I squeezed his hand in response, letting him know I felt the same way about him.
Jenna and Nicky visited next, and the afternoon passed by surprisingly quickly until I was released. Dylan was by my side the entire time, taking perfect care of me.
He drove me to my apartment where my mom, dad, and Audrey were in my kitchen, cooking and pureeing enough food to feed me for weeks. Dylan led me to the couch, propped my foot on a pillow, covered me with a blanket, and brought me a mug of warm chicken broth. He let them stay for a while, then tactfully hinted that I needed to rest.
Dylan was the perfect nurse and protector. He changed my bandages, held me through nightmares, and never let me feel bored or uncomfortable for depending on him.
“Dylan,please. I want to go out with you and our friends.” We were two days away from our plans to go out to the Sloppy Cow with his friends from Station 7, and I was still hopeful that we could go. Dylan was still a perfect nurse, except I didn’t need a nurse all the time anymore.
“What if someone bumps into you and hurts you?”
I wrapped my arms around him. “It’s been over a week and I’m fine. Besides, you won’t let anyone get close enough to bump into me.”
“Damn right.”
He feathered a kiss on the good corner of my mouth. I leaned into him, pressed my lips harder against his, chasing more, but he pulled away.
“Not yet, baby.”
“I’m okay. Please, I need you.” I’d missed his touch and kisses so much.
Indecision played across his face. I rubbed my body against his to try to persuade him. His hand on my hip tightened, and I felt him harden between us. I ran my hand over the ridge in his pants.
“Uh-uh. If we do anything, you’re going to just lay there while I do all the work.”
Yes! He was going to say yes.
“You have to keep the boot on. And you can’t scream. Or bite your lip.”
“Okay. I’ll be careful.”
“Two things first.” His eyes glimmered as he ran his hands up and down my sides. I saw lust there, as well as the satisfaction that he was about to get exactly what he wanted.
“What?” I was practically panting. I’d agree to almost anything he wanted.
“One, we put off going to the Sloppy Cow until you have more time to heal. Please, Juls?”
“Fine,” I agreed, my mood plummeting. “Two more weeks, then we go.” I knew he was just trying to take care of me, and I knew he wasn’t wrong. It hurt if I talked too much or stood for too long, and the boot threw me off balance more than usual. But I didn’t want to admit that. I didn’t even want to think about it.
Most of my cuts were getting better, but my ankle wasn’t, and now it was driving me crazy that one of my biggest injuries wasn’t directly from Kayla, but from my own clumsiness. And that reminded me too much of the day I’d cut my thumb and Dylan had gotten upset. He’d hit the nail on the head, bringing up deep-seated doubts, and I hated that it had come true.
I can’t deal with always worrying about you getting hurt… What if something happened to you? How could you protect yourself? How would you get away?
Dylan was too kind to say it, but what if he was thinking it too? So, besides the fact that I truly did want to see everyone, I also needed to go to the Sloppy Cow because I needed the normalcy. I needed to prove to myself and Dylan that I still could.
“Thank you. Ready for the second thing?” he asked, seemingly oblivious to the dark turn my thoughts had taken.
I nodded, forcing a small smile.
Dylan hugged me tight and kissed the tip of my nose. “Thank you,” he said again, his voice deep and soft, filled with sincerity. “You’ll like this one, baby.” He released me and walked into the kitchen. Maybe I underestimated him. He wasn’t oblivious to my feelings or my fake smile at all, was he?
He returned seconds later with something in his hand and so much joy on his face that I couldn’t resist my own excitement.
“What’s that?”
He opened his hand and my heart pounded, warmth radiating through my chest. “Is that… How?”
It was the stained-glass necklace he’d bought for me on the Riverwalk the day he told me he was falling in love with me. The day I’d known for sure that I was completely, irrevocably in love with him.