I nod and sniffle. I must hit his incision because he hisses through his teeth. His eyes close, and he breathes through the pain.
“I’m sorry.” I try to lean back, but he’s pulling me back toward him.
When the pain subsides, he grabs my hand and kisses my palm. “I don’t care if I’m screaming in pain. I don’t want you anywhere, except right here by my side.”
He pulls me in for a kiss, and my hands rise up to cup his face. This gorgeous face that I spent so long pretending like it wasn’t the one face I wanted to kiss for eternity.
I love this man. Not just because he wants me with him when he’s in agony. Not even because he saved my life and especially not because he concocted a ridiculous scheme to get us to spend time together, which almost cost him a job and me a friendship. I love him because, whether I want to admit it or not, he is my partner. Offense, defense, no matter the position, Adam is right; we’re a team.
He lets go of me to push himself up to scoot over on the bed and turn slightly onto his side. He’s made enough room for me to lie down next to him.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
He pats the bedsheet and lifts an arm, willing me into the nook of his arm. I curl my body in, careful not to go near his bandage, and lay my head onto his chest.
His fingers run up and down my arm as his head rests on top of mine. With a deep exhale, he relaxes into me. The cocoon he’s created for me is lulling me to sleep.
I listen to his steady heartbeat in his chest. The rhythm is a peaceful song against the beeping machine next to us.
“My little criminal,” he sighs.
“My corrupted probation officer.” My voice is laced with sleepiness.
“You’re never gonna let me live that down.”
“You wouldn’t want it any other way.”
chapter TWENTY-EIGHT
“How’s your head? Do you need an ice pack? I have your pain meds if you need them.”
My mom has been all over me since I came home from the hospital. As predicted, she’s knitting me a blanket and Dad has a freezer full of casseroles and pies. He even read to me by my bed when I couldn’t sleep last night.
I give my mom a hug. “You worry too much. Besides, if I get better too soon, I won’t have an excuse to go back to the hospital and drool all over the handsome doctors.”
She gives me a gentle pat on the arm. “Oh, behave.”
I walk a tray of snickerdoodles over to the oven and put them on the lower shelf. Luke walks into the kitchen, and if I were still holding on to the tray, I would have dropped the cookies everywhere.
I cover my eyes with my hands and fall back into the countertop. “What are you wearing?” My words are a dramatic shriek.
I peek between fingers and see Luke standing in the middle of the kitchen with his hands on his hips and a cocky grin on his face. He’s not wearing a shirt or pants, just a tight red Speedo covering his boy junk.
“I’m trying to make Parker as uncomfortable as possible,” he says, putting a foot on the countertop, making his legs spread way too wide for his sister to see.
“You have succeeded in grossing me out, so Parker will for sure think you are the vilest thing ever.”
Luke’s grin widens. “Good. Will you oil me down?”
“Ew.” I push him away with my foot.
He now stands with both feet on the floor and I remove my hands to look at him further.
“We don’t own a pool.”
“I know.” He picks an apple up from a basket on the counter and takes a large bite.
As disturbing as the little freak looks, I do admire his imagination. “You need a feather boa.”
He cocks a brow.
“And boots. Your ski boots would be amazing!” I’m suddenly very into Luke’s Speedo idea.
He widens his grin. “You’re a genius. I’ll be right back.”
Luke runs upstairs, and I wipe down the counter, cleaning up the mess I made from baking. The doorbell rings, and I nearly run to answer it.
When I open the door, my eyes instantly collide with a man’s torso, clad in a tight orange T-shirt that accentuates his muscular chest. He’s wearing cargo shorts and sneakers, and when I look up to the top of his six-foot frame, he’s wearing aviator sunglasses that show my love-struck expression in the lenses.
I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him.
His hands wrap around my waist and pull me into him. His tongue glides along mine as his lips suck me into an abyss of everything Adam.
He walks us inside and kicks the door closed with his foot. In my living room, he releases me, and I slide down his incredible frame.
“Hi,” he says, placing his forehead against mine.
“Hi,” I say back, looking up into his illustrious glasslike eyes. My hands skim down his torso and over the fabric of his shirt that’s covering his bandaged incision.
He breathes through his teeth when my hand strokes the tender area.
“Are you taking your pain meds?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’m fighting this on my own. Getting hooked on pain meds is a major pathway to opiate use. I’d rather do this the old-fashioned way.”
“Suffering through the pain?”
“I’m sure my girl can think of some way to distract me from it.” He smirks.
I grab his hands and hold them tight, swaying them from side to side, as we stand and stare at each other.
“I wish I could run away with you right now, but my family is in the backyard.”
He leans in and kisses me again. “I wasn’t going to take you away. Keeping you here sounds like a great idea.”
I pull his hand and walk him through the kitchen and out to the backyard. Mom is husking corn while Dad marinates the ribs. Grandma is sipping her Tom Collins in the corner, and Emma and Parker are seated at the patio table. Emma is dressed in a red shirt with white shorts while Parker is wearing khaki pants and a blue-and-white button-down. I really want to explain to the guy that it’s ninety degrees today, but apparently, he likes to “dress well.” Whatever that means.
