Chapter 29
Hospitals were meant to be a place where people rested and recovered, right?
That was the biggest load of shit I’d ever heard.
I tossed and turned all night. Well, as much as I could with the IV coming out of my right arm and the wires attached to my right. Not to mention the incessant beeping from the monitor and the blood pressure cuff inflating every ten seconds.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t that often, but it sure felt like it. Maybe they’d installed a sensor to know when I was dozing off, because the moment my eyelids grew heavy, sure enough, the damn thing would inflate.
Having your arm strangled doesn’t make for a decent night’s sleep.
By the time I started to get fed up, I was convinced it had to be close to morning and I was minutes away from being discharged so I could sleep in my own bed. I didn’t see why I had to stay overnight anyway—I’d sustained worse injuries after my fight with Dani a year ago.
A glance at my phone dashed my hopes: it was just after three. I dropped the offensive device with a frustrated groan, and James shuffled in his chair. I looked over in time to see him stand up.
“Why aren’t you asleep, love?” he asked, approaching the uncomfortable hospital bed and brushing my hair away from my face.
His simple touch made me relax. I leaned into him and closed my eyes. “Can’t get comfortable. Sheets are too scratchy, machines are too loud, and these fucking wires!” I picked my arm up to prove my point, only to wince as the IV tugged uncomfortably.
James leaned down, brushed a kiss to my forehead, and whispered, “Sit up.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
Exasperated, I sat up with his help. He raised the top of the bed, then nestled in behind me. “James, I don’t need cuddles right now. I need sleep.”
His strong arms pulled me against his chest. “I swear to all things holy,” he growled, “if you don’t shut up and let me hold you until you fall asleep, then there’ll be hell to pay when I get you home. Have I made myself clear?”
I grumbled but relaxed into his hold. My eyelids grew heavy, and I fought against closing them to prove a point. “You’re a sex-crazed vampire. That doesn’t seem very holy to me.”
“Ryder Bailey?—”
“I regret telling you my middle name.”
“You didn’t have to. It was on your paperwork when I hired you.” His hand dropped from my shoulder to slide down my stomach, our fingers twisting together. “Now sleep.”
And damn it if I didn’t drift right off.
It only felt like minutes had passed before I was jostled awake. James was no longer behind me, having returned to his chair and pretending to doze.
A nurse stood at the side of my bed. “I’m sorry to wake you,” she said in a gentle voice, “but I have your discharge papers. I can always come back if you’d like to let your partner sleep.”
“Hell no.” I sat up, perhaps too fast, and took the papers from her hands. Once they were signed, she disconnected my IV and left to let me get dressed.
James waited for her to leave before he “woke up” and helped me into a change of clothes. I closed my eyes during the drive home, and with his hand stroking the back of my neck, I was in danger of falling asleep again. Unfortunately for me, it was a short drive.
When James opened the front door and voluntarily put himself between me and the bouncing ball of fluff rampaging through the house, I swore I fell a little more in love. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starving,” I said, collapsing onto the couch.
James crooked a brow at me. “I guess that means I’m making breakfast then.”
I peered at James through my batting eyelashes. “You love me, right?”
The smile on his face said he read right through my shit. “I do.”
“And I’m so, so tired…”
“All right you little shit! I’ll make breakfast.” He bent down to kiss my cheek. “I’d have done it anyway; I didn’t need all the drama.”
I snorted and relaxed onto the couch. “Have you ever known me to do anything any other way?”
I didn’t get an answer but truth be told, I was hoping for things to quiet down for a while. I was getting sick of all the excitement. I had James, and I had my daughter, and I wanted nothin g to take my attention away from them for the foreseeable future.
James went to the kitchen, and I watched TV through lidded eyes for a while until there was a knock at the door. I glanced at my phone—it was still ridiculously early. “Don’t move!” James called out.
“I wasn’t planning to!” I scrubbed at my eyes. “Do you know who it is?”
James crossed in front of me with a smirk on his face. “I may have gotten you a surprise.”
“Okay…” That had me sitting up straighter.
James opened the door, and I strained to see who the hushed voice on the other side belonged to. A moment later, they stepped into the house.
“Shi Baby!”
They smiled, and suddenly I felt guilty for ever thinking they had any sinister intentions. Their gaze traveled over me—no doubt cataloging my injuries. I had a nasty scar on my forehead and racoon eyes from the broken nose. “Who’d you piss off this time?”
“It wasn’t my fault!” My eyes dropped to their hand. “What’s that?”
They held up the object: a tennis ball on a thick rope. “It’s for Carlos.”
“Where’s my present?”
Shi threw their arms out to the side. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Just drop that on the floor. It’ll be a nice surprise for Carlos later.” I smirked, throwing my blankets aside to clear a spot on the couch next to me. “Come sit down.”
“You hungry, Shiloh?” James asked, returning to the kitchen.
“No, thank you though.” They sat and fixed their attention on me. “I won’t stay long. I know you’re tired, but I wanted to see how you were.” They gestured to my nose. “Broken? ”
I nodded. “And I have what they called a grade-four concussion.”
I didn’t miss the waver in their gorgeous smile. “I was really freaked when you didn’t show up yesterday. When James called and said you’d been in an accident, I…”
They wound loose thread around their finger so tight, the digit turned red. I grabbed their hand, untwisted the thread, and held it in my lap. “I’ll be a little banged up for a while, but I’ll be fine, Shi.”
Shiloh’s gaze dropped to our entwined hands. For a moment, I thought they’d pull away.
They didn’t.
Instead, they took a deep breath. “Good, ’cause I actually kind of like you.”
“I knew it!”
“Don’t make me regret saying that,” they warned me—but they still didn’t pull their hand away. That is, until James came into the room with my plate in his hand. Then they stood, and their hand slid out of my grip. James noticed, but only offered a fond smile.
“Are you sure you don’t want any?” James asked them. “There’s plenty left.”
Once again, Shi declined. “I shouldn’t. I’m sure you two are exhausted, and someone’s got to run the bar. I’ll go so you can rest.”
We said our goodbyes, and James saw Shiloh out. While I ate, he fed Carlos by dropping his bowl on the kitchen floor and calling him in from another room. Not that it did any good: Carlos was only interested in my breakfast.
Once the plate was clear, James threw the dishes in the sink and dragged me down the hall to my bedroom where the hot water was already running in the shower. I stripped and got in, not surprised when he joined me. And when he reached for the shampo o, I let him wash my hair without arguing. I was perfectly capable of doing so myself, but that wasn’t the point. Since letting myself admit I was in love with him, it was easier to let him love me in return. It only made it that much sweeter that our love for each other had nothing to do with the bond. Fate may have brought us together, but I walked right into love with him, and with the curse finally lifted, I could see that.
And I was finally starting to be okay with it.
I let him dry me off and dress me in a warm pair of pajama pants, kissing me anywhere he could reach. And when he tucked me into bed, the kisses continued over my shoulder and neck. I hummed, warm lips trailing softly over the cut on my head. “Think you can kiss it all better, vampire?”
“I can and I will.”
James’s arm curled around my waist, and I twisted our fingers together over my stomach. “Why don’t you just keep me company?”
Although I had to admit, I did feel a little better—but it had nothing to do with his kisses, and everything to do with his presence. I only drifted off after he slid in and pulled me close, completely undoing me with a single soft kiss to my temple. His hand in mine, knowing he was right beside me, was all that I needed.