“Oh, yes. Very much.”
“Good. When we’re ready, I’ll call down for a tray, so we don’t have to get out of bed until tomorrow.”
“That would be wonderful.”
He pressed his lips against hers. “I think so, too. I don’t want the real world to invade too soon. We need this time to bond again.”
She hugged him tightly.
He chuckled, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and gently pulled out of her. Then he checked her incision before he turned and walked into the bathroom.
After a quick shower, he started the bath, putting in many of her favorite bubbles.
When he walked back into the bedroom, he saw her asleep where he’d left her. He made a call down to the kitchen and told Ella to have Elder put the tray on the bed. When he hung up, he picked his girl up and took her into the bathroom, closing the door behind them.
They stayed in the bath, talking, washing, and touching until they both started to prune and the water cooled.
“Let’s get you out. I bet the food is here already, and I can tell you’ve lost weight. We’ll have to work on getting your strength back, baby.”
“Okay.”
He wrapped a towel around his waist and dried her off before leading her into the bedroom, where a large tray sat on the bed.
“Oh, yummy. Ella sent up some cupcakes.”
Darian chuckled. “Your chocolate ones with pink frosting and sprinkles.”
She laughed. “You still think they’re icky?”
“Um, yeah, but she also sent me up some apple and walnut ones.” He laughed when she scrunched up her nose. “Yeah, I know, you don’t like them.”
“Gross, no.”
“Good, this means we don’t have to share our cupcakes.”
He laughed when she brightened.
“Come on, let’s eat. I want to cuddle and watch a movie before I make love to you again.”
“Yes, that sounds so nice,” she said. “Which movie?”
He caught the look in her eyes and rolled his. “How about Beauty and the Beast?”
“Yes,” she said and clapped her hands.
“I thought you’d like that,” he said.
“It’s my favorite.”
He snorted. “I know. I think we’ve seen it twenty times.”
“Oh, I’ve seen it way more than that with my friends.”
When night fell, he had his girl in his arms asleep after loving her again. The thought of having to let her go even for a second made him sweat, and knots formed in his gut. He’d come so close to losing her, not once but twice, and it would take him a long time to get over it.
First, with the appendix emergency and then because he’d messed up. He would never again let fear dictate his life with Larkin because she was everything that was good, and it would literally kill him to lose her.