“Mom, Dad, Emma, you remember Adam.” I stand by the patio door, holding on to Adam. “Parker Ryles, this is my boyfriend, Adam Reingold.”
“Honored to meet a hero.” Parker stands up to shake Adam’s hand.
It’s a lovely gesture, something respectable to do. It’s how I know he’s going to do something douchey soon.
“When I was in Kenya, I saw a man will a lifeless elephant back to life with a single breath and the touch of his palms.”
Yep, there it is.
“You are a brave soul to have willed life back into Leah the way you did.”
“I wasn’t dying,” I say.
“I almost did,” Adam adds.
We look at each other and nod.
Adam continues to shake Parker’s hand. From the look on Parker’s face, Adam’s grip is a tad tighter than he prefers.
“I can see you’re a man of physical strength. Have you considered meditating? Ems and I have just started. In Tibet, I prayed with a Buddhist monk. Dharma is the ultimate protection.”
Adam releases his grasp, and Parker grabs his palm and rubs it down.
I pull Adam away, toward the lady fanning herself, and I’m pretty sure it’s not from the heat.
“Adam, this is my grandmother.”
He leans in and shakes her hand. “I remember you. How can I forget a woman who likes to break the rules?”
He gives her a kiss on her cheek, and she fans herself some more.
“Chain him to the bed, Leah,” she says. “Cuff him, and don’t let him out of your sight for the next fifty years.”
I would think he’d be mortified by her comment, but he just grins.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Paige. I have the cuffs in my pocket, and I’ll gladly chain myself.”
Grandma takes a swig of her Tom Collins. “I want stories. And great-grandchildren. I don’t care which comes first.”
&n
bsp; I pull Adam away. “We’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Adam, do you want—”
“Evening, everyone. Has anyone seen my sunglasses?” Luke announces as he walks onto the deck. He’s wearing his red Speedo, a pink feather boa, a latex swim cap, and ski boots. His feet make a loud thumping sound as he walks over to the patio table where he puts his leg up on the chair and holds his hand out to Parker. “Wonderful seeing you today!”
Emma’s head falls into her hands as she laughs uncontrollably. Parker, on the other hand, moves back in disgust.
“Honey, is he ill?” he asks Emma.
She swats him away and continues to laugh.
“Luke, put some clothes on,” my mom says to him. “I have a blazer in my closet that will go great with that outfit.”
Parker rolls his eyes at the loony bin that is my family. I look over at Adam and see his head barreled back in laughter. He doesn’t just get me. He gets us.
I pull on his arm. “Come on. We have time before dinner.”
He follows me across the backyard to the tree with a rope ladder hanging from it. We climb up, and when we’re safely on the wooden floor of the tree house, I pull the rope ladder up.
“You don’t want me escaping?” he asks with his head ducked down to keep from hitting it on the short roof.
I watch as he takes a seat against the wall. His one leg is bent, and the other is stretched out long across the space.
“I don’t want anyone coming up.”
He raises a brow. “Why wouldn’t you want anyone coming up here?”
I lift my T-shirt over my head. “Because I’m about to provide you with some much-needed pain distraction.”
Onyx eyes glisten with anticipation. “Your family will be able to hear.”
“Then, you’d better be very quiet,” I say, shimmying out of my shorts. Wearing just a bra, I crawl over to him and start unbuckling his pants.
“Are you trying to corrupt me?” he asks as I slide his shorts and boxers down just enough to free his very hard shaft from his pants.
I pump him in my hand as he takes off his T-shirt. He winces as he twists his body in the wrong direction, causing him pain. I lean forward and try to kiss away the hurt. It seems to be working because he’s falling into my kiss. His hand pulls my head in, and his other cups my breast.
I’ve suddenly decided his shorts need to come off completely, so I drag them down his legs and unclasp my bra. Kneeling naked beside him, I look at his incredible body. From the hard muscles of his chest to the well-defined abs and the throbbing erection between his legs, I am very much aware of how lucky I am. Not only is he physically beautiful, but he is also emotionally, morally, spiritually perfect.
I climb on top of him, my legs on the sides of his thighs. I close my arms around his neck and slowly sink onto him. I gasp with the fullness and roll my hips, feeling his bare skin inside me.
He curses, and it’s a sweet sound coming from his lips.
I cover his mouth with my hand, hushing him.
He tweaks a nipple, and I cry out in pleasure.
He covers my mouth to keep me from making a sound.
I ride him harder, burying his cock deep, massaging that sweet spot inside me with the tip. My wetness pools around him as he continues to pinch and flick my nipple, making the zing go straight to my core.
I lean back and give him everything I’ve got. The tree house might fall from the heavy vibrations, and I don’t care. He lifts his hips, and it must be painful for him, but he’s doing it anyway. The way his thrusts match mine is causing me to climb so high that I’m biting hard on the palm of his hand that is mustering the sounds as an orgasm rushes through me, and I come hard all over him.
He lifts my hips and pulls me down. His head falls back as he spills his orgasm into me.
I remove my hand and kiss him. We’re sweaty and sticky and so fucking in love that it’s insane.
