Chapter 43

Coleson

My head is pounding as I slowly blink open my eyes. I hear beeping and know instantly I’m in a hospital. Great, so it did happen. Why can’t I breathe? I look down and find why.

My wife is lying across my chest.

Her eyes are closed, her lashes kissing her cheeks. Her mouth is open, and drool leaks onto my chest. She has her hands tucked up under her chin, and I watch as her eyeballs move back and forth beneath her lids. When she twitches, her whole body making the motion, I can’t help but smile. This woman is the worst person to sleep with, but fuck if I don’t want to sleep with anyone but her. I’m not sure how she’s positioned herself up on the bed the way she has, but I don’t care.

She’s here. Just like I knew she would be.

I assess my surroundings, and while I knew I would be in a hospital, I was kind of hoping it was all a dream. I look down at my leg that is suspended in a sling thing over my bed. I have bandages everywhere and blood spots where rods are jutting from my skin. It’s the size of two legs, and my foot looks like a Hobbit foot. Man, my leg is super fucked, but thankfully, I don’t feel any pain from my leg, only my head. I check myself over for any other injuries, but I’m good.

I glance back down at where my wife is quietly sleeping, and love courses through my body. It’s odd that I just knew when I woke she’d be here—or at least, I feel it should be odd. How did I become so dependent on this beautiful woman who wiggled her way into my soul? I didn’t even want a wife when this began, but now, the thought of her not showing up for me, not holding me, not kissing her, and not laughing with her seems unfathomable.

But…

Should I let her go? I don’t know my diagnosis yet and I’m a bit out of it, but by the looks of my leg, I don’t think I’ll be hitting the ice for the next game. I shouldn’t ask a beautiful, incredible woman like my wife to be with a broken bastard. I still have the coffeehouse and I would be able to provide for her, but I can’t ask her to take on my bullshit. She’s already done it once, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be worth a damn for a bit. I know she’d help me and she’d be there for me, but how could I ask that of her? I haven’t told her I love her or even confessed I truly want to keep her. I could let her go.

I should let her go.

I move my fingers along her cheek, unable to keep from touching her. This might be the last time I run my fingers along her cheek and over her thick ponytail. She still wears my jersey, and I love how my number looks on her, even if it does remind me that I may never wear that number again. I memorize the jersey on her body, the way her hair feels in my fingers, before I move my hand up to her jaw, cupping her sweet, warm flesh in my palm. I trail my thumb along her bottom lip and revel in the juicy flesh. How I wish I could kiss her, but I don’t know if I can without throwing all caution to the wind and loving this woman for the rest of my existence.

A now-broken reformed manwhore.

Emotion clogs my throat when I consider how she’d get on to me for thinking that. She’d tell me there is nothing wrong with me and that we’ll get through this. That she’ll never leave my side.

My sunshiny wife.

I stroke my thumb along her lip, and she flinches a bit. I know I should stop, but before I can commit to the command my brain wants me to follow, her eyes flutter open. Those hazel depths widen, and then the biggest, most devastating grin comes over her face. She doesn’t move, nor do I—mostly because I can’t—and she knocks every bit of air out of me. My lips curve up as her hand comes to rest along mine. I know I should say something productive, but all I can think to say is, “Hey there, gorgeous wife.”

Her eyes are so bright, so full of love. “Hey there, handsome husband.”

My stomach clenches as my chest warms. She sits up and then leans toward me as her hands come to rest against my chest. “How are you feeling?”

I’m lost in her eyes. “My head hurts, and I feel a little weird.”

She smiles, that small one that does a number on my heart. “You’ve woken up a few times but haven’t made much sense, so it’s good to hear you speaking full sentences and actually looking at me.”

I cup her neck, rubbing my thumb along the pulsating vein. “How long have I been out?”

“With the surgery, over twenty-four hours.”

I grimace. “And you stayed the whole time?”

She gives me a pointed look. “Where the hell would I go?”

It’s just that simple for her. She only wants to be with me, and honestly, it’s the same for me.

As I gaze into her eyes, I know one thing for sure. “Eliza.”

She blinks before her eyes go wide. “Yes, Coleson?”

My heart beats wildly in my chest, but I ignore it. “I love you.”

Her jaw goes slack as she leans down, pressing her nose to mine while our eyes stay locked. “I know.” My lips twitch, and she grins down at me. “And I love you too.”

My heart sings for her, but I whisper, “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

She shrugs. “Everything and then some. We’ll be together, though, and all will be fine.”

I shake my head, wishing I had an ounce of her sunny disposition. “I should let you go. I shouldn’t burden you with all this.”

“It’s not a burden,” she whispers back, her eyes searching mine. “It’s a bump in our road. No matter what, we’ll be happy ’cause we’re together.”

Emotion burns in my throat. “I’m in awe of you.”

“And I of you, Coleson,” she says with so much love in her eyes. “It’s not going to be easy, but I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

I search her eyes. “Are you sure you want that?”

“Yes,” she says simply. “I want you, and I know if our roles were reversed, you’d be right beside me.”

“I would,” I say, more as a promise than a statement. “Always.”

“I know,” she agrees, kissing my top lip. “I’ve been busy.”

I grin. “No way. Tell me more.”

She smacks me playfully. “I’m working on getting us a rental property that’s one story and accessible since you’ll be in a wheelchair for a couple weeks. It’s here in Nashville because I want to be by your surgeon and his team of physical therapists. I’m gonna travel between Knoxville and here twice a week to make sure the coffeehouse is running smoothly. But I think we should give Janie a raise to be manager since I can’t be in two places at once. It’s gonna be a lot of work, but you’ll skate again, Coleson. If that’s what you want.”

I hold her gaze, not surprised she has a plan and is ready to execute it. The woman is a force to be reckoned with. “I just want you,” I admit, bringing her closer than ever. “Kiss me, Wife.”

Her eyes light up before she presses her lips to mine. It’s a soft and careful kiss that has me groaning in frustration. “You’re going to baby me, aren’t you?”

She beams. “Yup.”

“And ignore my bitching?”

“Totally.”

“And make me fall even more in love with you than I already am?”

“That’s a done deal,” she says with a wink.

I chuckle softly. “How did I get so lucky?”

God, I love the sparkle in her eyes. “I’ve told you this. You didn’t let those damn bears eat me.”

“I think I knew I loved you then, Eliza.”

Her eyes dance with mine. “Probably not, but it’s a cute thought.”

“Spicy,” I tease, and we both dissolve in laughter. The sound fills the room, until it doesn’t since our lips meet once more. The kiss is once again careful and slow, but I don’t care. I’ll take kisses like these for the rest of my life, as long as she’s the one I’m kissing.

Because I am wholeheartedly hers in all senses of the word, and nothing in this world will change that.

Not even my own insecurities.