The other one shook his head. “BP’s dropping. Biphasic reaction. We need to transport him now.”

  Rom closed his eyes and laid his head back, and the last thing he remembered was one of the paramedics saying something about getting a shot of epinephrine ready as the stretcher lurched when they started loading him.

  Chapter Twelve

  If it wasn’t for the fact that Craig’s wife was in the ER, Colton would be tempted to call the man and give him a piece of his fucking mind.

  I’m missing time with Rom for this?

  Sure, it was a good chunk of unexpected money coming his way, but between the whiny college girl who tried to hit on him, and the whiny retired man recovering from a heart attack and who wore his MAGA hat, Colton was about ready to walk out.

  And they were the best two of the lot.

  Worse, he knew he wouldn’t be getting his own workout in today, because he wouldn’t want to take the time away from Rom.

  He was halfway through his hour with the next to last client when his cell phone rang in his pocket from Aunt Roberta’s ringtone.

  He reached in and silenced it. She’d leave a message or text him if it was really urgent.

  Then it rang again, like she didn’t leave a message.

  A bad feeling washed over him, and he excused himself from the middle-aged woman he was currently working with, who’d made her umpteenth remark to him basically saying she wanted to sleep with him. The kind of comments the female trainers could immediately report to management and have action taken about, but if he did it, he’d get laughed out of the office by the guy.

  He knew, because he’d tried reporting one once.

  “Hey, I’m with a client right—”

  “Colton, oh, my god. Honey, you need to come right now!” It sounded like she was crying.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  “It’s Rom. We had to call an ambulance for him. The turkey was fried in peanut oil and Sherry didn’t remember that, and he had to use his injector thingy, and—”

  Fear curdled his stomach. “Is he okay?”

  “He had some sort of secondary reaction or something. You need to come now. They took him to Venice Regional.”

  “I’m on my way.” He hurried back to the woman. “I’m sorry, I need to leave. I’ve got an emergency. My boyfriend’s in the hospital.”

  “Boyfriend?” She looked angry. “You could’ve told me you were gay.”

  “Yeah, and I could tell your husband you’re hitting on me, but I guess that doesn’t matter to you, huh?” He left her gasping with shock and outrage and he jogged over to the desk. “I have to run, I’m sorry, I have an emergency.” He ran to the locker room to get his bag and his keys and then bolted out of the building.

  Figures, I finally tell him I love him, and he might die on me before I get to tell him in person.

  He found Aunt Roberta, Sherry, and several of their regulars in the waiting room. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here!” She hugged him.

  “How is he?”

  “They’re working on him now. They stabilized him. Something about a secondary reaction? His blood pressure dropped and they were worried about him.”

  “Biphasic reaction, yeah.” He’d studied up on it in case he ever needed to know about them.

  In case of…this.

  “Can I go see him?” he asked.

  “They said they’d come get us.”

  So he settled into a chair with them to wait.

  “I’m so sorry,” Sherry said. “It’s all my fault.” She started crying.

  “What happened?”

  They told him the story of her crapped-out freezer and forgetting the turkey’s true origins. “I just feel horrible! I mean…” More tears.

  He hugged her. “It was just a mistake, Sherry. I’m sure he’s not mad at you.”

  “I’ll never forgive myself!”

  “You didn’t mean to do it.” Heck, Sherry had gone out of her way to make sure to bring in only snacks that couldn’t possibly have any cross-contamination in them, reading every ingredient label and carefully researching recipes before making items.

  Finally, about an hour later, a nurse emerged. “Mr. Quinn’s family?”

  Colton bolted out of his seat. “Me. That’s me.”

  “You can come back with me.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “The doctor will talk to you in a minute.”

  She led him through the corridors and into a cubicle with a sliding door. The blinds were pulled, but when she opened the door, there sat Rom, watching TV with the head of his bed propped up, and wearing an oxygen cannula and with an IV in his left arm.

