by Zoe York
“No, gorgeous, don’t be sad,” he said against her ear.
“I’m not,” she sniffled, the tears already abating now that she could feel his heart beat against her own.
She hadn’t realized she’d wrapped herself around him until he groaned. With a gasp, she relaxed her grip, but he didn’t let her go, just eased her back enough so they could look at each other. “It’s okay. Just banged up.”
“What happened?” She knew he couldn’t tell her anything, really, but it seemed rude not to ask.
“Walked into a door,” he said weakly, and a surprised chuckle shook her body. “No laughing, hurts too much.”
“Okay.” She smoothed her hands over his shoulders, ever so lightly, then trailed her fingertips up his neck and cupped his square jaw, loving the rough rasp of his five o’clock shadow under her palm. “This is a hell of a way to move up our date.”
His eyes narrowed. “Not a date.”
“No?” Her lips quirked at the new look of determination on his face.
“First thing—all our dates will begin with a kiss.”
She leaned in and feathered her lips over his, lingering as the emotional wallop of actually kissing him hit her—because he was in a military hospital, but damn it, he was alive. He pressed his mouth more firmly against hers, soft and warm and tingle-making.
He squeezed her hip as they separated an inch, their noses still touching. “And I’m never going to wear sweatpants on a date.”
“You could take them off,” she said without thinking, but then he laugh-groaned and she whispered her apologies into the air between them.
He waved her off as he pressed the button to raise the head of the bed. “I like this idea of pants-free dating. I’ll expect equal-opportunity bare legs, of course.”
“Of course.”
She stepped back as he shifted onto the bed, leaning his head back and stretching his legs out. When he patted the mattress next to him, she carefully slid in, cuddling against his side.
Even injured, he was a big, solid presence, and she closed her eyes as she lowered her head to his chest.
“I’ll wear a dress,” she murmured.
“I like that…technically complies with the pants-free requirement, but protects your modesty.”
She giggled as he stroked her hair. “Hey, I’m supposed to be making you feel better.”
“I do, a million times better—just because you’re here.”
When he yawned a minute later, he tried to apologize.
“Shut up. You’re injured.”
“It’s the meds they have me on. I’m kind of loopy.”
She pushed herself up a little higher so she could stroke the less-bruised parts of his face. “Go to sleep, Miles.” Her voice caught on the words as her heart swelled at the contact. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
— —
He drifted in and out of sleep for the better part of a few hours. In his dreams, he was still in the stifling heat, reliving the battle over and over again. If only he hadn’t been so close to the wall. If only they’d fortified it so the concussion grenade and whatever else that had scrambled his brain hadn’t had a chance to fuck him up. But every time he woke up, Piper was in his arms, soft and smelling a hell of a lot better than the Kurdish front lines.
He’d known Vince would call her—it was the last thing his buddy told him before Miles had been kicked out of the Middle East by a major who didn’t give a shit that Miles thought he’d be fine in a few days.
He hadn’t wanted to leave, but none of the doctors at the field hospital had liked his neurological responses. And when they said he was going to Germany, he stopped fighting the transport.
It was selfish, but the chance to be one small European country away from Piper? He hadn’t known that she’d come, but he’d hoped.
A knock at the door announced dinner, and Piper slid off the bed to give him room. But one look at the tray in front of him had him shaking his head as soon as the orderly left. “Hell no.”
“What?” Piper frowned at the salad and soup on his tray. “That doesn’t look too bad.”
“That’s not food. That might be what I’d eat while waiting for food to arrive.” He stabbed at the call button as he swung his feet off the bed, ignoring the fact that world started spinning dangerously around him when he did that.
He was standing when the nurse popped her head in. “Yes?”
“Am I cleared to walk to the cafeteria? Because we’re walking to the cafeteria.”
“Not really, but as long as you’ve got someone with you…” The nurse shrugged as Piper looked back and forth between them with concern. “Just go slow.”
He looked around for his stuff, finally finding his combat uniform in the closet. He fished his ID card out of the pocket. He vaguely remembered being stripped out of it when he arrived. He might have been in rougher shape than he wanted to admit if he couldn’t completely pinpoint what happened when—his memory felt intake, but the timeline jumped around in his head.
Sliding on a pair of flip-flops, he finally held out his arm. “Shall we?”
It was a short walk to the elevator, which took longer than Miles was comfortable with. Same thing on the first floor as they headed for the dining room. But when he tried to pick up the pace, Piper slowed down.
“Hey, I’m not in any hurry to storm through our date,” she said, rubbing the back of his arm.
He took a deep breath. Right.
She danced her fingers down his forearm, making his dick twitch. Nope, don’t get any ideas, buddy. He laced their fingers together and squeezed her hand. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“Of course. It’s not like I was really doing the tourist thing the last few days anyway.”
Heavy guilt throbbed in his gut. “I’m sorry if you saw anything on TV that stressed you out.”
