Wounded Hearts: Men in Blue, Book 5 Read online

  Jambrea: Yes?

  Lacey: What can I do?

  Lucas: What are some resources for amputee education? Lucas had to stop and adjust his prosthesis a few times. I feel like I should know more. Where can I go to get up to speed?

  Jambrea: AmputeeOT rocks.

  Lacey: Damn, why do you type so much faster than me? I was going to say that!

  Shari: Even on here you’re ten times chattier than Jambi. *snort*

  Lily: But still not nearly as much as my sister.

  Izzy: Hey, I resemble that remark!

  Jambrea: Just go to YouTube and do a search. I recommend AmputeeOT’s videos to all of my patients.

  Lucas: Okay, thank you! I wish I’d done my homework before.

  Lily: It’s not like Lucas was letting you be part of his world. If he were my guy, I’d have beat his ass by now.

  Shari: Seriously, you’ve practically been a saint.

  Izzy: Did something happen tonight? I’m getting a feeling…

  Lucas: You and your feelings! No! Well, mostly not. Except for one little kiss. That’s all.

  It hadn’t felt like such a small thing when she’d shared it with him.

  Lacey: That’s a huge step!

  Jambrea: Was it good?

  Lily: Of course it was. They’re perfect for each other.

  Lucas: It rocked. And now I think I should go. I want to watch some of these videos before the boys are done with their cop/spy talk.

  Shari: Okay. We love you.

  Izzy: STAY SAFE.

  Lucas: Promise. I don’t look for trouble. It finds me. J

  They exchanged goodbyes, then she clicked off before they could start giving her advice for getting Lucas in the sack. She’d heard it before from them. Truth was, only one person was going to make a difference there. And it wasn’t her who was putting the brakes on.

  Too tired to think about that, she swapped apps, planning to scroll through the archives from the YouTuber her friends had suggested. Instead of a blank search page, the browser on Lucas’s tablet had several tabs open already.

  She went to click for a fresh one then realized she’d stumbled across some porn he’d recently been watching. Did he sit in the tub and masturbate while watching dirty movies?

  Somehow the thought made her squirm beneath the pulsing stream of the jets.

  Curious, she couldn’t help but peek at what turned him on. Ellie poked the gray arrow in the middle of the video box.

  And nearly dropped his tablet into the tub.

  Not because the page featured the romantic category of the porn-clip consolidator. Or because it was too graphic. But because the woman on-screen looked remarkably like Ellie. People on the street had stopped her before, asking for autographs, thinking she was Taylor Swift, though she didn’t think they looked that much alike. Maybe in the same way close family members of twins could tell each other apart and casual acquaintances couldn’t, though.

  Sure, there was some resemblance.

  But this girl on the screen…she looked a lot like Ellie.

  “Whoa.” She barely resisted the urge to slide her hand between her legs and rub the ache developing in her clit. Especially when she watched a trim, sexy man go down on her look-alike. This she could get behind.

  “Still doing all right?” Lucas called from the other room.

  “Yep. Fine!” she squeaked.

  Guiltily, Ellie clicked off of the video. He’d been nice enough to loan her his stuff; she shouldn’t invade his privacy like that. Unless…

  Could he want her as badly as she wanted him?

  Maybe she should say “fuck it” and jump him. Living cautiously wasn’t turning out how she’d hoped so why not be kind of reckless for once? She could be the aggressor. Lily did it all the time. Maybe Ellie could too.

  To distract herself from thoughts that could ruin the tentative bridge she and Lucas had been building, she flipped again, this time to the correct tab and began to scan through the AmputeeOT archives.

  Engrossed, and soaking up knowledge, she didn’t realize how much time had passed before a knock came on the open door.

  Chapter Six

  Lucas winced as he raised his fist to knock on the partially open bathroom door. He hated to bug Ellie, but their romp through the woods had roughed up his already sore leg. He had to at least wash out his liner and clean his stump again. An infection was a setback he couldn’t afford. Soaking in the tub sometimes helped the soreness too.

