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Moving to bury my fingers in his hair and drag him to me, he covered my wrists with his hands. “Tsk tsk, Charlie. I told you to tell me, not show me. I want to hear you say it.”

He’d never pinned me down before, and though I moved to jerk my hands free, it excited me. I knew all I had to do was tell him to stop and he’d release me, but the illusion that I was under his control was…
really fucking hot.

“I need your mouth on my cunt,” I nearly yelled. “Fuck me with your tongue and your fingers until I come on your face. Then, I want you to put your cock in my mouth and let me suck you dry. I want to swallow every drop.”

Immediately, he buried his head between my legs and licked up my seam to my clit. Two fingers slid inside me as he gently sucked on the little bundle of nerves sending electric shocks throughout my body. Evan moaned against me as I writhed under him, already so close to the breaking point, it wouldn’t take much to send me over.

“So good, Evan. Oh God,
so good
.” I groaned when he curved a finger to reach my G-spot. When he added a third finger, my muscles began tightening and my whole body tensed. The world exploded around me and stars danced before my eyes.

As I lay there, dazed and trying to catch my breath, Evan crawled up the bed and covered my body with his. At some point, he’d removed his clothes—when did he do that?—and he gently pushed my shirt up, helping me remove it and my bra.

Our bare, sweat-slicked skin pressed against each other, lying in his bed, under his roof, his cock nestled between my legs…it all felt too intimate, too real…too
right
.

He pressed his lips to mine, kissing me with gentle passion rarely shown in our frenzied coupling the past few months. Leaning on one arm, his free hand moved to cup my face almost reverently.

Almost unconsciously, my hips began moving, my pussy rubbing against his shaft and coating him in my juices. I knew how it felt with him bare inside me, and even with the risks, I wanted to feel it again.
Bad idea, Charlie. Bad, bad idea. But God, how I want it....

“Condom,” I whispered. “I want you inside me
now
.”

Without hesitation, Evan reached into the drawer of the nightstand and removed the little packet. Quickly sheathing himself, he shoved inside me to the hilt on a long, low groan. “Love the way you feel around me. So tight. So wet. All for me.”

I expected him to pound into me, fuck me into the mattress in blind passion. But his thrusts were slow, measured, controlled. My legs wrapped around him, giving him better access, pulling him deeper. As I moved my hands to wrap around him, dig my nails in his back the way I knew he loved, he stopped me by entwining his fingers with mine and holding both hands over my head.

Unable to move anything but my pelvis, I bucked harder against him, though he still moved so goddamn slow, it was nearly too much for me to bear.

Eyes locked with mine as he slid in and out of me, I barely heard him whisper, “My beautiful Charlie. Mine.”

The orgasm washed over me, a gentle wave—though no less powerful than the one before—knocked me off balance and sent my world into a tailspin.

I could feel his cock jerking inside me as he came, emptying himself into the condom before he lowered himself to take my lips with his.

Our sex had been leisurely a few times before, but I had a feeling Evan just changed the rules of the game.

***

The next day, I woke before Evan so I decided to make breakfast for everyone. I left him sleeping in the giant bed, slipped on one of his T-shirts, a pair of shorts, and creeped downstairs.

Focusing on the steps to each part of the meal would give me time to think.

As I cut up some fruit, Maria made her way downstairs. When she spotted me at the counter, she paused before coming in and getting some juice out of the fridge. She glanced at me again and turned to leave.

“You don’t like me very much, do you?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know you.”

“And you don’t want to know me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to know you.” She leaned against the doorframe. “You seem like a nice person. I guess I’m nervous about my son getting so serious with someone.”

I opened my mouth to speak but found myself unable. I took a breath and started again. “We’re not serious. Not like that. I mean, we’re not seeing other people, but we’re not talking marriage or anything.”

Maria gave me a speculative look and shrugged. “You’re here,” she said simply.

“He asked me to be.”

“He didn’t even bring his last girlfriend here. And they were together for two years. He doesn’t bring anyone home to us unless he’s serious.”

