“Baby, you’re alive. That’s all that matters.” I capture the lonely tear that runs down his cheek. “The guy will get the punishment he deserves, but for now, we have to focus on getting you better and leave that asshole to the police.”
He nods in agreement, and his eyes flicker closed as I kiss the spot where I captured his tear. I then move across to his lips and press a lingering kiss there, enjoying the warmth of his lips against mine. I pull away, and he quickly wipes the wetness from his eyes, almost like he’s ashamed of them, ashamed of the emotion.
“Sorry for crying,” he murmurs with a strain-filled gulp.
“Hey, you don’t have to hide your emotions from me. When you cry, I cry with you.”
His lips pull up in a smile, his eyes now glistening with a look of adoration. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I press another kiss to his lips, and as I’m pulling away, Rachel’s voice can be heard from behind.
“You’re awake. Finally. But having sex in an ICU bed is probably against the rules.”
We both laugh, and I slip off the bed and sit back in the seat.
She moves to the other side of the bed and leans over to hug her brother. “How are you doing?” she asks once she steps back and takes a seat.
“I’m okay, considering.”
“Good. Although I do want to tell you that I told you so with that bike, but I’m guessing you lying back in this bed already does that. I told you I hated you riding that death trap.”
“Are you seriously lecturing me right now?” he asks with disbelief.
“Hell yes, I am. You almost died, Drew. That gives me every right to lecture you.”
He smirks, shaking his head.
“What?” she asks when he remains silent.
“You sound just like Mom. She never liked the bike either.”
Rachel then looks to me. “What about you? Are you a fan of the bike?”
I hate that we seem to be ganging up on him, but if he never rode a bike again, I’d be relieved. He’s an incredibly safe rider, but other road users abuse their right to drive, and innocent people get hurt…or worse, they die.
“I wouldn’t be opposed if you never rode again,” I honestly say to Drew.
“See? Three against one. The bike is gone,” Rachel states, giving no room for argument.
“Does that mean I can finally get the racing car I’ve always wanted?”
I see the grin on his face and know he’s messing with her, but Rachel is too riled up to hear the humor in his voice.
“No fucking way. Are you determined to kill yourself?”
“Rach, I was kidding. The last thing I want to do is go on a bike right now. The one thing I would like to do is have a piss. Could you grab me a nurse, so I could use the bathroom?”
“Um, baby, you have a catheter. You’re actually peeing as we speak.” I look down to the bottom of the bed where the urine drainage bag is filling up.
“I have a catheter inside my dick?”
Rachel and I burst out laughing at the horrified expression on his face.
“You’ve had it in there for over a week now,” Rachel adds, continuing to laugh.
“No guy should have anything up his dick. That’s just wrong. I need this fucker taken out of me, stat. I want to pee while standing up,” he complains.
Rachel and I continue to laugh.
The next day, much to Drew’s relief, he has the catheter removed and is moved out of ICU to a private room. He spends the next four days there. Since his stats and vitals have improved and his last CAT scan came up normal, with no imminent risk to his brain, he’s had the all-clear to go home tomorrow. He’s under strict bed-rest instructions for the next two to three weeks, so I’m going to take my remaining vacation days to take care of him and do some work from home.
My boss has been incredible while I’ve been here at the hospital. He allowed me to have five days paid compassionate care leave even though Drew isn’t my spouse and the remaining days as unpaid leave.
The day after Drew is moved out of the ICU, Rachel finally leaves for Austin, happy with Drew’s prognosis. Since Junior had missed over a week of school, Rachel suggested he stay with them until Drew was ready to come home, so he wouldn’t have to miss any more school. I honestly don’t know what I would do without Rachel. She’s been a godsend since I moved to Austin.
The next morning, I arrive at Drew’s room, and I smile, seeing that he’s fully dressed, sitting on the bed. He’s ready to go, but I’m a little shocked to see him sporting a new hairstyle—or lack thereof with his shaved head.
“Morning,” I greet, walking over to him and planting a kiss on his lips. I step back, and a heat tingles through me at his appreciative stare. “Your hair looks different.” I brush my fingers over his bristled hair, being careful not to catch the healing incision.
“There was a bald patch where they operated, so I just told them to shave the rest off.”
“I’m going to miss your hair, but I’m kind of digging the bad-boy hairstyle. It gives you more of an edge. Dangerous.” I smile flirtatiously.
“Really?” he asks in a low voice, sexual intrigue dancing in his eyes.
“Down, boy,” I say, laughing. “You’re on strict bed rest when we get home.”
“Exactly. I’m on bed rest. What better time to get naked?” He grins a Cheshire Cat grin.
“Bed rest means rest, not sex,” I tell him.
He scowls at me. “Just wait until I’m back on my feet,” he warns, wagging his eyebrows.
“Is that a threat?” I smile.
“Hell yeah, a threat that I’m going to fuck you senseless.”
The thought of him doing just that sends a thrill of lust along my spine and heat sparks directly to the clit. To distract me from my arousal, I playfully shove his arm, not enough to hurt him but enough to jolt him some.
“You had a shower,” he points out a few seconds later, brushing his fingers through my clean blonde locks of hair.
