His Lover to Protect - Katee Robert Page 0,28

way deeper into the lodge. “You’re right. Poor, scarred Luke. Nobody understands him.”

“Are you mocking me?” He’d spent weeks in a hospital being put back together, followed by months of physical therapy—not to mention the loss of his career, identity, and most of his friends. That wasn’t something to poke fun at. He was still trying to find his feet after everything he’d lost.

“Not what happened to you.” She stopped in front of a door and opened it, standing back to let him limp in. He had a second to thank God it was a single occupancy instead of the bunk setup, and then Alexis kept going, “But seriously, could you be any more tortured about it? I’ve seen men who lost all their limbs who still managed to have a better attitude than you do.”

“You don’t get it.” His entire identity had been tied up in the pararescuers. He was the man all the badasses in the armed forces called when they needed help. He saved lives and ran headlong into situations that would send most people fleeing scared, and he’d loved every second of it.

That was all beyond his reach now, gone in a split second.

“You’re right. I don’t. I’m sure there isn’t another person in this world who’s been hurt like you have.” She rolled her eyes. “Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night, Luke. Every single person has lost something and some of us…” Her voice broke, surprising him so much that he dropped into the single chair. “Some of us have actually lost everything.”

What the hell was he supposed to say to that? That nothing in her perfect princess life could measure up to his crawling back from the brink of death? Saying as much suddenly felt on the far side of crass. There was something in her eyes, something that called to him on a foundational level. She looked like a woman who’d walked through hell and back, just the same as he had. What the hell happened to you, darlin’? “Alexis—”

“Forget it.” She headed for the door. “I’m going to go find the laundry room and see about some ice for your knee. Why don’t you lay your stuff out and give it a chance to dry?”

Before he could formulate a response, she was gone, shutting the door behind her. Luke closed his eyes and leaned back to smack his head on the wall a few times. It didn’t do anything for the toxic mix of lust and anger inside him. So he decided to do something useful and dry out his shit. The two pairs of jeans he had were filthy from all the goddamn walking, and his shirts weren’t in much better condition. Doing laundry had just become the number one priority.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, he grabbed his satellite phone and dialed. As expected, Flannery picked up on the second ring. “Yeah?”

“I found her.”

A sigh of relief. “Thank God. Avery is losing her shit over this whole thing. Drew is convinced it’s going to mess with the baby, and no one can convince him otherwise.”

“Well, she didn’t fall to her death from a drop of two thousand feet, so that should reassure everyone.” He paused, making sure there was no sound of footsteps on the other side of the door. “She’s fine. A huge pain in my ass, but fine.”

“Good. You’ve got to keep up with her, man.”

“I’m trying. At some point, if I keep showing up where she is, she’s going to either call the cops or figure out something’s up.” And he didn’t relish the conversation either of those options would bring about.

“Convince her to bring you along. She can’t know that we didn’t trust her to do this alone.” Another sigh. “She needs this, Jacks.”

Even hearing his old PJ nickname wasn’t enough to distract him. She needed to have everyone at home so torn up and worried that her pregnant sister was possibly endangering her unborn kid? For the millionth time, he wondered what the hell she’d gone through to make everyone so willing to let her jaunt off to find herself. He could ask Flannery, and it was likely the man would even tell him, but Luke held off.

He wanted to hear it from her.

He cleared his throat. “If Avery’s so worried, why don’t I just pack her up and bring her home?”

“No. Stick with the plan.”

That’s what he thought his former squad mate would say. For the first time since he