“You look confused,” Duke said.
“Nothing. Nope.”
“You know what you’re doing, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Because of Jim?”
I froze. “Jim is missing a leg. There’s nothing to patch up there.”
“You know what I mean, Belle.”
I put the bandage to his shoulder. “Nursing school, Duke.”
“Get the fuck out of here. You?”
“I went for a little while,” I said. “After everything that happened, I sort of had an epiphany or something.”
“To be a nurse?”
“To help people who were hurt.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. After Jim was hurt and Duke disappeared, all I could do was think about my purpose in life. Then it hit me. Go be a nurse. Maybe I could then be someone to help someone like Jim. Or Duke. Maybe if the right nurse had been with Jim, he wouldn’t have ended up the way he was. Same for Duke.
“I guess that’s a good reason,” he said.
I glanced to my left without moving my head. I swore Duke was trying to look down my shirt. How typical. Yet it made me smile. I’m sure men had hit on me in the last year or so but I just never noticed it. I never cared. But to Duke here…
“Figured you would have done something big like that,” Duke said.
“What?”
“Nursing school. You never stayed all that grounded.”
“I didn’t say I finished,” I said. I ripped off some medical tape and started to tape the bandage. Touching Duke’s skin was almost too much. His muscles were like steel and he wasn’t even flexing. Hell, he wasn’t even flinching, not even in pain. He’s not human.
“You didn’t finish?” he asked.
I taped another corner and backed away. “I had to take care of Jim.”
“Shit.”
“I went to college and took some classes here and there. I was waiting…” I was waiting for you, Duke. To come home. To figure out lives together. “I was just waiting for something to hit me. Then Jim got hurt. So I went into the nursing program. When he came home, it was hard. On Dad and on me. Everything changed. Dad got sick. So then everyone turned to me. I had no choice but to drop out. So I could help here. Then it all got worse.”
I felt my eyes well up with tears. But I didn’t care. I kept my gaze on Duke. I ripped another piece of tape without breaking my stare.
I waited for him to speak but he didn’t. He just fucking sat there in silence.
So I took the high road.
We only had a few minutes left here in this reunion.
“How’d you get shot?”
“With a gun,” he said.
“Okay.”
I ripped the last piece of medical tape quickly and slapped it to his shoulder. That caused him to jump back a little. It also caused every muscle on his beautiful body to flex. And that caused a reaction between my thighs.
Just what I needed.
I closed the first aid kit and left it on the sink.
“There you go,” I said.
“Thanks,” he said.
He reached for his shirt and leather cut. Yeah, I watched him get dressed. And, yeah, there was a small piece of me that wanted him to not get dressed, but instead get fully naked and take me into the shower and show me what all those manly muscles were capable of doing to me.
“You think he will be okay tonight?” Duke asked. “I could stay, just in case.”
My heart screamed Yes! but I shook my head. “He’s fine. I, uh, was just frustrated. He’s done dumb things but never like that. I thought he was going to die. I just wanted one second of real help.”
“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t answer,” Duke said. He nodded to his shoulder. “I had other things going on.”
“How’d you get patched up so nicely? If you went to the hospital…”
“Guys like me don’t go to the hospital, sweetie,” Duke said. “We have friends. That’s all you need to know.”
Duke stepped forward and my hand shot out. My fingertips pressed against his shirt, against his rock hard ab muscles. “Are you in danger?”
“Every single day.”
“For real.”
“For real.”
“What about right now?”
Duke reached and touched my face with the back of his fingers. “This right here, sweetie, is the most dangerous position I’ve ever been in.”
His fingers went into my hair. Then he slipped his hand to the back of my head. His strong grip set me on fire. Then he pulled at me as he brought his mouth down toward mine. I had a split second to make a decision on whether to let him kiss me or not. Before my mind could process that reality of things, our lips were together. His tongue gently caressed mine, bringing it to life. My hands quickly grabbed at his leather cut. I turned, purposely wanting my back against a wall, wanting Duke against me. I pulled at his leather cut. He pressed that rock hard body of his against mine. Our tongues battled, but Duke won that battle easily. He was so big, so strong, the boyish bad boy I once knew was now nothing but an outlaw man.
Holy fuck…
Duke put both his hands to my hips. I thrust forward at him. His fingers started to go under my shirt.