Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
HARMONY
It took over two weeks for the doctors to sign off on Crois leaving the hospital. The kidney that had been injured by one of the bullets had to be removed. And then they had to make sure he’d heal from that, too.
Doctor Webb said that they were being cautious.
Pilar said they were just trying to up the bill that former Captain Catalano would have to pay.
Harmony didn’t mind that they wanted to keep Crois longer.
Better safe than sorry.
She’d come within sight of losing Crois forever and she never wanted to feel like that again.
While he’d recovered in his apartment, their lives had undergone another change.
Crois’ Mama had arrived from Louisiana.
To say that Harmony had been nervous about meeting his mother was a huge understatement.
She had been terrified.
But from the moment that Harmony opened the door to let his mother in, she’d been surrounded by love.
Marie Catherine St, Cyr had brought her youngest child with her.
Another daughter as Crois had groaned to Harmony later that night.
He didn’t really mean it, he loved all of his sisters.
Sabine and Marie Catherine had come to help and between Harmony and Crois’ mother they had things well in hand.
A month later when Crois was close to finishing his rehab, Harmony found herself pondering the changes in her life while Marie made the finishing touches on the last meal they would all share together in the apartment.
Crois lifted their joined hands to his mouth for a slow and tender kiss. “What are you thinking about?”
She smiled up at him and then looked at Sabine who was studiously coloring in a book on the other side of their little square dining table.
“I’m going to miss your family.”
“If you want more family…” Crois turned her hand slightly and lightly bit down on the tip of her finger. “We can make more.”
“Saint!”
Harmony heard his mother chuckle softly from the stove. “Don’t tease her, mon coeur.”
Harmony turned toward Marie and smiled at her.
The two had had many conversations over the month that they’d lived in Center City and where Harmony couldn’t remember the last time… or ever that she’d had a conversation with her mother.
Marie had taken Harmony under her wing, making this upcoming separation all the more poignant than Harmony had ever expected.
Marie brought the pot over to the table, speaking softly to her daughter. “Time to wash up, Sabine.”
Crois got up from his seat and ushered Sabine to the bathroom to wash up for dinner.
Harmony got up to help place the potholder under the pot on the table.
She looked into the pot and smiled. “Fricot?”
Marie smiled back, almost beaming. “You know what it is, honey.”
Harmony loved the warmth in Marie’s tone.
“This is my favorite stew of yours.”
Marie gave her a mock questioning look. “Not my gumbo?”
“Coming from the mid-west,” Harmony explained, “beef and potatoes are old friends. This dish,” she leaned in to take in a long breath, “is like the best of both worlds.”
When she stood back up, Marie drew her into her arms for a long, warm, motherly hug.
“You,” Marie murmured softly, “are the best part of Crois’ world. Don’t forget that.”
“He,” Harmony leaned back and looked into Marie’s eyes, “is everything to me.”
“Okay, okay.” Crois came back into thr room, holding his sister in his arms while she giggled. “I’m hungry let’s eat.”
“Be careful!” “Put her down, mom coeur.”
Harmony and Marie laughed together when they realized they’d both chastised him at the same time.
When they sat down to eat Harmony was acutely aware of what Marie and Sabine had added to her life and what she would miss when they left in the morning.
CROIS
After Sabine had fallen asleep, Crois left his apartment and went over to Harmony’s. He had a copy of her key. When she’d started taking care of him and his mother and sister had come to Center City, she’d offered her apartment as a place for them to relax when she was off duty and helping him.
His mother had left the key for Harmony on the table after she’d done to sleep and Crois couldn’t bear the thought of being without Harmony another night.
He opened the apartment door and part of him didn’t like the fact that she hadn’t put the extra locks on, but…
He put the locks on when he closed the door behind him.
Crois stopped in the bedroom doorway and smiled when he saw that she was cuddled up on one side of the bed.
He was in the middle of trying to decide how to wake her up when she opened her eyes and tucked her hands under her cheek.
“I was wondering if you were going to come.”
Her voice was sleepy, but the look in her eyes warmed him up from the inside out.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d let me in bed or send me back.”
Harmony sat up on the bed and stretched, leaving Crois staring at her with a smile.
“So, can I-”
“Come here,” Harmony reached out her hand, “I’m exhausted and you need some sleep.”
He moved closer and took her hand as he toed off his shoes.
