Down and Dirty: SEAL EXtreme Team Short Story by Kimberley Troutte Page A

arms.
How many times had he fantasized about them wrapped around his back?
    Nick couldn’t take his eyes off
the frail woman in the bed. Shadows pooled under her closed dark lashes. Brown
freckles sprinkled across her nose stood out as a sharp contrast to her
impossibly fair cheeks. She had random bruises too, most likely collateral
damage from the airbag. The dark hair he’d only seen pulled up in a ponytail
fanned out across the stark white pillow. Damn, she was beautiful, even now.
But so small.
    The picture he carried in his
wallet had captured a stop-your-heart gorgeous athlete with tanned skin, a
wicked glint in her green eyes, and a first place medal around her neck. The
times they’d spoken by Skype, she’d seemed larger than life. This person in the
bed clung to life.
    “Your brother is here,” the
nurse said softly. “Can you open your eyes?”
    Jill stirred in her sleep.
    The nurse turned to him. “She’s
tired. If she does wake, don’t be surprised if she’s a bit fuzzy-headed. That’s
normal. She’s been through a terrible trauma and might not know about the foot
yet.”
    Nick’s gaze swept across the off-white
cotton blanket. Near the bottom of the bed, where the pillows had been piled
up, he saw something he’d never wanted to see. Holy hell! Jill’s right foot was
gone.
    “Don’t stay long,” the nurse
admonished on her way out. “If she’s thirsty, you can give her a few ice
chips.”
    Nick was alone with a woman
he’d never met in person.
     
    ****
     
    Jill heard the nurse whisper
that her brother was there. But something dark and ugly clung to the edge of
her consciousness. She didn’t want to see it. Refused to know.
    “Billy,” she mumbled.
    Someone took her hand, and a
deep voice said, “Shh. You’re not alone. Rest.”
    She fought as hard as she could
and finally peeled her eyelids open. It took a second to understand what she
was seeing. She was…where exactly? And who was that handsome man peering down
at her? He was in a naval uniform, but he wasn’t her brother because Billy was… No! She squeezed her eyes shut. She wouldn’t go to that dark place. Don’t
think about Billy!
    Her lips and throat were dry. She
opened her eyes again. “Water?”
    “Let me help you.” The guy dumped
out ice chips from a pink pitcher into a cup. One of his warm hands supported
the back of her neck while the other spooned chips into her mouth. She savored
the warmth of his touch and the cold water melting in her mouth. It was
intimate, somehow. Gently, he laid her head back down. Amber eyes studied her
face as if searching for answers she didn’t want to think about. She would not
think about.
    “Nick?” she barely choked out.
    He took her hand again. So
warm. So strong. The knuckles were scarred. “Hi, gorgeous. You sure went out of
your way to avoid our date. You could’ve just said no.”
    “Avoid?” Her head was swimming.
She tried to cling to words. “Billy?”
    Nick chucked his hat onto the
nightstand. “He wanted me to check in on you.”
    It looked like he could use a
drink of water, or maybe something stronger.
    “Where…is…he?”
    He gave her hand a gentle
squeeze. “You were in a bad car accident, Jilly-girl. It’s okay. You’ll be
okay. You don’t need to remember what happened now. Forget things for a while and
focus on getting better.”
    Bad memories floated to the top
of her consciousness and she snatched onto the one that hurt the
least—screeching tires, crunching metal, and searing pain. “Car accident! I
remember.”
    “A drunk driver rear-ended you
at a stoplight. Bastard was going fifty miles an hour. You’re lucky to be
alive.”
    She didn’t feel lucky. “I
feel…like hell.”
    “Nah, you’re beautiful. Like
always. Thank God you got the good-looking genes in the family.” He brushed the
hair off her cheek and gently ran a knuckle across her cheekbone. His hands were
cool now. They felt so good. She wanted them all over her skin.