Page 44 of Charmed and Alarmed

“Good idea,” replies Ballard wryly. The man hasn’t said much until now, obviously reluctant to get involved in this new, dramatic family development. I don’t blame him.

Honor looks to him with a soft, tired smile. “Let’s go home. Thank you for keeping us in the loop, Holden.”

Sophie nods in agreement. “I’ll talk to Bram,” she begins, wincing as if to say I shouldn’t expect much.

“Don’t. It’ll only piss him off.” I tell her wearily. “This is something we need to sort out ourselves.”

Obviously relieved, she offers me a tight, apologetic smile before slipping from the room. Honor and Julian follow. The moment everyone is gone, I slump back into the chair, stomach churning. Nothing is going to make me feel better until I see Len with my own two eyes, talk to her, hold her. My head snaps up to look at the door when the sound of lowered voices and wheels moving over linoleum reaches my ears.

Leni is still attached to a dozen or so wires and tubes, but she’s awake and smiles sleepily at me as the nurses push the bed back into place in the center of the room.

“Hey,” I whisper, smoothing her hair back from her face, my throat thick with emotion. “How do you feel?”

“Good.” She yawns, her fingers dancing over my wrist. “That was really fast.”

I chuckle, my heart full to bursting as I lean forward to kiss her forehead. Fuck, it might have been fast to her, but to me, it felt like an eternity.

“Did my family come?” she asks quietly once the nurses are gone, and, careful not to disrupt her leg, I lay beside her on the hospital bed.

“They’re all gone,” I assure her as I pull a hospital blanket over us both with one hand, wrapping my other around her shoulders. The moment we’ve settled into each other’s embrace, I feel some tension drain from us both.

Leni hums, pressing her face into my chest. “You smell so good.”

“Do I?” I draw my fingers up and down her spine, savoring the warmth and familiarity of her body pressed against mine.

She’s fine.

She’s going to be just fine.

I’ll take her home with me in a few hours.

“Mhmm.” She slips her hand beneath the hem of my shirt, laying it flat against my back. “So the news is out, huh? How mad was Bram? On a scale from one to homicide?”

“Oh, at least a nine. The location worked in my favor.”

Her hold on me tightens. “Are you okay?”

Blowing out a shaky lungful of air, I kiss her temple. Part of me wants to be strong, to tell her there’s nothing to worry about and I’m fine. That wouldn’t be the truth, though, and by now, I know she’s strong enough to handle anything.

“Not even a little. It was… Bram is like family to me, Len. Now, you are too, though, and today I had to choose.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault.”

She’s silent for so long that I think she’s fallen asleep, and my heart leaps when her soft, sleepy voice comes from beside me. “You like to pretend otherwise, but you’re the best person in the world.”

I let out a choked laugh, my chest hollow with guilt and exhaustion. “I did shit before… Well, before you. Shit I’m not proud of. Shit I should have told you before we made this official.”

“Does it change how you feel about me now?”

My heart stalls. “Of coursenot.”

Leni pinches me lightly, her warm breath ghosting over my neck. I can tell she’s close to sleep. “I really don’t want to know, baby. Can we just chalk this one up to you being a hoe and keep going with you not being a hoe except with me?”

God, I really believed I couldn’t fall any harder for this woman, but she seems to delight in proving me wrong at every possible opportunity.

Kissing her hair, I smile. “I’m beginning to suspect all that hoeing around was just preparation for you, princess.”

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