“You’re not...dreaming.” I coughed.
My muscles gathered enough energy to cough.
I grinned, not caring if it was sloppy or resembled a grimace instead of gratefulness. Every moment I stayed awake, my body slipped back under my command.
Just like she would.
Just like I was at her command. I would do whatever she asked and be whoever she wanted if only she would fucking come close.
“Jinx...”
One second, she was on her knees, and the next, she launched at me. Her cheek pressed against my heart. Her arms lashed around my chest. Her body on top of my body in a full-welcome, relief-filled hug. “Sully. Oh, my God.” Her lips danced over my cheeks, my eyes, my forehead, my chin.
Kiss after kiss.
Fast and furious, I couldn’t keep track of sensation, and the kisses all blended into one. I gasped as my nervous system struggled, threatening to short-circuit and send me under again.
“Eleanor...stop.”
“Shit.” Immediately, she slipped off me, resting on her knees, her chest rising and falling. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Did I hurt you? I’ll go get the doctors.” She went to slip off the bed. “Damn! I sent them away for the night. The one night I send them away, and you wake up.” Her panic bled through her swift syntax. “I’ll run. I won’t be long. I’ll get help, and they can give you whatever you need.” She stood, raking her hands through her hair, one of my charcoal business shirts buttoned and hanging loose on her stunning frame. “You’ll need food and painkillers and—” She looked back at me, her hair once again flying every which way in her hurry. “Are you hurting? What do you need? Tell me and I’ll—”
“Eleanor...quiet.”
I winced at the crashing consonants in my head. Too much, too soon. Her panic bled into me, reminding me that I was in pain. That every little achievement in speech and motion cost me dearly, but she was so full of life, so fierce, so tenacious that I fed off her.
I stole more of her energy because her will for me to survive was contagious.
“Just...sit with me.” I swallowed again, wishing I could pat the bed so she’d join me, begging to stand and grab her in a hug. How long before I could do that? How many more weeks would I be bedridden and useless? “Please?”
Instantly, she sat on the edge of the mattress in the space between my waistline and hip. She dodged the tubes going into me and gawked at the heart monitor registering my beats in all their awakening mayhem.
Pika and Skittles instantly took perch on her shoulders, one on each, adorning her in green jewels.
“I can’t believe this.” She pressed her fingertips to the monitor’s screen. “So many times I’ve listened and watched this awful machine. I hated it. But now...now I love it because it shows the truth. You’re back.” Taking my hand in hers, careful not to jostle the IV line, she sniffed back her fresh tears. “I have so much to say, Sully. So much to ask. Where did you go? Could you hear me? What brought you back, do you know? You don’t need to worry about Drake, he’s gone. And the police have been dealt with and—”
“Stop.” I smiled gently. “I know...I heard you.”
She froze. “You did?”
“Every word.”
She blushed. “Are you angry with me?”
I winced. “I think the...question is, are you mad...at me?”
Her jaw tightened as she showed me honesty instead of lies. “I admit I hated that you went after me knowing you might not come back. That you forward planned your death by updating your Will and Testament. That you decided, without any consultation, that my life was worth more than yours.”
“But don’t you see?” I swallowed, slowly finding it easier to talk. “You are worth more. You have more...goodness in your little finger than I do in my...entire body.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
I frowned. “I couldn’t let him hurt you. I couldn’t let him...hurt anything ever again.”
“I know.” She caressed my knuckles. “One day I might ask what you did to Drake, but not tonight.” She risked a shy smile. “Tonight, I just want to hear your voice and feel your touch.”
I looked at where our hands linked, willing my fingers to twitch around hers.
I grunted at the effort and sweat broke out over my forehead as I managed to squeeze her for a second before my ligaments gave up. “I can’t move.”
“I suppose it will take time for your body to regain its strength.” She smiled. “But I’ll help. Every step.” Kissing my knuckles, she looked over her shoulder at the door. “I really should go get Louise, though.”
“Louise?”
“Your doctor.”
“You hired someone else?”
“You collapsed in Geneva, remember?” She shivered and looked away, her face haunted with memories. “I did my best with CPR, but the mercenaries brought you back to life with a small defibrillator. Once the ambulance crew arrived, you were transported to the hospital.” Her shivers turned into a shudder. “I didn’t like it there. Snowy and cold...populated.” She risked a half-smile. “I requested to bring you home.”
“You flew me back?”
What the hell else had this wonderful woman done?
“Campbell arranged it.”
“But you did all that? You were with me the entire time? You kept breath in my body and—”
“I did what I needed to do to keep you.” Her eyes narrowed with ferocity. “No way was I letting you go.”
My chest clenched with her loyalty, glowing with a return vow. “I love you with all my fucking heart.”
“Don’t talk to me about hearts. That’s what started this mess.” She tried to laugh, but it was hollow. “God, Sully...seeing you collapse? It...” She bit her lip and looked away, doing her best to control her grief.
My body crawled with itchy frustration to touch her, heal her, eradicate
