Easing just far enough away to slide a hand between them, he turned the page and held open the notebook. Written in letters as huge and overwhelming as the man she loved were the words, Things to do with the rest of my life.
Her throat clamped shut and her eyes overflowed as she lifted her gaze to his. She’d been so focused on making the most of the time she had left she’d ignored the future. Before she could comprehend the words, he engulfed her hand in his and pried her fingers loose of his shirt with a power that was as unstoppable as it was gentle.
He kissed each trembling fingertip before placing her palm on the page. “You’re mine.”
As she shook her head and fought for breath, he turned the page with her hand. The words he’d scrawled blurred as she traced each letter carved into the paper.
He grinned and nodded. “We’ll fill out the rest after you kill Doris.”
Her fingers shook so badly she almost tore out the page. “You’re insane.”
He captured her face in the huge calloused hands she’d missed so much and nodded.
“What about the muster, your home, your family?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Mum kicked me out and Maddie fired me after they found out I let you go.”
“But how the hell can this work?”
He shrugged and kissed her forehead. “Haven’t got a fucking clue.”
The doubts that had plagued her dreams tumbled from her mouth. “I-I might not even make it off the table.”
He growled and shook his head before kissing her cheek. “You’re too damned stubborn to die.”
“I could lose my memory, my personality.”
He kissed her other cheek. “Good, because you’re a pain in the arse.”
“I could be paralyzed.”
He kissed her chin. “We’ll get matching wheelchairs.”
She sucked in a ragged breath and met his searching gaze. “But you deserve so much more.”
He tapped the notebook still clutched in her hands. “I know. I deserve to have the woman I love boss me around the rest of my life.”
Like a match sparking to life, the hope she’d tried so hard to extinguish ignited low in her belly.
He kissed her lips and dropped his forehead to hers. “You’re the most hardheaded, frustrating woman I’ve ever met, and I’ve been in love with you since you stole my damned kingfish.”
The flames flickering inside her erupted into an inferno that incinerated the hopelessness that had eroded her soul since he’d walked out of her life.
She dropped the notebook and grabbed hold of his face. “You’re going to have to let that go. Jesus, and you think I’m stubborn.”
She wrenched him down into a kiss filled with as much joy as fear, as much light as darkness, and as much love as she could give. She could never repay him for what he’d given her, but she could love him with everything she had for the rest of her life, however long she had left.
The door to her room swung open and Olivia stuck her head inside. “Time’s up, cowboy. You convince her to stop being so freaking melodramatic yet?”
He eased away and glared down at her. It wasn’t the dreamy-eyed lovestruck look Abi had hoped for, but then again she didn’t deserve one.
She slid Mr. Hemsworth from the notebook’s binding with as much casualness as her fibrillating heart and trembling fingers could manage, and ticked off the last wish she’d ever need.
While returning her man’s scowl, she slapped the notebook closed and slammed it into his chest. “Hang on to this damned thing in case they cut out the wrong part of my brain and I forget how much I love you.”
Epilogue
Molten gusts of wind flooded the Aston Martin’s cabin and pummeled Ryder’s face as he lost himself in the ocher desolation flowing to the sapphire horizon. He filled his lungs with the dry air he’d missed so much and studied the center of his universe out of the corner of his eye.
Wind whipped the auburn bob that had replaced her collection of iridescent stare-if-you-want scarves and buffeted her favorite Wonder Woman T-shirt that was finally starting to cling to the curves he’d feared he’d never hold again. Tightening his grip on her thigh, he eased back into the unicorn leather seat of his brother’s pride and joy and focused on the laser-straight road taking him and the woman of his dreams home.
“Eyes on the road, cowboy. I didn’t kick cancer’s ass to die in the world’s slowest supercar accident.” Abi pinched his thigh without shifting her gaze from the passenger window.
He probably wasn’t quite a masochist yet, but there were definitely a few steers loose in his top paddock, because he’d never grow tired of her snark. After fearing she’d never speak again, putting up with her abuse was a joy he didn’t bother hiding, which had the added benefit of pissing her off even more. “Yes, Miss Daisy.”
