Chapter Twenty-One
Dean
I was trying not to bombard her with how excited I was that she was awake. She didn’t need to be startled or rattled in any way. Her state was still very fragile. But inside, I was screaming. Leaping. Jumping for joy. I couldn’t stop holding her hand. Kissing her skin. Looking into her beautiful brown eyes. I’d been robbed of them for weeks because of my own negligence. Robbed of her freckled stare and the light that shone behind her eyes. I ran my fingers through her hair and she looked at me as my mind tried to silence the doctor running through my mind.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked.
That was really my greatest fear. That she would remember the car accident and remember my name, but not remember who I was. With the type of injuries she suffered, I knew there had to be memory loss somewhere. No one came out of a severe concussion with a brain bleed and a three-week coma without some sort of loss. And it was obvious she remembered the accident. Obvious that she remembered who Emilia was.
But did she know who I was?
“Mr. Lasagna,” she said with a grin.
My eyebrows ticked up as her beautiful giggle filled the room. Such a glorious sound that crashed waves of happiness over my heart.
“You remember?” I asked.
“Who in the world could forget a man that eats four helpings of homemade lasagna?” Ivy asked.
“What else do you remember?” I asked.
“I remember your lips tasting like wine,” she said as her hand slipped from mine. “I remember the suit you were wearing the night we met. You know, at my fashion show where I had to step in as a model.”
Tears rose to my eyes as her hand lifted to cup my cheek.
“I remember waking up next to you and how safe it made me feel,” she said. “And I remember you coming out to meet all of my friends before we went and got pizza. I still feel bad about talking about my ex during that dinner.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said with a whisper.
I turned my face to kiss the palm of her hand as I cupped the back of hers against my skin.
“I remember decorating your apartment and how much money we really spent,” she said with a smile. “And how you didn’t once bat an eye at the joke I made about painting your walls a sparkling pink.”
“I told you that you had true creative freedom that weekend,” I said.
“I think you wanted to get laid.”
“It was a nice perk of the weekend,” I said with a grin.
She giggled, and oh, how it filled my ears. I laced our fingers together and slid her hand from my cheek, placing both of our hands into my lap. I was amazed at what she could remember after everything she had suffered through. I cocked my body so I was fully facing her, my free hand falling to her cheek. I stroked her skin and watched as it flushed with that incredible shade of pink. The true essence of her beauty rising to the surface underneath my ministrations.
“Ivy,” I said with a whisper.
I watched her eyes fill with tears before one of them slipped from her eye and found its death upon the tip of my finger.
“You know what else I remember?” she asked.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I remember the utter joy your texts fill me with. How my cheeks ached every time I saw your name flash on my cell phone screen.”
I chuckled as leaned my forehead down to hers.
“I remember your laughter. How it rattled my ribcage and made my heart soar. I remember the color of your polo shirt during our first date. It was red, by the way.”
“Yes it was,” I said with a whisper.
“I remember the swell of your chest against mine and how beautiful I felt in your arms that night. I remember how vulnerable you make me feel and how comfortable I am in that vulnerability with you. I remember the first time you ever texted me after meeting you that night, and how it was the first time in years I hadn’t felt so alone.”
“Oh Ivy,” I said lowly. “My beautiful Ivy.”
“I remember the first time you called me that.”
I smiled against her forehead before I pressed kisses into it. She remembered. And her attention to detail was astonishing. I had no doubt in my mind that Ivy would make a full recovery from the accident she had experienced, and the thought made my heart soar.
“I could never forget those memories, Dean.”
I pulled back and looked into her eyes.
“I could never forget them because those were some of the best moments of my life so far,” Ivy said. “Every single one of them.”
I couldn’t contain myself any longer. Without a second thought to what anything would look like, I thrust my lips upon hers. Slightly chapped, a little cold to the touch, and exactly as I remembered them. Kissing Ivy made the world fall back into place. I felt her hands slide around my neck and pull me closer. I felt her weakened muscles twitch to life against my body. My tongue slid against hers and it filled me with a sweetness unlike any other.
A sweetness I could only attribute to her.
I wrapped my arms around her back and slowly pulled her upright. I pressed her deep into my chest and held on as tightly as I could. Her lips melted against mine and I licked my tongue across her chapped skin. Smoothing it back down before I plunged into her mouth again. My hand tangled within the tendrils of her hair as footsteps came running down the hallway. I knew we didn’t have much more time left. There was so much I wanted to say. So much I wanted to do now that she was awake.
But I settled for the one thing I knew was true.
The one reason that would explain why I’d been here every single day for the past three weeks.
I pulled back from Ivy’s lips and looked into her speckled brown eyes, watching as they crinkled with her smile.
“I love you, Ivy.”
Then her friends crashed into the room as I settled her back down into bed.