  Besides, he was afraid Ellie might doze off when exhaustion hit her full force. Relaxed, it’d be easy for her to close her eyes and slip beneath the water.

  She’d been awfully quiet for a while now. He’d listened hard for the occasional splash she made when shifting positions as he developed a strategy for unraveling the motive behind her casino debacle with the Men in Blue. That had led to fantasies of what she must look like, naked and wet, a mere dozen feet or so away from where he stood.

  Damn.

  Nothing wrong with his third leg.

  He could blame his reactions on the aftereffects of adrenaline, which probably did legitimately amplify his attraction. Still, he’d wanted Ellie since before he’d even met her face-to-face. The pictures he’d seen of her when they’d prepared to hunt her down in Morselli’s dungeon had been enough to rouse his interest, and his cock.

  Ever since, he’d been doomed.

  Lucas cleared his throat. “Are you okay in there?”

  “Mmm…” It sounded more like a purr than agreement. “This tub is huge. I feel like I’m at a spa.”

  He bet she could put the jets to good use and relax herself even more. Shaking his head to clear the thought, he barked more harshly than he’d intended, “I need to get in there soon. My leg is killing me. A bath is one of the only things that helps when it gets like this.”

  For a moment, silence.

  When he realized how rude his tone sounded, considering he’d told her to get comfortable earlier, he added, “Sorry.”

  It wasn’t her fault that he felt so on edge around her. She ended up on the receiving end of his short fuse too often. He had to get better at that. Reining in his emotions was difficult around her, tougher than it had been with anyone before. Everything she did inspired some kind of reaction in him. Most of them as explosive as the bombs he’d rigged from time to time. Epic.

  “Screw you, jerk. I’m not giving this up anytime soon.” Then, so quietly he almost didn’t hear, she added, “Nothing’s stopping you from joining me, though. There’s plenty of room.”

  “I’ll wait.” He prepared to turn around and plop onto the bed until it was his turn. He winced as he considered how much he stank and how dirty he would get the sheets she’d probably be sleeping on soon.

  “Don’t be so fucking stubborn!” she shouted, surprising him.

  Ellie rarely lost her cool. For that matter, the only times he’d seen her blow up had been at him. Like in the hospital right after his surgery. They’d collided when visiting Izzy and Razor’s son—baby Ezra—in the maternity ward. He’d lost his shit when she showed up while he was there, and he’d tried to run. Okay, so it really had been more like rolling away from her, but he’d been humiliated when she saw him in the wheelchair.

  Hell, he hadn’t even had real pants on, just a sheet wrapped around his waist and the giant cast covering his stump.

  Lucas hadn’t been ready.

  He might never be.

  So when she had tried to stop him, to comfort him, he’d lashed out.

  Her opinion was more important than anyone’s. Even his friends’. Considering why that might be wasn’t high on his list of fun things to do.

  Fine. If she could act like it was no big deal to lounge around naked with him, then so could he.

  He collected the rations they’d brought upstairs with
them, then burst into the bathroom, his leg accidentally kicking the door from perpendicular to flat against the wall hard enough that it thumped into the towel rack behind it.

  Way to make an entrance.

  Ellie gasped then raised her hands to cover her breasts with fistfuls of suds.

  “Were you bluffing?” he asked, his head tipped as he inspected every nuance of her reactions. Her hair was damp on the ends, where it dragged in the scented bath. A pretty flush spread over her skin. She blinked up at him, her mouth parted.

  Sure, he’d startled her, but she wasn’t scared of him. He’d seen fear in her eyes earlier and the look she flashed him now was pretty much the opposite.

  “No,” she whispered.

  “This is a dangerous game, Ellie,” he rasped.

  “So?” She shrugged one bare shoulder, pink now that she’d absorbed plenty of heat from the water.

