I opened my eyes slowing, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. Sunlight poured through the windows in a hospital room. I lifted my arm and examined the tube protruding from the back of my wrist.

The last I remembered, I’d been bleeding out on a rock, and I’d had a dream of Riley. Riley speaking to me through the darkness, holding my head in her lap, like she could protect me, instead of the other way around.

I lifted my gaze, past the hand, the hospital sheets, the bar which separated my bed from the rest of the private room, and to the three shapes, dozing in chairs right beside my bed. Carly, still dirty, her dark hair tangled on a pillow. My heart swelled.

She was alive. She was safe.

On her left side was my sister, not as messy, but just as passed out. She didn’t have the shotgun on her lap anymore. Of course. It’s a hospital. They wouldn’t let her bring a gun into a hospital, jackass.

I blinked, clearing my mind.

On Carly’s right side, Riley was asleep, one hand tucked under her cheek, the left side of her face pressed against it, and the right side draped with her glossy dark hair, now mussed. She wore an old stained shirt that definitely didn’t belong to her, and jeans that were stained with blood.

My blood?

Then it hadn’t been a dream. She’d been there just as I’d been on the brink of passing out.

I cleared my parched throat and instantly regretted it. “Hey,” I croaked.

Riley’s eyelids fluttered open immediately, as if she’d been hovering on the brink between wakefulness and sleep. Those hazel eyes tracked over to me in bed, and she fluttered a sigh, pushed out of the chair, and rushed over to me.

“You’re awake,” she whispered, and leaned in, looking me over as if she’d never seen me before, or this was the first time.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I replied.

Riley pressed her lips together, but couldn’t hide the mirth behind her eyes, and the relief. “Water?” She poured a glass and handed it over to me. I tried lifting my left arm, and winced, opting for my right instead.

I accepted it and slurped some back then put the glass down myself. It didn’t feel right, relying on her to do that type of shit for me. “Thanks,” I said.

“How do you feel?” Riley scraped the hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ears, completely unaware that she had an imprint of her hand on her cheek, and that she was so damn adorable I could hardly think straight.

“Like I’ve been shot,” I said, honestly. “I take it the wakefulness means I’m not going to die?”

“That’s how it seems,” she replied, softly. “I was so worried about you. Oh god, Bryan, there’s—you know what, it doesn’t matter. We can talk about all the other stuff at home. When you’re well. When you can think clearly again.”

Other stuff? What did that mean?

“I’m sorry about all of this,” she said, looking back at Carly and Bev. “About—”

“Don’t apologize, Riley. This isn’t your fault, and I don’t want to hear from you that you think it is. Truth of the world is that there’s always going to be some evil asshole out there who wants to do shit like this. All we can do is protect the ones we love and fight for what’s right,” I replied then quirked a half-smile. “This message courtesy of your local cheese factory.”

She giggled again and leaned in, so close I could almost taste her. “I really want to kiss you right now, but I’m not sure.”

“Not sure?” I lifted my strong hand and took the back of her neck with it, pulled her closer. “You can be damn sure about this.” I pressed my lips to her soft, luscious mouth and kissed her like there was no fucking tomorrow.

For a while there, I’d believed that was the case. That I wouldn’t live to see it, that I’d lose everything I’d loved. Now, I was sure. There wasn’t a chance I’d let this woman go. Not a fucking chance. Never. And she wouldn’t be just the nanny anymore. Shit was about to change in a big way.

We broke apart, and Riley gave a little, satisfied sight. “Bryan,” she whispered.

“I’m right here,” I said. “And trust me, baby, I’m going nowhere. Neither are you.”

“Nowhere?”

“Never,” I replied and stroked her soft skin, smiling at the state of her, at everything we’d been through for each other.

“Daddy?” Carly’s voice squeaked from the chairs.

Immediately, Riley stepped back, beaming now, tears sparkling in her eyes as she looked over to my daughter.

Carly practically bounced out of her chair and rushed over to me.

“Easy, honey, daddy’s still sore,” Riley said.

Carly slowed up and put a hand on my arm. “Dad, can I hug you? Are you OK? Do you hurt?”

“Come here,” I said and patted the side of the bed.

Riley helped pull down the bar of it and lifted Carly up onto the mattress. Watching them interact brought another surge of joy. These were my girls, my family. I opened my arms wide, and Carly lay on my chest. I stroked the top of her head, softly, and Riley wiped tears out from under her eyes.

“Come, Riley,” Carly said, stretching out one arm. “Family hug.”

“Family hug!” Bev piped up from her chair. “Well, I’m definitely going in on that.”

The women gathered around my bed, leaned in and hugged me, gently as they could. Pain seared through my left side, but it was nothing compared to the pain I’d felt at the thought of losing them. For once, for fucking once, everything was right with the goddamn world, and I couldn’t see that it would ever change.

Or that I’d want it to.