Page 11 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
A cramp speared through his thigh, and he stiffened, a gasp tearing from his throat. “Fuck.”
He grabbed for the door to keep himself on his feet and ground his teeth at the tight agony rending the muscles surrounding the incision. Hehatedwhen this happened, and this was not the time, either.
“Whoa there.” She steadied him with warm hands at his waist. “Do you need to sit or walk?”
“Gotta stretch it.” Keeping a firm hold on the door, he lifted his foot behind him, grasped the ankle, and tugged his heel toward the back of his hamstring. “Jeez.”
She held him, fingers warm and strong. He puffed out a couple of long breaths and finally the cramp eased, leaving only a lingering ache in the muscle.
“Better?” she asked, massaging his waist as he lowered his foot to the floor again.
“Yeah.” He grimaced. “Guess that answers who gets to be on top.”
“It’ll heal.” She continued the strong, soothing strokes from hip to waist and back again. She cast a flirtatious smile up at him. “But I do like the top.”
“I’ll remember that.” He tested the muscles and winced.
She tilted her head toward the doorway. “Let’s get you to the couch, then order that pizza.”
He swallowed his pride and let her prop him up on the short walk to the living room. He’d worked too hard to get better to risk a fall. She settled him on the couch, tapped in their pizza order from her smartphone, grabbed both of them a beer, and started the DVD before making herself comfortable next to him, one hand a warm weight on his injured thigh.
Damn, but he wasnotgoing to let himself get used to the rightness of this scenario—kissing her, curling up together, getting all cozy. That was not the deal, no matter how great it felt in the moment.
Friendship, maybe some no-strings sex.
The memory of that kiss sparked in his mind. Definitely some no-strings sex, but on a night when his leg wasn’t acting up.
“You’re not hardheaded about the leg.” Her quiet observation cut across one of the twelve million previews that came before the film.
He glanced down. She gazed at him with serious eyes, and he shook his head. “No, not anymore. I was at first, when I was full of stupid male pride and convinced I was some invincible action hero. Tried to do too much too fast and tore my staples. Hence the infection and the second surgery. Decided I might better start listening to my doctors and therapists.”
She squeezed his knee. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”
“Me too.” He frowned, gaze on her graceful hand with its short, clean nails. “The situation has had its positives, though. I’m more focused on grad school than I was, and I had to take a good, hard look at my life. Probably made me really grow up.”
“You sound like my sister.” She circled a fingertip over his knee. “She had to almost lose everything that mattered before she really matured.”
He chuckled. “You probably wouldn’t have given me the time of day before, believe me.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” A winsome note colored her voice. She tightened her grip on his knee once more. “That pretty face of yours might have overcome the immaturity.”
This time he chuckled. “Pretty?”
Her laugh, clear and bell-like, bloomed between them. “Ruggedly pretty.”
“Thanks. I think.”
The doorbell forestalled her reply. She patted his leg and rose. “Bet that’s our dinner.”
He relaxed into the sofa and watched her sashay to the door. Yeah, the whole scenario felt good, but he was definitely not letting himself get used to this.
They ate pizza straight from the box, paying only scant attention to the adventure flick unfolding on the television. She tucked a foot under her, a sparkly sandal slipping to the floor, and licked a bit of sauce from her finger. With a slight scowl, she flicked a gesture at the screen. “If they are too stupid to realize it’s time to go when the military shows up, they deserve to die horribly. No, let’s run toward the alien invaders.”
With a chuckle, he set his beer aside and sank deeper into enjoying the moment. He liked her, liked how authentic and open she was. Why the hell hadn’t he dated someone like her before?
“You’d be surprised at how many people run toward a commotion.” He’d never gotten that when he was on patrol.
She slanted a look at him. “No, I wouldn’t. I work in an ER, remember? I get to treat the people who run to the fuss.”
