Page 41 of The Wounded Warrior

“I can.”The next one. Woo.

“Excellent. Sue Ann, I’ll see you later in the week.”

“Have a good one. You too, Luke. Thank you for your service.”

Luke nodded, trying for one more smile. He worked it, he thought, and he was proud.

They managed to get him outside and rolling toward Rory’s office before Rory asked, “How tired are you of hearing that?”

“A lot. I mean, I get it. I appreciate it on a purely academic level. Still want to hit things.”

“I would say you can hit me, but I’m not into that and also, I’m sore. You can totally hit your brother if you want.”

“We had it out a few times already.” Luke thought Matt was a damned good guy.

“Good for you!” He glanced up at Rory, who was obviously being a shit, with the way he was grinning like a monkey.

“Yeah, yeah.” He shook his head. “I do adore him.”

“Well, y’all are twins. It would suck if you hated each other.”

“I bet it would.” He couldn’t even imagine that. He and Matt were so connected. So tight.

Matty believed in his ass, even when they were at each other’s throats, for fuck’s sake.

“So, do you live where your office is?” Luke asked.

“No. I park where my office is.”

“Oh.” He hoped to hell he could get in that truck without killing himself.

“I have my Mustang today. Is that cool? I’ll fucking rent whatever you’re more comfortable with.”

“No, that works. If you can help me out, I can handle everything else.” A sedan body was a far better bet for him.

“You tell me what to do, I’ll do it. I have more of a driveway than a parking lot, so we’ll have some privacy.”

“I can do that.” He would just remember what his therapist had told him.

“Rock on. I don’t intend to embarrass you and, like I said, I may have had a wild fling with a man on the wheelchair basketball team at UTA.”

“Why? I mean, what was it about him?” He wasn’t panting, but he was sweating keeping up.

“I met him at a mixer at SMU. He was fucking fierce. He came onto me like a freight train, and I… I was twenty years old and putty in his hands.”

“That sounds kinda sweaty.” Okay, little hill. He could do this.

“Kind of.” Rory grabbed the handles of Luke’s wheelchair. “This cool?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” He didn’t want to be gross when they were making out.

“No problem. Derek always said hills sucked.”

“They burn. I’m getting better, but Matt’s put a rope up from the barn to the house just to help me get back up that rise.”

“Oh, that rocks. Seriously. I have a single story.”

“Yeah? Someday I’ll do stairs again.” He would. If it killed him.

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