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FALL DEEP
read the first fourteen chapters HERE
Chapter Fifteen
“You’re okay,” Piper breathed, her heart pounding in her throat. Four feet separated them and she was frozen to the ground. His face was bruised and he had stitches on his left temple. A grey t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and fluttered loose over his lean mid-section to a matching pair of nondescript grey sweatpants, and she thought, as she randomly catalogued him in a panic, that he looked pretty damn good for someone injured on a battlefield. She’d expected a hospital gown—they were in a neurosurgery ward, for heaven’s sake. But this was good. Better than good. He was standing and breathing and looking almost flirty.
“Okay is a relative term, but yeah.” Miles winced as he gingerly lifted one shoulder, but it couldn’t stop a wide grin from flashing. For the first time ever, she was seeing him with stubble. Not the time to obsess over how sexy he is, Piper. But he was looking her over, too, and when he spoke again, his voice was low and earnest. “And now you’re here. So I’m even better.”
“They told me you were going for a CT scan.” She stepped closer to him, her palms itching to touch him and feel his stable, steady pulse for herself. To kiss him and hold him and—
“Had one already. Will have some more testing soon.” He swayed in front of her and she was hip checked out of the way as the nurse charged to his side. “Nope, I’m fine,” he said, waving off the help. “But I think we need to sit.”
Nodding dumbly, Piper followed as he turned ever so slowly, his outstretched hand always touching something. He gave the nurse a look and she muttered something under her breath about operators being terrible patients before closing the door and giving them some privacy.
She glanced around for a chair to pull close to the bed. There was one on the far side, squished under the window, but Miles was sitting sideways on the mattress, his back to the window, and she wasn’t sure she could move it around.
“What are you waiting for?” he asked gruffly, lifting his head to look at her again, the heat now undisguised.
“Uhm, I was just thinking of bringing that chair around,” she whispered inanely, because what she really wanted was to touch him and hold him—and never let him go.
“If you think I’m going to let you sit anywhere other than right here in this bed with me, you’ve got a surprise coming.” He crooked his finger at her and she fought back tears as she shifted closer.
As soon as she was within snagging range, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and spread his legs, so she was standing right in front of him. As his fingers slid against her skin, the dam broke and her tears started falling.
“No, gorgeous, don’t be sad,” he said against her ear.
“I’m not,” she sniffled, the tears already abating now that she could feel his heart beat against her own.
She didn’t realized she’d wrapped herself around him until he groaned. With a gasp, she relaxed her grip, but he didn’t let her go, just eased her back enough that they could look at each other. “It’s okay. Just banged up.”
“What happened?” She knew he couldn’t tell her anything, really, but it seemed rude not to ask.
“Walked into a door,” he said weakly, and a surprised chuckle shook her body. “No laughing, hurts too much.”
“Okay.” She smoothed her hands over his shoulders, ever so lightly, then trailed her fingertips up his neck and cupped his square jaw, loving the rough rasp of his five o’clock shadow under her palm. “This is a hell of a way to move up our date.”
His eyes narrowed. “Not a date.”
“No?” Her lips quirked at the new look of determination on his face.
“First thing—all our dates will begin with a kiss.”
She leaned in and feathered her lips over his, lingering as the emotional wallop of actually kissing him hit her—because he was in a military hospital, but damnit, he was alive. He pressed his mouth more firmly against hers, soft and warm and tingle-making.
He squeezed her hip as they separated an inch, their noses still touching. “And I’m never going to wear sweatpants on a date.”
“You could take them off,” she said without thinking, but then he laughed/groaned and she whispered her apologies into the air between them.
He waved her off as he pressed the button to raise the head of the bed. “I like this idea of pants-free dating. I’ll expect equal opportunity bare legs, of course.”
“Of course.”
She stepped back as he shifted onto the bed, leaning his head back and stretching his legs out. When he patted the mattress next to him, she carefully slid in, cuddling against his side.
Even injured, he was a big, solid presence, and she closed her eyes as she lowered her head to his chest.
“I’ll wear a dress,” she murmured.
“I like that…technically complies with the pants-free requirement, but protects your modesty.”
She giggled as he stroked her hair. “Hey, I’m supposed to be making you feel better.”
“I do, a million times better—just because you’re here.”
When he yawned a minute later, he tried to apologize.
“Shut up. You’re injured.”
“It’s the meds they have me on, I’m kind of loopy.”
She pushed herself up a little higher so she could stroke the less-bruised parts of his face. “Go to sleep, Miles.” Her voice caught on the words as her heart swelled at the contact. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
— —
He drifted in and out of sleep for the better part of a few hours. In his dreams, he was still in the stifling heat, reliving the battle over and over again. If only he hadn’t been so close to the wall. If only they’d fortified it so the concussion grenade and whatever else scrambled his brain hadn’t had a chance to fuck him up. But every time he woke up, Piper was in his arms, soft and smelling a hell of a lot better than the Kurdish front lines.
He’d known Vince would call her—it was the last thing his buddy told him before Miles had been kicked out of the Middle East by a Major who didn’t give a shit that Miles thought he’d be fine in a few days.
He hadn’t wanted to leave, but none of the doctors at the field hospital had liked his neurological responses. And when they said he was going to Germany, he stopped fighting the transport.
