“Can’t help it,” he said, cracking his knuckles. “It’s how I roll.”
She laughed and then groaned as her side protested. If not for the pain medication, she knew that simple laugh would have brought her to tears. The doctor had determined that her ribs weren’t broken, merely bruised, but they sure as hell felt broken.
“So what’s the damage?” Adam asked. “Your sister rushed me in here without telling me much.”
The traitorous bitch, was Madison’s first thought. “You talked to her?”
“Briefly. She’s the one who called me and told me you needed me here.”
“Oh.” Well, Madison was still pissed at Kennedy, but maybe eventually they could mend their damaged relationship. Maybe.
Madison tossed her blanket aside with her uninjured arm, and he gasped.
“Broken radius and ulna, sprained elbow, dislocated shoulder,” she said, pointing to her right arm. “I tried to catch my fall. That was a mistake.”
“I thought you were good at riding horses.”
“I am good at riding horses,” she said defensively. “My horse was spooked. By a snake.”
Adam shook his head as if he were angry with her. “Why’d you take your horse near a snake? Don’t you remember what that fortune-teller in New Orleans said?”
She shook her head in disbelief. “I didn’t mean to take her near a snake. It was hiding . . .” The fortune-teller’s words echoed through her mind.
“In the grass?”
She nodded. “It doesn’t matter. I had to go for a ride.” She smiled. “I was looking for you.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry, I found you.”
He touched her temple with gentle fingertips. “Are you sure your head is okay?”
“No worse than it was before,” she assured him.
“Your sister said you have a concussion.”
“I do. But I’m feeling much better. Especially now that you’re here.”
He smiled, holding her gaze for a long moment. When his eyes became shiny with tears, he diverted his attention to the bandage on her shoulder. “What’s under here?” he asked, running a finger along the tape.
“That’s for my fractured collarbone. They had to screw the pieces to a metal plate.”
“Ouch.” He took in her body from head to toe and then met her eyes. “You’re in an awfully good mood for someone so broken,” he observed.
“I feel less broken now than I did when I left you.”
He let out a shaky breath. “You do?”
She nodded, reaching out to him with her good arm. “You came.”
“Of course I came. Jesus, Madison, you could have died. Why do you have to be so fucking reckless?”
Despite her damaged ribs, she laughed until her belly ached. “Me? You’re the reckless one.”
“Then I’m a bad influence on you. I’m going to end up getting you killed.”
She didn’t care about anything but him being there. “Are you going to kiss me, or what?” she asked.
“May I?”
She lifted an eyebrow at him. “You’ve never felt inclined to ask before.”
“Yeah, well, I’m trying not to be an asshole here. I’m doing my best to change for you.”
Now she was really confused. Even more than she’d been when her brains had been scrambled.
“Change?” she blurted. “Why would you change for me?”
“Because . . .” He lowered his gaze and rubbed a finger along the solid length of her cast. “You’re so good and I’m, I’m not.”
“I don’t want you to change, Adam,” she said. “I happen to love everything about you.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“Because it’s scary to love someone as much as I love you. And I couldn’t figure out why you encouraging the insanity between us was activating my fight or flight response. So I chose flight. But I should have chosen fight. I’m choosing fight now, Adam. I’ll fight for you. I won’t run again.”
His gray eyes lifted, and he met her gaze. “She never fought for me.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
“I’m not your mother.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
“And I will fight for you, Adam. I will. I promise you that.”
He stared into her eyes and then dipped his head slightly. “I believe you,” he said. “But maybe you should wait to fight until you’ve healed a bit. Though one good whack with this cast would take out a charging bull.” He touched the plaster gingerly, as if afraid touching it would hurt her.
“I love you,” she said and swallowed the lump of nervousness in her throat. Was she really going to do this? What if he’d changed his mind? “Adam?”
He lifted his head, and she was surprised to see his eyes brimming with tears.
“I love you too,” he said.
She nodded, her own vision swimming. “If you still want to marry me, I . . . I accept your proposal.”
He again looked her over. “I don’t know, Madison,” he said. “I’m not sure you’ll ever be able to give me a proper hand job again.”
She lifted a spare pillow and hit him with it, grateful she was feeling no pain. “The doctor says I should recover completely with rest and physical therapy. You’ll get plenty of spectacular hand jobs.”
“If you’re sure.”
She nodded and stared at his pocket expectantly.
“I’m not asking you yet,” he told her.
“You’re not?” The disappointment of his words crushed her chest. “It’s the whole ‘in sickness and in health’ thing, isn’t it? I promise I’ll be back to normal in no time.” Six to eight weeks wasn’t so long when they had the rest of their lives to spend together.
“That’s not it. I think I’d like to meet your family first. See what kind of crazy I’d be marrying into.”
“My family? What about your family?” She’d talked to his dad on the phone and found him to be as difficult to reach as his son had been.
He laughed. “You already know my family is crazy. And your sister seems pretty cool. Maybe I could win her over if we got to know each other.”
As much as she loved her family, she was still angry with Kennedy. She didn’t care if she ever approved of Adam. Screw her. “She’s not as cool as you think she is. I found out who ratted on us to my boss,” she said.