Page 78 of Wildest Desire

Resting my head on his shoulder, I sit and think about it for a second. “Breakfast in bed sounds nice,” I tell him. I just want to lie in bed and not move. It hurts too much to move around a lot.

“Get in. I'll bring breakfast to you.” He pulls the bed covers to the side for me to get in. “I just have an email to look through, then I might join you.” Giving me a wink, he walks out of the room.

Ethan spent the morning with me in bed. Even though he isn’t at work, he's still working. Travis sent some emails over yesterday, and then Selena had a few questions for him this morning. Since Travis is in court, Ethan was the only one she could talk to. I can see that he's starting to miss work, so I've tried not to bother him. It’s nice to just have him close to me while I make a full recovery. Plus, the girls have been in and out visiting with me. Ms. Jackie calls to check on me every day, and Dan and Jon have been calling. Then they call Ethan right after they hang up to make sure I wasn’t lying about how I was feeling.

“Hello,” Ethan answers his phone. “Yeah, she’s with me.” He looks over at me, then puts his phone on speaker. I take Ethan’s hand, waiting for Travis to say something.

“Courts finished. You won’t have to see Sam ever again. The judge gave him life without the possibility of parole,” Travis tells us, and an enormous weight lifts from my shoulders.

“Are you coming over?” Ethan asks, taking him off speakerphone and I look at my phone buzzing on the side table. I watch Ethan walking out of the room.

“Travis beat you to it,” I say, wiping my tears.

“Good. We’re all coming for dinner. It’s finally over, Lexi,” Dan says, and at this moment, I don’t know what to do with the information.

I’ve been running for so long that I don’t really know how to live without looking over my shoulder. “See you in a bit." Ending the call, I wipe the tears from my cheek. Sam's been put away and I never have to worry about him again. I’m finally free.

I look toward the door, as I hear Ethan walking back over. He's smiling and it looks so good on him. I haven't seen it for a while and I've missed it.

“Why are you crying?” Ethan sits on the bed and wipes my tears away, taking my hand in his.

“I have no idea. I think it’s just that the weight has finally been lifted from me and I don’t know what to do or how to feel,” I say, as I look down at our hands. “I never thought there would be a day that I wouldn’t have to look back to see if he was coming after me.”

“Well, it’s here, and you can now enjoy every day, knowing he can’t get close to you.” Resting his forehead against mine, he gives me a soft kiss. “You never have to run again.” He gives me another kiss. “Everyone is coming over to celebrate, so you rest for a little bit, okay?”

Now I can finally be in one place and enjoy life, and I've decided to enjoy it with Ethan.

Ethan

Three weeks later

The doctors finally gave Lexi the all clear to fly. I can’t believe how strong she is. One thing’s for sure, I have never been so scared of losing someone in my life. But now, I watch her in the mirror eyeing up the new shoes she ordered while on bed rest.

The look on her face when they came, it was like looking at a child opening a present on Christmas morning. When she realized that she couldn't wear them yet, she looked like she was going to cry. As soon as the doctors gave her the all clear, I was hoping she wanted to do something with me, but no. She went right to the wall of shoes, and has been standing in front of the mirror for over an hour, just staring at them.

“Lexi, as much as I love to see you this happy over shoes, Selena has booked our flights and we have to leave soon to make it on time,” I tell her. She looks over her shoulder at me. “We’re only going to be gone for three days.” She wanted to go see her dad once she got the all clear, and I promised I would take her. I would have liked to go a for a little longer, but Edward and Angie’s kid’s surgery is tomorrow, and my lawyers want me back here to sign the last of the paperwork for all of that.

“I’m only taking these shoes and two outfits. Since I now have the all clear, I plan on spending a lot of time naked,” Lexi says, giving me a wink.

Walking over to her, I wrap my arms around her waist. “I’m looking forward to it,” I say, then kiss her neck. I’ve missed kissing her there. I know it gets her all excited, but I wasn’t about to risk her pulling anything. “But first, please, can you pack a bag?”

“Fine,” she says, taking one more look in the mirror at her shoes before she finally walks into the closet to pack something.

I’ve spoken to Dan a few times to ask about their hometown and a few things about their parents. I wanted to get an idea of who they were. I knew Lexi found it hard to talk about them, and after everything she’s been through, I can understand why she feels that way. Dan told me Lexi, still to this day, blames herself for her father’s death. No matter what anyone says to her, she still feels the burden of guilt. Dan said there’s no point trying to change her mind, because it just ends in a fight. One he would rather not have.

* * *

I watch Lexi talking to her dad’s gravestone. I stayed in the car to give her time to say whatever she needs to in private. She needs to be able to forgive herself without me there. I know she won’t ever forgive herself, but I want her to be able to try.

“Hello,” I say, answering the phone as I watch Lexi sitting on the ground.

“I have the park all ready for you,” Selena tells me.

“Thank you.” I have a special night planned for Lexi. I’ve wanted to do something special for a while now, and when Dan told me about this park, I knew this was the perfect time and place to ask the woman I love to marry me.

As Lexi stands up, her eyes still on the headstone, I get out of the car and walk over to her. Standing next to her, I kiss the top of her head as I wrap my arm around her “You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah. It’s been a long time since I came back home,” she says into my chest, “but I’m happy that I came.” She lifts her head to look up at me. “There’s this restaurant close by—it’s amazing. Would you like to go there for lunch?”

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