Abby laughed, and nodded. “Yes. We had pizza last night and we’re having dinner again tonight.”
“Oooh! Sounds nice! Where is he taking you tonight?” They walked out of the locker room into the brighter lights of the main hospital hallway.
The whoosh of the doors to the emergency room sounded and they looked to see who was coming through. Since it wasn’t an emergency, they turned back to sorting through the supplies. “I don’t know, but apparently, he’s some sort of trainer. He told me so many hilarious stories about training new recruits last night that my stomach still hurts from laughing!”
Cathy looked at her curiously. “He’s a trainer?”
“Yeah. I don’t know which teams he trains, but I suspect he’s pretty tough on the soldiers.”
“Hmmm…I thought…” Cathy started, but trailed off.
Abby looked at her friend, her eyes worried. “What? What did you think?” Cathy had been stationed on the base for several years now and knew nearly everything that went on around here. Abby had only been here for a couple of months, so she wasn’t “read in” on a lot of the training that happened in the outer areas of the base.
Cathy waved a hand, shaking her head. “Oh, nothing. I just…”
Before she could finish, the doors opened again but this time, it was a team of paramedics that had an older officer on the gurney with breathing trouble. “Time to work,” Abby sighed, quickly moving towards the gurney and giving instructions to the paramedics before taking over.
Zeke whistled as he stepped out of his truck, scanning the area for…whatever. He was itching for a really hard work out, but knew that he had to wait until the stitches came out. Otherwise, he knew that Abby would put him on bed rest. Not that he’d follow her orders, but he didn’t want to push her too far. He could wait another few days to work out, but only a few more days. The stitches itched worse than ever and he really needed something to distract himself. He’d gone through worse, he reminded himself.
Besides, he would be seeing Abby tonight, and that made the world a pretty good place, right at the moment.
“Stop it.”
Zeke turned to Derick who was checking off inventory on a clipboard.
“Stop what?” Zeke asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Derick looked back down at the clipboard. “Stop being so…happy.” The man’s disgusted tone was obvious. And amusing!
Zeke threw back his head, laughing at his friend. “Right. I’ll get right on that.” Then he walked away.
Joe was over in the corner with some of the other guys, lifting weights, but at Zeke’s approach, he sat up and glared at him. “I’m with Derick,” Joe announced, shaking his head. “If you’re going to spread that annoying happy crap, then stay away.”
Chuckles echoed throughout the group, but none dared to openly agree with Joe.
“What has you in such a foul mood?” Zeke asked, leaning against one of the weight machines. He was back in uniform today, his back healed enough for him to pull shirts over his head without tugging at the stitches. But he didn’t dare start in on the weight lifting again, even though his muscles and his mind craved the exertion.
Joe stood up and grabbed a towel, wiping his face. “It isn’t that I’m in a foul mood. It’s that you are acting just like Mike.”
Zeke glanced over at their friend and leader, who was in the conference room. The door was open at the moment so they could all see Mike as he pointed out something to General Kelly. Then Zeke glanced over at Lexie, Mike’s new wife, who was smiling as she worked on her computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard. The woman was one of the most efficient assistants their team had ever had. Add in the fact that she worked her butt off, both during the day to help out the team, as well as at night, when Mike stopped bothering her, to write romance novels.
Zeke would never admit it to anyone, but he’d read her books and…hell, they were pretty damn good!
“What’s wrong with acting like Mike? He’s a good guy.”
Joe glared at him for a long moment, then just rolled his eyes and turned away.
Zeke laughed, and strolled into his office, sifting through the tasks that required his attention. As he sat down and got to work, he smiled unconsciously as he considered options for dinner tonight. He’d struggled to sleep last night, so he’d woken up and started cooking, getting things ready for tonight. But what should he make for dessert?
Chapter 5
Abby paced across her small apartment, skimming her hands down over the jeans she’d pulled on after she’d finished her shift. Was her sweater set okay? Was the red too…sexual? Maybe she should change into a different color. She had several sweater sets because they were easy to coordinate with her skirts and slacks. Maybe blue? Yes, she should change into the blue sweater set.
But before she reached her bedroom, the doorbell rang and she froze. “Zeke,” she whispered. He’d promised not to kiss her last night, but that promise didn’t carry over to tonight.
Okay, maybe she should hold off on the kissing until his back was healed a bit more. She glanced over at the supplies she’d grabbed from the hospital earlier today. The gauze and ointment rested on her coffee table, seeming innocuous and simple. But the reality of those materials meant that she’d get to touch Zeke’s back once again. And that…that was a problem.
The doorbell rang again and she sighed, accepting that she didn’t have time to figure everything out. Better just to confront the issue head on.
“Hello…” She trailed off as she took in the man himself. He
