Page 91 of What Hurts Us

“Don’t say it to me until you know it’ll mean as much to me as when I say it to you.”

I kissed her temple. “Yes, ma’am.”

She sandwiched her hands on either side of my cheeks. “I love you, Callum Fletcher.”

I peeled her wrists away and upturned her hands, kissing her palms. “Love your hands.”

Layla eyed me curiously. “My hands?”

“First thing I noticed about you,” I mumbled as I dotted a kiss on each one of her fingertips. “Everything hurt so bad. I kept thinking I was going to pass out.” I kissed her wrists. “Then I watched you cut my belt off. Felt your hand on mine. Every touch—” I pressed her palms flat against my chest. “You started healing me from the moment you touched me. And after my leg, you moved on to my heart.”

She popped up onto her tiptoes and pecked my lips. “Can I sleep with you tonight?” Her sweet voice cut me to the quick.

“I’m thinking of changing the lock on the guest room so you can’t go back to that bed.”

“Seems a little extreme,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll sleep in your bed willingly.”

Without warning, I scooped her into my arms and carried her up the stairs. It was a small thing that had become a big thing.

A small moment with Layla on one of the worst days of my life turned into my entire life.

So, this is how you fall in love.

31

LAYLA

“Whooo, Dubs!” AB peered out of the lunchbox window as we circled the airfield that housed our base. Her voice crackled through my radio as she pointed to the shiny police cruiser parked beside my car. “Looks like you’ve got a gentleman caller knocking down your door.”

I snickered and shook my head. The run between our base and the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington was one of the longest. While AB and I did the patient handoff, Odin refueled the bird. I hoped Cal hadn’t been waiting long. We’d been in the air for most of the day, taking a critical care patient from Wilmington back up to a specialist at Duke, then flew the short hop back to Falls Creek.

I was exhausted and cold.

Flying in the summer sucked hot, sweaty balls because the fibers of flame-resistant Nomex flight suits swell in high heat.

North Carolina was the definition of high heat.

But in the fall and winter, when the temperatures cooled, flight suits were as breezy as sheer curtains on a spring day. The thermal underwear beneath my flight suit wasn’t cutting it. I’d have to double up before the chill really set in for the season.

The skids danced over the asphalt before Odin dropped us down in a smooth landing. Cal had walked around the outside perimeter of the crew quarters and was leaning along the chain-link fence that surrounded the airfield. A bouquet of roses was clutched in his hand.

“Go kiss your cop,” AB said as she yanked off her headset. “I’ll reset and chart.”

“I don’t mind restocking the bird if you’ll chart,” I offered.

“Nah, I got it.” She waved me off. “Make it up to me on the next run.”

I really wanted a nap, but I wanted to kiss Callum more. I loved my job, but I hated the nights that he had to spend alone.

My boots thumped against the asphalt as I jogged over to the fence line. “This is a surprise. I didn’t know you were coming.”

Cal gave me that sly grin that turned my heart into soup. “That’s usually what it means to surprise someone, honey.”

I slipped my hand through one of the metal loops and touched his arm. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” He tipped his head toward the base. “You gonna let me in or leave me standing out in the cold?”

Laughing, I nodded. “I’ll meet you at the front.” I sprinted into the hangar, skipped through the entrance to the crew quarters, then slowed and tried to look cool and composed when I yanked open the front door. Cal, looking sinfully sexy in his tight jeans and biker jacket, grabbed the front of my flight suit and planted an obscene kiss square on my mouth.

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