Page 59 of Cloud Nine Love

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs as his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Is it cancer? Is it worse? What’s worse than cancer?”

“I can’t tell you anything about her diagnosis.”

He lifted his head. His gaze met mine, and his eyes were pleading, silently begging me to tell him something, anything. But then a resignation settled over him. My heart was breaking for him before, but that look caused it to shatter into a million tiny pieces.

“I’m sure she’ll tell you when she’s?—”

“No. She won’t.” He shook his head. “She’ll take this to the grave. Literally, if it’s as bad as I think it is. Remember when I told you how stubborn she is?”

He had told me that during our ‘practice date.’ I thought back to that night—how simple, how exciting, how much I’d felt like we’d been floating in a bubble. That bubble had definitely burst. I wished we could get a little bit of that magic back and just be Kyle and Ana. Actually…

I took a deep breath. “I don’t know if this will help, but a friend of mine, Kyle, his mom has Lupus and myocarditis, a secondary heart condition.”

My heart was pounding in my chest. I didn’t break rules. Ever. I didn’t even bend them. I loved rules. Rules made people accountable. I liked accountability. This man made me question who I even was.

“Lupus and myocarditis,” he repeated slowly.

I nodded. “Yes, that’s what Kyle’s mother has.”

“Is it… Is she going to be okay? What should Kyle’s mom do?”

“Lupus is an autoimmune disease. There’s no one-size-fits-all treatment. But a good rule of thumb is that she should stop ignoring her symptoms. She should see her specialists. She should rest. She should avoid stress.”

“But she’s going to be okay?” He asked again.

“I don’t know Kyle’s mom’s history or lifestyle well enough to make any promises, but I do know that rest, nutrition, and living as close to a stress-free life as possible is a good place to start.”

He nodded, and I saw something in his eyes change.

“Thank you.” His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me between his legs. I stepped forward, and his cheek rested against my stomach as he held me tightly and repeated, “Thank you.”

I looked down at the top of his head and ran my fingers through his hair. I tried to ignore how good it felt to be in his arms again. I’d never enjoyed being hugged, but I would gladly live the rest of my life in Remi’s embrace if I could.

He looked up at me and grinned. It was his half-grin that did funny things to my insides.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re not wearing your scrubs.”

“No. I change at the hospital.” I always showered and changed back into regular clothes before coming home.

“Do you always do that?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm,” he made a non-committal sound.

“Is that a problem?”

“When I saw you today in your scrubs, I had some thoughts. Dirty thoughts.”

My lips curled in a grin. “Your mom was in the emergency room after collapsing, and you saw me and had dirty thoughts?”

His left shoulder lifted in an unapologetic shrug. “Yeah. It’s not my fault, though. You look so fucking sexy.”

My head fell back as I laughed. “No one looks sexy in scrubs.”

“You do.” His hands began to rub up and down my back and lowered over my ass.

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