Chapter 45

CHAPTER

FORTY-FIVE

HARPER

About a week later…

Eddie has been arguing with the hospital staff— and me —for the last few days to let him take me home. As uncomfortable as this bed can be, and with how little there is to keep me occupied in this hospital room, I want to be well enough to know that I can take care of myself.

I am more than happy to have him dote on me, but I don’t want him helping me on and off the toilet. It doesn’t matter how willing to do so he is.

A girl needs some boundaries.

A little mystique.

We’ve been together a few months, not a few years. Convalescent care can wait a few decades.

While I’m still moving pretty slowly as I recover from my ruptured spleen, I’m finally mobile enough to concede to Eddie’s barrage of requests to let him take me home.

Home…

“I’m surprised you lasted this long,” the sweet, older nurse wheeling me downstairs teases. “That boy is a stubborn one.”

“He is.” I press my hand to my side as she causes me to chuckle. “Real fucking stubborn.”

Eddie brings the car around and helps me into it as the nurse pushes the wheelchair back inside. Pulling out of the parking lot, he comfortingly places his hand on my thigh as he drives. He gives it a squeeze and asks, “Are you up for a quick stop on our way home? There’s something I want to show you.”

Instead of answering him, I look down at my current attire. A pair of Eddie’s sweatpants that are big enough to hold two of me and his T-shirt that hangs almost to my knees. I haven’t bothered with makeup in days. And while my hair is in a bun, it also hasn’t seen a hairbrush since yesterday when Abigail graciously helped me with it.

“Just us.” He squeezes my thigh again. “But I’d totally fuck you in that outfit.”

“You haven’t fucked me in a week. At this point, I’m surprised you can still walk with how swollen your balls must be,” I jest.

“Is it that noticeable?” he quips as he turns onto a dirt road.

“Where are we going?” I ask as he drives slowly down the path while trying to avoid the large divots that will jostle me.

“ This is what I wanted to show you.”

“Is there even anything out here?” I inquire seconds before we reach the clearing. He pulls to a stop beside a construction site, but it’s not what garners my attention. My eyes are locked on the view as Eddie walks around the car to help me from the low seat of his sports car.

It's fucking gorgeous.

“This is…just…wow,” I exclaim to Eddie. We’re parked on the bluff, overlooking the ocean and cove below. It’s calming and serene. Absolutely perfect.

“You like it?”

“Who wouldn’t?” I exhale. “It has to be absolutely breathtaking at sunrise.”

“In three months, you can find out.” He slips a key into my hand. “It’s too late to change the framing, but otherwise, you can do anything you want.”

“I don’t understand.” I shake my head, confused as to why he’s giving me a house.

“I told you. I’m never going to be done with you.” He palms my cheeks and places a soft kiss on my lips. “This is for us. A home that can be ours.”

“Ours?” My lip quivers.

“ Ours .”

“And I can do anything I want?”

“Almost.” He pulls me gingerly into him. “The bedroom needs to look over the bluff. Because I can’t stop thinking about you pressed against the glass, watching the sunrise as I slide into your ass.”

I was quite certain an ‘I love you’ and building a home together in the same week was going to officially tap him out on romance, and it’s comforting to know that I was right.

“You were wrong, you know.” I wrap my arms around his waist.

“About what?”

“You.” I press my face to his chest as I stare over the bluff. “There is more than a little good in you.”

Eddie slips his finger under my chin and tips my face up to his, “Because of you. And only for you, little rose.”