Page 131 of Someone to Watch Over Me

“Absolutely not. That’s not happening.”

“Yes, it is.” I pull back from him and lead the way up the stairs, intending to put him to bed and then go sleep in my own room to ensure he gets the rest he needs.

“Lexi.”

“Yes, Tom?”

“I want you to step out of crisis mode and get back to normal. I fainted. People faint all the time.”

“Right after a major heart attack, after which they started having sex four whole days before it was safe?”

“That had nothing to do with me fainting.”

“How do you know that? You were probably dehydrated from having so much sex!”

“Lex.” He puts his hands on my shoulders and dips his head to force me to look at him. “Stop. Take a breath. All is well. Despite tonight’s evidence to the contrary, everything will continue to be fine. I swear. I had a heart problem. It’s been fixed. I feel better than I have in a long time. With hindsight, I can see that the fatigue and shortness of breath I was experiencing for a while was because of the blocked artery. Now that it’s fixed, I feel great. What happened tonight had nothing to do with my heart or us having sex too soon or anything other than being slightly dehydrated, hungry and overheated all at the same time. A perfect storm, if you will.”

I hate the way my chin quivers uncontrollably and how tears slide down my cheeks, despite my desperate desire to be strong.

“No more tears.” He kisses them away. “No more worry or panic or anything other than love, love and more love.”

“I’m fine with the love, but there will be no sex.”

“Okay, Lexi. If you insist.”

“I do.”

He guides me toward his bedroom and into the shower, where we wash the stink of hospital off our skin. I hate that smell with a fiery passion.

Since I seem to have the energy of a newborn now that the earlier rush of panic-fueled adrenaline has subsided, he tenderly washes every inch of my skin, which has the usual effect when he touches me in any way.

We kiss passionately under the warm water. My back is pressed against the cool tile, and his hands are full of my breasts.

“I love you more than anything, Lexi. More than anything in this whole world, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we get so many decades together, you’ll be wishing I’d go away and give you some peace.”

I’m laughing and crying at the same time. “That’ll never happen.”

“I’m making it my goal in life to get to the point where you’re begging me to please drop dead so you can have some peace.”

I slap his shoulder. “Knock that off right now!”

“I’ll never stop loving you or wanting you or needing you. If I have you, I have everything, and I’m smart enough to know that.”

“I love you so much. I found out just how much earlier when I thought that I could still lose you.”

“You’re not going to lose me.” He kisses me again and leads me from the shower, drying me as reverently as he washed me.

I’m in such a fog of desire and exhaustion and an overload of emotion that he has me under him in bed before I remember my two-week rule.

“Two weeks, Thomas! I mean it!”

“Hush, Lexi, and let me love you.”

I had the best of intentions. I swear I did. But what can I do when he’s right there, hard and ready and full of love for me, but go along with a nice, sweet, gentle interlude that ends explosively for both of us.

“I love you forever and ever,” he whispers against my neck as we pulse with aftershocks. “I’ll never leave you. I promise.”

I close my eyes tight against more tears, but these are hard-earned tears of joy. “I love you, too. Forever and always.”

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