  “Oh, my god!” Colton rushed in and nearly threw himself into the bed on top of him. “Sir, are you okay?”

  Rom softly cleared his throat, but Colton didn’t give a shit who heard him call Rom that. “I’m okay. They want to keep me overnight for observation, just in case.”

  Colton kissed him. “I love you, Sir. Marry me. Please, marry me.”

  Apparently the nurse hadn’t left yet. “The doctor will be right back,” Colton heard her say.

  “Thanks,” Rom said. Once Colton heard the door slide shut behind him, Rom stroked Colton’s head. “I’m okay, baby. I’ll be fine.”

  “Sherry and them told me what happened. She’s in near hysterics.”

  “Please don’t let her work herself into a heart attack. The only reason they want to keep me is because of the—”

  “Biphasic reaction, yeah.”

  Rom tipped his head. “How’d you know?”

  Colton’s face heated. “I researched a while ago. I wanted to know about it.”

  “Come here.” He patted the side rail for Colton to put it down, and then he was able to lean in and cuddle with him. “I love you, too, baby. But you don’t need to propose to me over an accident.”

  “I’m not. I love you. I said it to you this morning, and you said it back, but I think you were still asleep.”

  * * * *

  Rom wondered how much trouble they’d get in for having sex in an ER bed and decided maybe he didn’t want to find out.

  Besides, he wasn’t feeling one-hundred-percent yet.

  No one he’d been with had taken the time to research his allergy before beyond checking labels.

  Ever.

  He cupped Colton’s cheek. “I saw the note.” He brushed his thumb over his cheek, loved the stubble scratching against his thumb.

  He was still alive to appreciate it.

  “I love you, too,” he said to Colton. “But you don’t have to propose to me out of fear. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You’re not, baby.” He nuzzled Colton’s forehead. “Make a deal with you. I’ll tell you yes now, but you need to propose to me again when I’m not in a hospital bed and you’re not feeling terrified I’m dying on you. Deal?”

  “Deal, Sir.”

  Rom closed his eyes and inhaled his boy’s scent. “Sorry I scared you.”

  When Rom heard the door slide open, Rom opened his eyes and looked up as the doctor entered. “We’ve got you a bed, Mr. Quinn. We’ll be getting you moved shortly.”

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  Once the doctor had finished answering Colton’s questions and left them alone again, Rom patted Colton’s shoulder. “I need your phone. I need to call Chad. If I don’t, he and Ina will fricking kill me.”

  “Sure.” He dug it out and handed it over.

  It wasn’t a call he wanted to make, and, sure enough, Chad was upset he hadn’t been called sooner.

  “Sorry, bro, I didn’t have my phone with me,” he said after explaining what happened.

  “Why the hell didn’t Colton call us?”

  “Because he wasn’t there when it happened. He was working, and he didn’t have your number. I’m calling you now. They just let him back here with me.”

  “We’ll be right over.”

  “No, there’s no reason. I’m fine, plus I’ve got Colton and Aunt Roberta and a room full of old women about to worry themselves into a heart attack. I’m going to send the grannies home. They’re going to put me in a room, have nurses bother me every fifteen minutes to make sure I’m not dead, and I won’t get a minute’s worth of sleep. I’m grouchy and cranky and just want to go home.”

  “You sure you don’t want us there?”

  “If you want to come by later, sure. But let them get me settled. Colton will run home and get my phone and stuff.”

  “We can go by your place and grab it for you. We still have the key.”

  “Bro, I meant home to Colton’s. I was spending the weekend with him.”

  There was a slight pause. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh.” Rom caught Colton’s eye and winked. “We’re kind of serious.”

  “We kind of noticed.”

  “Good, because he loves me, for some reason, and I love him. I don’t see that changing any time soon. So please don’t hate him—today wasn’t even remotely his fault. It was just an accident, okay?”

  He heard Chad sigh one of “those” sighs, the big-brother/father sigh that meant he still wanted to be worried and upset, but he knew Rom was an adult.

