He held me for several more minutes, his chin resting atop my head as if he were guarding the very thoughts inside it. I could hear his heart beating—a steady, rhythmic contrast to the erratic thrumming in my own chest. The silence of the Ritz-Carlton suite was absolute, a stark difference from the howling wind of the mountain or the clinical beeping of the hospital. Finally, he pressed a lingering kiss to the top of my head and loosened his grip just enough for me to move.
I turned in the circle of his arm and looked up at him, the soft light of the room casting deep shadows over the sharp planes of his face. "I still need to put this on your head," I whispered, reaching for the fresh butterfly bandage.
The look in his eyes stopped my breath. I had spent years analyzing Jason’s expressi
