Chapter 24
Collin couldn’t wipe the silly grin off his face, even though he knew he needed to. Olivia Marshall loves me! Then he had a thought that made him sober quickly. What if she doesn’t think I’m serious?
A glance over his shoulder revealed the nurse, who—much to Collin’s chagrin—was a man, still peering under Olivia’s hospital gown. How long does it take to check her stitches? Is he counting each one individually? Sensible-Collin couldn’t convince Insanely-Jealous-Collin his reasoning was off. The whole matter was made worse by the manner of their introduction. Collin still had on the Santa suit when the nurse walked in and caught them kissing.
Since then, Collin had fetched his street clothes from Santa’s rucksack and changed in the bathroom, glad he’d thought to pack his normal clothes when he left the apartment early that morning in Blake’s Real Santa suit. Out of costume, he felt his confidence return, along with his jealous irritation.
“Are you almost finished?” Collin asked, edging that direction.
“Almost,” the nurse announced, oblivious to Collin’s judgmental glare. “Need to give her a bit of morphine, so she—”
“No!” Olivia jutted out her jaw, a sure sign she’d adopted an inflexible position. “I’m not taking any narcotics. Nothing stronger than Tylenol with codeine.”
The nurse’s mouth took on a stubborn set, and Collin almost felt sorry for him. He had no idea the kind of will he was up against.
“Unfortunately, the doctor didn’t prescribe Tylenol with codeine, and the hospitalist won’t be making rounds here for another hour or more.” His smile was filled with fake sympathy. “If you don’t take the morphine now, you could be in a lot of pain for quite some time.”
“I’ll have to manage.”
“But...”
Her crossed arms and squinting eyes told him he was wasting his time. His shoulders dropped in resignation, and Collin didn’t feel the least bit sorry for him.
“Fine.” The nurse decided to throw a few jabs on his way out. “I’ll let you two kinky guys get back to whatever you were doing when I came in, but keep in mind these doors don’t lock.” He threw his head back, yowling with hyena-laughter. He’d already embarrassed Olivia repeatedly since barging in on their celebrate-being-in-love kiss, the one that came after their I’ve-missed-you kiss and their Christmas-break kiss. Collin was ready for the man to leave so he could give Olivia a proper I’ll-be-back-soon kiss before returning to check on Martha.
But as the nurse left, Collin remembered Olivia’s cell phone, which was plugged into the wall with a borrowed charger. He handed the phone to Olivia. “It’s got to be charged enough to show me those text messages.”
He noted the way her hands trembled as she opened her texts. Once again, he experienced an undeniable urge to slam his fist into Burkhalter’s slimy teeth.
“Here they are. At least there aren’t any new ones.” As Collin moved to read over her shoulder, she turned the phone away. “Remember, you promised not to go after Burkhalter.”
“By that, I assume you mean I’m not allowed to buy a gun and shoot him in the unmentionables.” Collin reveled in the fact he’d brought a grin to her face.
“Perhaps you should promise a bit more than that. Let’s agree you won’t confront him at all.”
“Arghh! Why did I have to fall in love with a strong-willed woman?”
“I suppose for the same reason I fell in love with a smart aleck.”
He grinned, kissing her on the lips for a few brief seconds.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“That was an I’m-glad-you-love-me kiss.”
“Sounds suspiciously like the celebrate-being-in-love kiss, although I’m not complaining.”
Collin snatched the phone and quickly thumbed through Burkhalter’s messages, trying to stay calm in the face of the threatening texts. But as he read back through them, he began to see holes in Burkhalter’s offense.
“All of this is based on the idea that someone recorded a video of Burkhalter without his permission or knowledge. But, in actuality, he signed a release form before he rode the elevator to the private party on the second floor. The jerk doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on.”
“Are you sure?”
“Ninety-five percent. I’ll talk to Jake at The Slipstream, but I think I’m right.”
“And you won’t confront Fitz or beat him up?”
“As long as he doesn’t show up and threaten you.” He agonized for a moment, building the nerve to discuss her relationship with Burkhalter. “I wish you had told me from the beginning. I wish you had never dated him.”
“I didn’t date him. Well, technically I did.” Her mouth twisted to the side, a sure sign of guilt.
“Because you kissed him?” He braced himself for the answer.
“No! Ewww! I never kissed Fitz, but I did let him spend money on me once or twice. You’re the one who pointed out that technically qualifies as a date.”
Before he knew what he was doing, he sandwiched her face between his hands and laid claim on her with a firm kiss. “I’ll call this one a you-belong-to-me-and-nobody-else kiss.” He lifted his head, smiling, to gaze at the woman he’d marked as his own. But his smile vanished when he saw her grimace of pain.
