I groaned, my body heavy and light all at the same time.
“Matteo, sweetheart. Wake up.”
I didn’t recognize the feminine voice but it was melodious, music to my ears and it caressed me in a way I never felt before. Love. So much love dripped from the words.
“You need to wake up. Marketa needs you. Wake up.”
My eyes shot open, stinging from the bright fluorescent light shining in my face. “Fuck.” I groaned, my throat dry and sore like I had gargled with broken glass. I tried moving but my limbs felt heavy. I was a dead weight and all I could do was lay there.
A gasp sounded from a few feet away with Marketa suddenly coming into my field of vision. The light shone around her, casting her in an unearthly glow. “Are you an angel?”
She smiled down at me, tears streaming down her cheeks. “No, my love.”
I frowned. “What happened?”
“You had a heart attack,” her voice cracked. “I’ve never been so happy to see you open those beautiful eyes.”
“Heart attack…” I tested the word on my tongue. “How?”
“Your heart was stressed. It was warning you that you need to take it easy.”
Yeah. Like that would ever happen. I tried sitting up but my body felt weighed down. This fucking sucked.
“Don’t move, Sir. You need to rest,” Mae said gently.
“No. I need you to crawl into this bed with me so I can feel your warmth.” No heart attack was going to stop me from touching my woman.
“I—”
“Marketa, don’t argue with me. Please.” A beeping sounded beside me, interrupting our conversation. We both peered at the machine. My heart race increased, pounding in my ears.
“Dr. Santos,” a tall man dressed in white said as he entered the room. “You’re awake and already stressing your heart out I see.”
I huffed. “My girlfriend isn’t listening to me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said softly, holding my hand.
“Never.” With as much strength as I could muster, I pulled her down beside me.
She sighed, giving in and curled against me.
“Now that that’s finally settled,” the doctor said, flipping through some charts. “You obviously know you had a heart attack. And I understand that in your profession, you deal with stress. Listening to people’s problems day in and day out can’t be easy.”
“No,” I wrapped my arm around Mae, kissing her head. “But it’s my job.”
The doctor nodded, flipping over another paper on his chart. “Have you thought of retiring?”
“Excuse me? And why the hell would I do that?”
“Matteo,” Mae patted my hand. “Calm. You need to relax.”
I searched her face, when I found something hidden behind her eyes that I never wanted to be the cause of. Not unless it was intentional. Fear. She was terrified.
“Can you give us a moment?” I asked the doctor without looking away from Mae.
“Sure. I’ll do my rounds and come back,” he answered, leaving the room a moment later.
“Mae,” I said. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”
Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “Good. Because we need you.”
“We?”
She nodded. “Me and our baby.”
(Mae)
It was the first time I had said those words since I found out I was pregnant only a couple hours before.
“You’re pregnant? You are in fact pregnant? When did you find out?” Matteo asked me, his eyes shining. It was the most excitement I had seen in him in weeks.
“Yes,” I croaked. “I took a test this morning. I am sorry I didn’t wait for you to find out.”
“I don’t care. I love you.” He cupped my face, smothering me in kisses. “I’m here. Always. I refuse to give up. Fuck everything else.”
“I need you stress-free,” I told him, between kisses. “I need the strong powerful man I fell in love with. I need my Master. Please don’t fall. Don’t fall into that darkness inside of yourself.”
“Are we good now?” the doctor asked, coming back into the room.
Matteo kept kissing me, ignoring the doctor. “I won’t fall. Not again. I give you my word.”
My breath hitched. I was happy. Finally.
Matteo rubbed my lower belly while he talked to the doctor about keeping him stress-free and how he needed to take some time off of work. Matteo argued about that but gave in after I begged and pleaded.
“I’m giving you a clean bill of health but I want to keep you here under observation for one more night,” the doctor said, after checking Matteo’s vitals.