Page 99 of Her Marine
“Shit! I’m sorry,” she stated, her face buried in his neck. She went to pull away, but Killian wrapped his arm around her.
“I’m fine. Stay.”
“No, you’re not.” She unwrapped his arm from around her waist. “I completely forgot about the gash you had on your side.”
“I’m okay.” She looked at him as if she didn’t believe him. “Seriously, baby. Now come here.”
“Let me get a nurse first so she can look at it.”
Killian knew that she was worried, but he was sure she hadn’t caused any damage, and all he wanted to do right then was spend a few uninterrupted moments with her before Slate returned, and the rest of his family arrived. He’d just learned that he hadn’t kissed her in a month and wanted to remedy that. She could fuss over him after.
“Journee, I just learned I’ve been unconscious for a month. The only thing I want right now is you right here,” he informed her, patting the space on the bed beside him.
He placed his hand on the back of her neck when she sat on the bed and pulled her in. His lips pressed to hers, and the brief kiss he had planned flew out of the window as he slowly slipped his tongue into her mouth. His mouth had tasted minty when he woke up, so he was sure she wouldn’t mind.
Killian felt like he was coming back from war. Kissing her for the first time after being gone for months, and he wasn’t far off. Even though he’d been unresponsive for the duration, the last thing he wanted to do was go that long without kissing her, touching her, being in her space again.
A part of Killian felt he remembered certain things while he was out; as if he could remember her touching him, talking to him. He could feel her kissing him, hear her reading to him. He wasn’t sure if those things happened or if his mind was making them up, but he could have sworn he heard her ordering him to wake up.
He felt the wetness of her tears on his face, and he pulled away from the kiss, releasing her. Killian wiped her tears with his thumb, and he wanted to tell her not to cry, that everything was fine now, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled her into his chest, not giving a damn about any lingering injuries he may have still had.
“You finally woke up.”
Killian ran his hand up and down her back. “I’m pretty sure someone gave me an order, and I was in no way not going to follow it.”
Journee wrapped her arms around him. “You wouldn’t be a very good marine if you didn’t,” she joked.
“I’d be an even worse boyfriend.”
He found himself mentally cringing at the word. Not because he wasn’t or didn’t consider himself to be, but because it was such a trivial word. It didn’t quite fit how he saw himself in their relationship. In the same way, that girlfriend didn’t do her justice—someone needed to come up with something better.
They were sitting in that same position when Slate walked back in a few minutes later, informing him that his mother and stepfather were on the way and Ziggy would be there as soon as she could leave work. He also told him he’d run into Fields two days ago when he arrived.
Killian knew that at some point, he would need to call Fields and tell him that he was awake. While the commander wanted the safety of all his men, he wasn’t sure if he’d wait until Killian left the hospital for his side of the debriefing. Either way, he’d deal with that when it came. For now, he just wanted to focus on the woman on his chest, soothing his mother and sister, who he knew would be hysterical because they had been the previous times, and figuring out how soon he’d be able to leave the hospital.
27
It’d been three days since he’d woken up, and Killian was more than happy to leave the hospital. He wasn’t sure how Journee had done it for the past month because the white walls drove him crazy. Though he’d never been a fan of hospitals, he’d come to despise them after his father passed.
He was waiting for the nurse to bring his discharge papers while Thomas helped Journee load everything into the car. His mother decided to go to his place and ensure everything was ready for him. It wasn’t as if he needed special accommodations. He was going home with his sling, which the doctor stated he could take off in a week, and instructions not to do any strenuous activity or fly until she released him to do so.
Killian had questioned what exactly she was classifying as strenuous activity, to which Slate had felt the need to inform him that sex would be considered strenuous. Leave it to his cousin to know what he was asking.
Slate had flown home the previous afternoon, Ace going along with him. Axel called and asked if Killian wanted him to come into town to help him settle for a few days when he was released. He’d promptly declined. It wasn’t that he was not grateful for his friends and the support they’d given him since waking up and gave Journee and his family when he hadn’t been. He simply wanted some alone time with her.
Since waking up, there was always someone else with them, and even when it was only the two of them at night in his hospital room, nurses would come in every couple of hours, and no matter how much he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to get Journee to sleep in the bed with him. She hadn’t wanted to accidentally hurt him since it was so small.
He even had plans to get his mother and Thomas to leave them as soon as possible. Killian wanted some uninterrupted alone time and would get it at least for the next couple of days. On Wednesday, he had a meeting with Commander Fields to debrief. Killian had been thankful that his commanding officer was willing to wait until he’d been home a few days before requesting his presence. He was even happier that he hadn’t stopped by the hospital again.
Journee walked through the door and sat beside him. “Everything is in the car, and Thomas is waiting in the pickup lane.”
“Now, all I need are discharge papers.”
As if on cue, a nurse walked in, holding a clipboard on top of a folder. She instructed him where to sign, and had him sign a waiver since he didn’t want to leave in a wheelchair before setting the clipboard aside and opening the folder.
“There’s a list of safe exercises for you to do, and at what stage in recovery you can do them as you requested. There is also a list of things to steer clear of until released,” she told him.
“Thank you,” Killian responded.