Before I could respond, Maria turned and left the room, leaving me speechless and more than a little stunned.

Was I ready for that level yet? I mean, of course I loved him, in a way. I wouldn’t have agreed to come here if I didn’t, but the
forever
kind of love? I didn’t know so much about that. I wasn’t looking for taffeta and orange blossoms.

And I’d seriously have to think about the fact that I’d only just now admitted to myself what I felt for him was more than lust.

Evan came into the kitchen as I was lost in thought, making me jump when he wrapped his arms around my waist. He pressed a kiss to the back of my neck. “Breakfast smells good. Will it be ready soon? I’m starving.”

I smiled as I scooped the sausage out of the pan and onto a plate. “You’re always starving. Hand me the eggs, please?”

He pulled the carton out of the fridge and passed it to me. “That’s true. I’m always hungry…especially when it comes to your cooking.”

I cracked eggs into a bowl and scrambled them up before putting them in the skillet. “My genius in the kitchen does have its perks sometimes.”

After breakfast, Maria insisted on cleaning up and shooed us out of the kitchen. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day by spending it outside. Evan took me to the zoo because he remembered me telling him once I loved animals.

When he found out my childhood nickname was Monkey, he couldn’t resist buying me a stuffed chimp. “Keep it in your room. That way when I’m not there, I’ll know you have someone looking out for you.”

I wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you. You’ve been so good to me. How did I get so lucky?”

“I keep asking myself that very same question, actually.”

I kissed him again, a quick, friendly kiss, and grabbed his hand, pushing him in the direction of the lions. “Come on. I want to see the big kitty cats.”

We made love again that night. It was my last night in Tampa, and we didn’t know when we’d see each other next, since he was going to Europe the following week after Monday’s show. We couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. Evan woke me up twice, his hands and mouth everywhere. Somewhere in the back of my brain, warning bells were going off, but my heart kept silencing them with every kiss, every frenzied touch.

The next morning, Maria made pancakes from scratch, and they tasted fantastic. She put syrup into the batter, so all I needed was a little butter.

Evan gathered plates from the table afterward and stacked them in the sink. “I was thinking…would you like to go to Buffalo with me tomorrow?”

Another trip? So soon after this one? Hell, this one isn’t even over yet. And with my little L word revelation from last night, I have to wonder if I’m in over my head. We’ve gotten so close, the lines between friends and relationship have blurred. I mean, fuck, I’m at his house. With his mother.

How much more relationship-y and serious can we get?

No. I have to take a step back. Reassess the situation and figure out what the hell we’re doing here. I’m already too invested in him, and judging by the way he held me, made love to me last night in his bed… He is, too.

I shoved my hands in the soapy water to grab for a dish. “I can’t. I’d like to stay with you wherever you are, but I need to get back to the restaurant. I’ve taken more time off in my first six months than I probably should have, and I really can’t afford to get fired…next time?”

The smile on his face had only fallen a fraction, but it was enough. I wondered how much money I had in my savings account, because I was tempted to go anyway, knowing I’d get fired if I took any more time off.

“Yeah, next time. I’ll miss you.”

I felt like an asshole. “I’ll miss you too.”

***

He kissed me so long at the airport drop off my knees went a little weak.

I slept most of the flight and called the minute we were able to use our cellphones. I missed him already—and boy, was I in trouble if my heart kept overriding my head this way.

Evan called before he was set to board his plane to Buffalo, but his reception was horrible in the airport, so we didn’t get the chance to talk long…probably a good thing, given my dark mood.

My period was due any day, and I undoubtedly suffered from the most horrible PMS in the history of mood swings. Although, I wasn’t craving peanut butter cups, and I always did just before Aunt Flo came to town.

I’d never wanted my most unwelcome visitor to arrive more.

And I really didn’t want to examine why I’d left Evan high and dry on the way to a show. Maybe after a lot of wine and some cookie baking with Mel, I’d be able to view the situation more objectively.

Right. And pigs will start flying fighter jets for the Navy.

