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.Duncan left the room and when hereturned a few minutes later, an orderlyfollowed him in with two more chairs.The man positioned them then left.Ember shook her head at the easewith which Zeke s boss got things done. Does everybody do what you wantthem to do?Chad laughed out loud as he settledinto one of the chairs. Yes, if they knowwhat s smart.Otherwise he ll pout like ababy and glare daggers at you until it sdone.Duncan raised a brow at Chad andshook his head. Don t you have a pieceof taffy to chew or something?The Texan unwrapped a piece ofgum and tossed it in his mouth, grinning.He winked at Ember and leaned close. Boss man thinks this ll shut me up.You d think he d know by now.Ember laughed, appreciating thatthey were trying to lighten the mood forher.They all three settled in to watch himbreathe.About two hours after they gotthere, he groaned, then his eyes began toroll back and forth beneath his eyelids.Ember was at his side in an instant,leaning over the head of the bed to him.When his dark lashed lids lifted, shemade sure she was the first thing he saw. Hey, beautiful.Can you hear me?He lifted the hand nearest to her andgrabbed her forearm.Ember fumbled forthe nurse s button through her tears.As the hours passed into night andZeke began to rouse more, she lost trackof how many nurses and doctors troopedthrough the room, checking this and that.At one point they took off his oxygenmask and hung it on a hook behind thebed.He answered their questions in apainfully raspy voice.One sweet-faced nurse brought him ajug of ice water, but cautioned him todrink it a little at a time.As soon as sheleft, he reached for the jug.Embergrabbed it and held the straw to his lips,but pulled it away after a few swallows. You better take it slow, she cautioned.Zeke looked at her and smiled. Ithought you d be pissed at me.She couldn t help but return hissmile. I am.But I ll wait to rip intoyou.He snorted and squeezed her hand.*****Zeke didn t know what he d done in hislife to garner such great friends.Hisgaze rested on Ember curled up in thechair beside him.And lovers.When he d opened his eyes and seenher standing over him, he d thought itwas the anesthesia messing with hishead.He d told Chad not to bring her inuntil he came around, but his buddy hadobviously decided otherwise.WhenDuncan told him about the near misshe d had, he d been shook, andunderstood.Complications during surgery werealways a possibility, but nothing hadever happened before now.Figures, theone time it needed to go smoothly and ithadn t.Shame had coated his stomach whenhe realized how bad he probably looked.Even though he couldn t see it, he felt thebeige compression mask cinched aroundhis neck and head, and everything notcompressed was probably swollen.Heremembered seeing himself in the mirrorthe first time like this, and it hadn t beenpretty.Without it, though, his face feltlike it was pulling apart.They gave himenough pain killer to take the edge off,but nothing completely took away thebone-deep ache.She hadn t hesitated or flinchedwhen she d looked at him though, andthe little flicker of hope that she couldtake this stuff flared a little brighter.Every time the doctors and nurses camein, she asked questions.Same stuff he dasked through the years.Should it looklike that? How long would it take toheal? How long did the stitches need tostay in? When could he resume normalactivity?The one time she did break, just alittle, was when they removed thepressure bandage and she realizedthey d shaved him.He raised a hand torub over the stubble and old scars on hishead in embarrassment.Her brown eyesgot big and she slapped a hand over heropen mouth. All that beautiful hair gone& & and all the hideous scars revealed.The second part he heard screamingcompletely through his head.She hadn tsaid it, but she might as well have. & will make you look like a totalbad-ass.Zeke looked up at her with a frown,unsure he d heard her correctly. What? he croaked. As if six and a half feet of Marinewasn t bad enough, now you have tolook like an enforcer out of a movie orsomething.Once again, it was like she d justkicked his bouncy-red-dodgeball life onend and his reality had to shift to alignwith her reality.She didn t mind thescars.Emotion tightened his throat.Aschickenshit as it would sound, he neededto hear the words. You really don tmind them?She squinted at him as if he were outof his mind. Seriously? Hell, no.Although Drew may start calling youHumpty Dumpty with your egg crackedlike that.Barking out a laugh, he d tugged herhand to his mouth for a kiss to her palm.When that wasn t enough he forced herto lean over the side of the hospital bedso he could fold her into his arms.Ember stayed by his side througheverything, even when the guys wentback to work.When they changed hisbandages, she peered around the nursesshoulders to watch them do it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]