by Vi Keeland
Memories started to come back in flashes. Raining so hard. Hitting the brakes. The bright lights. Headlights. The loud bang. Being jolted from side to side. Andrew.
I tried to lift my hand to take the mask off my face.
Bennett realized what I was attempting to do. “You have to leave it on for now.”
I frowned.
He bent to our joined hands and kissed the top of mine. “I know. Keeping your mouth shut is a challenge for you.” He smirked. “But I have a shitload to say, and I have no idea how long I’m going to get to sit here alone with you, so this kind of works for me.” His face turned serious, and he looked away for a minute before taking a deep breath.
“I lied.”
His gaze returned to mine. No words were necessary for him to know my question.
He squeezed my hand and moved closer. “When you asked me if we’d be together a year from now if one of us wasn’t relocated, I said we wouldn’t. I said I liked being single and having my freedom. But the truth is, I was terrified. I was terrified that I’d fuck things up if we stayed together. You don’t deserve to be hurt again and…”
Bennett paused, and I watched as he attempted to swallow his emotions. When he looked up again, his eyes were welled with tears.
“You don’t deserve to be hurt again, and I don’t deserve to have love.”
It crushed me to hear him say those words. He deserved so much good in his life.
Bennett closed his eyes and steadied himself to continue. “But I’m done caring about what I deserve or you deserve—because I’m selfish enough to not give a fuck that I don’t deserve you, and I’ll work hard every day to become the man you do deserve.” He smiled and brushed his hand down my cheek. “I love you.” His voice broke. “I freaking love you, Annalise.”
We were interrupted by the nurse wearing blue scrubs. She leaned over my face from the other side of the bed, opposite of Bennett. “Just going to add some medicines into your IV. They might make you a little groggy.”
Oh good. Someone told her about the lipstick on her teeth. I watched her push some medicine into my IV line. I turned back to Bennett, but my eyes became even heavier. So, so heavy.
***
Bennett was slumped over in the chair next to me, sound asleep.
I looked around. It was a different room than I’d been in earlier. Wasn’t it? Or did I dream the other room—the big, windowless one with a dozen beds and only a curtain separating me from the patients on either side. Now I was alone in a big room with a door, except for the man sleeping next to me. And a window behind him told me it was nighttime.
My neck felt stiff, so I tried to move my head from side to side. The slight brush of the sheets woke the sleeping giant.
He smiled and leaned forward. “Hey. You’re awake again.”
I lifted my arm to grab my mask, but Bennett stopped me. “Don’t take that off yet. Let me call the nurse. They lowered your sedation dosage, but they wanted to check your breathing and vitals before trying without the mask. Okay?”
I nodded. He disappeared and came back a minute later with a nurse.
I didn’t recognize this one. She listened to my chest, took my blood pressure, and watched the monitor for a minute.
“You’re doing great. How do you feel?”
My ribs were killing me, but I nodded to say I felt okay anyway while pointing to the mask.
“You want to take it off?”
I nodded again.
“Okay. Let me go get you some ice chips. When we take it off, you’re going to be really dry from all the forced air for three days.”
Three days? I’d been in here for that long?
When the nurse returned, she set a Styrofoam cup with a spoon down on the tray next to my bed and then reached around my head and loosened the strap that had been holding my mask in place. Slipping it off, she waited nearby, her eyes moving between the monitor and me.
“Take a few deep breaths.”
First I opened wide to stretch out my cramped jaw, and then I did as she instructed. My face was so sore, especially my nose.
She listened to my chest again, then slung her stethoscope around her neck. “You sound good. How do you feel?”
My hand raised to hold my throat. My voice croaked out a low, “Dry.”
“Okay. Well, we need to go slow. But I’ll keep an eye on your stats from the nurse’s station and give you two a little time.” She turned to Bennett. “One or two ice chips at a time. That should help moisten her throat.”
The door hadn’t even closed when Bennett had the ice chips in his hand and spoon at my mouth. I would have laughed at his eagerness if my side didn’t hurt so much.
He spooned some chips into my mouth and then leaned down and brushed his lips to mine. “That was a long nap you took. I finally started to talk to you about my feelings, and your response was to conk out for twelve hours.”
I’d almost forgotten about everything he’d said earlier. But once he reminded me, every word came back, crystal clear. Although I wanted to hear him say it again. So I put on my best confused face. “Feelings?”
Bennett’s eyes widened. “You don’t remember me pouring my heart out to you yesterday?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop my smile. He noticed.
“You’re screwing with me, aren’t you?”
My smile widened. “I want to hear it again.”
Bennett stood and ever-so-carefully climbed onto the bed next to me. “Oh yeah? What part do you want to hear?”
“All of it.”
A smile spread across his handsome face, smoothing out some of the worry lines. He snuggled his mouth to my ear. “I love you.”
I grinned. “Again.”
He laughed. “I love you, Annalise O’Neil. I fucking love you.”