The cab dropped me off at my apartment, and I went inside long enough to drop off my bags, change, and pull my hair back. Then I headed to work. Cooking always made me feel better. I could focus on the recipe, rather than the problem.

I called Mel as I got ready to walk into the restaurant. If anyone would be able to pull me out of my craptastic mood, it’d be her.

“Hey babe!” She turned down the very loud music playing in the background as she picked up.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Hey gorgeous.”

“What’s wrong?”

I sighed, then explained what Maria had told me. “Am I ready for that kind of serious Mel?”

“If you weren’t, you never would’ve gone to Tampa with him, and you know it. Besides, it’s not like he’s planning on asking you to marry him…is he?”

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious. No marriage proposal yet. I…” The phone beeped in my ear as I reached for the door handle to Mystique. “Hang on, other line.”

“Okay.”

I clicked over. “Hello?”

Samantha’s panicked voice was on the other end. “There’s been an accident. Evan hit his head during the run-through. He’s in a coma.”

Chapter Six

I raced back to my house, threw some clothes in a bag, and caught the next flight to Buffalo. When the plane landed, I took a cab to the hospital and met Samantha at the entrance.

“Charlie,” she said as she pulled me into a hug, “he’s upstairs in intensive care. Maria is with him now. They’re only allowing one person in the room for the moment, but we can go to the waiting area. Keith’s up there with a few of the guys.”

We made our way upstairs, Samantha babbling the whole way. My hands shook, and I was on the verge of tears by the time we reached the ICU waiting room, which was packed with wrestlers.

Keith walked over and hugged me. “He’s stable but still in a coma. The doctors are hoping he’ll wake up soon.”

“How?” I managed to choke out through my fear. “How did this happen?”

“He dove over the ropes…something he’s done hundreds of time before…but he landed wrong and hit his head on the stairs.”

“Why…how…” I was at a loss for words.

“We don’t know. He seemed a little distracted beforehand but okay otherwise.” Keith led me to a chair. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, Charlie. He’s Evan. He’s strong. He’ll get through this.”

He'll get through this. It was a mantra in my head. I had to believe it.

Maria came into the waiting room a little while later to give us an update, her tired face streaked with tears. “Charlie! You’re here!”

I stifled tears. “I came as soon as I heard.”

She pulled at my hand. “Come back with me.”

“I thought they were only allowing one person back at a time.”

She gave me a look. “You’re his girlfriend. I’m his mother. We need to be back there. And if the doctors have anything to say about it, they’ll deal with me.”

When I walked into the room, my knees went weak at the sight of Evan lying in the bed. He had an IV in his arm, oxygen tubes in his nose, both eyes were black, and there was a gash on his forehead that had been stitched closed.

I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath. I couldn't stop the tears this time, and I quickly wiped them away.

“C’mon, Charlie.” She gestured to a chair. “No crying. He wouldn’t want you to cry. He loves to hear your laugh. He told me so.”

“He told you that?” I moved so I could hold his hand, looking back at Maria.

“He... might’ve told me last week.”

My eyebrows rose. “He said that?”

Maria nodded. “I’ve never seen him act this way before.”

I resisted the urge to pull my hand from his.
Not Kaleb. He is not Kaleb. He won’t hurt me right? Oh God, please let him be okay. I need him to be okay.

A doctor walked in wearing pale green scrubs and a doctor’s lab coat, his pockets nearly overflowing, and clipboard in hand. “Hello Maria.”

“Hi, Dr. Wright. This is Charlie, my son’s girlfriend.”

“Very nice to meet you.”

I shook his extended hand.

“I was wondering who ‘Charlie’ was.”

At our puzzled looks, he went on, “When Evan was brought in, he was semi-conscious. He asked for you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Maybe two.

He asked for me. When he was hurt and not entirely lucid and I wasn’t here. Because I’m afraid of my feelings for him. Chicken shit.

“Any progress?” Maria was standing at the door, an expression on her face I couldn’t identify.

“His vitals look good. I'm going to test whether or not he'll respond to pain stimuli.”