“You’re hurting, aren’t you? Why didn’t you take the morphine when the nurse offered it? I hope it wasn’t because you could tell how much I wanted him out of here. I didn’t want you to be in pain.”
She shook her head. “I want my mind to be sharp, in case Fitz shows up.” Her fingers twisted a long, curly strand of hair into a tight spiral. “I only told him about the kidney transplant because I thought it would make him lose interest. Now I wish I hadn’t said anything.”
“Let me think a minute.” He jabbed stiff fingers through his hair, considering the best options to handle Burkhalter. A novel idea popped into his head—one that made his heart swell. If he were Olivia’s fiancé, he would have the authority to limit her visitors and the release of information, such as her room number. He ignored the fact that he probably could have accomplished this task with the help of Olivia’s family. Now that he’d imagined her with his ring on her finger, setting her apart as belonging to him, he was obsessed with the notion.
With his back turned, he dug in his pocket and found the little pouch he’d forgotten to remove from his jeans, extracting the ring with shaky fingers. Though he thrilled at the thought of being engaged to Olivia, his parched tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as he considered asking the question.
“Olivia?” He tried in vain to find a drop of saliva to wet his throat. “You know I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life protecting you?”
A smile lifted the corners of her mouth, despite her pained expression. “And you know I think protection goes both ways?”
He waved off her objection. “Yes, yes, I know. But that’s not the point. The point is, I want you and everyone else to know how I feel about you.”
“I believe you, Collin. You have nothing to prove.”
“But I want to make a commitment, a permanent commitment.”
He dropped to one knee, regretting the hospital bed was so high he could barely see her. From up on the mattress, he heard a gasp, and her face appeared at the side of the bed, peering through the railing. “What are you doing?”
He grinned, holding up the sparkling diamond ring, resting his hand on the rail to stop its violent trembling. “Olivia Marshall, will you make me the happiest man alive? Will you marry me and be mine forever?”
Tears filled her eyes, spilling onto her cheeks as she tentatively touched the ring. “It’s beautiful—old fashioned and sweet. But where did you... When did you...”
“Martha gave it to me yesterday. She said I could use the diamond in a custom setting one day, but I thought maybe you could wear it for now, if you’re willing.”
Her jaw worked as if she was trying to form words, but she said nothing. A stone plunged into his gut as he realized his mistake. He’d rushed her. She wasn’t ready. No one made Olivia Marshall do anything before she’d thought it through on every possible level. She was going to turn him down.
In a panic, he sought to withdraw the offer, so she wouldn’t have to choose. He could use her family to handle Burkhalter. “You don’t have to decide now. You can think about it as long as you want to. I’ll wait as long as you want. Months. Years, even.” He prattled on as fast as he could talk.
“Yes,” she said, her small voice quivering like her chin.
“Yes, you want to wait? That’s fine. I promise I won’t pressure y—”
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“You will?”
“I will. I don’t need to think about it. Nothing has ever seemed more right in my entire life. Not even going to medical school. But...” Her eyes fluttered closed, her teeth capturing her lower lip.
“But what?”
Her forehead creased as she gazed up through her long lashes. “Are you sure you want me? I’m stubborn and I worry a lot and my mom will testify I can make a mountain out of any molehill you can find.”
Collin stood, slipping the old-fashioned ring onto her finger, his heart singing. “I’m equally stubborn and quite adept at stomping on molehills. With you by my side, I think we can conquer those mountains.”
“I love you,” she said, biting her lip as she stared at the sparkling ring on her left hand.
“I love you, too.” He could barely believe how natural it felt to speak the words, when only a few weeks ago he’d believed he was an emotional cripple who would never experience true love. Now he realized love had been an ever-present, but unrecognizable, part of his life.
Her bottomless brown eyes glistened with unshed tears. “You know what would make me really happy right now?”
“What? I’ll get it for you, whatever it is.” He pounded his fist over his heart. “Anything you want. There’s nothing I’d rather do than make you happy.”
“I’d like an I’m-going-to-spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you kiss.”
Filled with a joy and peace he hadn’t felt in months—maybe ever—his old playful spirit pushed its way to the foreground. He flashed a smug grin, touched his hand to the brim of an imaginary cowboy hat and feigned a southern accent. “I reckon I’d be happy to oblige, ma’am.” Then he lowered his lips to hers, worshiping her mouth with a kiss that went beyond the rest of their lives…all the way to eternity.
The End
Thanks for readingOlivia and Collin’s story. I hope you’ve enjoyed all these Best Girls stories. Go back to the beginning and read the fun story of how Steven Gherring lost his PA, Katie to his best friend, Gary, as they all go on a SWEET ADVENTURE!
If you like billionaire romance books, try The Billionaire’s Secret Marriage. Fall in love with Branson Knight, the blind billionaire who doesn’t know how swoony he is!
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