Callie

My eyes blinked open and I felt nothing. No pain, no grief, only quiet, but the world swirled around me. The lights were too bright and the people moved too fast. I tried to speak, but nothing came out and then …BAM!

“Twenty year old female. Unconscious with head wound on the …”

“Doctor.” The nurse took my hand. “Sweetie you’re going to be ok. You’re in the hospital. We’re going to fix you up.”

If I could find my voice, I would have told her no duh. I was fine, but the pain seeped in slow. It gained strength before it hit me all at once. I groaned and tried to sit up.

I wanted to crawl into a ball and make the pain go away.

“Sweetie.”

Why was she calling me sweetie?

“Sweetie. Can you tell me where it hurts?”

Everywhere.

“Everywhere.” I found my voice. I sounded weird.

“Can you be more specific?”

“No.” I closed my eyes. I pulled my hand away and tried to move, but strong hands held me down. I gave up. It took too much effort. I exhaled and my lungs burned and I took anther deep breath and the world faded away.

“Callie. Baby.” I recognized the hand holding mine. It made me smile even though my body ached all over. “Open your eyes for me.”

“Where am I?” I asked. My eyes remained closed.

“You’re at the hospital. You’re going to be ok?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Why what baby?”

I opened my eyes and found my favorite set of eyes staring down at me and I felt better. I felt good. I tried to sit up and groaned. Okay maybe not good, but better.

“You play a violent sport for a living. Why am I the one who always ends up banged up and bruised?”

“It’s the feisty red hair. Gets you in trouble.”

“And you get to rescue me and save me.” I reached out and touch the smudge of dirt on his cheek.”

“Me and about ten other people.” Noah smiled. “You were on the side of a mountain.”

“But you got there first. I knew you were there.” I felt it in my soul.

He nodded. “I did get there first.” He held up his hand. “I got hurt this time too.”

I cringed from the caked up blood and dirt on his wrapped up hand.

Tears pooled in my eyes.

“Oh, baby. What’s wrong?” He cupped my cheek.

“You hurt yourself.” I sniffled through tears.

“It’s okay. Only need a couple of stitches, I’ll be fine.”

“You use your hands for work.”

“You use your brain and you banged it pretty good, but I think we’ll both survive.”

“My head hurts.” I reached up, but Noah grabbed my hands, kissed them and sat them on my chest.

My skull throbbed and the bandage made my head hot.

I gasped and tried to set up.

“Where’s Nip?”

“Hey. Hey. Relax.” Noah pushed me back down. “He’s fine. He’s as dirty as the two of us, but he’s fine. I think he tried to find a way to get down to you. He worked out of his collar. It’s probably still hanging from the deck.”

“Oh.” I reached up and touched my head. Noah touched my cheek and I leaned into it.

“How do you feel?”

“Like I fell off the side of a mountain.”

“How did you manage to do that?” Noah chuckled.

My face heated.

“I dropped my stupid phone and tried to go and get it and lost my balance.” The memory came back. I groaned. “How long was I out there?”

“Not too long. Twenty to thirty minutes depending how long you sat on the edge before you fell off.”

“You came looking for me?”

“Kate said you took off.” Noah closed his eyes. “I was so scared. Thinking about you wandering around by yourself in the dark. Why did you take off?”

I closed my eyes and relaxed back into the pillow. My anxiety about the wedding and the whole celebrity status and what would be expected of me as Noah Patrick’s wife seemed silly now. It didn’t matter. All that matter was Noah loved me and I love him. We wanted each other. The rest of the stuff will work itself out.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered and blinked the pain in his voice brought tears to his eyes. “I have been thinking about the wedding, getting married. It was all so overwhelming in my head.” I touched the bandage on my head. “I needed a minute to think about why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I know this whole wedding and marriage thing might be sudden. I didn’t mean to freak you out, but I also wanted you to know I was ready.” Noah sat back up and rubbed his forehead. “But, if you’re not, that’s okay.”

A tear fell. I sniffled and wiped it away.

“Noah.” I reached for his hand and laced his fingers with mine. “Will you marry me?”

He narrowed his eyes and stared. The room grew quiet. Even the normal noises of a hospital disappeared. Maybe it was my concussion or I suddenly went deaf. It appeared the world stopped to wait for Noah answer.

The world kicks in when Noah grinned down at me.

“Are you serious?”

I nodded my head and grinned up at him.

We were both covered in dirt and blood and the inside of my mouth tasted like grimy muck, but I wanted to kiss him.

I lifted my head and grabbed on the collar of his shirt and pulled him down. He did the rest and kissed me. It wasn’t slow and careful. It was hard and sensual and made my aching body heat with sexual tension. I moaned and kissed him back.

The kiss heated my insides. Noah’s hands roamed down my chest and down my side. He gripped my hip and deepened the kiss. I reached down to the waistband of his jeans and yanked on his belt loop to bring him closer.

“See baby. I told you she was fine.” Preston voice entered the room. “Are we interrupting?”

“Callie.” Kate squawked.

Noah smiled and laid a small kiss on my lips.

I smiled and kissed him back before he sat up.

“Callie.” Kate pushed Noah out of the way and hugged me. “Why did you run off like that? We should have talked about it.”

“I’m fine Kate.”

“No you're not. You’re in a hospital, caked in blood and dirt.” Kate stood up and paced. “You’re so upset about this whole wedding thing that you go hiking in the middle of the night and fall off the side of the mountain. That’s not fine.”

“Well, one thing about falling off a mountain.” All eyes were on me.

“I’m not freaking out about getting married any more.”

The guys laughed. Kate did not.