Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hollywood
“H ey beautiful.” My lips were dry and cracked as fuck, but I managed a smile at the first face I saw. I’d been up for a few minutes, but the room was dark and empty, or so I thought. The next time my eyes opened there was Winter, smiling down at me with her heart in her eyes. “It’s so good to see you.”
She let out a shaky sigh as tears pooled in her eyes and her lower lip trembled. “I’m so happy you’re awake. I was terrified I might lose you.”
My heart skipped at those words. It had been so long since I felt anything like this for a woman that before this beautiful woman, I wasn’t sure it was possible to feel that way again. And then she stormed into my life and knocked down all the bricks around my long cold, long dead heart. “You can’t rid of me that easily, babe.”
“Good.” She leaned in closer and pressed her lips to mine. The kiss was hot but too short. “Because I plan on keeping you for a while.” Tears still fell down her cheeks, but she smiled through her tears, looking so gorgeous my chest ached.
My brows quirked up. “Just a while?”
She lifted one shoulder and nodded, both of her hands continued to dance over my body as if she had to touch me just to make sure I was really here. “Well I didn’t want to be too presumptuous.”
“Presume away, babe.” Every damn time she hit me with that smile I turned me into a greedy fucker who wanted another. And another. “How are Lu and Winston doing?” I shook my head. “I can’t believe Win was the one who came through for me.”
“Mostly fine. Lu is going to be fine eventually. I hope. Dad is well, I think. You know how he is.” She looked away but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was on her mind.
“He’s not going to disappear on you again, Winter.”
“He might and if he does, you know what? I’ll deal with it. I handled it as a little girl and I’m not a little girl anymore.” The words rushed out of her as if she needed to get them out before she lost her nerve. “But there’s something else.” She pulled her hand from mine and my veins turned to ice.
“What is it?”
“When Dad pulled you out of there, I was distraught to say the least. Anyway I rushed to you and held you. Kissed you. I may have said something about loving you but it’s all a blur of blood and gunshots. He asked me out right two days ago and I told him that I was in love with you.”
Winston knew. “Is that why he’s not here?”
“No,” she sighed. “After the first twelve hours it was clear you wouldn’t come around quickly so I sent him home to relax. Recover. Process.”
I frowned as her words sank in. “Twelve hours. How long have I been out?”
“A little over two days.”
“Two damn days?”
She bit her bottom lip and nodded. “You lost a lot of blood and you’ve been out of it. Laura and the doctor said it would take some time but that you’d wake up and here you are.” Her smile was small but sincere. “It’s felt like forever, Hollywood.”
“I’m here. I’m alive and I ain’t going anywhere.” But there was still a question that I couldn’t drop. “How did Winston take the news?”
“Not well, honestly. But I only told him that I was in love with you, I didn’t mention anything about you returning those feelings. He hasn’t talked to me since I told him to go home and promised I would call when you woke up.”
“Ah, shit Winter. I’m sorry.” The last thing I wanted was to come between the woman I loved and my best friend.
“Don’t be.” She shook her head. “I was upset about it at first but the I realized something.”
“What?” I raised my eyebrows, this woman always kept me on my toes, and I had no clue what that brilliant brain of her would come up with next.
“That I don’t care. I’m in love with you Hollywood. For the first time in my life I found a man who makes me feel good and alive and cherished. It’s not just about how you make my heart and my body feel, but it’s about you Hollywood.” She took a step forward and laid her hand over my heart. “You’ve been through so much and still you’re a good man. Bossy and protective, sexy and generous. I love all of those parts of you, and I won’t give it up, give you up, not ever. Not as long as you want me.”
“I’m not good, Winter. I’m just a man.”
“Well you’re my man and I think you’re a good man so just accept it.”
I really loved that sassy mouth of hers. “I’m too old for you.”
She laughed. “I’m very mature for my age, you know, on account of raising myself. And you aren’t fully mature yet.”
Her words tugged a laugh out of me that made me wince. “I’m a criminal.”
She was at my side instantly. “They got the bullet out of your back, it wasn’t near anything major but you’re gonna hurt like hell for a while.” She pressed her lips to my forehead. “And you can be a criminal and a good man at the same time. I’m not the fucking law, Hollywood.” She took my hand in hers and kissed it several times. “Anything else?”
I nodded. “Yeah, and this is a big thing. Really fucking important.”
“What is it?”
“I won’t be able to fuck you for a few weeks, apparently.”
Her expression turned serious for a few long minutes and then her face split into a grin. “That’s all right, you’re worth the wait. And you can watch me play out my spank bank fantasies while I tell you all about them.”
I groaned.
She laughed. “Consider it motivation for a speedy recovery. When you even think about skipping your physical therapy, you’ll think of all the things you get to do to me when you’re completely and totally healed.”
“That’s mean, sweetheart.”
She flashed a grin. “I know.” Her lips, soft and plump, were on mine in a heartbeat. The kiss was sweet and chaste but then her tongue flicked out and teased the seam of my lips until I opened for her. The moan she let out hit me square in the chest and underneath the flimsy fucking gown they had me wearing even though I wasn’t in a damn hospital.
I reached for her, desperate to have her close to me but pain tore through my right arm. “Dammit.”
Winter stopped the kiss and pulled back slowly. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Gimme one more kiss for good luck.”
She leaned in and kissed me again, slower but so fucking hot beads of sweat popped up along my hairline. “Better?”
“Fucking perfect.”
A knock sounded on the door before it opened, not that either of us were paying any attention to that until a throat cleared. It was my best friend, and he looked less than happy about his daughter kissing me.
“Win, hey.”
“Hey,” he grunted and folded his arms as his gaze bounced between me and Winter. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got shot three times. There’s some pain but I’m alive.”
“Thank goodness for that.” Winter ran her fingers through my hair, and she didn’t even wince even though I was two days past needing a thorough washing. “I’ll let you talk.” She kissed my forehead and left the room without looking back at Winston.
He waited until she was gone to dial up his angry glare, complete with folded arms. “Do you love my daughter?”
“Yeah, Winston, I do love her. You know I wouldn’t risk our friendship for anything but the real fucking thing.”
“So this isn’t just sex?” He shuddered. “I hate that I said that sentence out loud.”
We shared a laugh. “It’s more than sex, Winston. I thought I was long past love and all that sappy shit until you asked me to look after Winter. She treats me like I’m just a guy and when she looks at me, she sees me. Not just the biker or the ex-con, but me.” It was a hell of a feeling and one I’d do anything to hang onto.
Winston was quiet for a long time, his blank stare studied me for even longer. “Good. Yeah, that’s really good to hear. I love you like a brother Greg but if you hurt my little girl, I’ll pick up a gun for a second time. Got it?”
“Yeah, loud and clear. And I wouldn’t expect anything less, Win.” I tried to adjust myself in the bed, but it was difficult. “You’re the best man I know Winston and I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you what was happening, but I can’t lose you man. You’re my brother.”
“Not if you’re sleeping with my daughter. That’s illegal in Nevada.”
A loud laugh barked out of me and pain shot through my entire upper torso. “Funny. And painful. Look Win, I owe you a lifetime of thanks for saving my life. Thank you so fucking much.”
“Of course. I was happy to know that I could come through for you the way you’ve always come through for me.”
“Always will. It’s what we do.”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “But you don’t need my help with your homework anymore.”
“True enough. But now that I’m back maybe we can just meet up regularly for a beer and a burger?”
“Sounds good. Really good, actually.”
“Then we’re good?”
He nodded. “Of course we are. We’re family, man. We’ll always be good.”
Always. I was starting to like that word a lot. Hell, I was starting to believe it was possible.