Isn't It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) by Lyssa Kay Adams

            Her bottom lip trembled, so he gripped her hips and tugged her closer. She pressed a hand to the center of his chest. “But I need you to understand that this is part of who I am and will always be part of who I am. I am a journalist at heart, and I don’t want to deny that part of me. Not when I know that I have a passion and a skill that can do good things in the world. I can’t change who I am, but I can promise that I will be better. Better than him. Better than I have been. Better to us.”

            She curled her hands around his cheeks. “I will never put us at risk for the sake of a story. Ever. Because nothing is more important to me than you. I’ve been living with the ghost of my father for so long that it blinded me to everything else. To you. And I nearly lost you. And I’m so, so sorry, Vlad.”

            Her expression was a combination of tenderness and ferocity, and he realized with a jolt that it was uniquely her. Two mutually exclusive traits had somehow merged when the universe created this woman, and he’d never appreciated it, never saw it, until now. Until she stood before him with her gentle fingers on his face and her determination sparking like lightning in her eyes. For so long, he’d considered the two sides of her as separate beings at war with each other, and only one could win. But to truly love her, he had to love both sides of her. The nurturing woman who heated his blood and fed his soul with her poetry and passion. And the warrior woman who would likely give him heartburn but make him so damn proud with her crusades for the rest of his life.

            Vlad turned into her touch and kissed her palm. Then he slid his own hands up her back and brought her flush against him. “I love you,” he declared. “And if this is what you want to do, then I am behind you. Just promise me, promise me, that you will never shut me out. I want to be part of it all. Every ugly part of it. Don’t hide anything from me, because you are part of me.”

            And then he kissed her, and she kissed him back. She kissed him like she knew how close they’d come to never kissing again. She kissed him with unrestrained passion and roaming hands and panted breaths. Like it was their first time and their last chance. She kissed him with his name on her lips, her heart in her eyes, with joy in every breath.

            “It’s going to be okay now, Lenochka,” he whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.”

            A clearing throat brought them apart. Vlad looked around her body to see Colton peeking his head in through the curtain. “You know, just because none of us speak Russian doesn’t mean we don’t understand sex noises. You’re shocking the staff.”

            Elena laughed and dropped her face to Vlad’s shoulder. He hugged her tightly, hand palmed around the curve of her neck to hold her, safe and sound and secure.

            “So, is it safe to come in now or what?” Colton asked.

            “Go away,” Vlad grumbled.

            Elena laughed and turned around in his arms. “You can come in.”

            A single-file line walked through the curtain. Colton. Mack. Malcolm. Michelle. Claud. Noah. Cheese Man.

            Cheese Man? Vlad glowered at Colton. “What is he doing here?”

            “He’s a friend of Elena’s too.”

            “I was very worried,” Cheese Man said. He reached for Elena’s hand, probably to kiss it, the bastard. Vlad slid his arms around Elena’s waist and pulled her against his chest in an unabashed possessive pose.

            “Thank you for coming,” Elena laughed, covering Vlad’s hands with her own. “That was very kind of you.”

            Cheese Man pointed at Vlad. “You are a lucky man, my friend. I hope you recognize it.”

            Vlad kissed Elena’s neck. “I do.”

            “Keep it PG, kids,” Colton said. “You can’t do the humping in here.”

            The aggressive scrape of the curtain rings heralded the arrival of a very annoyed ER doctor. “Folks, we can’t have this many people in here. Just family.”

            Elena leaned into Vlad’s chest. “This is our family.”

            “Damn straight, it is,” Mack said.

            “Well, there are too many of you. You can visit her when she’s admitted to her own room.”

            Vlad tightened his hold on her waist. “You’re admitting her?”