Page 75 of Xavier

He breathed out slowly again, his fingers flexing around mine.

I knew this side of him well. His anxiety was finally crashing and now all that was left was relief and exhaustion. If I could offer him more room on this bed to pass out on, I would. Unfortunately, we were both fully grown large men and these beds were only meant to fit medium sized people at best.

“The boys wanted me to wish you a Merry Christmas on their behalf,” he mumbled.

I pressed another kiss against his head. Too bad they hadn’t come with him. I understood why, of course, especially with how long I was out for.

Still, that didn’t make it any less bittersweet.

“Dexter and his mom and stepdad were here this morning,” Gage went on. “They didn’t want to leave in case you woke up, but I told them they should go celebrate their day together. It’s Dexter’s last Christmas with them, most likely, so I didn’t want them missing that. Sorry for sending them away, I really thought you’d be under still.”

I shook my head. “S’okay.”

He’d made the right call. Don’t get me wrong, I would’ve loved to wake up with him and Dexter both at my side, however making Dexter sit in a hospital room all day when he should be enjoying the holiday just as Gage had said was a much better option in my opinion.

Was I upset I was also missing the holiday with him?

Absolutely. Gage was, too, so at least we were together on that front.

“The boys...” I mumbled.

“Oh, don’t worry. They already ripped through all their gifts and sent me photos and videos.” He chuckled. “I swear, I gave them the okay and not even a minute later, I was receiving updates on what they got.”

That was good to hear. At least the boys would be at Gage’s until New Years Day. Gage would get a little holiday time with them before they were back out in the world.

“You know...” When he lifted himself up, he shifted around until he was facing me, his side resting against the back of the bed. He kept our fingers entangled in a tight grip. “Since we’re both missing Christmas, we should do something for New Years.”

I raised a brow and mouthed, “Together?”

He nodded. “Yeah, why not? Unless you have some other hot date I don’t know about.”

Funny, I wanted to say, settling for a look instead. He was lucky I couldn’t talk and was too stiff to tug him over to kiss those jealous thoughts right out of him.

Instead, I settled on lifting his hand up to my lips and pressing a kiss against it. His smile was radiant, eyes soft despite the dark circles under them.

When I was finally discharged from this place, we were going to go back to my place and I was going to force this man into mybed to actually sleep, regardless of the inevitable begging to take care of me.

“Is that a yes? The station pushed back the date for the Christmas party. I guess they were too worried about what was going on with you to be in the mood to throw a holiday party. So now it’s going to be a joint Christmas/New Years extravaganza.”

That was sweet. I knew how much Gage was looking forward to the party. Now, instead of him having to go stag, I’d get to accompany him. Turning him down the first time had killed me, even more so when that hopeful look in his eyes had faded and was replaced by abject sadness.

I nodded firmly, showing him my decision to the question.

When he grinned, I couldn’t help mirroring it with my own. “Okay, awesome. I’ll let the gang know. They’re so excited to meet you. I may have been bragging about how handsome you are, so if you get stared at a lot, that’s totally my bad.”

I held back a snort, kissing his hand again.

Meeting Gage’s crew would certainly be interesting.

He’d talked about them enough over the past year and a half, that at this point, I felt like I practically already knew them, too. I was glad to hear that they were eager to meet me—it made things a lot easier when bringing a newbie into such a tight-knit work environment.

Especially, if one day I did end up moving out there and needed to find a job. I wouldn’t mind setting my roots down at Station Twenty-One for as long as they’d have me.

I wouldn’t mind setting my roots down in Baton Rouge for as long asGagewould have me.

He sunk back into my side, resting his head against my shoulder, his eyes slowly sliding shut. There was a content smile on his lips that I wished I could take a picture of to immortalize forever.

This man had been through hell and back with me so many times since we’d met, all without a single damn complaint. And I’m sure he’d do it a hundred more times if I ever asked.

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