Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 20948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
She’s my former commander-in-chief’s daughter, twenty years younger than me, and my nurse for the foreseeable future. That should be plenty reason enough to keep my hands to myself except it’s not.
Every look, every touch, and every time I’m in Kyra’s presence I want more. She’s worth the risk of losing a friendship over, she’s worth everything.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Rhodes
Three Weeks Earlier
The fucking beeping in my ear is a blast from the past in the worst way possible. It takes me a minute to clear the cobwebs in my head. My throat is as dry as the Sahara Desert. The last time I woke up in a hospital bed with hushed voices, life was a hell of a lot different. Being blown up by an IED in our Humvee takes a toll on your body. It’s a miracle I made it out alive when I did. The same can’t be said for the fallen brothers who were with me.
“You see that? His eyelids are twitching,” Drena says in a hushed tone. Try as I might, there’s no way I’m opening my eyes yet. The drugs are too damn strong, which pisses me off even more.
“Babe, Rhodes isn’t waking up anytime soon,” Kade placates his woman. Neither of them should be here. I told him to go about his day, open the surf shop and let Drena do her thing with piano lessons. It’s clear he didn’t listen to a damn word I said. I’m putting the blame on Diego. He’s older than me by a few years. He was also our commanding officer when we were in the Army Rangers.
“That’s what you think. Men, wannabe know-it-alls. I’m going to find decent coffee in this place.” I try to open my eyes, and the moment I do, the blinding light has me closing them. “Did you just see that?” In my right mind, I’d smile at the little hellraiser.
“She’s not wrong, Kade. He’s waking up, albeit too damn slowly.” Diego’s voice is clear as day. He’s also my medical advocate, one of the only men I trust with my life, Diego was there since I was a wet-behind-the-ears punk teenager. He, along with Kade and me are the only ones left from our team after the last tour. Every man leaves with a battle wound of some kind when you’re dealing with war. Some work through post-traumatic stress disorder like Kade did. Diego is a different story—he came back and buried himself in work after one hell of a divorce. Now he runs a successful security company almost an hour north of New Smyrna Beach.
“I told you,” Drena huffs out in annoyance and then keeps on talking, “I’m staying put. You’ll probably try to have him up and out of bed before the doctor even comes in.” I’d laugh if I could, considering I feel like my body is weighed down with a four-hundred-pound lead weight.
The tips of my fingers lift and drop as I try to figure out what I can and can’t move. I’d kept Kade in the mix for the most part; kind of hard not to when he’s your business partner as well as a friend. Diego is a different story entirely. He’s the level-headed person out of all of us who will know what I want. Not that Kade doesn’t, but there was a reason I’d made Diego my advocate.
In this case, Diego knew my wishes. It hadn’t been easy hearing the doctor say there’s a possibility I’d lose my leg below my knee. No amount of physical therapy or treatments were helping to begin with. The goal for this exploratory surgery was to see what tendons weren’t fucked to hell from shrapnel. The worst-case scenario would be amputation. That’s where Diego stepped in. The doctor would tell him what he found, and the decision would be made with my wishes in mind.
The three of them talk amongst themselves, lowering their voices to where I can barely hear what they are saying. I continue pushing through the fog of anesthesia, and when I open my eyes, I’m in for the surprise of my life. All three of them are huddled around my bed, staring down at me.
“Jesus, I must be fucking dying. Am I receiving my last rites or some shit?” My voice is scratchy and different from its normal tone. This shit is terrible. As if waking up disoriented as fuck isn’t bad enough, they add a gown that shows your ass, make you lie in a bed from the last century, feed you food that tastes like cardboard, and everything else that comes along with a hospital stay.
“Yeah, right, it’d take a hell of a lot more to put you down,” Diego says. He presses the call button on my hospital bed. Meanwhile, I’m still trying to adjust to the blinding light.
“It’s gone?” I ask Diego. He tilts his head up a smidge. “Figured as much.” The drugs they give you at least do a decent job from feeling any pain. Though, I’ll be off them as soon as possible. I never did like the feeling of not being in control.
“Fuck no.” Kade inserts, my head moves toward him, and he continues on, “You ain’t leaving us fucks down here. Though, you’re gonna need a nurse with you when it’s time to bust your ass out of the hospital,” further putting in his two cents.