“Doesn’t matter now.” She pulsed her hand around his.
An airman was coming out of the dining room as they approached, and he held the door for them. Miles nodded in thanks. Inside he pointed her to the hot-meal counter. He’d been here twice before, once for an orthopedics consult on his knee at the end of a tour, the other time he came on his leave, visiting an injured friend.
He ordered a double serving of meatloaf and mashed potatoes with green beans, and Piper got the spätzle.
“That’s basically mac and cheese,” he teased as they walked to the cashier. He needed a moment after picking up the tray to orient himself. Fuck, he hated concussions.
“Yes, but it’s German mac and cheese. With onions.”
“Not really a selling point.”
She laughed as they set down their trays, and he handed over his ID card.
“Sorry, it’s cash only,” the cashier said.
Well, shit.
“It’s okay, I’ve got it.” Piper swung her small messenger bag around to her hip and pulled out a slim wallet. “Euros?”
The cashier nodded and Piper handed over a twenty.
After she pocketed the change, she led the way to a table in the corner.
“And on a date, I’ll be paying,” he grumbled when she looked at him, her eyes dancing.
“So many rules for dating you. I’m not sure I’m up to the task.” She winked as she tucked in to her dinner.
“Okay, change of subject. I don’t want to lose the date before we even have it.” And despite violating all the rules, this was still a pretty fucking awesome date. It didn’t even matter that he couldn’t get laid at the end of it—but maybe he could request Piper do his next sponge bath.
“Where’d you go there?” She waved her fork. “You feeling okay?”
He looked across the cafeteria table at her bright eyes, her dark, shiny hair coming loose from the clip holding some of it back, and something cracked open inside his chest. “Yep. I feel great.”
“What were you just thinking about?”
He grinned. “Dirty nurse Piper fantasy.”
She blushed and fluttered her eyelashes against her cheeks as she dropped her gaze to her plate.
“Now you need to tell me what you’re thinking of,” he said under his breath, sliding his legs against hers under the table.
“Just us,” she breathed, glancing up as she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Together.”
His heart stuttered as the visual of that single word filled the hospital dining room. There were too many people around for him to be thinking of the two of them, naked, tangled in sheets. Piper spreading her legs for him, her breasts arching into his palms as he thrust slowly, filling her—
“Wow, okay, so another change of subject, maybe.” Piper laughed, fanning her face. “But yeah, let’s do whatever was in your head just then, as soon as you’ve got the doctor’s all clear. Because I like it when you look at me like that.”
Another grin. Jesus, this woman made him happy, even when his head throbbed and his face ached. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She reached across the table, wiggling her fork at his meatloaf. “Can I?”
“Sure thing. I’m not sure I need any of your noodles.”
“Mmm, you’re missing out.” She popped the surprisingly good meatloaf in her mouth and made an appreciative noise he wanted to hear more of soon. “So… how long until you get to go home?”
“Dates haven’t changed. Should be the beginning of August.”
Her fork clattered to the table, and she stared at him, the colour draining from her face. “What? You’re not going home from here?”
This was the hardest part about dating a civilian. “No.”
“But you have recovery time…concussions are serious things.”
He shook his head. “I was sent here to rule out anything catastrophic, because there’s better imaging and specialists here and they needed the beds in the field hospital there. But I’m fine.” He took a deep breath. “I’m a U.S. Navy SEAL, Piper. I don’t sit on the sidelines.”
“That’s why you’re not on a boat,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “So that helicopter explosion that was all over the news…that was…”
He couldn’t tell her anything. That was unexpectedly difficult. He squared his jaw and tried to show her that his spirit wasn’t broken. Hell, it wasn’t even damaged.
She bit her lower lip and shook her head slowly. “What are you trying to say, Miles?”
Yeah. This officially sucked. “As soon as I’m cleared, I’m going back.”
— SIXTEEN —
“I’m going back.”
“You’re serious.” Piper was having a hard time thinking straight, and she knew Miles wasn’t up for a fight—not that she had any right to complain about his job, but still. She wanted to yell at him and tell him how stupid it was to take the risk of going back at less than one hundred percent.
But looking back at her from across the table was the most capable man she’d ever met. Who’d had his bell rung but good by ISIS fighters and was eager to get back up and take them on again.
“Of course you are,” she said, her voice softening even as her heart cracked. “I’m sorry. Right. If you’re able, you go back.”
“The army docs don’t dick around.” Miles reached across the table and picked up her hand, stroking her thumb with his. “If they don’t think I’m fit, I’m not going anywhere. But if I’m fit, there’s only one place I’m going, and it’s where I’m needed.”
Heart heavy and suddenly exhausted, she just nodded.
“But right now…” He tugged her hand towards him and lifted her knuckles to his lips. “I’m terribly unfit, and will need to stay here for a few days. So we have that.”
