Page 83 of Mid-Thirties Slightly Hot Mess Female Seeking Billionaire

"She's bleeding though."

"A slight cut by the ear." He says. "We'll run some more tests and check everything, and I want to make sure that you don't have a bad headache tomorrow, but I think you should be okay."

He looks at me. "Will you be able to ensure that she's not alone tonight?"

"Of course." .

"No." Sarah says. "I'm fine, I can be by myself."

"No, I will be with you." I stare at her.

"No, Ethan, you-"

"I will be with you. You can't be alone."

I can go to Isabel's. I can go to-"

"Sarah." I cut her off, and she sighs.

"Fine."

"I want to make sure you're okay."

"Fine." She says, and looks down, exhausted, and suddenly I realized just how young she looks, and how beautiful, and how vulnerable, and my heart constricts, because I feel something that I don't think I've ever felt before in my life, and I don't even want to question what it is.

About an hour later, we're leaving the hospital, and my driver takes us back to her place.

"You sure you don't want to go to mine?"

"I'm sure." She says. "I know my place is small, but-"

"It's fine, I like it." We get into her apartment and she yawns.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really tired right now."

"It's okay. You can go to sleep, and I'll just do some work, and when you wake up in the morning, we'll grab breakfast, and I'll make sure that you're okay."

"It's very sweet of you to be here." She says softly. Thank you. You really didn't have to stay."

"I know, but I wanted to, Sarah. I really wanted to."

She heads to her bedroom and lies down, and I pace back and forth along the corridor for a couple of minutes, gripping my phone, thinking about calling my dad and speaking to him, asking him how he could cheat on mom and not use protection, but I'm spent. I don't really know what to say.

I head towards Sarah's bedroom to see if she wants something to drink or eat, but she's already fast asleep. I go over and take a seat on the mattress and look down at her. She looks so innocent, so sweet. I watch her stomach rise and fall. I'm grateful that she's okay. I'm grateful to be here with her. I'm grateful to feel something other than lust for business. She's awakened something in me that I didn't even realize had been asleep.

As I sit there and stare at her sleeping, I remember a time when I was seven years old, when my parents had been fighting and my dad had stormed out in the middle of the night. I'd been in bed reading a book, and when he'd left, I'd been thankful that the shouting would stop. I remember waking up at about five o'clock in the morning, and creeping along the corridor to my mom's room, and just standing outside the door listening to her crying for what felt like hours. I remember feeling so alone and cold as I watched her, and then eventually, she fell asleep. I opened the doors and I crept inside, and I remember I watched her sleeping, because I wanted to make sure she was still alive, I wanted to make sure that nothing would ever happen to her.

And as she lay there, I remember her whispering my name in her sleep. "I love you, my darling Ethan. I will never leave, because I love you."

And I remember then how I felt. How I felt guilty and sad, but how I loved her, how I realized she loved me more than life itself, how I realized that I didn't blame her for being weak anymore. I remember creeping into her bed and waking up hours later to her kissing me and hugging me close.

"I love you." She’d said. "I'll always have you, my darling." And I felt warm and protected, and like I never wanted to let her go.

"Ethan." Sarah mumbles in her sleep, and I freeze. "Oh, Ethan." She says, and she's smiling now. I wonder what she's thinking about. "You're not so bad, Ethan." She says, and my heart surges.

I stand up and I walk towards the door, I'm going to go and sleep on the couch, but then I stop. I turn back around and walk towards the bed, and I take my shoes off and lie down next to her. I need to be near her, just to make sure she's okay, that if she needs something, I'll hear her. I lie back down and stare up at the ceiling and wonder what all these emotions mean. I wonder if my mom knows that my dad has gotten someone else pregnant. I wonder if it will break her yet again. I wonder if Sarah knows that we have something that makes me uncomfortable, but also alive for the very first time. I turn to the side and put my arm around her softly, and then before I know it, I'm falling asleep.

A few hours later, I wake up, and Sarah's still sleeping, but she's fully embraced by me. She moans slightly as my hand moves from her stomach, and I realize that she's enjoying the warmth of my body against hers. I realize that she means something real to me, she's worming her way into my heart, and that scares me. I'm not sure what to think or what to do. I don't want to think about it, it's an uncomfortable feeling, and yet, as I close my eyes to fall asleep again, I know that it's the best feeling I've had in a really long time. It's a peaceful, sweet, loving feeling, and I never want to let it go, I never want it to leave me.

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