Chapter 69: 39-Sweet Escape-2

"But what about school? Graduation? Don't you want to come back for that?" I thought about his question for a bit; we were on spring break at the moment so I wasn't under a lot of pressure to go back but then would I go back to school? Back to New Hampshire? It wasn't something I'd thought about until now but I couldn't just leave school once again nor could I leave Zach... No other school would take me at this point and honestly I didn't have it in me to move to another new school. "I haven't thought about that yet," I wondered out loud. "Maybe once Zach has his strength back we'll discuss this," I said with a small frown on my face. Carter placed his hand over mine. "Well whatever you decide, just make sure you put yourself first. You should get to do this you know, graduate, go to college, and have a normal life. Just because you're married doesn't mean that you get to skip out on that stuff." I nodded, mildly surprised by how serious he was being; the guy I knew loved to flirt and goof around, it wasn't every day that he'd offer you a word of wisdom. He left shortly after that, saying he'd come to check up on me in the evening. Apparently he had some friends in the area so he would stay with them while Danny and my aunt and uncle would go to their townhouse. I tried slipping discretely back into Zach's room because I knew he was still asleep. Tiptoeing in, I noticed that he was sleeping on his side, with his back towards me. Just knowing that he was in the same room as me filled me up with a special kind of joy; maybe I'd pushed it back but not having him in my life had caused me a lot of pain even though at the time I thought I'd hated him. It was weird how quickly that hate disappeared, like it hadn't even been there in the first place; I guess that was my subconscious telling me that I never truly believed Zach was capable of the things I had accused him of. Gently I lay down on the bed and just stared at his profile. I didn't care if I looked like a stalker; if you had a husband as gorgeous as mine you wouldn't be able to take your eyes off of him as well. "Stop staring, it's creepy." His voice, husky with sleep made my heart nearly jump out of my chest. I gasped as he carefully turned on his side so that he was now facing me. His face had the trademark smirk on it which immediately caused my heartbeat to kick up a few notches. "You're up!" I said almost accusingly. "I've been up ever since you left me alone in bed, Ari," he said cheekily and I gently slapped his shoulder. "Hey watch it, I'm an injured man." "Do you want me to kiss it better?" I asked in a baby voice but was surprised when his eyes darkened considerably; I gulped at the intensity in them. "You have no idea how much I would like that," he whispered softly and just like that I was gone, totally, completely, utterly gone. It felt like I wasn't the same Arianna anymore, that I hadn't just suffered through what I had, that the previous day, the previous month, any of that had never happened. It was simply us again, Zach and I. His lips were torturously far yet dangerously near mine; if it were up to me I'd just grab him and kiss the life out of him but given the fact that he had a gunshot wound, I knew I needed to be more careful. "I-I should get a nurse." I didn't know how I managed to get the words out seeing how close we were now, our sides pressed together, immersed in each other, eliminating any kind of distance that may exist. "Shh..." he ordered, silencing me with a deep, passionate, knee-knocking kiss that killed any will I had to ever leave the comfort of his arms. I hadn't realized how much my body craved him up until that single moment because that one kiss evoked such a passionate response from me that even I couldn't tell what had come over me. My hands slid into his hair, leisurely combing through it; I tangled my legs with his but tried to stay as far away from the bandaged area. He kissed me like never before, both hungrily and softly, roughly and gently, passionately yet tenderly. I was at a loss for words as we got lost in each other, making up for lost time, simply relishing in being together. The sound of someone clearing their throat had me hurriedly jumping away from him, my entire body turning the shade of ripened tomatoes. The doctor who had operated on Zach stood before us, watching him skeptically through his glasses. A low growl left Zach's chest as I pried myself away from him and straightened my clothes. "I just needed to run some tests, Mr. Price, not that I meant to disturb, ahem, your meeting." My cheeks burned as he watched with amusement in his eyes, Zach however was unfazed. He placed an arm around my waist and pulled me lightly against him. "And do these tests need to be done right this moment?" he asked tersely. "Yes, I'm afraid they can't really wait. I need to see how well you're recuperating." Zach grumbled but let me go and as I left the room, I could feel his gaze on my back. Turning my body to face him, I gave him a huge smile, one which he returned and the after-effects of which left me dazed for quite a while. -Two weeks later- "Well that's the last of the boxes, Ms. Arianna," Stuart huffed and bent down, placing his hands on his knees. I knew he was teasing me because even at his age, his strength was unquestionable. "Thank you, you're a sweetheart." I hugged him and then ran back inside the house, sprinting up the stairs. It had been a busy couple of days, packing, unpacking and then packing again. Today finally I'd managed to get all my things together in one place, not just from this house but from my parents' house too. Now everything that I owned was packed up neatly in boxes and was being loaded into a van that would take it to New Hampshire and to the little apartment Zach had bought for us there. I smiled, remembering the conversation we had on the day he got released from the hospital.