FIRE (Elite Forces #2)(16)
“Glad to see you awake, Kaleb. I’m Doctor Weiss.” He saunters in and sits in a chair on the opposite side of the bed from Jade with what I assume is my chart in his hand.
“Tell me when I can get the hell out of here.” I’m assuming he’s paying attention to Jade and not me by the way he’s staring at her. If this little shit doesn’t take his eyes off of my woman, wrapped up and bruised body or not, I’m going to beat his ass before I shove those nerdy glasses down his throat and stick my foot up his ass.
“Kaleb. You’ll go home when you're healed and not a damn day before. Sorry about this grumpy ass here; he seems to have woken up without any manners. Please, carry on.” She smiles at him, and I nearly growl. I’m lying here flat on my back, unable to move, and she’s flirting with some jock of a doctor. Oh, hell no. I’ll remember this, and when I do, I’ll have her on her knees, begging for me to forget it.
At least I know I’m feeling better. I’m back to my barbaric ways when it comes to this woman. Damn, Jade, you have no idea what you do to me.
“It’s fine, Mrs. Maverick. He’s been through quite a bit.” Mrs. Maverick? The doctor carries on, telling me all the bullshit I don’t need to hear. I can feel where my injuries are. I felt every one of them as I endured that hell.
While I was out for almost a week, they have hydrated me and cleaned my wounds. I had to be stitched up in several places. They kept me knocked out just to help me tolerate the pain. Now that I’m coherent, they would like to test my pain tolerance to see if they need to increase my dosage or not. He continues on about every damn organ in my body, from my head to my toes. I’m trying to register what he’s saying. However, the only thing I’m registering out of all of this is why the hell he addressed her as Mrs. Maverick.
“Where the hell are you going, Mrs. Maverick?” I ask Jade the second the doctor leaves the room. I love saying that. Although, Jade Maverick sounds better.
“You need to settle down. A lot of things have happened in the week you've been here.” She smirks when she talks. Damn her, that jealousy I felt is gone. I need her lips on mine. She can fill me in later. Fuck everything else for a while. I’ve missed her.
“You need to kiss me,” I demand and challenge her to come closer. I’m hurting all over, but something tells me Jade is all the medication I need. I push myself up, avoiding showing her how much anguish my body actually feels, while I grab her by the back of the neck and pull her in for a kiss I’ve been thinking about for far too long. The cord from my IV pulls my tight skin, but I don’t give a shit. I need her oxygen to be able to breathe.
Her lips are soft and she smells delicious. I could kiss her entire body right now. She slowly moves her tongue over my lips, and I still to a completely frozen state just to let her slowly kiss me. We remain face-to-face, and both of us open our eyes to look deep into each other’s. I know I look like shit to her, but I can feel her looking into me. She feels what I feel inside, and this is the first time in my life I’ve felt this kind of connection with someone. I let my eyes move over her and internally thank god for letting me touch her once more.
Civilian casual looks so good on her. I know she’s lost sleep and has been worried about me, but honestly, after everything I’ve been through, she couldn’t look bad to me. But shit, if she’s not so far from that side of the scale and causing all sorts of craziness in my heart. It’s amazing to want something so bad that it’s the very thing that keeps you alive. I’ve got my chance with her, and as I close my eyes and softly kiss her again, I know I’ll do anything for her. Anything. I had no idea how hard I had fallen for her until I was held hostage. I knew she had gotten to me, but the shit I was thinking about while hanging from that tree was far from the realm of possibilities in my mind before Mexico.
“I love you, Jade.” She sits back and looks at me, not saying a word as I continue. I run my hand down her arm and try to say the right words to let her know just how much I need her. “You saved me out there.”
“I tried.”
“No, you did. It was you I talked to every time I spoke, even if it was all just in my own head. I felt you there with me. I knew you were hurting, and I kept fighting because I knew you wanted me to. You gave me a reason to stay, Jade.” A small tear slides down her cheek, and I move to stop it. This is supposed to be a great f*cking day, and I’m in here, making her cry.
“Kaleb. You scared me. I thought I had lost you, and my heart hurt so damn bad. I can’t deal with losing you like that.” She’s whimpering now, and I can tell she’s on the verge of breaking down. It kills me seeing her like this.
“You won’t have to. I’m not going anywhere for a very long time. I’m going on a very long f*cking vacation and plan to take you with me as soon as I can break out of here.” That draws a smile from her gorgeous face.
“You know I’ll have to go back soon. I’ve talked to my superior several times. I’m good with more R&R, considering everything that’s happened, but I do have to report in when we get back. I guess there’s a shit ton of paperwork before I can do anything. I’ll have to do that, and then we can go from there. They know it’s been a rough several weeks, so I’m good for a few more if we stay local in the States for sure. I’m not being called to duty for at least a month.” I can’t comprehend that right now. I don’t want to talk about what we’ll do when that happens. It doesn’t matter when it is, I won’t be ready to let her go.