“I don’t want you to give up anything.”
She shook her head. “I’ve discovered I actually have friends here. Good friends. And I confess I went online and started looking at jobs. I found a great one, if they’ll hire me. I can be happy here, Colin, as long as...” Her voice hitched. “As long as I have you.”
“You have me,” he said roughly. “You’ve had me since we came face-to-face. It just took me a while to admit what had happened to me.”
“After that night at the library.” She squeezed his hand. “I found a picture of you online and printed it. I hung it on the refrigerator where I could see it. I thought it was because you made me feel safe. But that wasn’t all. You made me feel a whole lot of things I never had before. I want to keep feeling all of them.”
“I do, too.” He kissed her again, but gently, first on the lips, then her forehead. “I can tell you are hurting again. Push the button.”
He was right. She fumbled for it and did.
“Now sleep.”
“You should go home....”
He only smiled. “Not a chance. When they let you, you’re going home with me. In the meantime, this is where I’ll be.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but couldn’t make herself. Knowing he was here...she could sleep. “I love you,” she whispered.
He stroked her face, his fingers whisper-soft. “You know I love you,” he murmured in that deep, velvety voice that had riveted her from the first time she’d heard it.
However fuzzy she felt, she knew she was smiling. Her final conscious thought was, Now I’m home.