Page 23 of Breathe Again

I snorted. “I thought you said food?” I grumbled under my breath but walked back to the kitchen and grabbed a pack. “Toasted or not?” I yelled back.

“Nah, no need,” she said, and somehow, I wasn’t surprised.

“That’s even more disgusting, you know,” I told her, passing her the offending pastry as well as a bottle of water. I placed her pills on the nightstand beside her. “Doc said take those as needed every six hours. You had your last one around three this morning.”

“I did?” she asked, seeming confused.

“You did,” I confirmed. Glancing at the clock on her nightstand, I saw it was already eight. “You have at least an hour before you’re due again.”

“Um, thanks,” she said, looking a little less sure of herself. “Is that coffee I smell?”

“Of course,” I said. “How do you take yours?”

“There’s hazelnut creamer in the fridge. Just a splash is fine.”

When my ears picked up the noticeable change in the gurgling sound of the machine at work, I walked back in the kitchen to fill two mugs. I picked mine up and took a deep sniff, beginning to feel revived even before the first drop hit my lips. I took a big swig, letting the heat burn through me before adding creamer to hers and heading back to the bedroom.

“Breakfast in bed,” she declared. “Careful, you’re going to spoil me and I could get really used to this.”

I laughed. “You can hardly call that thing breakfast.”

She gasped and looked at me with sheer horror on her face. “Do not hate on the Pop-Tart. It is like a morning gift from God.”

“If you say so.”

As if her eating the thing wasn’t bad enough, she began to dip the Pop-Tart into her coffee and sigh in sheer bliss with each bite. The little noises she made in appreciation were the sexiest things I’d heard in a long time. I gulped hard, suddenly realizing I could learn to love Pop-Tarts.

“What?” she demanded, breaking me from a lust trance.

“Nothing,” I said a little too quickly. Then I grinned at her. “You just really love those Pop-Tarts.”

She smacked me playfully. “Do not make fun of me. I’m injured, and you’re supposed to be nice right now, remember?”

“I’m always nice,” I insisted, and it dawned on me that I was flirting with my mate. The light bantering we had going on was nice. My guard was down, and so was hers. I wanted to let go of the past and just accept this gift of a new day, together, but the past defined too much of who I was. I knew in that moment that I wanted the start of every day to be exactly like this. But could we really get beyond our crazy past?

A knock sounded on the front door and I went to answer it.

“Well, you look like crap,” Lily said. “Sleep well?”

“Actually, I did. Come to check and see if we both survived the night?”

She snorted. “Something like that. Zach wanted to talk with you. Asked if I’d hang out with Lizzy for a bit this morning to free you up.”

I was torn. I knew if Zach had sent for me, then I had no choice but to go to him, but I wasn’t ready to leave Elizabeth, either.

“Don’t worry,” Lily said, seeming to read my mind. “I’ll take good care of her while you’re gone.”

I hesitated still, but nodded.

“She’s still in bed. Let me see if she’d rather move to the living room first.”

Lily smirked at me but didn’t say another word.

“Hey, sweetheart, I have to head out for a little while. Lily’s here to keep you company. Would you rather stay in bed, or move to the couch?”

She stared at me with a dreamy look in her eyes. “You called me that last night, too, didn’t you? I thought I’d imagined it.” Tears sprang to her eyes, but I knew they were happy ones.

“Hey, don’t cry,” I said, sitting on the bed next to her and wiping her cheek with my thumb.

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