“It’s everyone I lost at my own hands in the military,” he said as he turned his back from me and faced me in the hot tub. “So they aren’t forgotten.”
“Oh, Doc,” I whispered as I reached up and cupped his face.
My body moved with a mind of its own, but he didn’t swat me away. He didn’t flinch back, or glare at me, or demand that he not be touched. If anything, his cheek almost…nuzzled… against my hand when it cupped his jaw.
I felt the smallest bit of stubble roughing up his cheeks.
“It’s important,” he said as he swallowed hard. “To me. To never forget. To know that I’m not infallible. My brain, it can…”
I cupped the other side of his face and brought those stormy eyes to meet mine. “It can convince you that you’re amazing, because you are.”
His gaze searched mine. “It can convince me that so long as I’m right, I’ll always come out the victor. And that isn’t always the case.”
The jets bubbled, slowly gravitating us closer to one another, until the hot tub practically settled my body in his lap. My legs spread, encompassing his thighs as I just continued cupping his face. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to tell him to get that fucking thing off his back and to stop torturing himself.
I also wanted to kiss every line.
Hear the story behind every scar.
“What is your name?” I whispered softly.
His smile was soft. Kind. “Daniel. Daniel Lockhart.”
I returned the smile in kind. “I’m Elizabeth Packston.”
“Hello, Miss Elizabeth Packston. It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
I tilted my head as my hands settled against his chest. I was only vaguely aware of his arms draped behind my back. “Put‘miss’ in front whenever you address me. I don’t hear you do it with anyone else.”
“You’re my patient,” he said as his hands settled against the small of my back. “Respect is always given from doctors to patients.”
“Marla’s still your patient. As is Jasmine, at least a little bit. But you don’t address them like that.”
His eyes searched mine for a while. “If you do not like the term of respect, I can drop it.”
I shook my head. “It’s not that. I just…”
He waited patiently while I gathered my words.
“I just don’t like being treated differently than others without knowing the reason behind it.”
He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “That’s fair.”
I waited for him to continue. I waited for him to elaborate. But the silence hung heavily between us. I almost had half a mind to lay my head on his shoulder and simply bask in his presence.
I felt a twinge at the base of my back.
“Mmph,” I grunted softly.
His body stiffened. “What was that?”
I shook my head softly and shifted a bit on his lap. “Just need to change posi?—”
His hands gripped my waist, and he maneuvered me like I weighed nothing. The jets battered against our bodies, and I wanted one of those suckers right against my back.