— —
Piper stayed late at the hospital until Miles’s night nurse convinced her to go back to her hotel while he was sleeping. The next morning he tried to get her into family accommodations at the medical center, but as she wasn’t a military dependent she wasn’t eligible.
“It’s okay,” she told him. She still had savings, and her parents would help her out if needed, although no one in her family knew about Miles yet, which she’d thought about plenty but had done nothing to change the situation. They didn’t even know she’d come to Germany.
Bad-daughter guilt gnawed at her. While they sat in the waiting room for an occupational therapy assessment a few days later, she quietly asked Miles who else other than his friend Vince knew about her.
“A handful of guys. Anyone I happened to talk to on my way to the computer lab or to the phone, probably. Your messages to me made me pretty damn happy.”
Her next question was even bigger, and harder to ask. “What…exactly do they know about me?”
“You mean who you are to me?” She would never get enough of seeing Miles’s grin up close and personal like that. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “My girl, I guess. Girlfriend, if you’re willing.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Why do you ask?”
She winced. “I haven’t told my parents that I’ve met someone. Or my sister and sister-in-law, either.”
“Why not?” No judgement laced the question, just simple curiosity.
She chewed on her lip as she considered the reasons. “I worry about you enough, because this is new and unexpected and I’m not really sure what it is you do and how I should think about it. So I don’t want the well-meaning concern of my mother heaped on that as well. She’s the type of person to start sending everyone in your…unit? Send them all boxes of stuff they can’t actually use. She’d get her bridge club involved. It would be a nightmare.”
He laughed, but she had a serious point there.
“See? I don’t even know what your group of guys is called!”
Less gingerly than when she first arrived, he stretched his arm out over the back of her chair, taking up an impressive amount of space. He lazily tugged on her ponytail and grinned. “I’m on a team. I do have an APO address if she wants to send me cookies.”
“Miles!”
“What? I like cookies.”
“Really?” She leaned in against him, glad his bruises were fading and she could be heavy against him. “I’ll send you some.”
He lightly grazed his lips across her forehead, and she tipped her face up to his, but before he could kiss her again, he was called in for his appointment. She pulled out a ragged old paperback she’d found in the mini library cart that made the round of the wards. At first she’d felt funny about borrowing books meant for patients, but one of his nurses reassured her they were just as much for family members.
That was stretching it, probably, but right now she was the closest person to him, at least in geographical proximity. He’d called his aunt and then his parents that morning, and it was cute watching his side of those conversations.
Her smile grew to the embarrassingly big point. Everything about Miles was cute. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled at her. The way he called her gorgeous. The way he acted all barely restrained about wanting to have sex. She sighed to herself. They’d spent more than a month flirting long distance. Now they were close enough to touch and Miles was stuck in a hospital.
They’d done a lot of kissing. And cuddling.
Soon enough, she thought. August was just around the corner, five short weeks. Since arriving in Germany, she’d been adjusting her travel schedule in her head almost constantly. At first, she thought she’d fly straight home. Then when Miles told her he was heading back, she decided to stick with some of her original plans.
One thing was certain—she wasn’t spending a year in Europe anymore. Her priorities had shifted. And if their relationship continued, there would probably be many deployments in her future. She could see Italy and Spain then. Or maybe they could travel together.
Whatever the future held, Piper
knew that she’d found something special with Miles. It hadn’t been what she’d flown across the ocean for, but it was more than enough motivation to return home.
She heard his laugh before Miles appeared in the doorway to the clinic space. He flashed his dimples at the OT, then again at the receptionist, but she wasn’t jealous—much. Because then her golden boy zoomed in on her from across the room and his eyes lit up.
“Good news,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper as she stood to join him, his head dipping down so his lips were almost brushing her hair. “She thinks the surgeon’s going to discharge me tonight. Tomorrow for sure.”
Piper wouldn’t call it good, except in the Miles is healthy sense of the word. Bittersweet was more her take on him being battle-ready again. She went with the safest answer. “So all your test results must be clear? That’s a relief.”
He pressed his hand into the middle of her back, his hand spanning the width of her torso as he guided her into the quiet hallway. He kept his voice low. “I’m not sure you quite understand.”
“I do,” she said, trying to pump more enthusiasm into her voice. “You must be dying to get back to your team.”
“That’s not—” He cut himself off and looked around before pressing her into a recessed doorway. His body blocked her from the rest of the hospital—the rest of the world—and all she could see was Miles.
He was definitely feeling better.
“Let me try again,” he murmured, his brown eyes dancing. “I’ve got some good news.”
Piper didn’t quite get what was going on, but her heartbeat picked up and an unconscious grin curled up her face. “Okay. Shoot.”
“I’m going to be discharged tonight or tomorrow. And it takes twenty-four, sometimes forty-eight hours to arrange non-emergency transport.”
“Oh.” That was good news. “So you might need a hotel room to stay in for a night or two.”
