I burned to ask why he’d been discharged—why they all had been. How they’d found each other. But if I was lucky enough, I’d find out when they were ready to share.
“I’d offer services, but I pay people to do that kind of thing,” I confessed. “I put all my energy into surfing.”
He brightened. “I’ve always wanted to learn.”
God, he should not get me started. “You can come hit the waves with us sometime if you want. My buddy Kaleo teaches surfing to newbies. I’d offer, but I’m getting my balance back. My goal is to be back out on the water by the end of summer.”
His eyes shone. “That would be amazing. You’re, uh, you’re making real good progress.”
I shrugged and glanced away. I wished Creek was there, but I wasn’t sure he wanted to hear me talk about how well I was doing. Not tonight. “My accident was bad. A lot of crushed bones and everything, but the amputation was pretty clean, and there wasn’t a lot of trauma to my knee.” I swallowed heavily. “It was a motorcycle accident. I got hit while I was at a stop and was caught under a wheel.”
His eyes widened. “Shit.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that sums it up. A couple of my friends think I’m nuts working on an adaptive bike, but I really want to get back out there, you know?”
His gaze met mine, and then he looked up at the ceiling, and I wondered if that was Creek’s room above us. “I do know.” He paused for a breath. “He probably won’t be back down, but you can head up if you’re comfortable on the stairs. He’ll want to see you before we take off.”
“Oh. Seriously, I don’t mind grabbing an Uber,” I started.
He gave me a look that shut me right up. “You’re not paying for that.”
Well, I could appreciate that. It would have cost me half my monthly pizza budget, and I didn’t want to give that up. I managed a tight smile. “Okay. Yeah, let me say goodbye, and then we can head out.”
His lips fell into a soft smirk as I headed for the stairs. “Take your time.”
Creek was right. He probably knew.
I decided to keep that to myself as I made my way up, and then I froze at the top when I realized there was more than one room and I had no idea where Creek was. I contemplated yelling, but that felt like a dick move, so I went to the first door that was cracked open and knocked hard enough that it swung open.
There was a man, definitely not Creek, sitting at a desk in front of a laptop, and he had his hands up. It took me a second to recognize ASL. There was a beat, and then he spun around, eyes wide as saucers.
“Sorry. Sorry. I’m?—”
He cut me off with a hand up and then fumbled for a small square thing and slapped it against the back of his head. “Need my hearing aid on.” His voice was very soft and very gravelly. “Do I know you?”
I flushed. “No. Sorry. I was looking for Creek.”
The guy smiled and jerked his head to the left. “Two doors down.”
I probably should have gotten his name, but instead, I hauled ass out of there and shuffled down two doors before knocking. There was a pause, then Creek’s gruff voice. “Come on in, Sunshine.”
My chest heated as I pushed my way in. His room was everything I expected—not quite cold, but very neat and orderly without a lot of fuss. He had a single fern hanging in a pot by the window, though, and it was so oddly endearing it made my throat ache.
Creek was sitting at the edge of his bed, and the moment I got close enough, he grabbed me by the hips and yanked me close, burying his face in my stomach. “I wanna ask you to stay, but that would be a bad idea.”
I buried my fingers in his short, soft hair and rubbed his scalp. “Yeah. Nash said I should take my time saying goodbye, so you’re probably right about him having some clue.”
Creek sighed and rubbed his face back and forth before pressing a kiss just above my navel. He lifted his face, and he looked young suddenly and so unsure. “I don’t want to move too fast, but I want you. Powerfully.”
There was something deeply Southern in his tone that I absolutely loved.
I cupped his cheeks and let my thumb brush his lower lip. He followed the path with his tongue. “The things I’d like to do are going to take a lot longer than I think your friend has time for.”
His eyes darkened. “I can’t believe you still want me after realizing what a mess I am.”
I spread my legs, and he eased me down to straddle him. It did something to me, knowing that no man had ever been like this with him before. My cock hardened a little, and I had to becareful, or everyone was going to know, no matter how hard I tried to hide it.
He looked down and groaned softly.
