“Oh, Taylor, none of that. You did exactly what you should have, calling and texting. It helped Easton locate you sooner than if you hadn’t. If anyone should be sorry, it should be me.” His hip finds the edge of the bed, and feeling the heat radiating off of him gives me the calmness I need in this storm that has been our life today.
“Okay.”
Slade dries my tears that were running down my cheeks. He kisses me lightly. I’m seeking more when a throat clears, letting us know someone’s in the room with us.
“I swear if that is Travis, I’m hiding under the covers,” I whisper to Slade, not opening my eyes until I know who is in my room.
“You can open your eyes. It’s the doctor,” he says with a laugh. I open my eyes and watch as he gets off the bed and stands at his full height. Slade is a sight to behold. The way he stands says he’s ready for battle, but it also lets me know I’m safe with him. What happened today wasn’t anyone’s fault besides Eric’s. His five o’clock shadow is on full display, dark circles under his eyes mar his beautiful tanned skin, and his jaw ticks. The doctor looks me up and down, appraising my scrapes and the nice bruise on my forehead I’m sure is forming there.
“Hello, Miss. Daniels. I’m Doctor Pioneer. How are you feeling?” He offers his hand to shake, and I extend my hand to his, all the while hearing a growl coming from the man standing protectively at my right.
“Slade,” I murmur under my breath. “I’m good, ready to get home and in my own bed. No offense.”
“None taken, not a whole lot of people like being here. I’ll just look at your eyes and check you out, but from what the nurse said, you have no signs or symptoms of a concussion. That being said, I’d still like you to be watched throughout the night, just in case anything arises,” he states, looking at Slade.
“Not a problem.” Slade’s voice is stoic, and I have a feeling he is going to take watching over me to the utmost extreme.
Doctor Pioneer checks my eyes, ears, and throat before looking over the scrapes that the nurse already put a salve on, then says, “Everything looks good to me. I’ll have the nurse bring in your discharge papers.”
“Thank you,” Slade says before I can get out my thanks. Instead, I nod. The doctor takes one last look at the both of us before making his exit.
“Growl much?” I raise my eyebrows at Slade.
“He was doing more than looking with his eyes, Trouble.”
I roll my eyes at that comment alone. “How’s Leo? Can we go upstairs and see how everyone is doing?” I slide my legs over the edge of the bed, standing. I’m tired of sitting on my ass.
“Last I heard, he’s out of surgery. The first thing he asked was how you were doing. Fucker, he scared the shit out of us all. I think I may need to put him on desk duty for the time being, though—something he’ll fight us all on tooth and nail.” Slade fists his hair at the base of his neck. I stand and step right into his arms, snaking my arms around his middle. This time it’s me giving him the comfort he so clearly needs.
“Hey, we’re all okay. Everyone’s quick thinking helped everyone. We’ll go check on them all, and then I’m sure I’ll have to answer to the police still too. After that though, I really want a shower and our bed.” I look into his eyes. This time he gives me what I want, and his mouth meets mine. The chaste kiss earlier barely held me over. Slade gives in, not backing down. Instead his mouth is owning mine, much like his body, heart, and soul already owns me.
When we pull apart, we’re both breathless, and some of the spark has returned to his eyes. It makes me fall in love with him all over again.
“I love you, Slade.” I’ll probably tell him this every hour of every day until I can get over the thought of not hearing it back when I wasn’t sure what was going on.
“I love you, Taylor. Get those thoughts out of your mind. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. We have the rest of our lives to plan out—marriage, babies, growing old together. I want it all with you by my side.”
“You’re going to make me cry, then I’ll really look like a mess. I want that Slade, and I can’t wait to see what else comes our way in this life together,” I reply. The nurse coming in halts our conversation. I sign all the documents; she hands me a prescription for the salve they put on my cuts and scrapes, then leaves as fast as she came.