We watched as he poked Evan with a needle but got no response. “Don’t worry, ladies. He's a tough one. His body is healing itself. That’s why we go into comas. He's kind of…restarting. I’ll be back in an hour or two to check on him. Until then, you can stay and keep talking to him if you like. Some say coma patients can hear you talking.” Dr. Wright shook our hands and left the room.

We took chairs on either side of the bed and each took a hand. Taking turns talking, we told him how much we needed him and begged him to wake up. I told him that I needed him to warm me up because my Texan ass couldn’t handle Buffalo weather in November.

Maria laughed at that and gestured to my thin hoodie that usually kept me warm enough during the cold months at home. “You’ll never be warm in that. I’ll have Keith bring something for you so we don’t have to leave the hospital.”

I could feel my face warming as I blushed. “I’m not used to places that have
actual
seasons. In Texas, it’s almost summer, summer, still summer, and a little bit chilly.”

Her salt and pepper hair, down for the first time since I’d met her, fell into her eyes when she nodded. “It’s similar in Florida, though we get more cold snaps than you, I think. But even with the humidity, the heat, and the hurricanes always trying to beat down our door, it’s home. I couldn’t live anywhere else.”

Living in Florida might be like living in Texas. But the beaches would be a hell of a lot prettier, and the water cleaner, that’s for damn sure. But Evan has to wake up for me to even
think
about this. I have to apologize and throw myself at his feet, beg him to forgive me. He can call me his girlfriend if he wants. He can call me his main squeeze if that makes him open his eyes. I just want him to
wake up
.

“Something is going on in that head of yours,” Maria said, smoothing the white hospital blanket over Evan’s unmoving legs. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I glanced up at the monitors, wondering what all those numbers meant and hoping the readouts were good. “I don’t know. I’m trying to work things through in my head.”

I expected her to push. Prod for more information. It’s what my mother would have done if she were in Maria’s place. Instead, she simply kissed the back of Evan’s hand and stood. “They didn’t have any tea at the cafeteria earlier. They said they’d brew some for me, and it’s bound to be ready now. Would you like to come with me?”

I briefly wondered what happened to the suspicious woman I’d met in Florida, but since her son lay in a hospital bed in a coma, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. “Sure, that’d be nice.”

We walked in silence down to the cafeteria. Maria finally spoke when we sat at a table with our tea, “You really care about him, don’t you?”

“Care” doesn’t even begin to describe what I feel for him.

“Very much. He’s a wonderful man and I’m lucky to have met him.”

“But something’s keeping you from moving forward?”

I looked up, shocked at how she’d seen right through me, “How….”

She shrugged. “When I talked to you in the kitchen at our house, I noticed something changed in your whole demeanor. You were still affectionate toward Evan, but it was like you were…holding back. Not giving your all like you had been the rest of the time you were there.”

I turned my gaze to my cup of tea. “I guess you could say I was trying to, I don’t know, protect myself from falling too hard.”

“Why?”

I nearly tipped my cup over. “What?”

She leveled her gaze at me. “Why? Why would you stop yourself from falling for a great man when things started moving forward?”

I didn’t speak for a moment, wondering how much to tell her. “I was engaged before,” I confessed, moving my cup of tea aside. “Kaleb and I had been together for six years when he proposed. The wedding was going to be beautiful. Perfect dress. Gorgeous church. Everything planned to the smallest detail. Except for one thing. I didn’t plan on walking in on my fiancé and my caterer in our bed on our wedding day. So cliché, I know.”

I pushed the cup around some more, needing something to do with my hands. “I didn’t scream or cry. I didn’t throw things, the way my mind was jumping up and down and demanding I do. All I said was ‘I hope you remembered to pull the blanket back—certain stains are hard to get out of white fabric.’ After they scrambled to cover themselves up, I walked away. He begged me not to cancel the wedding…said it was just cold feet and he loved me.”

“Did you punch him in his lying, cheating bastard throat?”

