“Feel free to grab a towel.”He waved toward the stack.There were plenty.Some of the guys came over to work out sometimes, so he had plenty just in case.
“I brought one.”She headed over her bag and sat down on the bench to retrieve it.After toweling off, she unstrapped her leg, peeled off her socks and liner, and wiped off the sweat there too before reapplying clean socks.
She was so at ease doing it like she did it all the time.If she’d lost her legs at eighteen, he supposed she was pretty used to doing it now and didn’t care where she was.
Rob took a seat next to her.“I’m curious about something.”
“What’s that?”she asked as she set her stuff back in her bag before grabbing her water bottle and taking a drink.
“Why did you wait six years before getting legs?”
June froze with the bottle hallway to her lips.“How did you know I waited that long?”
“Because I rea—remember you saying something about it.”Shit, he wasn’t supposed to know that.He couldn’t tell her he’d read it in her file.
June seemed to accept his word.“It hadn’t been a thought for a long time.I just accepted my life as it was wheelchair-bound.Then one day I saw someone with a prosthetic leg, and I decided I wanted to do that.I missed walking and not relying on others to push me around.I had a live-in nurse, Rosa.She was a godsend, but I felt bad that she had to always go where I did.She couldn’t have a life.I also wanted my independence back, and now here we are.”
“Here we are,” he echoed.
“How soon after your accident did you get your ear?”
“Right after.”He remembered waking up in the hospital in Germany confused.A doctor explained what had happened to his ear and hearing.His surviving teammates were there.One of them had been awake for everything and relayed what had happened and that the rest of the team was dead.
He had wanted to fly out of bed so he could get back in the fight and avenge his fallen comrades, but by then the Army had medically discharged him.He couldn’t be of help with complete hearing loss in one ear and partial loss in the other.It had sucked, but he’d gotten his own form of justice for them now.
“So, you said you had a live-in nurse.Where was your brother?Didn’t he help?”A live-in nurse wasn’t cheap.
“When he could.He was gone for work a lot.”June suddenly stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder.“I should get going.It’s getting late, and I’m getting hungry.”
Rob was pulled from his line of questioning.Shit, he hadn’t thought about food.He normally ate after a workout, but he hadn’t thought about asking June if she wanted to stay to eat.
He did a mental list of what he had in the cupboards.He had the fixings for just about anything.He could grill up some steaks.He had salad makings in the fridge.
“You’re more than welcome to stay for dinner.”
June looked shocked by the offer but quickly covered it with an easy grin.“I don’t want to impose.”
“You’re not; I’m offering.We can have steaks and salad.Or I can make something else if you prefer.”
“No, steaks would be fine.Um…” June looked away, uncertain.
“What is it?”
“Do you care if I use your bathroom to freshen up?”She gestured at her sweat-covered shirt which prompted him to look down at his own sweaty state.
“Of course.I’ll do the same.”He could use a shower, but since he wasn’t offering to let her use his, he wasn’t going to be clean while she had to sit in her sweaty clothes.
He would do a quick rinse-off and a change of clothes.He would shower after she left.Rob led the way back into the house.“Bathroom is that way.”He pointed toward the guest bathroom.
“Thank you.”June clutched her bag to her chest as she brushed past him.
Rob went to his room, which was just further down the hall, to clean up.He rushed through rinsing off with a soapy washcloth and dried off.
He pulled a clean black shirt over his head, pulled blue jeans on, stuck his feet in his favorite boots, and headed back out.
Rob stopped short when he smelled food cooking.Strange.He hadn’t started cooking anything yet.He followed the smell to the kitchen where he found June bent over rummaging through the fridge.
He was rooted to the spot at first.Mainly because it wasn’t often, he’d seen another person cook in his kitchen.Another was he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a woman in his house who wasn’t his sister.
