"Watch me."
She finishes the stitches in silence until four neat, precise lines hold my skin together. Then she sets down the needle and looks at my shoulder.
"I need to check your range of motion." Her voice is steadier now, but I can hear the cracks underneath. "This might hurt."
"Okay.”
She positions herself in front of me and puts her hands on my shoulder. She slowly rotates the joint and tests the movement. I grit my teeth against the pain, but I don't look away from her face.
She's so close. It takes everything in me not to kiss her.
"Blaze…" Her hands have stopped moving. She's just holding me now, her palms flat against my bare skin. Her chest swells with each inhale.
I tilt my chin up. Our lips are almost touching. I can feel the heat of her, the want of her, the?—
"Nurse Logan? You in there?"
We spring apart like we've been electrocuted.
Serena's on her feet in an instant, smoothing her scrubs, composing her face. "Yes! Just finishing up with Instructor Reynolds."
The tent flap rustles, and one of the recruits pokes his head in. "Sergeant Cruz is asking for a status update."
"He's fine." Serena's voice is impressively steady. "Minor laceration, no significant shoulder damage. He should rest for the remainder of the day, but he can return to light duty tomorrow."
The recruit nods and disappears. “I’ll let him know.”
Serena turns back to me, and her professional mask is firmly in place. But her hands are trembling, and there's a flush on her cheeks that has nothing to do with the weather.
"You should go," she says. "And make sure you rest up. No superhero stuff.”
"Serena—"
"Not here." She shakes her head. "Not now. But Blaze..." She hesitates, then crosses to me quickly, pressing something into my hand. A folded piece of paper. "When you're feeling better."
As soon as I'm done for the day, I unfold the note. Her phone number. A step in the right direction. I press the paper to my chest like it's a lifeline, then don't waste a single minute.
Our texts stretch into the night. Each time those three dots appear, my heart skips a beat like I'm a damn kid on Christmas morning. Serena has my whole heart for my whole life, whether she wants it or not. That's a risk I'm willing to take.
I fall asleep with my phone in my hand and a smile on my face.
CHAPTER 11
SERENA
The rumors find me the following Tuesday and it’s the stuff of nightmares.
One minute I’m in the break room and everything is normal. I’m refilling my coffee and mentally cataloging the number of abs I can count through the thin shirts Blaze has been sauntering around in. The next minute, I hear my name. Only, no one is speaking to me… They’re talking about me.
I turn to find two nurses from the night shift, huddled by the vending machine. They keep their voices low, but the joke is on them because it’s simply not low enough. At first I shoot daggers in their direction on instinct. Then I remember, I’m the one in the wrong here and so I turn back around.
"—saw them in the medical tent. Door was closed for like an hour."
"Seriously? Logan? She's always so uptight."
"I know, right?”
“But Tina said she saw them at the gym together last week. And Jenny from radiology said?—"
