23 ~ Steffi

There’s a knock on the door and I expect it to be a doctor or one of the nursing staff because it’s not visiting hours. The door swings open. I look up, and it’s Noah. My heart almost bursts with pleasure.

“Hey, Noah,” I say. The sight of him makes all the emotions of the past few days rush to the surface. I blink back tears but do nothing to suppress my smile. That’s all for him.

“Hey, Steffi. You look … broken.”

I laugh and lift my arm to show him my red plaster cast that’s so bright I think it could be seen from Mars. “This matches my favorite dress. Get me out of here and let’s go dancing.”

He presses his lips to my forehead, my bottom lip is swollen and has an impressive cut. “I brought you grapes.” He hands me a paper bag and sits on the bed. “Don’t look so disappointed.”

“I was hoping you’d brought me clothes and my discharge notes.”

“I did, and I brought you something else. Eat your grapes while I talk.”

I roll down the top of the bag and offer the grapes to him, but he shakes his head. I can see why. There aren’t many in the bag and I’ve been avoiding hospital food. I pop one into my mouth. It’s delicious, and my mouth thanks me as the sweet juice bursts across my tongue. I make a sound of appreciation.

“Shh. If you make that sound again I’m going to have to lock the door.” He draws a deep breath, and takes charge of me with one look. “I fucked up, Steffi—”

“We fucked up.”

“Eat your grapes.”

“Okay!” I pick another one off the stalk and pop it in my mouth.

“This has been a rush. Two months. But I’ve known you a long time, and admired you for that long, too. And while I’ve been away, you’ve grown into a stunning woman, inside and out.”

I’m watching him, open mouthed, wondering what on earth is coming in this speech. He reaches into the bag, pulls out another grape and slips it into my mouth.

“Chew.”

I chew.

“Another one. Keep eating. They’re good for you. All of them. There are only twelve.”

“Okay. Who brings someone twelve grapes?”

“Me. Eat. So, it’s only been two months, but it feels like forever in the best possible way. We’ve turned Isaiah into a home, and I’ve made some mistakes. But I want you to know that you complete me. I want you to know that you can trust me, and that I never intentionally betrayed you. We will fix that. And whatever bumps turn up in the future, we’ll smooth those out, too. I don’t want you to be my Zer-O, or my Plus 1, I want you to be my other half because you complete me, and I want to complete you. Are those grapes finished?”

I nod, rattling the bag to show him only the stalk remains, but it’s then I notice something else in the bottom corner. Noah pushes his hand in and comes out with fingers curled into a fist. Cerulean blue eyes lock into mine. They say you can fall for a stranger by staring into their eyes, but Noah looks deeper, finds my soul and fills it with joy.

He lifts my left arm, with its grotesque red cast.

“Can you straighten your fingers?”

“Yes. The doctor’s already checked all that.”

“This doctor wants to be sure. Straighten them for me.”

I do. It’s uncomfortable and I try not to wince.

“Be mine, Steffi. Forever. And I’ll be yours.” He slides the ring down my finger but it won’t go past the knuckle. “That swelling’s not good. Are you sure the cast isn’t too tight.”

“I’m sure, Doctor.”

“Show me your right hand.”

I hold it up. The ring finger is strapped to the finger next to it because they’re sprained.

Noah rolls his eyes. “I hope this isn’t some sort of sign. I’m trying to be romantic here and I can’t even get a ring on your finger. Marry me, Steffi.” He places the ring in the palm of my hand.

Inside, I’m all jittery. Before me is the man of my dreams. My love. My heartbeat. “Yes, Noah. I will. I’m sorry I put you through all this drama. I was an idiot.”

“A beautiful, sexy one, so I’ll forgive you. But only if you forgive me, too. Let’s get you out of this place and home so I can show you just how good my bedside manner can be.”

The ring is a beautiful square-cut solitaire diamond with a green tinge. “This is beautiful, Noah. I’ve never seen a diamond this color. I love it.”

“It matches your eyes. I went for a walk last night and saw it in the window of the jewelers. I phoned them right then, and they came straight down and opened the shop for me. I knew it was the ring for you.”

“I love it.” I wriggle my fingers. “Hopefully this swelling will go down and I can wear it soon.”

Noah undoes the clasp on the piece of greenstone I wear around my neck and slips the ring onto it. “There you go.”

He helps me sit on the side of the bed. I’m bruised everywhere, ribs, shoulders, knees. There’s a long cut on one thigh held together with steri-strips, and my cheekbone looks as if I’ve gone a round with a pro fighter.

My hospital gown is off in seconds, and he gently kisses the bruising across my collarbone.

“Are we going to have sex in a private hospital room?” I ask softly, because the moment his lips brush my skin every worry in my head slips away.

“They say laughter is the best medicine,” he says between kisses, “but not if you have damaged ribs.”

That makes me giggle, then clutch my stomach. He’s right. It hurts.

“Your breasts look like the only part of you unscathed.” He kisses each nipple, making me squirm.

“Just those and my pussy,” I tease.

He slides a bra up my arms, gently adjusting it on each shoulder, and fastens the hooks. “Let’s get you covered before I break any hospital rules.” He buttons me into a shirt, then a cardigan. “I wasn’t sure if you could lift your arms over your head.”

“Thank you. I can’t, really.” I want to laugh again at my strange mismatch of clothes.

Next he’s crouching on the floor, rolling on my socks. “I found the Bad Girl socks. I think they’re appropriate.”

“Don’t make me laugh, Noah.”

“Okay, let’s get you standing.”

My body protests with a rush of pain and dizziness.

“No dancing for a week,” he warns as my feet shuffle about the floor to compensate for the swirling in my head. Noah holds me steady as it passes, then kisses me. “Sit back down while I find a wheelchair.”

“Absolutely not. I’m walking.”

Noah gives me a stern look, and I give him one right back.

“Steffi—”

“Noah—”

“Wheelchair.”

“Walking. My legs are fine.”

He shrugs. “It’s your recovery you’re delaying. But I want you to know, I spoke to Arch and Felicity this morning. They said you’re to do exactly as I tell you. Apparently, you’re an appalling patient so I have their permission to tie you to your bed.”

“Ooh, kinky sex. Awesome. How are Mom and Dad?”

“They were remarkably calm about your accident. Apparently, you’ve done this sort of thing before?”

“Might have done.” I’m sure there was more to their conversation than my accident.

“I asked if I could marry their crazy daughter, and they said ‘God, yes, take her off our hands’.”

I giggle, then groan. Damn ribs. Until now, I never realized Noah made me laugh so much, and I’m going to have to work out how to do it without the pain.

“Did they really give us their blessing?”

“Yes, they did. This morning I went up to Harebrook and visited Cam. I told him we were getting married—a bit presumptuous seeing as I hadn’t asked you yet, but I wasn’t intending to let you say no. Apparently, for you, morphine is a truth drug.”

“Oh, my god, what did I say?”

“You told him how much you loved me, and that we were going to get married and have ten babies. I told him we’d stop at eight. Cam said you’d obviously had a knock to the head and weren’t thinking straight.”

“My bike helmet protected me,” I say. “That was my heart speaking the truth.”

“Even about the ten babies?”

“That might have been a knock to the head. Let’s start with one, and see how we go.”