Matrimony | H.S.

Chapter 24

☆☆☆

ROSE

It was after the official first date—not days after—only hours when I woke up with a weird feeling.

It was so hard to sleep in the same bed with Harry after I'd started feeling better from the surgery. As much as I talked about wanting to get him into bed naked, I never actually did anything about it, at least not when we were in bed like this. That being said, I wasn't actually surprised to find Harry spooning me—that happened a lot.

I woke up in a lot of different positions in the morning, usually with my face tucked under his chin, my hand across his chest. Sometimes my face was on his chest with his arms wrapped around me, and there had been a few instances where we had woken up fused to each other just like we were right then. Little spoon, meet big spoon.

In the hospital, that had been the only position we had slept in, but that was only because the bed wasn't big enough for any other positioning. At the hospital, sex had been the last thing on my mind, but out of it... the last two months, things had been different. In those instances where we had woken up with his front pressed to my back, he usually got out of bed as quickly as possible and I said a silent goodbye to his lovely erection that had been pressing into me from behind.

Those mornings were my favorite, because it was something else to wake up wrapped in his arms. I felt protected, cared for, and maybe for the first time in a very long time, like I belonged somewhere—in his arms. Those times, I wasn't brave enough to tease him, and I just closed my eyes and took my fill instead.

When we were both vertical and wearing actual clothes, that was when I flourished in making him squirm. So much for my bravery.

"Harry?" I mumbled, peering over my shoulder. His lips were right there, only inches away, and I shivered when those same full lips pressed a kiss on my bare shoulder. He was already awake, apparently. I tried to turn onto my back so I could look at him, but with his body covering mine, it wasn't possible. I only managed to turn halfway, craning my neck back the rest of the way. "Is everything okay?" I croaked out, my voice heavy with sleep. Apart from the city lights casting a shadow on his face, there were no lights on, just us.

"Go back to sleep." He whispered.

Harry's hand found mine and I held it up, palm against palm, his skin warm against my fingertips.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing."

Watching our hands dance as he gently tapped his fingers against mine in the low light, I linked my fingers with his, tightly, and listened to him release a long breath.

"You want me to believe you just woke up to hold hands with me?"

"I talked to your doctor today."

I turned my body a little more toward him and cautiously watched his face. "When?"

"After dinner. I called his private phone."

"And?" I prompted anxiously when he didn't go on. I was starting to hate the word doctor.

"He sent the email today with the results, and I thought it was a bill so I opened it. The MRI was clean. The surgery worked. There is no tear in your membrane anymore."

I closed my eyes and dropped my head back onto the pillow, releasing the biggest sigh in the world. I was feeling a little dizzy with relief. A weight had been lifted off my chest with his words, the equivalent of a baby elephant. I felt worlds lighter.

"But you still need to be careful—you know that, right?" Harry reminded me.

That I did. The doctor had warned me that usually when a CSF leak happens out of nowhere, there is a high chance that the same issue can pop up in a different part of the membrane. If the pressure is constantly high, it really is inevitable.