“You’ll enjoy it,” he told her, reading her mind. “I promise that you will be screaming my name until you’re hoarse.
Abby laughed, not believing him. “Um…Zeke, I’m not really the screaming sort of woman.”
His fingers dug into her waist just a little. “Just you wait, Abby.” He looked into her eyes. “Screaming! You’ll be begging and it will be amazing! Freaking amazing!”
He could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe him, but that was okay. He had two more days to wait, and then he’d prove it to her. And afterward, when she was in his arms, breathless and limp, he’d repeat her words right back at her.
In the meantime… “It’s still early,” he commented. “Why don’t we pack this up and see if there’s a movie we want to watch?”
She looked up at him, surprised by his question. “A movie?”
He started to pack the rest of the food away. “Do you not like movies?”
She chuckled and bent to help him. “I love movies. I just…”
He realized where she was going with that statement and laughed. “Abby, I like you. I enjoy spending time with you.”
Abby paused, looking over her shoulder at him. Confused. “It’s not just sex?” she challenged, tilting her head quizzically.
Zeke snorted at that question. “Hell yes! It’s sex. But,” he paused, looking at her as if he didn’t really understand it either. “But there is so much more to it than just sex. So much more.”
She blinked up at him and Zeke wanted to shout or laugh or…hell, maybe howl. “I just scared the hell out of you, didn’t I?”
Abby nodded slowly, chewing her lower lip.
He kissed her again, but this time it was a gentle, sweet kiss. “Don’t be scared, Abby. We’ll take it slow. I promise not to scare you away.”
She laughed and he pulled her into his arms. In his mind, she fit against him perfectly. She wasn’t too short but when he held her like this, they just…fit. Abby felt…right.
“We’ll figure this out.”
She laughed and he felt her soft lips against his neck. Damn, he liked that! He liked her touching him, liked holding her even if they couldn’t do anything more than this. He wished she would stop worrying about his back. But then again, he respected her far superior medical knowledge so he didn’t try to downplay her concerns. She was right, he couldn’t see his back and he really had no idea what was going on. He was simply going on past experience with how his body healed.
Then he remembered that this might be more than just giving his back time to heal. Abby might need a bit more time to come to terms with what was happening between them. And damn it, he was going to give that time to her! It might kill him, but he was going to do it.
Chapter 6
Abby smiled as she walked into the hospital three days later. Zeke was…amazing! She’d never met a man that was as sweet and wonderful as Zeke. With all of his big, delicious muscles, Abby was discovering that he really was a big pussy cat. He loved to bake and, every time he picked her up, he’d hand her something that he’d baked the night before or, in the case of the bread he’d brought her last night, that he’d just taken out of the oven before coming to pick her up.
That loaf of bread hadn’t been spared and she ran a hand down over her stomach. The bread last night had been…oh my! He’d added turmeric to the dough. So, it was a yellow loaf of warm, crusty bread that smelled divine! She’d smothered it in butter, closing her eyes as she savored the flavor of the bread. When she’d opened her eyes, there had been an odd expression on his handsome features. But he’d said nothing. Instead, he’d taken her hand and led her out of her apartment, not even giving her time to put the bread away.
So far, he’d taken her to the firing range where she’d completely lost the competition that she’d secretly had going with him. She was an Army Captain, so she’d gone through all of the normal basic training that every soldier had to go through. But she’d prided herself on her sharpshooting skills. Unfortunately, her skills had deteriorated with lack of use over the years. Whereas Zeke could really shoot! He was amazing! When their target papers were taken down, there had been one large hole in his paper. One hole! At first, she’d looked at the paper and wondered where all of his bullets had gone, assuming that he’d missed. But no! Zeke hadn’t missed. The guy had zeroed in on the same place and hit the same mark with every shot. Meanwhile, her bullets had been in a good grouping, but they were fanned out across the target.
Another night, they’d gone for a long walk down by the river and he’d bought her dinner with ice cream afterwards. It had been a sweet, romantic night and she’d sighed with happiness when he’d walked her to her door. But then he’d kissed her and all of that sweetness had been obliterated by sensuality and desire. Abby hadn’t been smiling when she’d stepped into her apartment that night. In fact, she’d been frustrated, her body tingling with awareness and anticipation.
So, tonight was the night. She’d changed his bandage on his back every night and the wound had healed beautifully. In fact, she’d even considered taking the stitches out last night. His back had healed
