“I’m not squeamish, DeShaun. And who do you think worked on the electronics for your new knee?”
“My knee has electronics?”
“Oh, we’re gonna be tracking that fine ass of yours.”
“Gross,” says the other Bash brother. “I don’t need to hear about my brother enjoying DB’s ass. It’ll break my brain.”
“Shut it, Tex.” Seriously…that accent.
I lean in, brushing his cheek to whisper. “If I let you come visit me while I’m in recovery, will that suffice? Because I’m not allowing you in the operating room.”
We’re so close that I can feel his chest expand and contract with a deep breath. “I’ll take it. Now somebody better tell me what exactly they’re doing to you.”
Still bagged, I give him the top sheet version of the surgeries scheduled for today.
A grumble vibrates in his chest. “I can’t believe you were going to go through all of this on your own. You don’t have to be a goddamn martyr, DeShaun.”
His words are harsh, but he can’t keep the softness he has for me out of his voice.
“That’s what I said,” Anders complains, throwing me under the bus.
“Shutup, Tex.” His hand comes to the back of my neck, his thumb sneaking up under the bag to caress the delicate skin there. “We’re fucking magic together and you didn’t tell me. I’m going to need a why.”
“With a bag on my head?”
“With a bag on your head.”
He leans away from me. “Anders, can you give us some space?”
“We’ve got a schedule to keep to, you know. People are waiting for us.”
“This won’t take long.”
Anders shifts around on the gravel for a few seconds, then walks off, muttering aboutingratesunder his breath. I turn in Odd’s direction. “I really wish I could see you…kiss you.”
“I can’t help you with the first, but I might be able to do something about the second,” he says, lifting the bag halfway. His soft lips meet mine, and I respond by wrapping my arm around him, pulling him in closer.
“Gross!”
We smile into the kiss and pull back, both of us yelling, “Shut up, Tex!”
More soft presses that I get lost in.
“I’m still going to need an answer.”
“We literally just got together.”
He snorts. “That’s a lie, and you know it. Try again.”
I grasp for the reasons that I still don’t understand myself. “I…you…it’s too much. We’re so off-balance in this relationship, and it’s finally gotten off the ground, and the thought of you worrying about me… I’ll be in surgery forhours. And I just thought you’d come back from Houston, and I’d be—”
“What, ‘surprise, I’ve just had multiple experimental life-altering surgeries without you!’”
“Whole.”
The swift intake of breath makes me want to rip this fucking bag off my head and see his face, soothe the worried crinkles that I just know are forming around his expressive eyes. But there’s probably a rifle aimed at my head right now, so I don’t.
“Fuck you, DeShaun.” His soft voice is barely above a whisper, no heat in his words.
