Page 40 of A Love That Broke Us
Our patient,David, gasps for air and shoots upright, arms outstretched like he’s in a zombie apocalypse.
“Holy shit,” Zach mutters as we both brace our hands around his back and chest, trying to calm and stabilize him. He fights us, his body thrashing—he’s freakishly strong. He’s also a very large man, and my small frame struggles to manage someone his size.
“David, you’re okay. You’re in recovery,” I reassure him firmly, but he’s disoriented, arms flailing.
His hand whips back, connecting hard with my cheekbone before I can dodge it.
“Ow! God.” I wince, leaning into him, pressing my weight against his shoulder as we help lower him back down again.
“Cindy?” Zach calls out urgently. “We need a third over here!”
Cindy rushes over, and between the three of us, we manage to settle David. Wild moments like this happen in PACU sometimes.
“You okay, Al?” Zach asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, forcing a smile. But damn, my cheek throbs. That’s definitely going to leave abruise.
A few minutes later, David is fully coming to, no longer fighting us, and Cindy leaves to attend another patient.
Zach turns to me. “So, when’s the engagement party?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Is that something we have to do? I’d rather just have close friends over to celebrate.”
“Call it whatever you want, babe. But there has to be a celebration of some kind.”
A slow smile spreads across my face. “Yeah, okay. Let’s do something. Does Friday work for you and Joey? Everyone can come over to our place. We’ll order food, have drinks, play some games. Keep it chill.”
Zach snorts. “Is Matt coming? Because you know ‘chill’ isn’t in his vocabulary.” He shakes his head. “Friday works for us, but I guarantee the second Matt finds out, this is turning into a party at his place.”
“No. No way in hell am I letting Matt take over. I don’t want a big thing, just an intimate celebration. Something I don’t have to get dressed up for.”
Zach grins. “Yeah, good luck with that. So, how does it feel to be engaged?”
“It feels… surreal. Exciting. Jensen’s amazing.”
“He really is. You did good.” Zach pauses, then smirks. “Speaking of good, has Matt decided to play for both teams yet? Because that is an ass I wouldn’t mind tapping.”
A laugh bursts out of me. “Oh my God! You and everyone else. Get in line.” My hospital pager interrupts before Zach can respond. It’s Cindy asking about a patient. I answer quickly, then turn back to him. “You can’t say stuff like that. What would Joey think?”
“Please. You’ve seen Matt. Joey’s seen Matt. Trust me, Joey’s thinking the same thing. Hello, threesome?”
I shake my head in utter disbelief. “You’re unbelievable.”
By now, my friends and Jensen’s have all met plenty of times, plus I tell Zach almost everything. Of course, my friends are obsessed with Matt, and they never let me forget it.
Zach’s expression shifts, turning serious. “All joking aside, if you need any help for Friday, Joey would love to be of service.”
I give him a playful shove. “I don’t know how Joey puts up with you.”
It’s Monday. Yesterday, Jensen took me to my first football game—and proposed. I know, it doesn’t sound like the kind of proposal that would make a girl swoon, but trust me, it was. It was so damn swoon-worthy, tears threaten just thinking about it.
The only thing I might’ve changed, had I known beforehand, was my outfit. No woman dreams of getting engaged wearing a football jersey. But then again, Jensen loves that Jets jersey on me, so maybe I wouldn’t change a thing after all.
It was halftime. The stadium buzzed in the background, the TV was muted. Just another Sunday—except it wasn’t.
I sat back against the arm of the suite’s sofa, legs draped across Jensen’s lap, his hand resting on my thigh, thumb brushing lightly over my jeans. I’d been laughing at something he’d said when suddenly his expression turned serious. He just watched me, his eyes bright with admiration, his gaze burning straight through to my soul. The way he looked at me stole my breath away.
“Marry me,” he blurted out.
