Spencer Cohen Series, Book Three (The Spencer Cohen Series 3) by N.R. Walker Page A

makeup, and cupcake baby-doll dress didn’t fool this nurse, though.
    The nurse gave a nod to me. “Mr Cohen here needs rest. Almost dying is exhausting. Visiting hours are over.” Then she spotted Gabe. “Sir? Are you okay?”
    Gabe looked up at her, still sweaty and pale. He waved her off. “My wife drives like Satan on acid.”
    I chuckled as did everyone else, and before Lola could argue, Sarah linked arms with her and they walked out. Gabe followed, Allan patted my leg, and Helen promised they’d be back first thing in the morning.
    The nurse raised her eyebrow at Andrew, but he sat down beside me again. “I’m staying.”
    I needed to say something. He’d told me he loved me before we were interrupted, and I still hadn’t said anything. But I was so tired. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.
    Andrew’s thumb traced circles on the back of my hand before he lifted it and kissed where his thumb had just been. “Sleep, Spencer. I’ll be right here.”
    I couldn’t seem to form words, so I squeezed his hand instead and held it as tight as my tired bones would let me. And I slept.
    * * * *
    I woke up when a nurse doing midnight rounds came in and checked the machine at my side. Andrew was asleep on a fold-up bed, and a warmth spread through my chest knowing he was still here.
    He loved me. I knew he did. I’d heard him tell his mother before that he did. But he told me , he told me he loved me. It was out and couldn’t be taken back. I was certain the universe had a no-take-backs clause on those three words. Not that I wanted him to take them back. God that was the last thing I wanted.
    What I wanted was for my stupid brain and my even stupider heart to know what to do with those words.
    The hardest part was knowing that I loved him too. My stupid brain could admit that my traitorous heart had done something I swore to myself years ago we would never do. And that was fall in love.
    Yet there he slept on a fold-up bed in my hospital room. And I was in love with him. He made me the happiest man in the world. But it was those words, those three little words. I could admit to myself that I loved Andrew, I just couldn’t bring myself to tell Andrew.
    There was something absolutely terrifying in handing over your wounded heart for someone else to hold.
    And those thoughts kept me awake, along with the constant beeps and noises that filled hospitals. Andrew woke up a little before six, confused and still half asleep, but as soon as he recognised where he was, his first thoughts were of me. “Hey. You feeling okay?” His voice croaked, and he scrubbed his hands over his face.
    “Much better. Still tired but better.”
    He stood up and stretched the kinks out of his back. He was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, and he looked sleep-rumpled and gorgeous. He caught me staring and smiling. “What?”
    “Nothing. Thank you for staying.”
    “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
    I held my hand out to him and waited until he took it. “I’ve been awake most of the night. I almost joined you on that cot.”
    He smiled and used my hand to scratch his stubbled jaw. “Don’t think ‘brothers’ are supposed to be that close.”
    Oh, that’s right. “Brothers, huh?”
    “Technically step brothers, but yes.”
    “I would have told them it was so awfully nice of my step brother to stay the night, I just wanted to give him a cuddle in his bed.”
    A nurse came in and Andrew quickly dropped my hand and stood up. He went and opened the window blinds while the nurse did her routine checks and typed into the computer. “Breakfast will be around soon,” she said on her way out.
    Andrew made a face and quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket. He texted something, then looked at me. “You’re not eating hospital food.”
    “I’m actually kinda hungry.”
    “So am I, but hospital food is what they serve in gastronomical hell.”
    I chuckled, which woke up my bladder. “I need to piss.”
    “Oh,