She’d scolded him, sworn at him, threatened him, ignored him, cried in front of him, and thrown up on him during the torturous months of radiation, chemo, and physical therapy, but she’d never surrendered. He’d fed her when she couldn’t hold a spoon, carried her when she couldn’t walk, bathed her when the chemo had stolen the last of her strength, and stood over her like a drill sergeant while she’d cursed her way through rehab. And with every endless day and sleepless night, he’d grown just that little bit more in awe of her courage and determination. But that didn’t mean he had to make her life easy.
He slowed the Vanquish just enough to have her glaring at him.
Instead of cursing him, she sighed and let her head loll back against the headrest. “You ever going to stop checking on me?”
Just a hint of a slur clung to her words which made her sound cheekily tipsy instead of fall down drunk, but the work she’d done to regain control of her mouth had been nothing compared to what she’d endured to rebuild her body after her death match with Doris. “You ever going to stop being a stubborn pain in the arse?”
The devious smile that still had the power to turn him into a bumbling idiot consumed her face. “I’ll back off the stubbornness if you stop worrying about my twenty-seven-year-old kid sister.”
She’d done a pretty good job of concealing her own guilt over Olivia beneath six layers of snark. But he’d spent too much time with her to be fooled by the same fake bravado she’d hidden behind during every oncology visit, scan, and chemo treatment.
He shrugged as if it was completely normal to worry about a fully qualified doctor who spent most of her time saving lives in the ER. “This’ll be the first time Olivia’s lived by herself.”
“She’s a grown woman, for Christ’s sake. I think she can take care of herself.” Some of the bluster faded from Abi’s voice and her scowl softened. “And she’s the one who evicted me out of my own damned apartment and bought us one-way tickets out of L.A.”
And that was exactly why he’d felt like an grade A arsehole ever since he’d hugged Olivia good-bye and boarded the plane destined to take them about as far away from Los Angeles as they could get. Buying those tickets and kicking Abi out of the home they’d shared for most of their lives had been the hardest thing Olivia had ever done. After surviving a lifetime of tragedy and hardship together, Olivia had set her big sister free to start a new life and trusted him to care for the most precious thing in her world.
The latest addition to his patchwork family must have also been a mind reader on top of being a gifted doctor because AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” exploded from the Vanquish’s speakers and Olivia’s name popped up on the monitor.
“Speaking of the diva.” Abi chuckled and hit answer before raising the windows.
A voice as bright as the sunshine roasting the scrub outside filled the cabin. “I’m guessing you’re still speeding through that snake-and-spider-infested wasteland toward that desolate patch of hell you’re planning to call home?”
Abi tilted her head and pursed her lips at him. “My overprotective pet Neanderthal was just grumbling about what a cruel and selfish bitch you are.�
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“You’re just jealous he loves me more.” Olivia’s laughter bubbled through the speakers. “If you ever get sick of my miserable, ungrateful shrew of a sister, big guy, you let me know. But I don’t care how pinchable your butt is, there’s no freaking way this city girl’s moving to the middle of nowhere to get eaten by a crocodile.”
“Keep your phone handy, beautiful.” He answered his passenger’s feral glare with a wink. “Do you think we can get Doc Martinez to go back in and fiddle with her personality to make her easier to live with?”
“Harden up, princess. You’ve barely survived a year with her. I’ve had to put up with that mule-headed, grumpy hypochondriac sitting next to you my entire life.”
He pried loose the fingers clawing into his thigh and kissed Abi’s knuckles before allowing her to yank her hand free. “Speaking of surgeons, that deadbeat supervisor of yours behaving?”
Olivia burst out laughing. “Damn, I wish I’d been there when you paid the asshole a visit. What in God’s name did you do to him? He barely makes eye contact with me anymore.”
