Chapter 26
ROYCE
The hospital is quiet, this wing containing Kinsley and only a few others while she’s here.
My uncle had every law enforcement agency involved before we’d even gotten to the hospital.
In fact, his reach extended to the governor of Tennessee.
I didn’t ask how he made that happen, but if I knew my uncle, he’d leave no stone unturned so this wouldn’t happen again.
Not while men like Zander were out there.
“What are you thinking about?” Kinsley asks, her voice raspy from her raw throat, and my heart squeezes in my chest.
“How my uncle is gonna dismantle all of Nashville from his office in Chicago.”
“Do I want to know?”
“I’m not entirely sure I do,” I tell her honestly, throwing in a smile as I press my lips to her hand where it’s still holding mine. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got in a knock-down, drag-out fight in the back of a club.” I purse my lips, and she grins. “Everything hurts.”
“We’ll manage the pain—massages, baths, whatever you need.”
She opens her mouth and then closes it again, her brow furrowing. “I appreciate all of this, I do,”—she laughs but sounds like she’s choking back tears—“but it doesn’t change—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there,” I say, standing from my chair and forcing her to move her legs so I can sit on the mattress. “You, Kinsley Dane, are stuck with me.” I make sure her eyes are locked on mine as I add, “until we die.”
“That’s awfully dramatic,” she breathes, letting me hear the hope in those three words.
“Yeah, well, you didn’t teach me to date other girls, Kins. You taught me how to date you.”
“You never needed me, Roy. You’re the perfect boyfriend.”
“You’re wrong; all I’ve ever needed is you.
” Cupping her face as gently as I can, I tell her what I should have said the very first time she kissed me.
“I love you, Kinsley Dane. And I loved you before I ever knew I could fall for you—that you’d let me fall—because that’s what this was.
Each day you showed me how to fall for you, and I never want it to end. ”
“Really?” Her eyes are full of tears, her lip quivering as she waits for me to answer.
“Yes. For as long as I live,”—I lift one shoulder and let it drop—“which should definitely be the scale considering I’m going after an older woman and all.”
“I have a confession.”
“If it’s that you don’t love me, be warned that I’ll just lock us away in your apartment and make you orgasm until you do.”
She laughs, nuzzling her face against my palm. “It broke me to leave you at the bookstore.”
“You broke me too. And then when I couldn’t find you,”—the words get caught in my throat—“I’ve never been so scared.”
“I was stupid.”
“Yeah, let’s not do that again, okay?”
“Be stupid?”
“No, run from me, get a hotel room, and go to a club by yourself where you end up fighting your bodyguard in a deserted hallway.” I pause. “That was not on my bingo card for January.”
“Mine either.” She smiles. “Neither was falling in love with you.” I squint at her and she grins. “It was on my one for December.”
I lean in and press my lips to hers as gently as I can. I want to devour her, but I need her whole and healthy before I can do that.
Still, my uncle was right. Kinsley had lasted a hell of a long time in that fight.
She held on.
She survived.
She’s okay.
Tears stream down my face, mixing with hers, the enormity of tonight—of everything—boiling over.
“I love you,” she whispers, the words giving me life as I climb in bed with her, her body warm and soft and here.
And mine.
And they’ll have to pry me out of this bed if they think I’m leaving her for even a second. She ducks under my arm to rest her head on my chest as we wait for her to be discharged, both of us ignoring whatever show is playing on the television in the corner.
My phone buzzes next to me and I pick it up, grinning as I read the message.
UNCLE TOMMY: Proud of you kid
ROYCE: I got my girl
UNCLE TOMMY: Heard she gave him a cracked rib
UNCLE TOMMY: Can’t wait to meet her
ROYCE: Heard you’re raising hell
UNCLE TOMMY: You know I like to shake things up
ROYCE: Thank you—for everything
UNCLE TOMMY: Always, kid. Now how many favors do I owe?
ROYCE: A few. But we’re going to need to talk about my schedule so I can travel with her during the season
UNCLE TOMMY: Good thing you already work remote then, isn’t it?
I turn the screen so Kinsley can see, her eyes lighting up when she gets to the end. “Really?”
“Where you go, I go, Kins.”
“I can be really moody during the season,” she admits and I shrug.
“I bet there’s a lesson for that.”