“Ughh, can we never talk about this again?” It’s bad enough he saw it happen, we are not discussing it too. Just dig me a hole so I can bury my head in it to hide from embarrassment.
“It’s just a natural bodily reaction,” he says so easily.
“Nope. No, no. We aren’t talking about what just happened. You are erasing it from your memory, understood?” I wave my hands in the air in a sweeping action at him, like I’m wiping a whiteboard clean.
“Why?” he asks, genuinely interested.
“Oh my God, Landon, read the room. I’m mortified right now. I just emptied my stomach in front of one of the hottest guys I’ve ever met, who looks pretty damn sexy in those new jeans, I might add. So please, can we just move on.” Shit, these pain drugs are making me say things I shouldn’t. I stare down at my lap like it’s the most exciting thing in this room. Anything to avoid eye contact with Landon.
His laughter breaks the silence. Not just a little chuckle. When I look back up from my blanket-studying, the asshole is bent over almost in half, with a really good deep belly laugh.
“Why is this so funny? Seriously, you can be such an asshole,” I rant at him.
Pulling himself together and trying hard to hold in his humor, he comes over and leans over top of my face.
“Sweetheart, I’ve had my face buried in your pussy, licked up every drop of your come with my tongue, and stuck my fingers in both holes while you were screaming my name. I’m pretty sure I can cope with a bit of vomit from you,” he says in that deep, sexy, gravelly voice that I have desperately missed. The one that makes me go weak and want things I shouldn’t even be thinking about right now.
“You’re cruel.” I almost pant the words at him.
“But you know I’m right.” He’s now so close I can feel his breath on my ear. He gently kisses just beside my ear, and I can’t move. Like it’s in slow motion, he brings his lips so close to mine that I’m screaming on the inside“KISS ME.” He’s so close I can almost taste him but know there’s no way he would want to kiss someone who’s just barfed. I’m desperate to feel his lips on mine, but I can’t do it to him, that’s disgusting. My embarrassment has me about to turn my head away from him, but before I can, we hear the noise at the door to the room.
Knock, knock.
It’s not loud but enough that Landon pulls back quickly and stands up tall next to my bed. And I’m left still hanging here on the moment that’s now lost, even if I was going to end it anyway.
Landon strides to the door like he’s my own personal security guard. He opens the door slightly, with his body blocking me from seeing who it is. There’s a quiet murmur between him and whoever it is. Landon then steps aside, pulling the door fullyopen, and standing there is Rosco who looks like he’s aged ten years since I saw him yesterday.
“Hey.” I lift my hand and wave casually at him.
“Bert, you look so much better today.” He looks at Landon, almost asking permission to approach the bed.
What the hell have I missed? Something has gone down between these two, and I’ll be demanding Landon tells me the instant Rosco is gone.
“I’m doing okay. Although once these awesome pain meds I’m on wear off, it might not be the same story.” I’ve never seen him look this timid. Rosco is a man who holds his own in any situation, has an authoritative air about him in the station and on a fire site.
“Please, sit.” I wave to the chair next to my bed, which he takes a seat on. Landon sits down next to me on the opposite side of the bed to where Rosco is. Landon takes my hand in his, and as I look up, I see his line of sight hasn’t left Rosco since he entered the room.
You could cut the air in this room with a knife. Trying to break the obvious tension, I start to talk.
“Is everyone else okay?” I ask Rosco, because I’d asked Landon earlier, and he said he didn’t know many details except about me.
“Yep, perfectly fine. You were the only one that got hit, so don’t you worry about anything except getting better. I’ve activated your sick leave and filled out all the incident reports, so you’re on leave until declared medically fit to return to work.” Now that he’s talking, Rosco is loosening up a bit. “How’s the pain? Landon said the operation went well and the surgeon was happy with it.”
“Apparently. I can’t remember the doctor coming in earlier. My brain’s still very hazy. I can’t remember things even from after the fire, which is frustrating, but they tell me it’ll get better.I just need to be patient, but we all know that’s not my strong point. But at least I can’t really feel anything now, which I’m happy about,” I reply, but I’m not here for small talk. I take a breath, as deep as I can which is still quite shallow, and then focus on what I really want to know.
“So, what the fuck happened, Rosco? I can’t remember a thing. I mean, you and I never miss the signs, so why this time? We’re always so vigilant. How did I fuck up so bad?” The moment the words start pouring out of me, I can feel my heart start to race, and the alarm on the monitor starts beeping louder.
“Just take a breath, Poppy.” Landon’s calm voice comes from beside me as he starts stroking my hair. It works every time, and he knows it. Physical connection with him is my stress reliever.
Rosco shifts uncomfortably in his chair while I do as Landon said. The door opens, and a nurse pops her head in.
“Everything alright in here?” She looks directly at me, not the guys for the answer, and I applaud her for that.
“Sorry, yes, I just got a bit worked up talking about the fire and it set it off.”
The nurse continues into the room, resetting the monitor and just watching the screen for a minute or so.
“All good, just buzz me if needed.”