If Abi had had her way, the sleazy bastard who hadn’t taken no for an answer and who’d made the last few months of her kid sister’s residency miserable would’ve been making his rounds in a wheelchair and eating through a straw. Just as well he’d convinced Abi to stay home when he’d paid Doctor McDreamy Chickenshit a visit, because any post-traumatic stress from their purely emotional and spiritual encounter was completely coincidental. “You can thank your big sister for that.”
Abi’s scowl curved into a satisfied smile as she nodded and returned her hand to his knee.
“And who do I blame for scaring off all the other men I brought home?”
Maybe he could’ve been a little less pyscho-ninja-death-killer when Olivia had brought dates home, but none of the smooth bastards had deserved her. Sure, they could have modeled for GQ and had more money than they knew what to do with, but the way they’d treated his newest kid sister had grated on his nerves. They’d regarded Olivia more as an accessory to decorate the passenger seat of their sports cars or to hang off their Armani-clad arms instead of the intelligent, strong, independent, and caring woman she was. “They didn’t deserve you.”
Olivia sighed and muttered a curse. “Thank God I kicked you two out of here before you scared away every eligible bachelor in Los Angeles.”
His chest tightened, and his fingers clenched into a fist as the image of Olivia sitting alone in her apartment flashed across his mind. In less than a year, Abi’s kid sister had gone from stranger, to phone interrogator, to friend, to awkward roomy, and on to become the newest witch to join the coven making his life hell.
Abi slid her hand over his and slowly pried loose his fingers. “Have you converted our bedroom into a walk-in closet yet?”
“Almost. I’ve been too busy watching what I want on TV, walking around in my underwear, using all the hot water, leaving my dishes on the coffee table, and throwing wild orgies.”
Abi turned to him as silence filled the Vanquish’s cabin. Olivia had tried to kick them out of L.A. at the start of winter when Doc Martinez had finally read Doris her last rites, but he and Abi had hung around like prom chaperones. He’d made up some bullshit about there not being much point leaving during the Aussie wet season because there was nothing to do on the station and had even corralled his family into the lie for the Skype hookups that’d become a weekly spectacle of laughter, cursing, and tears in their apartment. Abi had pegged him for the lying bastard he was from the get-go, but he’d somehow managed to convince her he’d done it purely for Olivia’s sake.
He captured his woman’s hand and gave it a squeeze. He’d known Abi was the one for him within hours of that first damned kiss on the plane, but she’d spent more than half their time together battling Doris and the rest recovering from the trauma the evil little bitch had wreaked on her mind and body. He still had no idea what the hell he’d have done if Abi had come to her senses and told him to take a hike, but as long as she looked at him like he was the only man in her world, he’d never let her go.
Abi lifted his hand to her lips and kissed his fingers before pulling it into her lap. “What the hell are you and Jarrah up to? The shifty ass wouldn’t tell us a thing when we landed. He just tossed us the keys to his substitute dick and told us he was catching a ride to Wingarra with you when you arrive.”
“Good. All you two need to know is that we’ll meet you in that godforsaken, dusty, fly-infested hellhole in a week. And you can stop shaking your heads at each other, there’s nothing going on between us. We’ve exchanged a few emails to organize logistics and that’s it. Plus, I’m done with rich playboys who are way too confident for their own good.”
He and Abi stopped shaking their heads, but Olivia plowed on before they’d finished chuckling. “I’ve got to go. There’s a room full of naked men over here pining for my body. See you lovebirds soon.”
“Olivia.” Abi blinked back the moisture pooling in her eyes and cleared her throat. “You okay?”
The desert scrub silently drifted by as Abi’s words hung in the cabin.
“I am now that I don’t have to look at you two making goo-goo eyes at each other. Stop worrying and start working on those nieces and nephews you promised me.”
Abi glared at him as Olivia ended the call.
He held up his hand in surrender. “Don’t look at me.”
