“No. I don’t need it anymore.”
Mack tugged his eyebrows together. “What makes you think that?”
“Alexis and I are together.”
Mack snorted. “Rookie mistake, slapnuts. Your journey has only just begun.”
Annoyance flared his nostrils. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Mack slid the book back. “It means now is not the time to get cocky. Your relationship is new. There’s still a lot that could go wrong if you’re not careful.”
“Yes,” the Russian said, looking up from his lap, a somber expression turning his angular features dark. “Together does not always mean happy ever after.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Well, this is the sexiest thing I’ve ever worn.”
Twenty-four hours later, Alexis emerged from the bathroom in her hospital room and twirled for Noah. Her flimsy gown snapped in the front and hung on her like an old pillowcase.
He smiled from his seat by the window. “Everything you wear is sexy.”
“It’s the socks that really make the outfit.” The hospital had given her some no-slip socks with rubber grooves along the bottom.
Noah stood and walked toward her, all sexy and slow. Her body started to tingle as he dropped a kiss on her upturned lips. “You sure you don’t need me to stay here with you tonight?”
“I have to pee in a jug all night.”
“I can handle it.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, rising on tiptoe to kiss him again. “Go back to the hotel room and get some decent sleep.”
He’d been there all day, waiting and working in between her various tests. She’d had a chest X-ray, an echocardiogram, a radiology test, and a variety of cancer screenings. Now she had to spend the night for urine samples and a sleep study.
A discreet cough from the door brought them apart. Alexis turned around as Jasmine walked in. “Am I interrupting?”
“No,” Alexis said, but her cheeks were hot. “Noah, this is Jasmine Singh, the transplant coordinator.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Jasmine said, extending her hand. “Sorry I missed you this morning when you arrived.”
“Noah Logan,” he said, accepting the handshake.
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m heading home now but can be paged if you need me.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Alexis said. “Mostly I’ll be sleeping.”
Jasmine gestured behind her toward the door. “You have a visitor waiting. I thought I should check with you first before letting her in, given the unusual nature of your relationship.”
That could only mean one person, and they hadn’t seen each other or spoken since the horrible scene at the Vanderpools’ house.
Noah’s hand settled on her back and rubbed a soothing circle. She looked up at him. “It’s up to you,” he said quietly.
“Would it be best if I told her to come back another time?” Jasmine asked.
Her throat suddenly dry, Alexis shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Send her in.”
She would have to see the family at some point if she was cleared for the surgery. Might as well get it over with now.
Jasmine walked out, and a moment later, Candi’s soft footsteps approached from behind the half curtain that separated the entrance from the rest of the room. She stopped short when she saw Noah and glanced nervously between the two of them. “Hi, um . . . Am I interrupting?”
Noah looked down at Alexis, his expression deceptively blank. “I can stay.”
“It’s okay,” Alexis said, lifting her face for a kiss. “I’ll call you later.”
“I—I’m sorry,” Candi stammered. “I should have called, but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me, and I just really wanted to see you. But I can come back or—”
“Candi, it’s fine. Noah was heading back to the hotel soon anyway, right?” She met his gaze and silently encouraged him to agree. He nodded, reluctantly.
He pressed his lips lightly to hers and squeezed her elbow. “Call me if you need anything.”
With a polite nod at Candi, he walked out.
Candi swallowed hard. “He really didn’t have to go.”
Alexis scooted up onto her bed and motioned toward the chair that Noah had vacated. “Do you want to sit down?”
Candi’s gait was stiff and awkward as she crossed the small room and lowered to the chair. She perched on the edge of the cushion the same way as that first day in Alexis’s office. She clutched a black backpack to her lap.
Her swallow was audible. “I’m sorry again about what happened at the house. I should have told them before you got there. I just didn’t know how, and, God, Cayden was such a jerk. He’s not normally like that. I swear.”
“I guess there’s no normal way to respond when you find out without warning that your father had another child out in the world.”
“I know I should have told them you were coming, but I was just so mad at Dad. He was being so stubborn, to not even consider you as a donor?” She suddenly stopped, a stricken look on her face. “I mean, not that you’re just a donor to him. To me.”
Alexis took mercy on her and offered a soothing smile. “I know what you meant, Candi. You don’t have to keep apologizing.”
“But I keep sticking my foot in my mouth.”
“No, you don’t. You’re nervous. I’m nervous.”
Candi’s relief was its own presence in the room—calming and quiet. “I, um, I brought something, some stuff to show you.”
“What kind of stuff?”
Candi reached into her bag and withdrew a black photo album before setting the bag on the floor. “Family photos and stuff.” A sheepish expression turned her cheeks pink. “I—I sort of made this for you. To keep.”
Alexis’s chest tightened. “Thank you. That was very kind.”
Candi flipped open the cover. “It has pictures of, like, the whole family. I thought you might want to, you know, get to know everyone.”
Alexis wasn’t actually ready for anything like that, but she didn’t want to hurt Candi’s feelings. She’d obviously put a lot of time into the project. So instead, Alexis smiled and patted the edge of the mattress next to her. “Show me.”
“So, I
