Page 105 of Together We Burn
“Nice to see you’re awake, Mr. Weston. You had us all worried there.”
“Can I get stronger pain meds?” he asked when Dr. Elba appeared by the nurse’s side. They spoke for a while, asking Jake questions about how he was feeling and if he remembered anything until letting him rest, saying they’d be back with a stronger dose of morphine.
Jake turned his head, raising an eyebrow as I stood off to the side, away from view, while the doctor had looked over him. Holding his hand out, he beckoned me closer, but I didn’t move.
“I better let you rest,” I said, thumbing toward the door.
“You better get your ass over here.”
“But your tubes.”
“Are on the other side,” he said, waving the hand free from needles sticking out of his skin. “Come here.”
I licked my lips, desperate to be beside him, but terrified of getting close. New emotions I’d never felt before had my heart in a vice, the grip restricting and tight against my chest. I swallowed, urging my feet forward until my legs knocked against the side of his bed.
Tugging my hand, he pulled me to him, tucking my body against his in the tiny hospital bed. His large hand cupped the back of my head as my hand rested above the stitches on his stomach.
“So,” Jake murmured into my hair, his lips peppering kisses to my crown, “You love me?”
“No,” I lied, my body tensing as he spoke.
“I heard you in the ambulance.”
“You heard wrong.”
Jake put two fingers under my chin and tilted my face up, never releasing his grip as his eyes bored into mine.
“I didn’t hear wrong, baby,” he said. “I want you to repeat it.”
“Why, if you’ve already heard it?” Heat crept across my face as he stared at me intently.
“Say it again.”
“Jake…”
“Say it.”
“Fine, I fucking love you, okay?” He beamed. “I love you and thought I lost you.”
His chuckle was victorious as he kissed me. And the lingering remainder of the walls I’d spent so long building crumbled to dust. Leaving me bare and scarred and completely consumed by this man.
“About time you realised it, baby,” he said against my lips. He paused, leaning back when he tasted salt. Licking his lips, he brushed the pad of his thumb across my cheek. “Has falling in love made the infamous Stevie Matthews, bringer of pain and death, turn soft?”
“God, I hate you,” I said, closing my eyes tight, only to release one more tear. He kissed it from my face and tucked my head against his chest.
“I love you too.”
Chapter forty-one
Stevie
Twomonthslater
“The doctor has already cleared me for sex,” Jake said, tickling his fingers across the sliver of skin at my stomach poking out between my sleep shorts and cami. He dropped his head, kissing along my collarbone, lowering to the swell of my breasts as his fingers tried to dip into the waistband.
I grabbed his wrist. “Only because he got uncomfortable when you said, ‘Unless you give me the green light, there’s a high chance my girlfriend will sneak into your office, cut off your dick and balls and leave them on your wife’s pillow..’” He laughed against my skin, the sensation sending bolts of lust straight between my legs.
He lifted his head, a smile that spoke of dirty promises on his face. “Are you telling me youwouldn’thave done that?” he asked, grinding his erection against my hip.