He and Abi had talked about kids, they’d talked about pets, they’d talked about whether to renovate the barn or commandeer one of Wingarra’s outbuildings to live in, they’d talked about her helping out at his mother’s school and taking part in her first muster, hell they’d talked about anything and everything during those endless days and nights when she’d been too exhausted to leave her bed and too sick to sleep.
If he’d had his way, he’d have crawled inside her head and hunted down the bits of Doris the surgeons might have missed, but all he could do was cradle her to his chest and dream with her as she’d fought for her life. Doris may be dead but that didn’t mean the bitch’s offspring or relatives weren’t planning their revenge, and for the next few years at least his girl needed to focus on healing and regaining her strength. She was still fighting and she’d be battling for a long time yet to come, but he was no stranger to war and nothing was taking her away from him.
Abi unleashed that sexy-time smile of hers that slammed through his chest and melted his insides. “How about we keep practicing a little while longer?”
Kira, Jeddah, and his mum wouldn’t be happy, but he wasn’t complaining; he needed all the practice he could get. Visions of her sliding, grinding, and bucking above him consumed his thoughts and flooded his groin with cravings that hadn’t dimmed in almost a year. He blinked away her endless curves and devious smile and shifted in his seat to relieve the pressure on his manhood as the emerald leaves and ghostly trunk of the Wishing Tree erupted on the horizon.
She tugged on his shirt and jutted her chin toward the tree. “To the Wishing Tree, James.”
He masked his smile behind a scowl and pointed the Aston’s nose at the magical tree that had played such an important part in bringing them together. There was no way to prove the Wishing Tree’s magic was real, but the last twelve months had turned him into a believer.
He slowly released the breath he’d been holding and lifted off the accelerator. He’d known she’d force him to stop here. Six months of chemo might have killed what remained of Doris and taken its toll on her body, but only kryptonite could destroy her stubbornness, and there was no way in hell Abigail Marie Williams wasn’t going to return the offering he’d stolen. But stopping at the Wishing Tree was only step one in his master plan and did bugger all to ease the tension coiled round his chest or calm the butterflies flittering around in his gut.
...
“So help me God, if you don’t stop babying me, I’m going to beat you to death with that damned thing.”
Abi grabbed the shoc
king pink cane her smart-ass man and even smarter-ass sister had bought her and jabbed Ryder with it. The cane’s bulbous rubber tip thudded into a stomach that’d become a little more pizza and ice cream and a little less granite in the year they’d shared. But the huge warrior she loved more than she’d ever dreamed possible didn’t even have the decency to pretend she’d hurt him. Instead, he stared down at her with the same infinite patience that had her feeling even guiltier for what she’d put him through.
She smiled despite the ache in her chest and poked him again. His cheeky smile evaporated and the warrior emerged. He parried the cane out of the way and lunged for her. Even with the merciless outback sun beating down on her and the scorching wind lashing her exposed skin, she couldn’t resist one of his hugs. Having those huge arms squeezing the breath from her lungs ranked right up there with making love to him, snuggling into him, laughing with him, fighting with him, and waking up beside him. She lost herself in his kiss, and just like it had done thousands of times before, the love he offered so freely enveloped her and had her floating on an ocean of security and peace.
She wrenched her lips away and pounded on his shoulder with her free hand. “Stop distracting me, you big ape. Put me down.”
She silenced his grumble with a peck to his stubbled jaw as he carefully lowered her to the ground and ever so slowly released her like she was a damned toddler learning to walk. Glaring at him, she drove her cane into the red dust that had worked its way into every part of her soul and hobbled toward the Wishing Tree. She’d made this promise a year ago when she’d opened her eyes after the operation and found him staring down at her, and nothing was stopping her from keeping it.
With each shuffle, the temperature dropped until the gentle breeze wafting over her scorched skin almost felt cool. She filled her lungs with the eucalyptus-scented air she’d feared she’d never smell again and swallowed the lump in her throat. Every prod of her cane and drag of her foot brought her closer to the place she needed to be and the family she longed to be part of, and farther away from the one person who’d been there through it all.
Against All Odds (Outback Hearts) Page 28