My forehead to his, I gasp in hitched breaths. He’s panting, his chest rising and falling, coming down from the rush of his orgasm.
“That was amazing,” I say. I kiss him again.
He runs his hands up and down my arms. “I want to be bare inside you for the rest of my life.”
“Shit. That was pretty stupid. I’m not on the pill. I’m sorry I—”
He shushes me with a finger. “Leah, you said something at the hospital that really upset me.”
I grimace and wonder what in the world I could have said.
“No one would tell you about me because you weren’t family. It doesn’t sit well with me because you are my world. I’m going to marry you. I’m going to give you that dream house with the biggest closet and a media room to watch Matthew McConaughey movies in. I’m going to pick you up every night from work and make sure you’re home safe with me. And I’m going to love you. Forever.”
I can’t help but cry. Tears. Beautiful, happy, joyful tears fall down my face.
I hold his head in my hands. “I’m going to take you away to Capri, and we’ll find a beach to camp on and make love under the stars. I’m going to bring you home and take care of you. I want to be the one who watches out for you because, at the end of the day, you are the only thing that matters to me. I love you, and I’d be honored to be your wife.”
“Well, I never technically asked you…” he says.
I wait for the punch line.
There’s isn’t one.
“Are you serious? You’re just gonna sit here and say you want to marry me but not actually ask me?”
“I wasn’t planning on proposing to you in a tree house and not without a ring. Since you’ve kinda hijacked the whole thing, I guess it doesn’t matter where or when or how I do it. So, marry me.”
“No,” I say.
His eyes are stunned.
I lean back and cross my arms. “If you think I’m going to marry you, I want the proposal of all proposals. It’s got to be big. Huge!”
He narrows his eyes at me. “How huge?”
“Embarrassingly.”
His mouth curls into a devilish grin as he accepts my dare. “You’re on.”
“Oh, really?”
“You just won yourself one big, huge proposal. Now, you’re just going to have to wait. And it’s going to be torture because, if there’s one thing I have that you don’t, it’s patience.”
He has a wicked gleam in his eye.
This man will be the death of me. This man has given me new life. This man has wrecked me beyond belief. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
EPILOGUE
ADAM
“All right, all right, all right! Who’s ready to party tonight?”
See that woman up there? The one with the long blonde hair and baby-blue eyes. She’s wearing the tightest-fitting jeans and a flannel shirt that’s tied around her naval—that delicious spot I was running my tongue over just this morning. That’s my Leah.
She standing on the bar, getting the room to chant along with her. The place is packed and has been almost every night since reopening after she closed down for a week’s worth of renovations while the place transformed into McConaughey’s. The long bar is still the same, but the room has been painted a dark maroon. Black-and-white pictures of Matthew McConaughey line the wall opposite the bar.
I’m currently standing next to a photo of him wearing an astronaut’s uniform. It’s kinda creepy, the way his eyes look through the picture and into your soul.…and, now, I know I have been spending way too much time with Leah. She’s converting me into a McConaughey fan.
That’s okay. That woman is my life. I might not be here to protect her from every little thing that comes her way, but she’s proven that she is stronger than I ever gave her credit for. I’m a lucky bastard.
I’m making my way to the back of the bar. She’s created a lounge area with dark brown leather sofas and large trunks that act as tables. There’s a DJ booth in the back and she moved tables around the dance floor, which makes it a great intimate place to
dance.
There’s a poster in the back with the upcoming theme nights. She’s decided to rotate them every Saturday night. This weekend is Cops and Robbers. I have no idea what she has up her sleeve for that one.
Her mom and dad are here tonight, as are Emma and Luke, who are both home for the weekend. They told her they were in town to see the bar, but the truth is, I invited them.
It’s been only two months since my half-assed proposal to her in the tree house. I told her I had patience, but the truth is, it’s been killing me, waiting for the perfect time. She’s been working crazy hours, and with my long shifts, it’s been hard to plan.
That’s not to say I haven’t messed with her a few times.
Last week, I dropped down on one knee, looked up into her eyes, and then bent down to tie my shoe before getting up and walking away. She threw a pillow at my head.
Yesterday, we were at the newest property for Homes for All Souls, and on a dusty window, I wrote out the words, Leah, will you move over?
She called me an asshole and left the room.
Tonight, the stars have finally aligned. I have her family here, in the place she loves the most. I walk up to the DJ booth and grab my bag I stored in there. I take off my shirt and throw on the black leather vest that took me a ridiculously long time to find because, apparently, no one wears leather vests. Not surprised.
I put the black Stetson on my head and place two hands on the ledge in front of me. I bow my head and take a few deep breaths.
“Having second thoughts?” Luke asks from the doorway.
I look up at the kid. “The things I do for your sister.”
He gives me an encouraging nod. “Go get ’em, cowboy.”
I stand up and walk out of the room. I am most definitely a man in love because there is no way in hell I would do this for anyone else but Leah.
She’s still up on the bar, pouring shots and having fun. I walk through the crowd to the center of the dance floor, and Ron asks the people who are dancing to move back. The bartenders start clearing things off the counter. Juice escorts the dancing bar patrons down, leaving a very confused Leah.
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