Toward the end of the second week of her bed rest, she started crying at least once a day. “Jack. I want to go out, please.”
“Do you even realize how much you’re breaking my heart with all this crying you’ve been doing?”
She kissed me after that. She kissed me for a long time.
Georgie and Emma, two of her friends, came to visit and see how she was doing. I’d missed them at the hospital but met them when they came to the apartment. I felt like a lovesick idiot for hovering around her just in case she needed something and went to work while they stayed with her. Every day I would leave for work, I couldn’t wait to come back to her, knowing I’d get to see her smile as soon as she saw me and got up to greet me halfway into the living room.
As soon as her two weeks of bed rest were complete, she demanded to go and check on things at the coffee shop.
“You heard what the doctor said: two weeks of bed rest then I could go to work.”
“Rose, you still can’t go up the stairs on your own without getting dizzy—how do you think you’ll be able to work?”
“Maybe I just like you carrying me upstairs. Ever think of that?”
“Is that it?” I asked with a quirk in my eyebrow.
“I do like you carrying me…”
“But…”
“I’m not gonna overwork myself, Jack. Trust me. I’m not gonna risk going through the same stuff again. I’m just going to sit behind the counter, only for a few hours.”
“If you want to come back, call me and either I’ll come pick you up or I’ll send Raymond to get you.”
“Deal.”
She walked over to me, grabbed the lapels of my jacket, and did her best to pull me down. After giving me a quick peck that did nothing to quench the unending thirst I had for her, she whispered against my lips. “I think I like it when you worry about me. It’s really hot, Jack.”
With a new sparkle in her eyes, she bit her lip, and I realized she was both seducing me and backing away from me at the same time. Stopping that nonsense, I pulled her back against me and met her waiting lips with a better and longer kiss than she’d given me. We were both out of breath, and my cock had very different ideas about how we should spend the day. I forced myself to let her go and took her to her beloved coffee shop.
During lunch time, I found myself on her doorstep with three damn bouquets full of roses. She was sitting behind the register, chatting and laughing with Sally. The shop was full of people, both at the tables and at the bar. She came alive in this place, looked perfect with a smile on her face, and I was happy I’d had a part in giving it to her—no matter how I’d had a part in doing so.
It was then, right at that moment, that I decided I wasn’t going to tell her anything, because I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, not when I could see she was starting to fall for me as I was starting to fall for her too. I’d happily hide the truth and feel no regret if it meant I got to make her happy and keep her in my life.
A few people who were occupying the table in front of her small library trickled out of the coffee shop, walking around me to do so and I came unstuck. The second the bell on top of the door chimed, her head turned just so slightly, and her eyes came to me. I smiled at her, and her smile turned into a big grin. Then she noticed the flowers in my arms. Gently, she slid down the stool and came around the counter, meeting me halfway. Even though I’d dropped her off just a few hours earlier, I could hardly take my eyes off of her. I didn’t think I was ever gonna get enough of that smile.
We were only inches apart when she stopped and whispered uncertainly. “Is it okay to kiss you?”
I lost my smile and frowned down at her. “What kind of question is that?”
“We haven’t kissed in public since we decided to be…” She moved her hands back and forth between us. “This.”