Chapter 45

45

Chad just watched her, relief finally having him breathing a little more easily. She lifted one hand toward him. “Hi… you look horrible.”

“There you go, always with the compliments. How do you feel?”

“Well, I’ve had better days. But I’m alive, and everyone I care about are okay, so in my opinion, everything is a-okay.”

Her eyes were still a bit hazy, unfocused. They were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.

Chad wanted to just scoop her up and hold her close until the day he met his Maker. And then beg the man upstairs to send them back for their next life together again.

Eternity. He’d figured it out the instant Hodges had stabbed Genny. She was Chad’s eternity.

“I love you.”

The words came out far blunter than he’d intended. But he wasn’t going a second longer without her knowing how he felt.

Her eyes widened. The hand not taped down with IV tubing reached for him again. “Chad…”

He captured that hand in his and held it. “I am completely in love with you. Maybe this isn’t exactly the place I wanted to tell you, but… I cannot wait a moment longer.”

“Say it again, please. A girl can never hear it too often.” She gave him that trademark Genesis Isabella Hiller snarky grin. The one that had driven him practically insane when she’d been a pesky teenager.

Now it was his favorite smile on earth.

“I love you, even though you drive me insane and have for years. It’s just a different kind of insane now.”

“Good. Because I feel the exact same way…” she said, yawning again, and totally spoiling his big moment. “Lean down here; you’re too far away.”

Chad settled carefully on the edge of the hospital bed. She was already reaching for him again. When she didn’t get exactly what she wanted, she reached for the remote and raised the head of the bed.

“Be careful. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Be quiet, doctor. This is a defining moment, here, and I don’t want to be flat on my back for it. At least… not flat on my back when I can’t enjoy it.” She shot him that grin he loved so much again. “Now, I have anesthesia-breath, but kiss me, will you? I’ve been waiting forever…”

Chad carefully slipped his hands around her waist. “I’m not going to move you too much. But I am going to kiss you.”

“That sounds like a perfect idea, actually. So get down here. I intend to kiss you as much as I possibly can. For the rest of my life.” There was the grin again. “For a start. How does that sound?”

“Absolutely perfect. I’ve got you now, Genesis Isabella Hiller.”

“Ugh, Chad-wicked Leopold Fields. We’re naming our first kid Bob, by the way. Something nice and normal.”

“Unless it’s a girl.”

Then he was kissing her, exactly how he wanted.

He was still kissing her when every one of her siblings came in, defying visiting hour rules without a second thought. Only Gunn and Grady pulling him back had him letting go of their sister.

“Just what are you doing with our sister, Fields?” Grady demanded. As if he hadn’t figured it out yet. Grady always had been a bit obtuse, compared to the rest of the brothers.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Greer snarked at them all. “I think she’s definitely enjoying it, too.”

“I would be, too. I don’t think I’ve ever really noticed Chad Fields from this particular angle before. And he certainly looks like he knows what he’s doing. So many men seriously suck at kissing…” Giavonna, this time. Chad glanced over his shoulder.

Giavonna was looking at his rear end, a teasing expression in her eyes.

“I think he needs taken out back behind the woodshed and taught appropriate manners with a man’s baby sister,” Guthrie said.

“So… just what exactly are your intentions toward my baby sister?” George, this time. There was a severe look in her oldest brother’s eyes.

“Gunn already asked that,” Genny said.

Chad would admit it—George scared him a bit more than the others.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Gunn. Completely honorable. As soon as she’s out of here.” Chad just looked at her. She reached for him. He wrapped his fingers around hers. “I’m never letting her go again.”

“And I’m going to hold him to that. You’ve caught your prey, pal. Now you’re stuck with me forever.”

It was the last thing she said before she drifted off a few minutes later.

Chad kissed her on the forehead. She was his now. He was never letting her go.

Forever . It was a good place to start.

KEEP READING FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT GUTHRIE AND AUbrEY’S STORY, COMING DEC. 2024!