Page 26 of Fighting for the Forbidden
“Famished.” I go to sit up, but every muscle in my body screams for me to stay still.
“Let me help.” Rushing over, Lauren puts her hands under my arms and helps me to sit up. She’s too tiny to do much, but if it makes her feel like she’s helping, then I’m happy. Plus, it means I get her hands on me. It might not be exactly how I want them, but I’ll take it. She finds some spare pillows in the wardrobe and uses them to prop me up before placing one of the boxes on my lap.
“That smells incredible.”
“You can’t beat authentic Italian pizza.”
“I guess I’m about to find out.”
I moan in ecstasy when I take a bite and the tomato sauce and mozzarella hit my tongue. Lauren’s gaze snaps over and her eyes darken as she stares at me.
“Good?”
“So good. Much better than the shitty hospital food I probably would have been served tonight.”
“You weren’t meant to leave, were you?”
“I wasn’t staying.”
“That’s not an answer.”
I shrug and inhale another slice of pizza.
“You’d left, so I had no reason to stay.”
“The broken bones weren’t enough, huh?”
“Being away from you hurts more.”
“Stop, Ben,” she sighs.
“I’m only telling the truth.”
Guilt floods her features as she realises that I now know she’s hiding something from me. “Tomorrow. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Stop putting it off. We should have talked days ago.”
“Don’t blame all this on me. You’re the one who showed up unexpectedly and turned my life upside down.”
“I’m not blaming anyone. I just hate this. It should be me and you, baby.” I try to fight my yawn, but I can’t. Now that I’ve stopped and the adrenaline of finding Lauren has worn off, I’m exhausted.
“You need to sleep.”
I’m too tired to argue, so I allow Lauren to take the empty box from my lap and then help me find a somewhat comfortable position to lie in. I think I fall asleep before my head hits the pillow.
* * *
I wakewith a gentle breeze blowing across my face. Glancing to the side, I find Lauren’s bed slept in but empty. The doors at the other side of the room are open, and the light curtains are blowing in the soft wind.
Taking a couple of deep breaths, I prepare to attempt to roll out of bed. The pain hits me like a truck, and any hope I had of it reducing overnight vanishes.
I see her the moment I get to the doors. She’s sitting on one of the chairs with her feet propped up on the balcony and her head resting back with her eyes shut. She’s bathed in sunlight, and my mouth waters for a taste of her flawless, tanned skin. She’s much more breathtaking than the city before us.
I stand there for the longest time, just taking her in. She’s even more beautiful than I remember from all those years ago. Her hair is just as blonde, and her curves are even more sinful than they were back then, but it’s her eyes that fascinate me even more now. They hold so much inside them, a wisdom that wasn’t there before. It kills me to know it was the pain I caused her that put it there, but I find it sexy as hell nonetheless.
I don’t move or make any noise, but somehow she knows I’m here. She looks over her shoulder and her eyes find mine. The intensity in them almost knocks me on my arse.
“So it wasn’t a drug-induced dream. I really am in Rome with you.”
