Wide Spaces (A Wide Awake Novella, Book 2) by The 12 NAs of Christmas, Shelly Crane

intake of breath was slow. "Baby," he soothed. "Shh."
    He pressed and rubbed my entire body in intervals of warm pressure. He even rubbed down my legs and back up again. With my face buried in the crook of his neck, and my arms around him as much as I could get them with wires and tubes, I cried for the way he loved me and somehow always found blame within himself that he wasn't good enough. I knew right then he was blaming himself, thinking that was the reason that I'd been driving around. I could tell in the way that he confessed, and it all made sense. I pulled back, the nurse long gone, and looked up into his hazel eyes.
    "I wasn't driving around because I was angry."
    His brow furrowed and he spoke softly. "What do you mean?"
    "I wasn't blowing off steam because I was upset. That wasn't why I got caught in the storm." And then my heart ached because I knew his present was still in the car, and I didn't k now if it was even usable now. "I was…" I gasped with my realization. It didn't matter. He would still blame himself. Whether I was out because I was angry at him or out because I had been getting his Christmas present, the point is that I was in that storm because of him, one way or another. Dang, Mason still was going to feel guilty either way.
    "What is it?"
    "I was coming home from…getting your Christmas present."
    His lips fell open and he took a deep breath. "What?"
    "It's in the car. That's why I was out. Not because I was angry." I chuckled wryly. "I was trying to surprise you."
    I expected his face to fall, his breaths to turn angry, and his fist to clench with hatred for himself. But he half-smiled. "Really? I was so worried when you weren't at your parents '. I thought…I had messed everything up. And then when Adeline called and said she called you, I thought you'd never take me back. I thought I'd never get to clean up all this mess. And then she said that the line went dead and there was so much noise..." He shook his head, his hair a mess on his head. A sexy mess. "I thought I had lost you forever."
    "I'm right here," I promised and gripped the nape of his neck tighter.
    He pulled my hand up. The left one. "Is there anything else you want to ask me? Anything at all? I promise I'll tell you the truth, the whole truth." He kissed the ring on my finger, his eyes closed.
    I shook my head. "No, Mason. I trust you."
    He squinted up at me and spoke against my fingers. "Why?"
    "Because you came for me." I could taste the fresh tears that fell over my lips. "You saved me. Again."
    "Again?" he said confused but adorably hopeful as he leaned toward me.
    "You saved me the first time when I opened my eyes and you were there in the hospice, taking care of me, fighting for me, always waiting for me to wake up."
    "I had to," he said vehemently against my cheek. "Because you saved me first. At that party when I looked into your sad eyes and saw how much a person can want to change...it not only makes them able to, it makes them worthy of it. For the first time since my mom's accident, you gave me a piece of hope that I could one day be worthy of it, too."
    "You are," I insisted and kissed his jaw.
    He pressed his lips to my ear. "I love you so much, Em."
    When he looked back at me this time, it was a quick glance before closing his eyes and touching his lips to mine. It was bridled and I didn't want that right then. My body was sore and ached in a strange way, but I wanted to feel his passion all over me, crawling through my veins and under my skin. I licked at his lips before pressing closer. "Whoa," he said gently. "Easy, baby." He gave me a stern look. "I just got you back. You need to rest and—"
    I was having none of the "rest" talk. I had spent six months of my life resting. I leaned back onto my pillow and took him with me. He groaned, a small protest that carried no real punch, and leaned over me, his palms on either side of me. This time when I opened my mouth to him, he dove head first. Moving my favorite