Crash Into Me - L.A. Fiore Page 0,94

what’s best for you, but I can’t lie. That makes me so damn happy.”

I hugged Dad, again, and reached for my mom to pull her into it. “I can’t imagine what these last months have been like for you, but I’m okay. You’ll see. We’ll get past this.”

“We know,” Mom said, placing her palm on my cheek. “It’s just going to take some time.”

We said our goodbyes; Kade touched my chin with his thumb. “I’ll be right back.”

He walked my parents to their car. I was discharged earlier. People had been coming and going all day. Vin had brought sandwiches from Duke’s, left a stash for me in the fridge. Cap had pulled me aside earlier and told me he thought of me as a daughter. And then he broke down. Captain Donald Darling sobbed. Tears filled my eyes, remembering, but I was okay, and I think today had been cathartic for everyone. Salem rubbed up against my leg. I picked him up, hugged him hard and kissed his face. “I missed you, fur ball.” Tears gathered in my eyes because I had come so damn close. Salem squirmed. I kissed him again, then let him go.

Considering the length of my coma, the doctors were surprised at how well I was able to get around. I was weak and needed some physical therapy to build up my muscles, but I was okay.

The same couldn’t be said of Kade. My eyes filled with tears because he hadn’t just had to make the decision to let me go, he was in the room. The pain that stole over me, just thinking about it, almost brought me to my knees, but he’d had to live through it.

And since I woke, he hadn’t stopped. I got it, I’d be doing the same, he’d been given a second chance, we both had, but he was burning himself out. The elevator doors opened, he stepped out and crossed the room right to me.

“Let it out, Kade,” I whispered. I touched his cheek, my gaze moving over his face. “Let it out. In your shoes, what you’ve been through…let it out.”

His jaw clenched.

“I heard you.”

Hard eyes softened. “I heard you. I was trying to get back to you. It was like I was in quicksand, and the harder I tried, the deeper I sank.” Tears filled my eyes. “I heard the goodbyes and knew I couldn’t go. I couldn’t leave you.” I took his hand, pressed a kiss in his palm. “You were never the villain, and I’m not much of a princess, but I do love you with everything I am.”

He pulled his hand from mine and stepped back. “I was watching you die,” he said, in a harsh whisper. “I had to prepare myself for your death.” His voice grew louder. “A lifetime without you. How the fuck was I supposed to do that, Molly? All the years I’d have to face without you. Letting you go, letting my fucking heart go. Fuck!” he roared, pacing away from me. “I almost went mad. I think if you had died, I would have. We collided, you and I fucking collided, but the best fucking things happen when two forces collide. I don’t want a lifetime with you, I fucking need it.”

He stalked back to me, right into my space, his hands in my hair, his mouth a breath from mine. “Every fucking breath is yours.” His mouth slammed down on mine, tongues touched, and I moaned, even as my eyes burned, because we almost lost this. His fingers tightened in my hair, as he took the kiss deeper, his tongue sweeping my mouth, savoring and remembering. We were both breathless when he ended it.

“I really do want to be a woman of leisure,” I said.

He looked intense, but his voice was soft. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I was already thinking about it before all of this, but now, I know that I want every second of every day with you.”

He showed me how much he liked that when he kissed me breathless.

“Are you sure, Molly? Maybe you should give it some time before you make the call,” Cap said. Kade had brought me to the station. I had to walk through a wall of people wishing me well; there were presents and flowers all over my desk. I cried, was crying a lot these days. I was going to miss them. These people were my family, but so was Kade, and I wanted my life with him.

“I