  The air was heavy, either with steam that was making him sweat as if they shared a sauna, or with the unfulfilled desire that had been arcing between them like lightning.

  He bet he knew which factor was most responsible.

  When all he could do was stare at her and wonder if he was making the right choice, she grew bolder, something he found really did it for him. After months of thinking of her as wounded, she kept proving how much she’d recovered. He could learn a lot from her.

  “You can stay on your side and I’ll stay on mine.” She waved her hands through the mountain of foam floating on the bathwater. “It’s not like you can see anything. And, frankly, I wouldn’t give a crap if you could. I’ve been on display in front of a roomful of men before. Guys who didn’t look at me with even a modicum of respect. So I’m pretty sure I can handle being naked with you.”

  Lucas hung his head. It filled him with rage to know what she’d endured. But also with fear. Because he didn’t know if he was as strong as her.

  “What if I can’t? Stand the thought of you looking at my leg, I mean?” He cleared his throat.

  Her gaze snapped to his. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah.” He’d never hesitated to shed his clothes before. He’d always been proud of his body. Sure that he attracted women. Hell, there were times in his younger days that he’d taken two or three at a time home with him, and had no problems satisfying them all.

  Somehow, this was different. Higher stakes.

  His scars were ugly. Something he’d taken for granted had changed forever. Irreversibly.

  That was hard to swallow.

  “Take your shirt off,” Ellie demanded.

  Well, that wasn’t an issue.

  He set the fruit, water and cheese on the surround. Then he grabbed the hem of his T-shirt. With one smooth motion, he stripped it over his head before wadding it up and tossing it into his hamper, hardly looking.

  Naked didn’t usually bother him. In fact, he liked to walk around nude, and even sunned himself on the boat on lazy summer afternoons, soaking up the sun’s rays like a lizard on a rock in the desert. Plus, he was more cut than he’d ever been. Lean and defined. No matter how much he ate, it seemed he burned off the fuel during his therapy and workouts.

  Not to mention the extra effort it took to do even simple things.

  “You’re the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen,” Ellie murmured as she studied his chest and the array of colorful tattoos decorating it.

  “Uh, thanks, I guess.” He laughed nervously.

  “What?”

  “I’ve had women call me sexy or handsome or a stud, never gorgeous.” He shook his head. “I think that description suits you more than me.”

  “I noticed you seem to have a thing for tall, scrawny blondes with blue eyes and super-red lipstick. I’m not sure I own quite that shade, but I could bum some off Lily if that’s your thing.” She peeked innocently up at him from beneath her thick lashes.

  It took him a second…

  Then it hit him. “Holy fuck.”

  Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

  She’d just called him out for his porn selections. Why the hell hadn’t he remembered what he’d used that damn tablet for last? He really must be slipping. Either that or, on some subconscious level, he’d wanted to show Ellie just how smoking he thought she was since she didn’t seem to realize it herself.

  “I could say it’s not what it looks like.” A coward, he wasn’t. Usually. Especially not when she looked up at him like he was about to pop her favorite balloon or something. “But, yeah, I think you’re hot and I’ve imagined what we would be like in bed together. A lot.”

  She beamed up at him, scooting closer so that she could fold her arms on top of the surround. Her chest pressed against the side of the tub, making the most of what she had, which was surprisingly curvy on her willowy frame. He tried not to get turned on, considering he planned to shuck his pants in the very near future.

  “Want some help with those?” She reached toward the button on his jeans, like a snippet from his own personal dirty movie, if he could have made whatever he desired reality.

  When he jerked back, he lost his balance, nearly busting his ass. Time slowed and he saw his life flash before his eyes. Wouldn’t it suck to bash his head in and die without having enjoyed one last dip in a jetted tub with a gorgeous and willing woman?

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  Oh, right. There was still the matter of getting his pants and leg and everything beneath it off without completely creeping Ellie out.

