Page 26 of Committed to You

“In my room.”

“In your room?”

I laugh. “Yeah. I promise I won’t bite.”

“Ha, ha!”

“Get your pajamas on and meet me in my room.”

“Get my pajamas on?”

I laugh again. “Yep. I’m putting mine on.”

“You wear pajamas?”

“Join me in my room and find out.” I wink at her.

She nervously agrees and shows up in my room ten minutes later. “You sleep in that?” she asks.

I’m wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt. I laugh. “I prefer to sleep naked, but I didn’t think you would appreciate that.”

“Good choice.”

“You, on the other hand, look sexy as hell.” Vivian is wearing pink silk shorts and a white tank top. The pink bra under her tank top shows through.

She rolls her eyes.

I pull the covers back, slide into bed then pat the mattress next to me. “Come on. Jump in.”

She tilts her head, not fully trusting me.

“Don’t worry. Your virtue is safe. I promise.”

She giggles and climbs under the covers. I pull her into my arms and flip on the TV.

I’m aimlessly flipping through the channels. All I can think about is how good she smells, how amazing she feels in my arms, and how badly I want to kiss her. But I promised her I wouldn’t try anything, so I’m not going to. Today, she lost trust in me, and I need to earn it back. “Yell if you see anything you want to watch.”

She turns into me and softly asks, “Hey, can I ask you something since you have a medical background?”

Her eyes are glassy, and I can tell something is wrong. I flip the TV off and turn into her then stroke her hair. “Yes. Anytime. What’s going on?”

“Do you think Charlotte and Xander are both going to fully recover?”

I take a deep breath. “Charlotte will fully recover. Her surgeon is convinced it will just take time for her to heal. I know him well, and he’s a straight shooter. If anything were going to be permanently damaged, he would have told me.”

Vivian lets out a big breath and blinks back tears.

“You’re the closest to Charlotte, aren’t you?”

“I’ve known her forever.”

I cup her face and adamantly say, “She will fully recover. It’s just going to take time. I promise.”

Vivian takes a deep breath and nods again. “Okay. What about Xander?”

I consider my words carefully. “I’m not going to lie to you. There’s a lot still up in the air regarding Xander. Until he’s awake, we don’t know, and even then, it could take a while to see if he has any permanent brain issues.”

She reaches up and strokes my cheek. “Are you doing okay?”

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