Protecting My Hart (Protectors Series Book 1) (35 page)

“I’m here, babe. I’m right here, Slyde. Please come back to me. I love you.” I state softly and leave a kiss on his hand.

I vaguely hear Mack talking to Beamer and Kash about leaving and coming back in the morning. I feel him squeeze my shoulder before he leaves.

“Hart, I’m going to go back to your house and stay with Leia and Ethan,” Kash informs me and I nod in agreement.

“I’m staying here with you. Don’t even argue,” Beamer states evenly. I know better than to argue with either one of them. I give them both a weak smile and turn my attention back to my husband. I feel Kash leave a kiss on my head before he leaves. Beamer settles in another chair on the opposite side of the bed.

“Slyde, I’m right here. I’ll be right here when you wake up. You have to wake up, I need you, and Ethan needs his Daddy. I love you.” I tell him again.

“He will wake up, Hart. I’d bet my life on it.” Beamer states softly.

“He has to. We need him and I’m choosing to be selfish. I’m never selfish, never in my life. I don’t ask for things, I don’t make demands but I am tonight I’m being selfish and I’m demanding that he wakes up and comes back to me. Do you hear me, Slyde Cardoane? You will wake up!” The last word comes out on a choked sob.

“Hart, why don’t you lay down on the couch behind me? Try to get some rest.”

“No. I’m not leaving this chair. I’m staying right here next to his bed until he opens his eyes.”

Beamer watches me for a few moments, trying to decide if he can make me lay down. Deciding he can’t, he just nods at me and settles back in his chair.

“How long have I been out?”

“About eighteen hours.”

“How long has she been here?”

“About sixteen hours, stayed up most of the night, just fell asleep a couple hours ago.”

“You should take her home.”

“She won’t go, not until you wake up.”

“Tesoro.”

The conversation plays over and over in my head bringing me out of my sleep.

“Tesoro.” His voice filters into my head clearing away the haze in my mind. The grip on my hand gets tighter and my eyes fly open, my head snapping up from its spot on the bed. My eyes lock with his perfect blue eyes—eyes that I was terrified I’d never see again. His lips form a smile that I thought was lost to me forever.

“You’re awake.” I choke out, relief flooding over me.

“Yeah, Hart, I am.”

“Oh my god, you’re awake. You came back to me.”

“Tesoro, I’d fight my way through hell to get back to you.”

“I was so scared.” The tears of relief and fear that I was fighting back break free and I stand next to his bed, my free hand stroking his cheek.

“Don’t cry, Hart. I’m fine.”

“You are not fine. You were shot, a lot. You have bruises over most of your body and a hole in your shoulder! Don’t tell me you’re fine!”

“Tesoro, calm down.” He tries to soothe me but it doesn’t work.

“No. You don’t get to tell me to calm down! You don’t get to try to tell me how to feel. I get to feel relived, and angry. I get to feel paralyzing terror at the thought of losing you. I get to feel panic at hearing you’re in the hospital. I get to feel desperation and fear when I see you in a hospital bed covered in bruises with a gunshot wound. I get to feel overwhelming relief when I hear your voice and see your smile and look into your perfect blue eyes. I get to feel all of that and I get to express that any way I want to because I have that right!” I explain forcefully.

“Yeah, Tesoro. You do.” Slyde’s lips curl up and his hand pulls me closer. His hand slips into my hair and around to the back of my head, pulling me down to him. His lips curl further before he presses mine against his. Soft, warm, strong and gentle all at once. My hands capture his face and I kiss him, pouring all my emotions into it. We are kissing, he’s alive and awake, and he’s kissing me.

“I love you.” I whisper against his lips before I kiss him gently again and stand back up, taking his hand back in mine.

“I love you too, Hartley.” He smiles and it’s now I notice that he is sitting up more in bed, and that we are alone.

“How long have you been awake?”

“About an hour.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?!?!”

“You needed to sleep; Beamer said you’d been here all night. He filled me in as to what happened after I blacked out. I just let you sleep, you needed to rest.”

“No, I needed to be awake with you!”

“Hart….”

“No, Slyde, you don’t get to be a bad-ass, alpha, macho man right now!”

“Yes, I do. I always get to be a bad-ass, alpha, macho man. I always get to protect you and take care of you! Get used to it ‘cause it ain’t gonna change, Tesoro.” He growls out.

“Yeah and I get to be the concerned wife, who is awake for her husband, who takes care of him when he is being a stubborn ass after landing in the hospital after being shot half a dozen times. Get used to it, Slyde, cause until you are a hundred percent healed. I’m the one giving the orders!” I snap back at him.

“Tesoro, I’m fi—”

“Don’t you dare say you are fine! Yes, you are going to be OK, but right now, at this moment, you are not fine! So I am going to fuss over you until you’re healed and there isn’t shit you can do about it! Are we clear?!” I huff out the last demand.

His lips curl again in to that beautiful smile and my heart melts.

“What are you smiling about?” I try to sound mad, but my voice comes out soft.

“You, I’m smiling because mi Tesoro loves me, and has worked herself up into a fit because she wants to take care of me. I’m smiling because my wife is just as stubborn as I am, and a force to be reckoned with. I’m smiling because I love that she loves me the same way I love her.”

