Jamison (Beautiful Mine #3) by Gia DeLuca Page B

of the room, his white coat floating behind him. My heart raced and was acknowledged by the fast beeping of a machine. Even post-op, I couldn’t help but think of all the things I wanted to do to him when I got better. He was my hero. My lover. My everything.
    ***
    Twenty-four hours later, I was crawling out of a cab with Jamison reaching for my hands, ready to escort me up to my apartment.
    “Easy now,” he said, his hands strong and steady as they held mine. A day of lying flat in the hospital left me feeling lightheaded and uncoordinated, but he was there to guide me.
    We climbed the two flights of stairs one at a time and landed in my apartment, where Mia had everything all ready to go. Her shop was closed that week for the big renovation, so she promised to dedicate her free time to taking care of me during the day.
    “There she is,” Mia said, cautiously watching me as if I were a fragile China doll about to topple off a shelf. “Your bed’s all ready.”
    Jamison escorted me there, helping me in and covering me up before propping and fluffing the pillows behind me.
    He and Mia stood at the side of my bed, both watching me with careful gazes until Jamison pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and turned to her.
    “This is my cell,” he said. “Call me immediately if anything happens. Anything at all.” He slipped a second piece of paper next to my bed. “This is my pager number. If I don’t answer my cell, have me paged. Enter the code 121, and I’ll know it’s for Sophie.”
    121? My hazy brain tried to figure out why he’d pick that random number. December 1 st . That’s when we met. 12/1.
    “Got it,” Mia said, pressing the precious lifeline against her chest. “I’ll program your numbers into my phone.”
    “I need you to watch for fever, chills, pain, headaches, numbness, tingling…” Jamison rattled off a list of symptoms as Mia listened diligently.
    He cemented himself in place, not wanting to leave, but he’d only taken a break from work to run me home. Patients waited and appointments piled up, and the longer he stalled, the longer he’d be working that night.
    “I need to get back,” he said, glancing outside where the Yellow Cab waited for him, meter still running. “I’ll come by tonight.”
    I nodded. He wasn’t even gone yet, and already I missed him so much my chest ached. I watched from my bed as he showed himself out, the clicking of the door echoing through the vast open space.
    “He’s amazing, isn’t he, Mia?” I sighed.
    She perched on the side of my bed, her blue eyes softening as she nodded. “You’re very lucky to have found each other. Talk about timing, right?”
    I glanced over to my nightstand where my Nori and Rossi necklaces laid next to one another, and I couldn’t help but wonder if in some weird, cosmic sort of way they sent him to me.
    Pain sliced through my heart. I’d have given anything to have one more giggling sleepover with them, to mother-hen them with relationship advice or to feel the way their gorgeous, flaxen locks slipped through my fingers when I braided their hair. I’d have given anything to stare into their big brown eyes, the very same ones they shared with me, and wrap them up in a warm embrace.
    “You thinking of them again?” Mia asked sweetly. She knew them too. We all went to the same college. I’d lived with Mia all four years, and she was the one who had told me my parents were on the phone that fateful morning. I still got sick to my stomach when visions of the look on her face crept into my mind.
    “Always,” I said.
    Mia grabbed the necklaces and scooted closer to me, securing each one around my neck. “Better?”
    I nodded.
    “Get some rest, will ya?” She floated to the big windows, drawing the blinds one at a time and darkening the loft. She returned to my side, running her hand across my cheek the way a mother would comfort a child. “He’ll be back soon.”
    ***
    I’d slept for hours, and I only knew