Page 62 of You Are Cordially Invited

Someone had to do something.

Ihad to do something.

Reuben had enough going on in that groggy head of his.

By 2.00 pm, I was making lists.

By 3.00 pm, I was making calls.

At 4.00 pm, I faceplanted on Reuben’s bed next to his hand and let sleep take me.

Chapter Twelve

Reuben

Bodies pressing down in a scrum;my hand wedged under someone’s leg; pulling, twisting, but I can’t move; numbness; nerves buzzing in my fingers; heat; bodies shifting; lying on the ground; a cool draft; lightness—

“Reuben?” Cam’s warm breath soft against my ear.“Reuben, are you okay?”

I peeled my eyelids open and blinked a few times to clear my vision. He wore a worried frown under adorably sleep-mussed hair with a red blotch on his right cheek where he’d been asleep on my burning hand.

My burning hand, whose finger was twitching.

I took a sharp breath and focused on that left hand. Definitely hot, tingling, and twitching.Yes!

“Reuben?” Cam repeated anxiously. “You were mumbling something. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I answered. “The weight of your head put my hand to sleep, that’s all. It’s a bitch to get the fingers moving again.” My mouth curved up in a huge grin.

“Your fingers... oh my god.” He jumped back and stared at my hand. “You can move your fingers?”

I nodded, grinning like a loon. “Well, more like I can twitch them.”

“Holy shit.” Cam pumped twice on my call button, then cradled my face and kissed me fiercely. “Do it again.”

I focused all my concentration and... my thumb twitched.

“Yes!” Cam’s eyes flew wide, and he grabbed my hand and plastered kisses both sides of it. “Beautiful hand. Gorgeous, wonderful hand. Can you move anything else?” He reached for his phone.

I tried again, but nothing. “Just my thumb, and oh shit, look... my first finger too.” I lifted it a centimetre off the sheet.

“Holy shit, he can move his fingers,” Cam shouted into the phone. “Yes. Yes. Forget your damn dinner break. Get everyone up here.” He threw the phone on the bed. “Leyton,” he answered the question in my arched brow, then poked at my shoulder. “Try something else.”

Both shoulders were a solid yes although barely a twitch, but my arms were still lumps of clay other than my hands where things perked up, my right better than my left. But I could also flex my toes, a smidge.

“Yes!” Cam roared. “How about sensation?” He used his pen to poke and lightly scratch at the spots on my body which had previously been dull to touch.

I nodded with a huge grin. “Better, sharper.”

He threw the pen aside and pressed his lips to mine. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him, but had to be content with scratching the sheet. I wasn’t about to complain.

“I love you so much.” He peppered my face with kisses and then since no one had answered the bell, he ran for the door. “Nellie!” he shouted.

“Coming.” The answer came from down the hall. “Hold your horses.”

“He can move his fingers and toes.”

“What?” Nellie was there in ten seconds flat, and I wiggled my fingers and toes as directed. He grinned broadly and headed off to call the team.

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