“Damn straight I do!” I kiss him again softly.

“Awake less than two hours and already makin’ out. Yep he must be feeling better.” I hear Kash laugh and when I turn around Kash, Beamer and Mack are standing just inside the door. My eyes lock with Beamer.

“You! You should have woken me up!” I snap at him.

“No way, Hart. He told me not to and the man in the hospital bed wins when it comes to an argument.”

“Yeah, well the worried wife overrules all, regardless of what the man in the hospital bed says!”

Beamer grins and Slyde chuckles, pulling me onto his bed next to him. I turn to get back up, I certainly don’t need to be lying in bed with him. He’s injured.

“Tesoro, stop. Lay back and relax, you’re not going to hurt me.” He forces me back against him and the bed. As much as I try to fight him, I can’t. My body is automatically drawn to his, so I curl against him and lay my head on his chest gently.

Hart finally relaxes against me, and I feel a weight lifted. I hate that I scared her and how worried she got, however on the bright side she makes me smile, when she lays down the law but even I know not to argue too much with her. Fuck it feels good to have her pressed against me again.

“Glad to see you awake, Cardoane.” Mack states with relief.

“Thanks, Mack. Did everything else get taken care of?”

“Yeah, we got them all. The other teams arrested the rest of the crews, we got ‘em all. JD is here, you shot him twice, he’s in our custody and he’s gonna live to stand trial. With all our intel, what you’ve given us and the wire recording you got, none of them will taste freedom again. It’s finally over.” Those three words feel better than I expected them to.

“Thank fuck for that!” Kash exclaims.

“Here, here!” Beamer echoes.

“Finally.” I breathe out and I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted. “Mack, I’m requesting a few months off.”

“I think that can be arranged. We will all be riding a desk for a couple of months until paperwork is done. Then it’s light duty for a year before we are allowed another case anyway.”

“Hear that, Tesoro? No more trips for a while.”

“Yeah, well you’re not doing anything at all until you are healed.”

“I know, Hart. I know.” I laugh a little.

“Slyde.”

“Yeah, Hart?”

“I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks, Tesoro.”

The guys hang out for a bit. Dr. Phillips comes in and does an exam and said that I could go home tomorrow and that things look well. I have to keep my arm still and in the sling for a week while the stitches heal, but other than that I’m free to move around. He explained that my body would be sore from the bruising and gave me pain meds for my shoulder. Hart fires off about a dozen questions about what I can and can’t do, making sure she knows exactly what she needs to know.

Leia has just arrived with Ethan, who looks scared when he sees me. It takes him a few minutes before he will sit on the bed next to me.

“Hey, little man, I’m gonna be OK. I promise.”

“You have owies all over you. Did the bad guys do it?”

“Yeah, but we caught all the bad guys that were chasing you and Momma, just like we promised. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

Ethan smiles widely and then throws himself against me in a hug. “Thank you, Daddy.” He whispers.

“Ethan be careful, baby. Daddy has lots of owies.”

“It’s fine, Hart. It’s totally worth it.” I explain as I hug my son closer.

We visit for a while longer. It’s getting late and they need to go home and I prepare myself for a fight.

“Hart, you should take Ethan home. Get some rest.”

“No. I’m not leaving.”

“Tesoro, there isn’t much you can do here, except watch me sleep.”

“I have no problem with that.”

“Hart.”

“Slyde, I’m not leaving.”

“Yeah, Tesoro, you are. You are going home with our son and going to bed. You can come back first thing in the morning.”

“I don’t want to go.”

“I know, Hart, but you need to go home with Ethan. He needs you there.” I urge her. She stares at me for several minutes before letting out a sigh.

“Fine, but I’m telling the nurses to call me if anything happens and I don’t care if it’s just them checking your vitals.”

“Whatever you say, Hart.”

“Fine. Get some rest and I’ll be back in the morning to bring you home. I love you.”

“I love you too, Tesoro.” I smile and pull her down for a kiss.

I hate leaving Slyde alone in the hospital but he made a valid point about me needing to be home with Ethan. So with Leia, Kash and Beamer following me out, and Ethan in my arms, I go home. We order pizza and the guys and Leia inform me that Beamer is staying here tonight along with Leia. Kash is going home but will be back here in the morning to help me and Beamer get Slyde home. I give Ethan a bath and get him tucked into bed.

“Momma?”

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“Is Daddy really going to be OK?”

“Yeah, sweetie he is. He is going to be sore for a little while. He is going to have to keep his arm very still so his owies can get better but he is going to be OK.”

“Good. I am glad.”

“Me too, Ethan.”

“Good night, Momma. I love you to the moon and back.”

“Good night, baby boy. I love you to the moon and back, plus all of the stars.” I give him a kiss before leaving his room.

In my bathroom I strip down and step into a blissfully hot shower and let the water wash away all the tension from my body. Slyde is OK, he’s alive and he’s going to be just fine. I’m not sure when I started crying, but I am. Huge, sobbing, tears of relief washing away the terror that consumed me. The water starts to run cold so I finish my shower and put on one of Slyde’s shirts and yoga pants. I’m all about comfort right now. Three hours later, I’m still wide awake lying in bed. I’ve tried reading, I’ve tried music. Nothing is working. There is only one way for me to relax.