Page 53 of Protective Love

"Yeah, you are. We're happy about it. Well, Kaleb's ecstatic actually. He'd be shouting it from the rooftops if he could."

We pull away from each other and my chest squeezes tightly when I see the tears dripping from her cheeks.

"You're happy too?" I ask.

She nods, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Very happy."

"Promise? Because if that fucker is forcing you to—"

"Don't be silly!" she shrieks, smacking my arm. "We both want this, Jay. I promise, he's not forcing me into anything. I'm excited, but also a little stressed, although I think that's natural."

"Well then I'm happy for you," I tell her sincerely. "Both of you."

"You can't tell anyone though! We're planning to keep it a secret for a little while longer to make sure that everything's okay."

"My lips are sealed, but only if you promise me that when I get out of this hospital, Myra will cook me a feast because I'm withering away in here without her food."

"I promise," she says, chuckling.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Rory

After having lunch with Lola again and gossiping about the guy she went on a date with the other night, I finally gather up the courage to go back into Jaylen's room now that his family has left.

Just go in there, get him to do some stretches, and then get out of there.

Keep it professional, don't think about the kiss, and you'll be fine.

I repeat what I have to do inside my head about five times before I take a deep breath and open the door, letting myself in to his room.

As soon as he smiles at me, and that cute dimple appears on his face, I know I'm screwed.

"What is it that I need to do today, darling?"

His voice stirs something inside of me.

My stomach swoops, my heart beats faster, and the blood running through my veins seems to turn to fire.

I clear my throat, avoid eye contact with him and keep myself a few feet away from his hospital bed, hoping the physical distance between us will keep my emotional and mental reaction to him at bay.

"We need to do some more stretches today," I tell him, mindlessly grabbing the chart from his bed and flicking through it as if I don't know everything that's written there already.

He groans loudly and whips the cotton cover off his legs, revealing the hospital gown and dark blue boxers he's wearing beneath.

My eyes dart away from him instantly as a blush creeps onto my cheeks.

"Sorry, my bad. Didn't realise the gown had ridden up," he states, amusement evident in his tone.

"It's okay," I mutter, hesitantly looking back him and breathing a sigh of relief when I see his gown is now pulled back down, covering him.

"Glad to see I can still make you blush, though."

A smile tugs at my lips but repeat what I'm meant to be doing in my head again, distracting myself from the very alluring man in front of me who seems adamant to break my façade.

"So, you've been doing gentle, controlled mobility stretches lately, and because your tolerance has obviously improved and you seem to be flying through your recovery, we're going to work on range of motion and strengthening exercises today."