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“Hmmm… Must have dreamed that.”
The sound of his laughter was music to my ears. “I guess. The last dog either of us had was when we were in high school.”
I smiled, but that fucking hurt, too. “Chewy.”
“Very good. That’s right. Do you remember why he was named that?”
I didn’t have to think about it. It just came out. “He chewed the rubber bumper on your mom’s car. And the cabinet doors in the kitchen.”
“Very good, again.”
I frowned. “Cole, you gotta stop calling me good boy. You’re making my dick hard, and it doesn’t feel great with a catheter.”
The laughter he tried to suppress made the bed move, but I could hear it in his voice. “Patrick, I didn’t say good boy. I said very good.”
My forehead wrinkled. “Fucking hell. Now I’m hearing things, too.”
Warm lips touched my forehead. The smell of his aftershave was so familiar to me. Just one sniff and I was a goner.
“I think I love you,” I blurted.
I felt Cole’s smile against my forehead as he chuckled. “Only think?”
I sighed and lifted my right hand to touch his face. But somehow, it ended up on his shoulder. “No. I know I do. No fucking injury head is going to make me forget how much I love you. You’re stamped on my brain.” That didn’t sound right in my head.
He gently nuzzled his face next to my cheek. I’d always loved the closeness with him. It was comforting and calmed my nerves.
“Cole,” I whispered to him.
“Hmm?”
“Do you think you could kiss me?”
He hesitated for a moment, then kissed my forehead.
I opened my eyes to look at him. “Thank you, but I need to feel your lips on mine.”
When he looked into my eyes, there seemed to be some doubt lingering there, and that was confusing. So I tried to reach for his face again. My right hand finally reached the side of his head. At least that was closer.
Cole turned into my touch as he focused on me. “Kiss me. I can’t pick up my head to do it. It’s gotta be you. And with tongue, like you always do.”
The smile that crept across his face pushed away all the doubt in his eyes. “This bossy side is kinda hot,” he said, “but no tongue.”
“Killjoy,” I muttered as his lips met mine. I sighed at the familiar touch of his warm, wet mouth on mine. His lips were right where they needed to be. On mine.
Cole pulled back before I was ready, but held my hand on his face, allowing me to soak in his touch. Our eyes locked on one another.
“I love you.”
“I know,” I said. “I feel it every time you’re close to me.”
After a week in the ICU, they moved me down to an intermediate ICU floor for a few days. There I started sitting up a few degrees every couple of hours to slowly allow my brain to adjust. My head still hurt, and the never-ending headache made me grumpy as hell. I bit Cole’s head off more than once, but, for some reason, he just took it.
I promised myself to make it up to him when I could.
The following week, Simon agreed to let me try to go to the bathroom on my own. When I could finally sit up without feeling the room spin, he arranged for Jesse and Michael to help ease me onto my feet while he observed. It felt so fucking good to stand up, but it didn’t last long.
They eased me back down, and I looked at Simon. “No fucking bathroom for me.”