I nearly balked at Maria’s language, but remembered she was Evan’s mother. The same man whose dirty mouth could make my jaw drop to the floor or my panties burst into flame. I shook my head sadly. “No. I just called the minister and asked him to tell the three hundred people waiting at the church the wedding was off.”

She frowned. “I’m very sorry you went through that. But what does that prick have to do with you getting serious with my son?”

“I…don’t know if I can get serious with another man. If I can open myself up to the heartache again. It took me a while to get over it the first time. Longer than I care to admit,” I said honestly, pushing my hair back and out of my face. “It wasn’t pretty. My best friend basically had to move in with me to make sure I did simple things like eat and shower.”

“Charlie, I like you. I know it seems like I don’t, but I do. And it’s
because
I like you I can say this: if you don’t latch onto Evan with both hands and feet, you are a
cobarde
.”

My jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
Had she really just called me a coward?

“You heard me. Because Kaleb couldn’t keep his dick in his pants doesn’t mean
all
men are like that. I’m not saying Evan can’t be a jerk sometimes—he’s male, he’s genetically inclined to be occasionally—but I know he cares for you and he would do everything in his power to never hurt you.”

She finished her tea, stood up, and walked away, leaving me both dumbfounded and pensive.

When I returned to Evan’s room, Maria was preparing to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“To the hotel. I’ve been here for twelve straight hours, and these chairs aren’t exactly comfortable. I’m old. I need a bed or I won’t be able to move for a week. Bad hip,” she said, hand tapping her right side. “Had a bad fall last year. No breaks,
gracias a Dios
, but it aches every now and then when I don’t watch it. Now that you’re here, I know someone that cares for him will be here if he wakes up.” She bent to kiss Evan's cheek. “I love you. I’ll be back.” I could hear the tears behind the forced cheer and realized she was trying to stay positive through the fear.

I sat next to Evan's bed when she left and chewed on my bottom lip for a minute. “Keith told me you were distracted before the match. And I can’t help but think you fell because you were distracted. And…it’s presumptuous and conceited of me, but I can’t help but wonder if you couldn’t keep your mind on the stunt because of how distant I was before I left Tampa.”

I sighed, trying to get comfortable in the plastic chair. “I was scared. Still am scared…when I was in Tampa, Maria mentioned how serious we’re getting. And a part of me realized that. How could I not? But to have it pointed out to me…to know you hadn’t brought another woman home in so long… I’m not gonna lie, it freaked me out a little. A lot. You know what I went through with my ex-fiancé. I don’t want to die inside all over again. And I would, if anything separated us.”

I stood, began to pace as I continued speaking, “It’s not that I think you’ll hurt me. You’ve been
so
good to me. I want to trust you with my heart. I’m so in love with you, I can’t see straight.”

“Then maybe you should get glasses,” Evan's raspy voice came from the bed.

I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him, certain I’d just experienced the most vivid auditory hallucination of my life. “You’re awake!” I threw myself at him, before remembering all the tubes and machines. “Oh God, are you okay?”

He wrapped his IV-free arm around me, held me close. “I’m okay. Head hurts like a bitch, but I think I’m okay, otherwise. Can I ask you something?”

I sat back, but still kept hold of his hand. “Sure.”

“Did you mean it?”

My cheeks set themselves on fire. “What? Were you dreaming Evan?”

He gave me a look. “I wasn’t dreaming, and my hearing is fine. You said you’re so in love with me you can’t see straight.”

“I- um…” The floor was the most interesting thing on the planet.

“Charlie, look at me, beautiful.” Reluctantly, my eyes met his. “Did you mean it?”

“Yes,” I whispered. “I did.”

“Good. Because I love you too. So much, it hurts
not
to be with you.”

He pulled me into the bed with him and winced when I accidentally hit his IV.

“I’m sorry! Oh, God, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“No.”

“Do you need me to call the nurse? Oh, I need to anyway, to tell them you’re awake.” I reached for the call button. “What can I do?”

“You can kiss me,” he said, gently plucking the call button from my hands pulling me back against him. “Everything is better when you kiss me.”