, you are.” His hands wandered a little north, and I sighed as a sense of peace washed over me. “And we’ll figure out the rest of it in time. I mean, it’s not ideal given your age, but I want to table the baby talk for a bit. Maybe revisit it in two years?”
“Did you just call me old?”
“Well, if the creased leather pants fit—eep!” I yelped as his nuzzling turned into a tickle fest.
“You two are disgustingly cute.” Beau flung the curtain aside and stomped into the tiny space before plopping a greasy brown paper bag on the small table next to the chair. “Here’s your damnburrito. Chicken okay? I forgot to ask if you’re a vegetarian, and Mal here didn’t answer his phone.”
“Chicken is awesome, and I can totally relate.”
Mal sucked in a breath, and I winced.
“Too soon?”
Beau lifted the side of his mouth in a smirk that no doubt would’ve made many a woman swoon. “Yeah, she’s good people. You chose wisely, Mal.”
I turned slightly to look up at Mal. “Did he just quote Indiana Jones?”
Beau cracked up. “Fuck, now I’m jealous.” He shook his head. “I’ll be back at our waiting room if you need anything else.”
“Thanks, Beau!” I shouted at his large, lumbering Viking-esque form as he walked away.
He lifted a hand in response but kept walking.
Mal huffed before twisting out of the bed behind me and helping me sit up. He didn’t say a word as he passed me the bag and collapsed onto the chair, folding his arms over his chest with a furrowed brow.
“What?” I finally asked, confused by his sudden change of behavior. And after we’d made up so much ground.
“I don’t like him crushing on you. He should know you’re my woman,” he said, sulkily.
“Oh my god. You’re ridiculous!”
He huffed again. “I shouldn’t have to hear it. So disrespectful.”
“Do you know what I’ve had to listen to the nurses say about you? And the doctor too!”
He perked right up. “What’d they say?”
I rolled my eyes and dug my burrito out of the bag. But when I looked up Mal was staring back at me with this expression in his eyes that made my heart skip a beat. Despite everythingthat’d happened today—his crazy assistant, the abduction, the trauma, the ER visit—I probably looked a mess.
And yet despite it all, he still stared at me like I was the most wonderful, gorgeous woman ever.
I smiled back at him then dug into the burrito with the gusto of a starving Dickens character.
And Mal had that look in his eyes the entire time.
If that wasn’t love, I don’t know what was.
Chapter 26
Mal