  By the time he finally got Chad off the phone, they were ready to move Rom to a room. “Go update the grannies, huh?” he said to Colton. “Leave your phone with me, and then run home and get mine, please. Take a shower and everything before you come back, and bring my stuff with you. I want to take a shower.” Rom pulled him in for a kiss. “Maybe you can play naughty nurse with me and help,” he whispered.

  Which had the desired effect—Colton finally smiled.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  They both knew how to unlock each other’s phones. “Call me on the way back and I’ll tell you my room number. Make the grannies go back to the shop with you. That’s an order. Tell them they can come visit later, if they want, but not until after four. Seriously, I need a nap. I only want you with me right now. I’m not feeling up to letting others see me like this.”

  Colton didn’t look happy, but he nodded. “Yes, Sir. Love you.”

  Rom sighed and pulled him in for a totally PG-rated kiss that he wanted to make R-rated. This was not how he’d wanted to spend their Saturday.

  For starters, he’d wanted to do it naked and in Colton’s bed and not leave the apartment until Monday morning.

  “Love you, too, buddy.”

  The nurse who was moving his bed smiled once Colton left. “You have half the waiting room out there, apparently.”

  “I know. They’re great.”

  Once he was in his new room and settled and had texted Colton his room number, he closed his eyes. He was hooked to a monitor and IV, so he couldn’t get out of bed without assistance.

  This sucks.

  But what really sucked was, late that night, when he was alone after ordering Colton to go home to sleep, and long after his other visitors finally left, how he stared at the ceiling and knew he could have died without saying those three little words back to Colton.

  I love him.

  He closed his eyes and conjured Colton’s sweet face and wished his big snuggle puppy was there to cuddle with.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rom called in sick on Monday, because he still felt exhausted, between the effects of what happened and a night with zero rest in a hospital. He spent the day mostly asleep in Colton’s bed or on his couch, while Colton took care of him.

  It didn’t escape Rom’s notice that, for once, he was happy to be fussed over, and 99.9% of that was due to who was doing the fussing. It made his boy happy to take care of him, so Rom willingly let him.

  If he was honest with himself, it made him happy, too.

  Loneliness had not been an issue for him since Colton entered his life.

  When Rom left work Tuesday, he felt so exhausted that he gave serious thought to not going over to Colton’s. His apartment was closer to the bank, and Wednesday morning would be an early freaking morning for Colton, meaning Rom would get awakened, too.

  Except he knew not going over would hurt Colton’s feelings, and he didn’t want to do that.

  Didn’t have the heart to do that. Normally, not going over wouldn’t be an issue, except…

  Well, hell, they hadn’t spent a night apart in weeks, except for his hospital stay. And he didn’t want to be away from his boy, either.

  Ever since being discharged from the hospital Sunday morning, and then going home to Colton’s to sleep, Colton had been hovering, worried.

  Petrified was more like it.

  Which made Rom feel warm fuzzies inside, because he knew his boy loved him.

  Showed him Colton’s feelings.

  Also made him feel guilty as hell that Colton still felt so worried. As were all the grannies.

  Besides, it wasn’t Colton’s fault what had happened, even though he knew his boy felt horrible about it. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was just sheer stupidity, an accident. If anyone was to blame, Rom knew he was. He got sloppy with his habits, and he knew better than to simply eat something made by someone else without playing twenty questions first. Sure, his co-workers were trained, but he really hadn’t made a huge deal about it with Aunt Roberta or the others.

  No, it wasn’t necessarily common sense to someone who didn’t have a potentially deadly allergy.

  He was actually more worried that Chad and Ina might hold the incident against Colton. He hoped not, because Rom—

  That prematurely punctuated sentence said it all.

  There’s my answer, isn’t it?

  I love him. Not just love, but yeah, he did want to spend the rest of his life with Colton. Absolutely.

  He only hoped his boy asked him again.

