The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 49

Sometimes life has a way of feeling like a never ending slide show of the same moments. The same routine, the same food, the same clothes over and over and over again until each day feels like a long string of nothingness. How I wished that was my current problem. 

Instead the past twenty four hours had been filled with heated and terrifying moments that would make up their own slide show of horror whenever I closed my eyes. From driving someone to the hospital during a near death experience, to uncovering a murderer while standing in the hospital, I was finding it hard to live in the moment without wanting to crawl out of my own skin. 

"Do you want some coffee?" Luke asked, pulling me from my thoughts from where I sat on the window sill in Andrew's hospital room, looking out over the horizon as the afternoon sun kissed the building tops in a golden farewell. 

"Um..." I blinked, rubbing my temples before settling on how to speak again. I had sunk deep into a train of thought, working through the logistics of the next steps, and hadn't used my vocal chords for most of the day. "Yeah, that would be great." 

Luke who had been sitting at Andrew's side since arriving, took a moment to straighten out his wrinkled shirt as he stood up. "How do you take it?" 

"In an IV," I said dryly. 

Luke snorted, attempting to smile past the exhaustion on his face. "Yeah, I know the feeling. Two shots of hospital energizing sludge coming right up." 

I leaned my head against the window. "Thanks, Luke." 

He offered a halfhearted wave in response before ducking out the door. 

"She likes her coffee with two creams," a tired voice said a moment later. 

Startled, I turned to find Andrew blinking up at me with a sleepy, tired smile.

"Andrew!" I gasped, stumbling to my feet. 

And before I could think twice, I threw my arms around him, my face against his neck, breathing him in. He chuckled against my hair and it took everything in me to stop myself from crying at how wonderful it was to hear that laugh. 

He's awake. 

The reality of it was something that felt almost too good to be true after the last twenty four hours. 

"I've never been so thankful to see those eyes," I said, relief flooding through me like a sweet song I hadn't realized how much I missed.

"Goodness, that's quite a greeting," Andrew said, staring up at me with wide gloriously greenish-blue eyes. His black hair was now a wild mess of tangles, his breath shallow, cheeks flushed as he stared up at me with a mix of amusement and awe.

"I don't like people nearly dying without my permission," I replied, tone more hurt than I had intended, making it far more clear how terrified I had been than I planned on sharing moments ago. 

His smile turned soft as I leaned away, sitting down on the edge of the bed, staring down at my hands, self conscious of the blood I still saw on my hands. His blood. The same blood that now caked the dress. I had forgotten to wash it off. 

I must have looked utterly terrifying, hair wild, eyes dark, hands and clothes covered in blood that wasn't mine.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, voice a whisper as he continued to take me in. "Should I expect you to throw yourself at me every time something bad happens then?" 

I snorted, shooting him an irritated look that had little heat behind it. "You wish," I said dryly. 

His eyes grew dark. "I very much do."