After I made him say it a dozen or more times, Bennett filled me in on my injuries. The soreness in my chest was due to a broken rib. I hadn’t even noticed the cast on my left wrist from a fractured ulna, and apparently I had bumps and bruising all over. The worst of it had been a partial collapse of one of my lungs, which they had treated with a needle to suck out the air from around the outside of the lung, and it had re-inflated on its own. Basically, I was damn lucky.
More things started to come back to me the longer I stayed awake. I remembered that Mom, Matteo, and Madison had all been here. And Andrew, too. He had two black eyes and a bandage on his nose, but he’d said he was fine.
“Did everyone go home?”
Bennett nodded. “I promised your mom and Matteo I’d call if anything changed. They’ll be back first thing in the morning. Madison threatened my life if I didn’t text her updates every few hours.” He fed me more ice chips. They felt so good on my sore throat. “She’s pretty damn scary.”
“What about Andrew? Were you arguing with him earlier in my room?”
The smile on Bennett’s face fell. “I’d been calling your phone all night. When I finally got through, he answered. And the douchebag told me you were in bed. Didn’t mention in the hospital or anything. Then he hung up on me.”
Oh boy. “You must’ve thought…”
The clench of his jaw answered.
“You thought I went back to him?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
“How did you find out what happened?”
“I camped out in front of your apartment. Eventually Matteo showed up.”
Wait... “So when did you speak to Andrew then?”
Bennett shrugged. “I don’t know. Early in the afternoon. Maybe about one?”
“But you waited in front of my building even though you thought I’d gone back to Andrew?”
He cupped my cheek. “I wasn’t losing you without a fight.”
That made my heart swell. “You would have taken me back even if I’d—”
Bennett put his finger to my mouth and stopped me from continuing. “Don’t even say it. I don’t even want to know why you were in the car with
him. Just tell me we’re good and it won’t be happening again.”
“Nothing happened with Andrew. I was giving him a ride home because he said his car was in the shop. He was at Lauren’s house for dinner.”
Bennett’s head dropped. “Thank freaking Christ. Because I quit my job. You’re stuck with me here in San Francisco.”
My eyes went wide. “What? Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m not letting you move to Texas.”
“Uh…I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. You’re the one who would be moving to Texas when I win.”
Bennett rolled his eyes as he smoothed hair away from my face. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But either way, we’re both staying put now.”
Chapter 49
* * *
Bennett
“You’re supposed to be resting.” I tossed my keys on the kitchen counter and set down a bag of groceries. I’d gone to the office for a few hours while Annalise’s mom took her to a post-release check-up.
“I’m fine. I got this. The doctor said I’m doing great.” Annalise bent to dig a pot out of the bottom of the cabinet. The view of her ass was spectacular, but I didn’t want her to hurt herself. I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her out of my way.
“Let me.”
She sighed when I emptied the contents of the cabinet onto the counter so she could pick what she needed. “You know, I’m going to have to function on my own anyway. You need to start looking for a new job, and I should probably be going back to my apartment. I’ve been here almost two weeks, and you’re going to get sick of me soon.”
I pushed a piece of hair from her face. “The doctor said you need to go slow because your lung is still recuperating. You’re not ready for three flights of stairs in your walk-up. You need an elevator.”
I’d made Annalise come home with me after she was released from the hospital. She’d agreed because I hadn’t given her much choice. But she was getting stronger every day, and soon enough she’d be fine to go home, even if that day wasn’t today. I just wanted her here.
“I could stay with my mom for a while. She has a spare bedroom on the first floor.”
I slipped a finger under her chin and lifted so our eyes met. “Are you sick of me?”
She cupped my cheeks. “God, no. How can I be sick of you when you wait on me hand and foot and wash my hair in the bathtub so I don’t get my cast wet?”
“Then why do you want to leave?”
“I don’t. But I also don’t want to overstay my welcome, Bennett. I feel up to doing things now, and except for the stairs, there’s no reason I need to be here anymore.”
I shook my head. “No reason? How about you want to be here?”
She softened. “Of course I do. But you know what I mean.”
I lifted her up and set her on the kitchen counter so we were eye to eye. “I don’t, actually. So let’s talk. Do you like my place?”
She turned to look at the living room and the view out the windows. “Uh, it makes my place look like a shithole. It’s depressing walking into my apartment after leaving yours.”
“So you like the apartment. How about the roommate?”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine. “He’s spoiling me. Plus, the view when he comes out of the shower in just a towel blows the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the living room out of the water.”
I wound her ponytail around my hand and kept her mouth to mine when she attempted to pull back. She opened when I slid my tongue between those luscious lips. I kissed her long and hard, and my heart felt full again.
The last few weeks, I’d been happier than I’d been my whole life. I knew I didn’t want this to end. The kiss was all the assurance I needed.
“Good.” I gave her pony a light tug. “Then it’s settled. You’ll move in. I’ll arrange for a moving company to go over to your place this weekend and pack up your stuff.”
Annalise’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You like the apartment better than yours. You’re hot for your roommate.” I shrugged. “Why leave?”
“Are you…are you asking me to move in with you permanently?”
