Chapter 20 #2
His mouth tipped upward. “Very observant.”
“Permanently.”
“That’s usually what discontinued means.”
“I know what it means.”
“I figured, what with the medical degree and all.”
I should have laughed. Instead, I kept staring at him.
His smile faded.
“Thad.”
He stood in front of me on his own.
“You did it,” I said.
His throat moved. “Not all of it.”
“No. But this part.”
His eyes went bright before he looked down at his leg. “Yeah.”
I closed the space between us and pulled him against me.
Cash came without hesitation.
His arms circled my waist. Mine locked around his shoulders, holding him close enough that I felt the full weight of him against me.
No crutch keeping space between us.
No brace pressing against my leg.
Cash.
Warm and solid and standing on his own.
His face turned into my neck. “I thought you’d be there.”
The words landed quietly.
Deep.
My hand tightened against his back. “I was supposed to be.”
“I know.”
“I tried.”
“I know that too.”
He wasn’t angry. I almost wished he were.
I loosened my hold enough to look at him. “Who brought you home?”
“Aaron.”
“Where were you?”
“Halo House.”
Of course.
“They wanted to celebrate,” he said. “Nothing big. Pizza. Cake.”
“You had cake?”
“Maxie decorated it.”
“That sounds like questionable decision-making.”
Cash smiled, but it disappeared quickly.
I had missed it.
I should’ve been there when they took the brace off. I should’ve seen him take those first steps without it instead of finding the damn thing tossed haphazardly in the closet. Discarded and dismissed. A thing of the past.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
His hand remained against my side. “You don’t have to apologize for working.”
“I told you I’d be there.”
“Your patient needed you.”
The answer should have made it easier. It didn’t.
Cash had needed me too.
Or maybe he hadn’t.
Aaron had driven him. Phoenix and everyone at Halo House had celebrated with him. By the time Cash walked through my door, the milestone was hours old and the cake had already been eaten.
“I saved you a piece,” he said.
Something in my chest twisted. “Aaron didn’t eat it?”
“I threatened to break his fingers.”
“Effective.”
“I learned from the best.”
Cash hadn’t moved away. Neither had I.
His gaze dropped to my mouth.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“Someday,” he said.
The word didn’t sound teasing this time.
I lifted my hand to his face, my thumb settling against the edge of his jaw. Cash leaned into the touch before either of us could pretend he hadn’t.
“Cash.”
“How long?”
I knew what he meant.
Until he wasn’t my patient.
Until his recovery no longer depended on my decisions.
Until I could touch him without the imbalance hanging over both of us.
Until someday.
“You’re still under my care.”
His jaw hardened beneath my hand. “I know.”
“The graft is still healing.”
“I know.”
“This isn’t only about the brace.”
“I fucking know, Thad.”
He pulled away.
The loss of his heat was immediate.
Cash took two steps backward, steady on both legs. “You think I don’t understand why you’re waiting?”
“I think you deserve to recover without wondering whether anything I’ve done for you came with expectations.”
“That was never the question, Thad. You’ve never made me feel like I owed you anything.
” He paused, looking away. When he looked back at me, he said, “But you also stopped pretending months ago that this is just doctor and patient. You held my hand through weeks of pain meds. You helped me shower. You slept in a chair by my bed. You fed me and provided for me. So don’t stand there acting like the rule still means something when we broke it a long time ago.
Because from where I’m standing, we’re all but married.
” Laughter—dry, humorless—fell between us. “Just without any of the perks.”
“You might later.”
“No.” He shook his head. “You might. You might decide I’ll regret it. You might decide I don’t know what I want. You might come up with fifty new reasons this is a terrible idea, but don’t put them in my head and pretend you’re protecting me from them.”
“That isn’t what I’m doing.”
“Then what are you doing?”
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Cash laughed once, but there was no humor in it. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
He moved past me toward his bedroom.
“Cash.”
He stopped without turning.
“You know I want you. I want to be with you.”
His shoulders rose with the breath he took.
“That has never been the fucking question, Doc. The question is…will you ever stop standing in our way?”
“I’m still…”
He surged forward, wrapped a hand around the back of my neck, and pulled me to him. Our lips met in a desperate and needy kiss. It was all teeth and tongues.
“Fuck!” I gasped, pushing away from where I pinned him against the wall. “We ca—”
“You’re fired.”
“What?”
“I said you’re fired, Dr. Vale.” He pulled out his phone, tapped at the screen, then turned it toward me. A group text with Davina, Matteo, and me.
Effective immediately, I’m transferring my care to Dr. Anderson. Thanks, Cash.
So many questions rushed to the front of my mind.
How did he get Davina’s number?
How did he know Nelly Anderson?
Before I could think of any more questions, a thumbs-up appeared from Matteo and typing dots showed for Davina. When the message arrived, it said,
Davina
I’ll take care of it tomorrow.
“What—”
“Puck’s in your zone, Doc. What’re you going to do about it?”
His bedroom door closed softly behind him.
I stayed in the hallway, staring at a door I had no right to walk through. Or hadn’t had any right to walk through. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the handle and opened the door.