Page 22 of Breathe Again

“Thank you,” I mouthed to my father as he winked at me and escorted them all out with my mom still pleading her case and fussing the whole way.

When the door closed, I let out a loud breath.

“Finally. I love them, but Mom in a crisis is a bit dramatic and hard to handle. Should have seen her after Maddie disappeared. Poor Thomas. I thought she was going to smother him to death—literally, not figuratively.”

He walked around the house, getting his bearings and returning with a pillow and blanket. He propped the pillow under my leg and covered me with the soft throw.

“I don’t want you to stay,” I said. Seeing him flinch made me smile. “Unless you want to be here.”

“I do,” he admitted, and my heart felt like it took flight in my chest. “We have a lot to talk about. Thirteen years of torture you put me through isn’t going to just disappear overnight, Elizabeth, but I need to know you’re okay right now.” He stared at me for a minute, like he was trying to puzzle something out, then shook his head like he dismissed it. “Do you need anything while I’m up?”

I shrugged. “A bottle of water from the fridge?”

“Sure,” he said, smiling, and then he disappeared. When he returned he carried two bottles of water in hand.

I expected him to sit on the chair as far away from me as possible. Maybe I was just guarding myself for that possibility. He was there, but we hadn’t settled anything between us. All the same hurt, anger, and resentments were sitting there like an elephant in the corner of the room.

He surprised me by taking the seat next to me on the couch, and then even further when his arm wrapped around my shoulders and he tucked me into his side. I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed, feeling perfectly content.

I realized it had been a very long time since I felt so relaxed and normal. I stifled a yawn, not wanting the night to end, but feeling the pull of the medicines Doc had given me trying to lull me into darkness.

We sat there in comfortable silence, but on my third yawn Cole said, “Elizabeth, you’re about to fall asleep. We need to get you to bed.”

“No,” I said, fisting his shirt in my hand. “I’m not ready to let you go.” My voice sounded faint and dreamlike even to my own ears. I was being pulled under against my will. Cole was right there. I finally had him in my arms, and I never wanted to let go. I feared when I awakened again I’d find it had all just been a dream and the emptiness would set in again. “Please don’t leave me, Cole. I still love you,” I whispered as my eyelids drifted shut.

I felt his warm lips press against my forehead as he lifted me up into his strong arms and carried me to the bedroom. He pulled back the blanket and carefully set me down. I grabbed for his hand. “I’m not ready for this to be over,” I whined.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere tonight,” I thought I heard him say. At that point I wasn’t one hundred percent certain what was real and what was fantasy.

“You’ll stay?” I asked anyway.

I felt the bed dip next to me, and a warmth I’d never known encompassed me like a cocoon as he wrapped his arms around me, spooning me from behind.

“I’ll hold you and keep you safe through the night.” Those were the last words I heard as darkness took over, but I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Cole

Chapter 11

Elizabeth only woke once in the wee hours of morning, moaning in pain. I jumped up and quickly got her meds and forced them into her before she was fully conscious, and she seemed to settle back down quickly.

I had lain awake late into the night just staring down at her. I couldn’t stop touching her. She had grown into an even more beautiful woman than the pretty teenage girl who had been my entire world. I couldn’t help the regret and sorrow I felt over all the time we’d lost and how every night should have felt like this, with her in my arms sighing happily in her sleep. The feeling of completeness it brought me was indescribable and dulled the aches and pain of time without her.

I knew I should guard my heart, but seeing her in danger and hurt had destroyed the walls I’d erected around it and left me completely vulnerable to her once again. My wolf was at peace. I couldn’t remember a time in my life he wasn’t restless. It was nice not to be at odds with him day and night. When I finally did sleep, it was the most solid, restful night ever.

Waking up with Elizabeth in my arms stirred all sorts of emotions in me. She was sleeping soundly, and I didn’t want to rouse her. I also wasn’t ready for her to wake up and see me so vulnerable. Stubborn pride had me rolling out of bed when she started to stir.

I headed for the kitchen, still in my clothes from the day before, and found the coffee pot. I quickly got that rolling while raiding her refrigerator for anything resembling breakfast. I liked to eat clean and keep my body in prime condition. It was clear from the lack of anything natural and the abundance of sugar-laden cereal options in the pantry, that Elizabeth did not.

Pop-Tarts?I thought with disgust. The woman lives in a farming town, there should be an abundance of fresh, wholesome foods, yet she lives on Pop-Tarts, cereal, peanut butter, and leftovers if the scarce contents of her pantry and refrigerator where any indication.

“Cole?” I heard her call out. “Are you still here?”

I walked back to the bedroom door and stood in the frame, trying to keep my hormones in check as she stretched, making sexy groans as she tried to wake up.

“I’m here. Do you need something?”

“Food. I’m starving. Can you grab me a Pop-Tart from the pantry?”

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