  Speaking of, she gasped then lunged forward, slopping bubbles and water onto the floor. Not that he minded. She grabbed his waistband and tugged, counterbalancing him enough for him to regain his equilibrium. “Lucas!”

  “Shit. I’m fine.” He brushed her fingers away from where her knuckles grazed the patch of skin below his belly button. Entirely too close to his cock for comfort.

  Well, unless she planned to take things a lot farther than he did.

  They both noticed, right about then, that she had emerged from the water. Her perky tits looked amazing decorated with suds and soaked from the bath. The urge to bury his face between the mounds, plump them with his hands and decorate them with love bites had him clenching his teeth to resist it.

  “Jesus.” Ellie relented, retreating to the opposite corner of the tub. She sank until her body was obscured from his gaze once more.

  Half of him wanted to cry.

  The other half cheered.

  Besides, it gave Lucas an idea. Two could play that game.

  “You sure you’re not getting out?” He gave her a final opportunity to dodge the uncomfortable situation.

  “Positive.”

  Stubborn woman. He kind of liked it.

  “Fine. Then I’m coming in.” He crossed his arms and widened his stance.

  Still she didn’t even flinch.

  So Lucas sat on the edge of the tub and removed his shoes from both his meat foot and his prosthesis. Next he took the knife Ellie had returned to him after their hike and set it next to the food. His secure phone he left on a shelf above the tub, safely out of the splash zone.

  Finally, he used his arms to anchor himself as he spun around and submerged his lower body.

  It felt fucking weird to be getting wet with jeans on. Ellie’s outraged shock was enough to push him over his aversion and inspire a chuckle. She sputtered in response.

  Once he started, he couldn’t hold back. He laughed loud enough that he startled himself with the impact of his joy reverberating off the tiled walls.

  When was the last time he’d heard that sound? Maybe never.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Ellie scooped up some water and launched it at him.

  A rooster tail of droplets smacked him in the face. It only made Lucas clutch his stomach, which cramped from laughing so hard.
<
br />   “Is it okay for your leg to be wet like that?”

  “Yep. It’s carbon fiber. Waterproof.”

  Now that her precious bubble shield blanketed him—preserving his modesty, as well as hers—he got to work on his jeans. Soggy, they were harder than usual to remove, though he managed.

  Before long he’d worked the thick denim down his legs to his ankles.

  Then Lucas disengaged the proximal lock on his prosthesis and slid it off. With that done, he tugged his jeans off the top of his prosthesis, below his stump, then kicked them from his uninjured foot. Everything was a pain in the ass these days.

  “Fuck,” he hissed.

  “Are you stuck or something?” Ellie asked. “Serves you right for assuming I’d be critical of your body, dumbass. You’ll be lucky if you don’t slip and drown tangled up in your pants.”

  “Whatever. You’d save me long before that happened.” It did weird things to his guts to know that was true too.

  “Probably.” She flashed a rueful smile. “So what’s the cursing for then?”

  “Damn, it just hurts. It’s like taking your shoes off at the end of a really long day. Magnified a thousand times over,” he admitted, wincing as he thought of her poor battered feet.

  Slinging water everywhere, he put both his leg and his jeans on the floor next to the tub. With one final pass, he slipped his underwear off and added them to the pile. He’d have to be careful to step only on the mat until he could wipe the mess up.

  Rubbing his knee through the socks and liner dampened the effectiveness of Lucas’s hands, so he began to strip those off too. The stump socks he flung, adding them to the growing laundry pile. After rolling the liner down, he put the floppy gel sleeve on the tub surround so that he could clean it properly after they finished bathing.

  Buck naked, yet hidden, he grinned. Settling in, he realized Ellie was staring at him with her brows drawn together, causing adorable wrinkles on her forehead.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I don’t get you.” She gestured toward him. “I’ve already seen you without your leg on. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Oh sure, being an amputee is nothing.” He frowned. “Trust me. From the number of people who stare at me when I go out, I know what a freak I’ve become.”