  Rom stopped by his apartment first to grab his mail before heading to Colton’s. He already had clothes there.

  It seemed more of his clothes were ending up there every week. Hell, he didn’t even have any food in his apartment. He hadn’t needed any. He was always at Colton’s.

  And he wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d be able to drag himself away from his boy once they settled in for the night.

  They were well past that point.

  He didn’t want to be away from his boy. The night in the hospital had been bad enough.

  Thank goodness for relatively decent insurance.

  Yes, he’d already replaced the auto-injector pen, too. No way in hell would he let that slip now and be without one. Damn thing had saved his life, absolutely.

  It was after six when he arrived at Colton’s. The shop was closed when he pulled around back and parked, letting himself in the back door with his key.

  He’d never had a guy’s key before.

  Isn’t that just more proof? That I let him give me one? And that I gave him one to mine?

  From upstairs, he heard music playing, and realized it was River Whyless. Rom’s favorite album, as a matter of fact.

  Hmm.

  Rom headed up the stairs and was nearly to the top when the door popped open and there was his boy’s sweet face smiling down at him.

  I’m home.

  Colton—naked, of course—threw the door open for Rom once he crested the top of the stairs, reaching for his bag to take it from him.

  Rom handed it over, and Colton rushed it over to the couch before racing back to him, dropping to his knees, and holding his hands up for their greeting. But this time, instead of their usual greeting, Colton slipped something on Rom’s left ring finger before he pulled his hand in to kiss it.

  He looked up at him. “Sir, I love you. You said to ask you again when I wasn’t worried about you dying. Well, I’m asking. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please marry me.”

  It was a gold wedding band, nothing fancy, but it brought tears to Rom’s eyes anyway. “Yes,” he whispered, tugging on Colton’s hands to make him stand again. He threw his arms around Colton in a desperate hug and refused to second-guess himself on this. “Yes, yes, yes.”

  He felt Colton’s breath against his scalp. “You said there’s only two months left on your lease. How about you move in with me, Sir? Please?”

  It felt like all the tension drained from Rom’s body, every last dark, quiet voice chattering deep within his soul falling silent beneath the sweet perfection of Colton’s love. “Yes.” He tipped his head back to stare into his boy’s brown eyes. “You think you can put up with me full-time?”

  Colton wore a playful smile that chased away the fear he’d worn ever since Saturday. “What do you think we’ve been doing, Sir? I mean, seriously? I want everything with you.”

  “I’ll meet you at lunch time tomorrow and we can get our marriage license.”

  “Eh, you realize we have to have a wedding, right? I mean, won’t have to be fancy or anything, but if we don’t, the grannies will never forgive us.”

  “True. Chad and Ina would be pissed, too.” He sighed. “Can I pull Master rank and delegate the arrangements to you?”

  Colton snorted. “You’re the Sir—you can order me to do it, if you want.”

  Rom shook his head. “I trust you,” he quietly said. “You know our budget.” He smiled. “Should invite Kent, Tim, and Paul.” They’d been back to Kent’s a few times over the past couple of months for parties, just to play with each other. Rom wouldn’t deny it was an ego boost to see the way guys lusted over his boy, but his boy only had eyes for him. They’d also attended Venture a couple of times, taking classes so Rom could work on his rope skills, and they’d made one of the Suncoast Society munches.

  Colton grinned. “Absolutely, I want to invite them.”

  Kent had been responsible for Colton selling several more high-dollar pieces, and Colton had even been commissioned by a local high-end real estate broker to make them a line of artistic statement pieces they could stage in properties for sale and give away to their customers, which had netted Colton even more work.

  Rom’s hands slid down Colton’s back to that perfect, shapely ass, and squeezed. Colton’s hard cock rubbed between them. “If I officially move in full-time, does that mean you’ll stop getting up at the asscrack of dawn several mornings a week? I can’t and won’t order you to stop working, but it’d make me hella happy.”