Last night was the first time I had a decent shower in two weeks. While I’d been with Drew in the hospital, I’d bathed myself with the hospital’s facilities the best I could and used a quick douse of dry shampoo, but nothing could beat a steaming hot shower. Last night was also the first night I slept in a real bed after Drew had all but kicked me out, so I could finally get some rest.
“I sure did.” I smile as I sit on the edge of the bed. “And I actually put on a little makeup, too. I no longer look like a hobo.” I chuckle.
“No, you look beautiful. You always do.”
Heat rises along my cheeks, and I love how he can still make me blush.
“So, are you ready?” I ask.
“Yes. Just got to wait for the discharge papers, and I’m all set. You just missed the physio.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“With the crutches, it was like learning to walk all over again, but I mastered them like a pro.” He beams, pointing to the crutches leaning against the end of the bed.
“Is there anything you can’t do?” I joke, massaging his left thigh with my fingers.
“I’m Captain America. I can do everything.” He laughs jokingly.
Suddenly, I remember the scrub cap, and I could kick myself for forgetting to show him.
“Oh, that reminds me.” I grab my purse from where I left it on the chair and take out the scrub cap that became my saving grace while Drew was in the coma.
I hand it to him, and he looks down at it, baffled.
“Why do you have a scrub cap?”
“Look at it properly.” I nod to the cap in his hands.
He looks back down at it and smiles when he sees the Captain America design.
“When you were about to go into recovery after your surgery,” I begin to explain the story behind it, “the surgeon, Dr. Stephens, came out to give us an update. He was wearing this scrub cap. I ended up running after him and telling him how obsessed you were with Captain America and how that maybe it
was fate that he was the doctor trying to save your life. He gave me the scrub cap and said, ‘When he wakes up, you can tell him that Captain America saved his life.’”
Drew seems to stare at the cap for an age until he looks up, smiling like he’s won the Super Bowl. “This is awesome. I want to have this framed.”
I lean into him and kiss his lips. “Anything you want.”
The doctor arrives shortly with the discharge papers and tells us that Drew’s aftercare is being transferred to Seton Medical Center in Austin. Once Drew’s been given his last instructions, the nurse enters with a wheelchair and wheels him out of the hospital where I help him into the car.
Before we know it, we’re on our way back to Austin, a place I’m finally able to call home. A place where I can see a future, a future with Drew. We chat a little, but for the majority of the drive, he dozes. After fighting with highway traffic, we finally make it home four hours later.
“Baby, we’re home,” I softly speak.
He rouses from his sleep, stretching in his position. I exit and round the car with his crutches in hand before opening the passenger door. He gets out of the car with ease, thanks to the height of my Ford Escape, and slides the crutches under his arms. I grab the overnight bag from the car, and we begin to make our way inside.
We start off slow while Drew gets a good momentum going, and by the time we get to the elevator, he’s a pro. We enter, and I hit the button for the fourth floor. We eventually make it upstairs, and as we approach the door to my apartment, he continues going toward his.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
He stills in his steps and pivots his body with his good leg. “I’m going home.”
I shake my head and guide him over to my door. “No, you’re staying with me for a while. Got a problem with that?”
He pauses in front of my door and smirks. “No, ma’am. No problem at all.”
I go to unlock my door, but before I even have the time to turn the key inside the lock, I’m spun around with my back being slammed into the door, knocking the wind right out of me.
“What are you doing?” I breathe out, my voice no longer my own.
He limps forward until he’s only an inch away from me.
“I’m doing something I wish I had done the instant I met you, except, right now, I wish you were in that T-shirt and red panties.”
I don’t have the chance to speak or come up with a sarcastic retort because his lips are on mine, and any words that might have been on the tip of my tongue melt away against Drew’s tongue. He overwhelms every one of my senses as he caressingly makes love to my mouth, owning my heart. Starting to think about it though, I think he’s always owned my heart from the get-go. It just took a while for my head to catch up with my heart.
He slowly pulls away, staring down at me like I’m his everything, his forever.
“I don’t know how I got so lucky to find you, that the love of my life would move in across the hall, but I know it will take more than a near-death accident to tear us apart. That, sugar, is the forever kind of love I was telling you existed. You are my once-in-a-lifetime, whereas I’m your second chance. It doesn’t matter how we found each other or the short amount of time we’ve been together. All that matters is us. You’re my soul mate, my best friend, and I know I’ll never have to go without my sugar.”
He chuckles, and I giggle with him.
“It’s you and me against the world. Captain America and Wonder Woman with Spider-Man at our side.”
Tears fall endlessly down my cheeks, but for the first time in forever, they’re happy tears.
“I love you so much,” I declare, pressing my eager lips to his.
I don’t think there will ever be a time when kissing him won’t be my favorite thing. I’d happily die with his lips attached to mine.
Drew draws back from my lips an inch. “I love you, too, sugar. And I didn’t say it before my accident because I didn’t think I needed to say it, but you, Jo, are my forever.”
