I let out a series of curses and jumped out of the van. “Fuck you, Declan Schneider. You’re an asshole.”
He laughed in response.
I awoke in excruciating pain and cried out even as I pushed the pain pump button. God, I couldn’t believe I was here. I’d skied my ass off, had the time of my life, then rode the lift back up the mountain and hit a fucking tree on the way down. My leg broke my fall. Compound fracture which required surgery.
My door opened and light filtered in from the hallway as a woman walked in, pumping hand sanitizer into her palm. “Kennedy, honey, you okay?”
The morphine worked almost immediately, and I nodded. “I am now.”
“I’m Sawyer. I’ll be your nurse for the next twelve hours,” she said. “Can I get you anything?”
“A burger?”
She chuckled. “After your surgery, you can negotiate a burger.”
I licked my lips. “How about water?”
“I’ll ask the doctor,” she said. “Is there anyone we can call for you?”
I shook my head. “My parents are on a cruise so they’re not reachable right now, but I’ve left messages for my brothers. I’m just not sure how soon they’ll be able to get here.”
“Well, I’ll be here before surgery and after, so I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Sawyer, I appreciate that.”
“No problem.” She checked my vitals and then left me to sleep.
Kennedy
A quiet, deep voice broke into my oblivion and I groaned. I had no concept of what time it was, just that I was in pain again. I pressed the pump, but it was too soon, so nothing happened.
“I’ll call you back,” Mouse said.
Wait.
“Mouse?” I rasped.
“Hey, baby.” I felt his hand slide into mine. “Can you open your eyes?”
“No,” I said.
“How come?”
“Because this is obviously some twisted dream, and you’re not really here.”
He chuckled, and I felt the tickle of his beard as he kissed my palm. “Open your eyes, baby.”
I forced them open and forced back tears. “What are you doing here?”
“We’ll talk about that after your surgery.”
“No, we can talk about it now,” I countered. “If we talk now, you won’t yell at me for not telling you where I was going and what I was doing.”
“Yeah, well, you got that fuckin’ right.”
“How did you know I was here?” I demanded. “Did Rem blab?”
“No, Remington did not ‘blab.’ Finch did.”
“Same diff.”
He sighed. “Why the fuck would you ski Devils Crotch, alone, Kennedy?”
“I wasn’t exactly alone.”
“Swear to Christ, woman, you better stop fuckin’ with me and start talkin’.”
I pulled my hand out of his, but he pulled it back, kissing the palm again.
“It’s not like I’ve never skied it before, Mouse,” I pointed out.
“Babe, I know you can ski your ass off. But you’ve been here for barely a day. You don’t think you might want to warm up to it?”
“Yeah, well, my bad.”
“Jesus,” he hissed. “You seriously fuckin’ makin’ light of this?”
“No. I’m high.” I groaned. “Obviously.”
“Are you in pain?”
“No.” I blinked back tears. “I’m just really scared.”
He sat on the edge of the mattress, making sure he didn’t jostle me, and leaned over to meet my eyes. “Why are you scared?”
“Because it’s major surgery. They said if I hadn’t gotten airlifted off the mountain when I did, I could have lost my leg. Skeeter saved my life.”
“What the fuck is a skeeter?”
“Chip Reed,” I said. “I met him a few years ago when we came on our family trip. He’s an instructor who works the circuit in the winter so he can surf the rest of the time.”
“You close?”
“We’re friends,” I said, squeezing his hand. “We’ve never been anything more.”
Mouse sighed and I could tell he was relieved, but I could also tell he was holding back.
“What?” I pressed, wrapping my hand around his wrist.
“Nothin’.”
“I’m really sorry,” I whispered. “I should have told you what I was doing.”
“I woulda come with you, baby.”
I tried the pain pump again and felt instant relief, as my eyelids drooped. “You can’t ski.”
“So?”
I smiled, unable to keep my eyes open. “I love you.”
* * *
Mouse
My heart soared and I grinned wide as Kennedy fell into oblivion. She probably wouldn’t remember her declaration of love, but I would, and it meant we had a fuckin’ chance.
I leaned over and kissed her cheek gently, smoothing the covers over her before settling into the chair by the bed. Her surgery was in two hours and to say I was nervous was an understatement. Her break had been significant enough that they’d called in an ortho specialist who was driving down from Denver. Waiting a few hours wasn’t going to kill her, but she wasn’t going to be able to fly for a while.
Luckily, I had a plan.
I stepped out of the room to let Kennedy sleep just as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I slid it out and saw it was Doc calling. “Hey.”
“Hey, brother. How’s Kennedy?”
“Okay, I think. We’re just waiting on the surgeon.”
“I hate to say this, but it’s a damn good thing she broke her leg in Colorado, Mouse,” he said. “Dr. Warren’s the best orthopedic surgeon in the country, if not the world.”
“So they keep telling me.”
He sighed. “She’s gonna be good, bud. Swear to god.”
“I hope so.”
“Talked to Sundance. You’re welcome to stay at the cabin as long as you need, but Aero and Violet have also said you can both stay with them. They built on the property.”
“I’ll talk to Kennedy. I have a feeling she’s gonna want me to stay somewhere she’s not, so we may need to negotiate terms.”
“Been there,” Doc grumbled.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Right. Sundance said you can come any time,” he said. “You don’t need to give him a heads up. Let Kennedy know that I’m available to answer any questions she has. If she wants me to look over her chart, she can sign a consent form there and Dr. Warren will share everything with me.”
“Thanks, brother. I appreciate
