Page 39 of Under His Guard

“Oh, right.” I nod to myself, a slight chuckle escaping. “This is why I suggested a trained physical therapist.”

He shakes his head. “It’s cool. We’ll figure this out together. I promise you’re no worse than the people trying to help us when we were deployed.”

The way Luke says help makes my chest pinch, and I frown at him.

“Well, that’s not very encouraging to hear about the medical system for soldiers.”

“Oh, it’s not.” He nods before offering a tired shrug. “But that’s how it is. Not much I can do about it.”

I frown, my eyes falling to the floor. “Isn’t there? I mean, you’re a big shot CEO. Couldn’t you donate money to improve resources or training?”

Luke falters for a moment, his face screwing up in a combination of shock and remorse.

“I suppose I could…” Something I can’t name crosses over his expression then, but he shakes it off too fast for me to study it.

“I’ll admit, I don’t think about my time there much, so I’ve let that one slip by the wayside. But why not, right? I could float them a little cash.”

Despite everything, I’m noticing quite quickly that Luke uses humor to deflect.

It’s not surprising that he does, but I still wonder if it’s a fact he’s self-aware about.

“Well, anyway.” I refocus, blinking hard as I give Luke a professional smile. “I think it should mostly feel like moving something you strained if it’s still on course to heal correctly. If it feels numb or tingly, or like you’re trying to twist and the muscles aren’t cooperating, that means nerve damage.”

Luke scoops his head in a buildup to a single nod, the corners of his lips turned down.

“Okay.”

At once, his smirk is wicked, and my heart pounds as I worry what he’s up to now.

“Would you mind putting your hands back so I can feel where I’m supposed to twist from again?”

I roll my eyes, putting my hands back where they were to direct him but making sure to keep them in a solidly platonic place.

“Here.”

Luke smiles, humming. “Oh, right. Got it.”

He starts to move, keeping it slow, and I feel his muscles flex beneath the bandage.

Maintaining a stare at his chest, I don’t dare look up at him. I know that dazzling grin and his charming gaze are just waiting for me.

Getting a bit farther into the twist than before, Luke stops, and now I’m forced to converse with him again.

“Okay, so, cooperating or no?”

He laughs, and it brings my eyes up to his. Oh, dammit. Yup, there they are.

“Oh, there’s definitely cooperating.”

I’m not an idiot, and the innuendo is clear. And yet…

I can’t look away. I’m falling into those deep wells of his eyes, and I’m completely forgetting how to swim against the current.

We hang there in the quiet space of his living room, and Luke licks his lips. I watch the motion, enraptured, and I know I really shouldn’t be.

All I can hear is my heart going a million miles a minute behind my ribs so that it booms up to my ears.

All I can see is the way Luke’s full, pouty lips are moving closer to me, and I’m not pulling back.

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