Page 21 of Torn In Two

My phone buzzed insistently as I strode through the now familiar hospital corridors, winding my way along the path I’d taken every day to Kara’s room. I took the phone from my pocket and swore at Luca’s name flashing on the screen for what had to have been the fiftieth time since he’d left me on the side of the Slayers’ road with a van full of women I was supposed to deliver.

“Go to Hell.” I sent his call to voicemail, just like I had all the others.

I hadn’t listened to a single message he’d left, nor did I have any intentions of pushing “play” on the one that came in now.

I’d made a massive mistake getting back in with Luca, and I wasn’t even surprised it had all gone sour. Part of me had known it would.

I paused outside Kara’s door, cracking my neck and breathing deep so I didn’t bring any of the black cloud surrounding me into her room.

I twisted the handle and was met with a beaming smile on the other side.

My heart squeezed at the sight of her sitting up in bed, tube- and wire-free, color back in her cheeks, and so damn happy to see me.

Whatever I had going on with Luca failed to exist when she looked at me like that.

I’d had days of sitting in her hospital room just watching her sleep, or trying to stay out of the way while nurses and doctors came and went. But today she seemed good. Healthy. “Hey, gorgeous.” I moved my way around the bed to her side and kissed her cheek. “You feeling okay?”

She grinned, but then her smile faltered. “They said I can go home today.”

I widened my eyes, excitement kicking up inside me. “Shit, really? That’s fantastic. Star patient, you are.”

She laughed. “I don’t know about that. I’ve been in here for days.”

“Still a rock star to me.” I sat on the chair next to her bed and picked up her hand, threading my fingers through hers.

She stared down at them. “I’m not going to hold you to it.”

I squinted at her. “Hold me to what?”

She dragged her gaze up to meet mine, and damn if there wasn’t something magnetic about her eyes. Something that made me want to stare at her for hours, because she settled something rough and uneasy that had lived inside me for half my life.

She rubbed her thumb along the back of my hand. “Staying at your place. With you.”

I gripped her chin between two fingers, refusing to let her turn away. “I’ve had to be apart from you for five years. You think I want to go even one more night not under the same roof as you?”

She sucked in a shaky breath. “We barely know each other. And you’re asking me to move in with you.”

She was right. But I didn’t fucking care. “I know enough.”

She shook her head, worry creasing her forehead into frown lines. “We don’t even know the most basic things. Like what’s your favorite food? I don’t know.”

I was a jackass but I laughed at her.

She screwed up her sweet face and slapped my arm. “Don’t laugh. It’s not funny. I’m serious. What’s your favorite food? I can’t do much else, I’m not qualified for anything, but I can cook for you. If I know what you like.”

I shifted my grip on her chin to cup her cheek and then slid it to the back of her neck, holding her still and leaning in so we were eye to eye.

She fell silent and I pressed my forehead to hers. We sat there for a moment, connected, breathing, until she didn’t seem so panicked.

“I know you’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met,” I said softly. “I know you’d do anything for your daughter, because I watched you fight for her all those years ago. I know you’re kind, and sweet, and that you protect the people you love.” I breathed her in, skin tingling every place we touched. She was so fucking warm. So alive. So here in my arms that I couldn’t believe my damn luck. “I don’t need to know your favorite food, Kara. I know your heart.”

A little of the tension fell out of her shoulders, and she twisted her fingers in my shirt. “I don’t understand you,” she whispered. “I don’t understand why I feel the way I do when you’re around.”

Neither did I. But all I knew was I didn’t want it to stop. I wanted it to have a chance. I wanted her in my home. My bed. My life.

I wanted to kiss her so fucking bad it hurt, but I didn’t want our first kiss to be in a damn hospital room.

“Come home with me, and when you’re fully healed, we’ll get Hayley Jade.” My stupid heart squeezed again at the thought of the dark-haired girl I’d seen with Hawk that day at my restaurant. About how I’d felt years ago when I’d found out her name and realized Kara had named her for me. “I want you,” I whispered, saying the words I’d wanted to say to her years ago. “I have nothing of value to offer. My home is a piece of shit. I have no money. No job.” At least not anymore, after what fucking Luca had done. “I don’t know your favorite food. Or hers. But I’ll learn. I want both of you.”

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