I looked back and forth between her eyes. “I’m saying I want you here when I get up in the morning, and I want you here when I go to bed at night. I want your four different newspapers spread all over our bed, and your ridiculous amount of shoes filling our closet. I want you wearing my T-shirts to cook us breakfast when you’re feeling up to it again, and I sure as shit want you underneath me, on top of me, on your knees on our bedroom floor, and tied to the headboard while I eat you for dessert.” I paused. “Is that any clearer?”
She chewed her bottom lip. “There’s something I need to tell you first.”
I stiffened. “What?”
She rubbed her nose with mine and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you, Bennett Fox.”
I dropped my head and let out a big rush of air. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Saying there’s something you need to tell me? I thought… I don’t even know what I thought. But it didn’t sound fucking good.”
Annalise laughed. “Sorry.”
I squinted. “I’ll give you sorry. What the hell took you so long to tell me that, anyway? You left me hanging out there for weeks.”
She grabbed my T-shirt into two fistfuls and tugged me to her. “I wanted to be off the painkillers and meds that made me groggy so you’d have no doubt I meant it.”
I pulled my neck back. “You stopped the meds? The doctor said it was okay?”
She looked down and scraped her fingernail along my arm. Then she looked up under her lashes with the sexiest fuck-me eyes. “He also said it was okay to resume all activities. I just need to go easy.”
I’d been sporting the start of an erection since I walked in the door and saw her bent over. I needed confirmation before I got my hopes up. It had been a long-ass three weeks since her accident. “All activities?”
She wiggled her eyebrows. “All.”
The kitchen counter was the perfect height, and I wouldn’t crush her in this position. Plus, no wasting time walking to the bedroom. Reaching around to her ass, I pulled her to the very edge of the counter and pressed my growing hard-on between her legs. I felt the heat of her pussy through my pants and groaned.
Did I mention it had been three weeks?
“The right thing to do would probably be to make love to you right now. But I’m going to have to owe you slow and sweet, because I need you hard and fast before I’m calm enough to go slow.”
She ran her tongue along my bottom lip and then bit down unexpectedly. “Hard works for me.”
Her clothes were off in two seconds flat. I sucked her gorgeous tits, biting down until she let out a sound that was a cross between a moan and a yelp. God, I fucking missed her. Missed being inside her. Missed burying myself so deep that my cum couldn’t find its way back out. It was surreal how much I wanted this woman. Needed this woman. Craved this woman—even when I hadn’t wanted to.
Taking her mouth, I mumbled against her lips. “I fucking love you.”
I felt the smile even if I couldn’t see it on her face. “I fucking love you, too.”
I kissed along every exposed piece of her skin I could reach while unzipping my pants. When my boxers joined them on the floor, my erection bobbed against my abdomen.
It took every ounce of willpower in me to slow things down. I stood and looked her in the eyes. “You okay? Your breathing’s okay?”
She responded by gazing down between us, running her thumb over the glistening head of my cock and then bringing her finger up to her lips to lick. “Mmmm... All good. How about you?”
I groaned and fisted my cock, bringing it between her legs to test the waters and finding her gloriously wet. Feeling ready to explode before we’d even started, I pushed inside in one long, hard stroke and kissed the living shit out of her until I started to get concerned about her heavy breat
hing.
She smiled up at me, panting, but looked perfectly fine. I returned the sentiment as I began to move—slow and steady—never breaking our gaze as I pumped in and out of her.
God, this woman. I’d spent half of my life building a million obstacles to put in the way of love. Yet when I met Annalise, all the hurdles did was show me how much she was worth jumping over every one of them.
I tried to hold back, squeezing my eyes shut tight to avoid seeing how beautiful she looked. But when she whispered my name like a prayer, how could I not watch.
“Bennett. Oh God. Please.”
There was no sweeter sound than the woman you loved moaning your name. It was also sexy as fuck. That was it. I broke.
My thrusts sped up, and I began to fuck her harder and harder. Every muscle in my body tightened while she clenched around me, her nails digging into my back as her orgasm hit. Watching my cock go in and out of her was the most stunning sight. But knowing she loved me made it that much sweeter. God knows why the hell she’d given me her heart, but I had no intention of ever giving it back.
When her body began to go slack, it only took a few pumps for me to find my own release. I kissed her lips and wrapped her in my arms, careful not to put too much pressure on her chest.
Leaning my cheek against the top of her head, I felt almost content. Almost. Just one little thing bothered me.
“So I didn’t hear a definitive yes as your answer.”
“What was the question?”
“Move in with me?”
Annalise pulled her head back. “But what would I do with that nice cowboy hat you gave me the second day we met if I stayed here in California?”
“I’ve been fantasizing about you wearing that thing and riding me for months. You’ll be wearing it plenty.”
She giggled, but she’d be finding out soon enough that I wasn’t joking. I couldn’t wait to watch her play cowgirl.
“So is that a yes?”
“Yes. I’ll move in with you.” She stopped the spread of my smile when she held up her pointer. “But under one condition.”