“You might be exhausted,” he leaned in and kissed her forehead, “but the last thing I want is sleep.”
Before he could move, she lifted her free hand and hooked it around the back of his head and pulled him down.
Their lips were barely a whisper apart when she spoke. “Funny thing,” she pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I’m not tired anymore.”
Crois kissed her again, his lips as gentle as he could manage, but he was hungry for her.
“We don’t,” he explained between kisses, “have to do anything.”
Her hands reached for his T-shirt and grasped it on both sides of his waist. “So you want to stop?”
He closed his eyes and ground his teeth together so hard that he saw stars. “I didn’t say that.”
Harmony slipped her hands under his T-shirt and he sucked in a breath.
“Sorry,” she murmured, pulling her hands back, “my hands are cold.”
He grabbed her hands and drew them back against his belly under his T-shirt.
“They’ll warm up,” he promised her.
And even though he felt the cold of her hands under his shirt, he didn’t stop or try to push her hands away.
He wanted those pretty hands on him.
Those amazing hands.
Harmony smoothed her hands under his shirt, her palms against the taut flesh of his belly.
“Take the shirt off.”
His breath caught in his lungs and he sat back, with one leg off the bed and the other folded under him. He kept his eyes on hers every second until his shirt crossed his eyes, taking the sight of her away from him.
When he saw her again… he hoped he wasn’t imagining the look of love that he saw there.
He balled his T-shirt up in his hands and looked at her.
“Honey, I know I haven’t said it yet, but I love you.”
He watched her draw in a breath, the thin strap of her camisole fell off of one shoulder.
She looked at him for what felt like an eternity before she spoke.
“I love you, too.” She swallowed and looked a little hesitant before she spoke again. “I should have told you a while ago, but-”
He tossed his shirt to the side and stretched out beside her on the bed, drawing her closer and into his arms.
“Honey, you tell me every damn day that you love me. Every moment you take care of me and worry about me. Even when you told me to get off of my ass and go to my PT appointments, I knew.
“When you took Sabine to the firehouse and the precinct to show her around where we both work, I knew.”
He kissed her.
He kissed her like she was running out of air and he wanted to give her some of his own.
He kissed her like it might be the last time they saw each other.
And he kissed her to show her just how much love he had for her inside.
When he broke away, she was breathless.
He was, too.
“I… I wanted to say the words.”
Her voice was whispered soft.
“But every time I started to say them,” she drew in a shaky breath, “I remembered how close I came to losing you. And it brought back memories of every time I should have said it and didn’t.
It… felt like I just kept missing the opportunity, and catching up was impossible… so I just kept pushing it behind.”
“You never have to tell me you love me, Honey. But if you want to… I’ll listen to it all day long. I see what you do for me and I love you for it.
“I wanted to tell you how I felt, but I was a afraid of pushing you too much.” He wanted to be clear with her, because she deserved that and more.
She smiled, a little rueful grin and he startled as her fingers caressed the scar of one scar an then the other on his abdomen.
“You know I don’t mind if it’s you pushing me, right?”
He’d never considered scars something… sexy, until Harmony touched him there.
Her fingertips caressed him, tracing the darkened flesh as if she found some kind of wonder in it.
Every little bit of skin she touched felt warm to the touch and it sent a shiver through his flesh.
Hot and cold, Harmony’s touch meant everything to him.
Those hands of hers had literally kept him alive.
When she turned her wrist and brushed her thumb along the scar she nudged him onto his back.
He went willingly, or rather, he lost the ability to do anything but follow her lead.
Harmony, his woman, his love, got on her knees and moved down to his hips. She slipped her fingers into the waist of his sweats and smiled at him.
“Lift up, Saint.”
Oh, shit.
She said it. Maybe she’d picked it up with three of them around her, listening to their tones and lilts, his becoming stronger around his mother and sister.
Her voice now curled around the sounds of his name, teasing him.
“Saint.”
Her voice said it like she meant it to sound like Sin.
Oh, yeah. He smiled. She’d told him to lift.
And he did.
Hips off the bed, she pulled his sweats down and then off his legs one by one.
She lifted them in one hand and dropped it off of the bed and onto the floor.
“You won’t be needing that again anytime soon.”
Lord a mercy, he nearly swallowed his tongue.
“Yes, boss.”
She smiled at his words and leaned closer. “I like that.”
I do, too.