After the barest of a beat, the warmth of his lips are back on mine, and we become lost in one another, a bubble where only he and I exist, and I have to say, it’s a pretty awesome bubble to be in. However, all bubbles do burst eventually, and he bursts ours by pulling away.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He winces, shifting in his position. “I’m kinda struggling with one leg. I would prefer to continue kissing you where I can elevate my leg and once I’ve had a nap.”
I laugh as I turn back toward the door and turn the key that’s already inside the lock. “Come on, Captain America. I’ll look after you.”
“Can you look after me with that Wonder Woman bathing suit?” He winks as he limps into the apartment with me following behind him.
“Maybe I can do better than the bathing suit…” I trail off.
He turns to me, his eyes filled with arousal at my words. “You’d look so hot in a Wonder Woman outfit, but make sure it’s slutty. I mean, I am really sick.”
He puts on a fake cough, and I roar with laughter as I shut the door.
“See? Really sick.”
“Come on. Let’s get you in bed,” I say with laughter.
And, with that, I follow him into the bedroom where I help him undress, so he’s only in his boxers, and he gets into bed. I ensure his broken leg is elevated with a few cushions before slipping off my shoes and getting into bed with him. I have a little time before Rachel will be dropping Junior off from school, so I close my eyes. The heat radiating from Drew, a comforting reminder that his heart continues to beat with every breath he takes, sends me into a restful sleep.
All the worries and fears from the past two weeks fade away in an instant, and the only person I see in my dreams is the person I’m destined to spend my forever with.
Drew.
My soul mate.
My best friend.
My Captain America.
One Year Later
Drew
“Good morning, sugar,” I announce as I walk into the kitchen, slapping Jo on the ass.
She jolts under my touch with a gasp and turns to me with a smile on her face, the same smile that sucker-punches me in the chest every single time.
I fucking love this woman.
“Morning,” she says with a sweet tone to her voice.
I wish that mouth were wrapped around my dick right now. I pull her into my arms and seek her lips with mine. My cock begins to stir, but seconds later, it’s as if ice-cold water is doused over every inch of me when I’m cockblocked by an eight-year-old.
“Ew, gross.”
I laugh into Jo’s mouth before stepping away and turning toward Junior, who’s already dressed in his soccer uniform, ready for practice.
“This will be you in a couple of years’ time, bud,” I say, leaning back against the counter, smiling at the look of disgust that mars his face.
“I’d rather kiss a toad.” He mockingly retches as he sits his butt down at the table, reaching for his Kindle.
Jo chuckles beside me as she continues making breakfast.
“Is he trying to tell us that he wants a prince instead of a princess when he grows up?” I smirk.
She rolls her eyes with a smile. “You’re thinking of The Frog Prince. The princess kisses a frog, turning him into a prince, not a toad.”
“I didn’t realize there was a difference between a toad and a frog.”
Junior must have overheard our conversation as he says without even looking up from his Kindle, “Both frogs and toads are amphibians, belonging to the order Anura, but frogs are generally called true frogs, belonging to the family Ranidae, and true toads come from the family Bufonidae. Plus, frogs are slimy and smooth, and they have bulging eyes and longer legs for jumping. They prefer moist environments. Toads have dry, bumpy skin and shorter legs for walking and hopping. They have poisonous glands behind their eyes and prefer a dry environment. Also, they don’t have teeth.”
I glance at Jo
with a raised brow, completely in awe. “Holy shit, your son is a genius,” I whisper for her ears only.
She proudly smiles as she flips over a pancake in the pan. “I know.”
“We’d better get saving. At this rate, he’ll be going to college when he’s eleven. I think the kid outsmarts Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory.” I chuckle.
She glances over to me, and her eyes shimmer with pure love. “We?”
I edge closer to her until there isn’t an inch left between us, and I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Hell yes.”
I brush my lips against hers for a deep kiss before pulling away. Her eyes glaze over, unable to blink. It’s the same look she gets in her eyes when she’s ready to pounce on me, and my cock twitches within the confines of my jeans.
I then look down at the pancake sizzling away in the pan and snigger. “I think something’s burning.”
That brings her out of her daze, and she shoves me back.
“Shit,” she cusses as she hurriedly turns the heat down on the stove. She moves the burned pancake from the pan and onto a side plate. She turns to me and scowls. “Go sit your ass down, and stop distracting me with your lips. I’m trying to make breakfast.”
My lips purse with a smile, and I lean in closer. “God, I love it when you’re mad at me. So sexy.”
“Go sit down!”
“Even more turned on,” I whisper. I back up when she threateningly points the spatula in my direction. “I’m going. I’m going.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “But can you try not to burn the next pancake? I’m starving.”
I grin and then burst out laughing when Junior pipes up, “Yes, me, too.”
She shakes her head, unimpressed, but not before smiling as she pours more pancake batter into the pan.
During the past year, this has been my life. It wasn’t something I realized I wanted until I met the girl of my dreams as she stood in front of my door, looking all kinds of gorgeous, while she yelled at me, and all I could focus on was her red panties peeking below her T-shirt.
An angry woman is sexy. But an angry Jo…well, it’s beyond fucking spectacular, and from that point on, she was all I could see.
Our Forever Page 30