Page 56 of Taking a King

“I thought you were on my side,” I say to her. When she just shrugs, I turn to Ronan. “She just threatened my life. Aren’t you going to arrest her?”

“I didn’t hear a thing,” he says, turning back toward the others.

I shake my head and walk toward the nurse who’s still waiting for someone to follow her to the back. “Unbelievable.”

I follow the silent nurse through the busy ER, past a man on a stretcher yelling obscenities at EMTs. We don’t go back to the room we were in before. Instead, we continue on, rounding a corner to a quieter stretch of hallway. The nurse stops next to a closed door and points at it.

“Miss King is inside,” she says. “She’s a little groggy, but she’s awake.”

“Thanks.” I nod, feeling suddenly nervous to see Claire. The nurse, oblivious to my internal struggle, just gives me a tight-lipped smile and walks away. I take a deep breath and wipe my clammy hands on my pants before opening the door.

When I see Claire lying on the stretcher, looking small and fragile, all the air leaves me in a rush. I keep seeing her as she’d been when I found her in the wreckage of her car. Unconscious, unmoving, bleeding. I shake my head to clear the image and focus on the truth in front of me. Claire is right here. She’s watching me with a wary expression. Her face is pale, making her green eyes appear darker. She’s not bleeding anymore, but there’s a large bruise forming near her hairline on the right side of her forehead. I hate seeing the evidence of her being hurt.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

I close the distance between us and drop to my knees beside the stretcher, taking her hand in mine. I lean my forehead against her hand and speak into the mattress.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I say, swallowing back the lump in my throat. “When I saw you, I thought—”

“Shh,” she whispers, stopping my words. “It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m sorry.” I feel her stroking my hair and I realize she’s trying to comfort me. She’s the one who nearly died and she’s trying to make sure I’m okay.

I suck in a shuddering breath and raise my head to look at her. “I’m sorry for the way I screwed things up. I should have talked to you, but I was too scared. I didn’t know how you felt, and I was too chicken shit to come right out and ask.” I look her directly in the eyes when I say the next part. “I made up my mind last night. I’m finished with the military. I’m going to finish out my enlistment and find a civilian job. I don’t care what I do, as long as I can be near you.”

I watch Claire, waiting for her reaction. Her brow furrows and she shakes her head. “No. You can’t give up your career.”

“I don’t care about my career,” I say. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I care about you, Claire. I love you. Today, when I thought I’d lost you—” I break off, unwilling to think about what could have happened. Finally, I say, “I won’t leave you again. I can’t.”

Her eyes go wide in her pale face. Her green eyes fill with tears, and she smiles. “Say that again,” she whispers.

It takes me a second to understand what she’s asking. When I do, my smile stretches wide. “I love you, Claire King. I’m in love with you.”

I stretch closer to her and gently kiss her lips. “I think I have been for a long time. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out.”

She shakes her head and laughs. “Stop apologizing. I love you too.”

I freeze, staring at her for several long moments. “You do?”

She reaches up a hand to my cheek and nods. “Yeah.”

I lean down to kiss her again, careful to be gentle. I feel like the luckiest idiot in the world right now. I don’t know what I did to deserve her, but I’m so grateful to have this woman in my life. I know I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her with me.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” she says, her eyes filling with tears. “I didn’t mean any of it. I heard you on the phone and I thought you were trying to find a way to tell me you were leaving.”

I look at her for a moment, trying to figure out what she’s talking about. When it hits me, I feel like laughing.

“I was talking to my brother,” I tell her. “I was telling him about this girl I’m in love with. And we were trying to figure out the best way to tell my mom that I’m moving to North Carolina when I get out of the Marines instead of back home to Chicago.”

“You mean that?”

“Claire, how many times do I need to say it?” I raise her hand to my lips and kiss it. “I love you.”

She closes her eyes. “I’m an idiot.”

I laugh. “That’s what happens when you eavesdrop.”

“Sorry,” she mumbles sleepily.

“Hey,” I say, forcing her to focus on me. “Do you remember what happened? The accident?”

---