It was selfish, but the chance to be one small European country away from Piper? He hadn’t known that she’d come, but he’d hoped.
A knock at the door announced dinner, and Piper slid off the bed to give him room. But one look at the tray in front of him had him shaking his head as soon as the orderly left. “Hell no.”
“What?” Piper frowned at the salad and soup on his tray. “That doesn’t look to bad.”
“That’s not food. That might be what I’d eat while waiting for food to arrive.” He stabbed at the call button as he swung his feet off the bed, ignoring the fact that world started spinning dangerously around him when he did that.
He was standing when the nurse popped her head in. “Yes?”
“Am I cleared to walk to the cafeteria? Because we’re walking to the cafeteria.”
“Not really, but as long as you’ve got someone with you…” The nurse shrugged as Piper looked back and forth between them with concern. “Just go slow.”
He looked around for his stuff, finally finding his combat uniform in the closet. He vaguely remember being stripped out of it when he arrived. He might have been in rougher shape than he wanted to admit if he couldn’t really pinpoint what happened when.
Grabbing his ID card and a pair of flip-flops, he finally held out his arm. “Shall we?”
It was a short walk to the elevator, which took longer than Miles was comfortable with. Same thing on the first floor as they headed for the dining room. But when he tried to pick up the pace, Piper slowed down.
“Hey, I’m not in any hurry to storm through our date,” she said, rubbing the back of his arm.
He took a deep breath. Right.
She danced her fingers down his forearm, making his dick twitch. Nope, don’t get any ideas, buddy. He laced their fingers together and squeezed her hand. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“Of course. It’s not like I was really doing the tourist thing the last few days anyway.”
Heavy guilt throbbed in his gut. “I’m sorry if you saw anything on TV that stressed you out.”
“Doesn’t matter now.” She pulsed her hand around his.
An airman was coming out of the dining room as they approached, and he held the door for them. Miles nodded in thanks. Inside he pointed her to the hot meal counter. He’d been here twice before, once for an orthopaedics consult on his knee at the end of a tour, the other time he came on his leave, visiting an injured friend.
He ordered a double serving of meatloaf and mashed potatoes with green beans, and Piper got the spätzle.
“That’s basically mac and cheese,” he teased as they walked to the cashier. He had to take a second after picking up the tray to orient himself. Fuck, he hated concussions.
“Yes, but it’s German mac and cheese. With onions.”
“Not really a selling point.”
She laughed as they set down their trays, and he handed over his ID card.
“Sorry, it’s cash only,” the cashier said.
Well, shit.
“It’s okay, I’ve got it.” Piper swung her small messenger bag around to her hip and pulled out a slim wallet. “Euros?”
The cashier nodded and Piper handed over a twenty.
After she pocketed the change, she led the way to a table in the corner.
“And on a date, I’ll be paying,” he grumbled when she looked at him, her eyes dancing.
“So many rules for dating a SEAL. I’m not sure I’m up to the task.” She winked as she tucked in to her dinner.
“I just want to—okay, change of subject. I don’t want to lose the date before we even have it.” And despite violating all the rules, this was still a pretty fucking awesome date. It didn’t even matter that he couldn’t get laid at the end of it—but maybe he could request Piper do his next sponge bath.
“Where’d you go there?” She waved her fork. “You feeling okay?”
He looked across the cafeteria table at her bright eyes, her dark, shiny hair coming loose from the clip holding some of it back, and something cracked open inside his chest. “Yep. I feel great.”
“What were you just thinking about?”
He grinned. “Dirty nurse Piper fantasy.”
A slow, sexy smile was all the response he needed. Not today, but hopefully before he left Germany, they’d get a chance to take their connection to the next level.
She blushed and fluttered her eyelashes against her cheeks as she dropped her gaze to her plate.
“Now you need to tell me what you’re thinking of,” he said under his breath, sliding his legs against hers under the table.
“Just us,” she breathed, glancing up as she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Together.”
His heart stuttered as the visual of that single word filled the hospital dining room. There were too many people around for him to be thinking of the two of them, naked, tangled in sheets. Piper spreading her legs for him, her breasts arching into his palms as he thrusts slowly, filling her—
“Wow, okay, so another change of subject, maybe.” Piper laughed, fanning her face. “But yeah, let’s do whatever was in your head just then, as soon as you’ve got the doctor’s all clear. Because I like it when you look at me like that.”
Another grin. Jesus, this woman made him happy, even when his head throbbed and his face ached. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She reached across the table, wiggling her fork at his meatloaf. “Can I?”
“Sure thing. I’m not sure I need any of your noodles.”
“Mmm, you’re missing out.” She popped the surprisingly good meatloaf in her mouth and made an appreciative noise he wanted to hear more of soon. “So… how long until you get to go home?”
“Dates haven’t changed. Should be the beginning of August.”
Her fork clattered to the table, and she stared at him, the colour draining from her face. “What? You’re not going home from here?”
This was the hardest part about dating a civilian. “No.”
“But you have recovery time…concussions are serious things.”
He shook his head. “I was sent here to rule out anything catastrophic, because there’s better imaging and specialists here and they needed the beds in the field hospital there. But I’ll fine. So as soon as I’m cleared, I’m going back.”
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