Page 36 of The Vigilante's Heart
“It’s nothing, don’t worry; I just started my period is all. Cramps come with the territory.”
“Oh,” he murmurs “that’s not really something I’ve had to deal with before. Have you got pain killers? I’m sure they’ll have something on board if you need.”
“Well, you’ll have to deal with me being off-limits for the next few days, and yes I’ve already taken some Tylenol.” He growls at my words.
“I can barely go a few hours without being inside you, you think I’m going to go days? Besides, giving you orgasms will help with the cramps.”
“Bennett, we’re not having period sex. That’s…it’s…just no.”
“Sweetheart, there is nothing that could ever stop me from wanting you. Trust me when I say a bit of blood is not going to bother me, and besides, have you forgotten you’re mine to use whenever I want?”
“You’re insane,” I wince as a painful cramp grips me. His arms wrap around me and he carries me back to our seats. I take a few deep breaths through my nose, slowly letting the air out of my mouth.I should have taken the naproxen.
“Are they normally this bad? Peyton, sweetheart, this doesn’t seem normal.”
“It is for me. I told you I have issues,” I grit through my teeth, the pain is really kicking in now.
“Explain,” he demands. After another few deep breaths I answer him.
“When I was about twelve, I had surgery for an ovarian torsion. The doctor we saw before it was diagnosed was terrible; kept telling my mother I was overreacting to a tummy ache. Anyway, it wasn’t a tummy ache and by the time we got to the hospital and they worked out what it was there was too much damage from the lack of blood flow. During the surgery they discovered I had an ovarian cyst, which was the root cause of it all. Due to the delay in diagnosis it led to complications and there was a lot of tissue damage; me being able to get pregnant will be difficult. It also means I have incredibly painful periods.” He pulls me into his lap and cradles me to him.
“Fuck, sweetheart, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“People go through worse, I got lucky. I’m still here and it’s not impossible to conceive, just difficult. It’s why I wanted to become adoctor, to be one of the good ones, one of the ones that doesn’t dismiss someone’s concerns, but takes in all the evidence.”
“I’m so fucking proud of you,” he whispers into my hair, “but, you know this is even more reason not to get the shot, right? If it’s going to take us a while, we should start trying now.”
“Christ, Bennett,” I mutter, “we’ve been together weeks, we are not ready for that yet.”
“I am. Apparently I just need to get you to the same place as me.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Give me time,” he grins at me before placing a quick kiss to my lips. He leans over and reaches for my text book; both of us get back to work, but this time I’m curled up in his lap.
I love you.I think the words I still can’t say out loud.
***
We walk through the front door of High Tides a little before dinner time with a delighted D’Artagnan. We picked him up from Harry’s on the way home; I think he was ready for my little baby to be gone, neither are each other’s biggest fans. I place him down in the foyer and he runs off to explore and sniff everything again, it’s like it’s his way of making sure the house is safe.
“I’ll pop the bags upstairs and then get started on dinner.” Bennett says as he makes his way to our bedroom.
“I don’t mind getting takeout if you want, we’ve been travelling, you don’t need to cook,” I call after him.
“I want to cook for you,” I hear just before he disappears into the bedroom. I walk into the kitchen and am just pulling two waters out of the fridge when arms wrap around me from behind and a hand presses to my lower stomach.
“Why don’t you put your feet up, you can’t be comfortable right now. Let me take care of dinner while you take care of yourself.”
“I’m fine, Bennett, I’ve been getting on with this for years.”
“Well, now you don’t have to. Let me take care of you.”
“How about I sit at the countertop on a stool instead? That way we can talk, but I’m still sitting down?”
“Fine,” he agrees as he scoops me up and places me on one of the barstools around the large kitchen island.
“I could have walked,” I laugh.