shouldn’t have assumed that you’re with me,” she said. “I know that you’ve just been protecting me—that you’ve just been doing your job—”
He tugged his hand from hers and pressed his fingers over her lips. “Shh...”
The man was exhausted, and here she was, rambling away. She had always talked too much.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured again—against his fingers.
He shook his head—weakly. “You’re wrong...”
Before he could tell her what she was wrong about, the nurse stepped back into the area. “He’s awake? Mr. Campbell, you’re conscious!” She leaned over and flashed a light in his eyes.
Blaine squinted and cursed. “Yes, I’m conscious.”
“I have to get the doctor!” the nurse exclaimed as she hurried off.
“I should go,” Maggie said. “I should tell Ash that you’re awake.” His friends had been worried about him, too.
“I think he probably heard,” Blaine pointed out, as the nurse’s voice rang out.
“Then he’ll want to see you,” Maggie said. She tugged on her hand, trying to free it from his so that she could escape before she suffered even more embarrassment. But before she could leave, a doctor hurried over with the excited nurse.
But even while the doctor talked to him—telling Blaine how lucky he was—he wouldn’t release her. While she loved the warmth and comfort of his hand holding hers, she dreaded the moment when they would be alone again. Because even though he hadn’t died, she suspected he would still be leaving her.
* * *
BLAINE WAS GRATEFUL to the doctor for saving his life, but he couldn’t wait to get rid of him and the nurse. He wanted to be alone with Maggie again.
But the doctor wouldn’t stop talking. “You’re going to need to take it easy for a while and let your body recover from the blood loss. We’re going to keep you in ICU overnight. You really need your rest.”
“I should leave,” Maggie said again as she tried to tug her hand free of his.
He wouldn’t let her go, though. He was strong enough to hang on to her. She gave him strength. Hearing her sweet voice had drawn him from the fog of unconsciousness. She’d made him want to fight. Had made him want to live...
For her.
With her.
“No,” he said. “I need to talk to you.” And he gave a pointed look to the doctor and nurse, who finally took his not-so-subtle hint and left them alone.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I understand. You don’t have to explain to me that you were just doing your job—protecting me and Drew. I know that you don’t feel the same way about me that I do about you.”
He reached out again and covered her silky soft lips with his fingers. “Sweetheart, you do talk too much.” She’d said it herself, but until now he hadn’t agreed with her.
“Sweetheart?” She mouthed the word against his fingers.
“But that’s the only thing you’re right about,” he said. “You’re wrong about everything else.”
She stopped trying to talk now, and she waited for him to speak. That had never been easy for him—to share his feelings. He’d been hiding them for too long.
And obviously he’d hidden them too well from Maggie because she had no idea how he felt about her.
“You were never just a job to me,” he said. “If you were, I wouldn’t have had to protect you myself. I would have trusted you to Truman or someone like him way before I had to—”
“But you did,” she murmured against his fingers.
“I had to,” he said, “or I was never going to figure out who was trying to hurt you and the baby. But it killed me to not be with you every day.” And when he’d had to leave them again—after Drew had been born—it had literally nearly killed him. “I don’t want to be away from you and Drew again.”
Tears began to shimmer in those enormous brown eyes of hers. “Blaine...?”
He knew what he wanted to say, but he didn’t know how to say it. “I don’t have a ring...”
He couldn’t forget the size and shine of the diamond Andy had given her. But Andy was gone. She had accepted that; Blaine needed to accept it, too.
“And I can’t get down on one knee right now...” Hanging on to her hand had sapped all his strength. If he tried getting out of bed, he would undoubtedly pass out at her feet.
“I don’t need a ring,” she said. “I don’t need any gestures. I just need to know how you feel about me.”
“I’m not good at expressing my feelings,” he said apologetically.
“Just tell me...”
“I love you,” he said. “I love your sweetness and your openness. I love how you worry and care about everyone and everything.”
“You love me?”
He nodded. “I know I’m not your first choice and that you’d promised to marry another man. But Andy’s gone. And I’m here. And I will love you as much as he would have—if not more. I will take care of you and Drew. I will treat your son just like he’s mine, too, if you’ll let me.”
The tears overflowed her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t deserve you,” she said. “And I didn’t deserve Andy. Tammy was right about that. I didn’t love him like I should have. I loved him because he was my best friend. I didn’t love him like a woman should love the man she wants to marry. And I didn’t want to marry him. But I didn’t know how to say no to his proposal without hurting him.”
And with her big, loving heart, she would have given up her own happiness to ensure someone else’s. He didn’t want her doing that for him.
“You won’t hurt me if you tell me no,” he lied. It would hurt him. But he’d heard what she’d said when she’d thought him unconscious. He didn’t think she would tell him no. But he wanted her to say yes for the right reasons. “You’ll hurt me if you say yes and don’t really love me.”
“I love you,” she said. “I love you like a woman loves a man. I love you with passion. I love you like a soul mate, not just as a friend.”
The tightness in his chest eased, and he grinned. “I love how much you talk,” he said. “I really do...especially when you’re telling me how much you love me.” But then he realized what she had yet to say. “But you haven’t answered my question.”
“Did you ask me something?” she asked with a coy flutter of her lashes.
“I will get out of this bed,” he said, but they both knew it was an empty threat at the
