Page 68 of In the Arms of a Hero

Usually, by the end of each day, Aaron came home to an empty apartment. In the past, he might stop somewhere for dinner or even a bar if he was in the mood. But more often than not, it was just him. He’d never spent time decorating, knowing it was a temporary abode.

He kept a few framed photographs of him, Andy, and their dad around, but other than that, his place was sparse. Not exactly abachelorpad, but more of a pad for a bachelor.

Coming home that night, greeted by the sight of Belinda smiling, his heart skipped a beat. With Bess laughing along with his dad, Andy, and Ivy, it felt like a home for the first time.

And as much as he hated the reason Belinda was there, he wasn’t sorry that she was in his place. Walking over, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “You look tired, sweetheart.”

She scrunched her nose. “Just what a girl wants to hear.” Her exaggerated tone let him know she wasn’t really insulted, but he winced anyway.

His arms tightened slightly, and he said, “I apologize. I should’ve led with you look beautiful… and tired.”

She leaned back and smiled at him. “I am tired, but it’s been so good to have people around.”

“How was your meeting with the home health nurse?”

“It was wonderful. Her name is Karen Drummond.”

“I know her. Or rather, I’ve seen her at our American Legion meetings occasionally. So I take it you had a good meeting?”

“She explained everything, looked at the wound, and said it was healing well. She also said that I could go off the heavy-duty pain meds whenever I wanted. She said that they preferfor patients to start using just over-the-counter pain meds at the earliest time to help avoid addictions.”

Hearing people moving around, he glanced over her shoulder at the gathering filling plates from the food on the counter.

Belinda looked over to see what he was staring at. “Carrie brought some food, and Bess brought things from the bakery.”

“It’s nice to see you up and smiling, but I don’t want you to overdo it. I’ll give my brother and dad the sign for everyone to leave soon.”

“You don’t need to. It felt so nice to have friends around earlier and this evening. I promise I’ll take it easy, and believe me, I’ll go to bed early.”

Soon, they were all eating while Arthur told stories about Andy and Aaron, delighting Ivy and Belinda. Bess told a few embarrassing childhood memories about Belinda that had Aaron roaring with laughter and Belinda blushing.

After eating and cleaning up, they said good night to everyone. Finally, Aaron and Belinda were alone. Once again, they showered together, and she made a half-hearted joke about wishing she felt stronger.

He looked at her and shook his head. “If you think I’m going to have sex with you when you’ve just been shot, you don’t know me at all!”

He helped her into her pajamas, and she pouted. “I didn’t say anything about you having sex with me. I was just thinking that I wish I could have sex with you!”

A deep chuckle rumbled from inside his chest. “I’m not sure I see the difference, sweetheart, but until you get well, we’re just sleeping together.”

As he crawled into bed, she snuggled into his side. “Hayley and I started going through some of my pictures. I hope you don’t mind, but I used your laptop since I knew my pictures were saved to the cloud.”

He held her gaze. “Going through what pictures?”

“Well, the wedding to start with. Hayley and I were talking about her upcoming wedding to Sam.”

He relaxed and held her close.

“And I wanted to see if I could help with the investigation.”

Now, he startled, his arms twitching. “Belinda, babe, you don’t need to do anything about this.”

“What if I recognize something?”

He hesitated. “Did you?”

She scrunched her nose and shook her head. “No, to be honest, we barely made it past the wedding. It was giving Hayley ideas about pictures she wants for her wedding.”

He sighed heavily. “Look, I know they asked you to take pictures, but they get married in a few weeks, and you aren’t going to be?—”

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