Free Broken Surrender by Lori King

you doing?”
    “You said you have scars. I want to know
what you’re so scared of.” His fingertips grazed over the puckered
skin that she knew was still a shiny pink color, and she shivered.
No one other than a medical professional had touched her injuries
yet. A giggle slipped through her lips and he stopped. “Are you
ticklish?”
    “No, I was just thinking that no one other
than my doctors and physical therapists have touched my scars, and
then I remembered that you’re a medic. It struck me as funny. I got
an image of you in a lab coat with a stethoscope on.” She said
still laughing.
    His eyes narrowed and one eyebrow arched.
“You do realize that playing doctor with me won’t be a laughing
matter, right?”
    “I sure as hell hope not.” Humor and desire
combined to make her feel lighter and freer than she had in her
whole life. “I promise I’ll try not to ask, what’s up, doc?”
    Unable to hold back her laughter, she fell
back on the bed, rolling with mirth at her own joke. Silas began
laughing with her, and before long, they’d both worn themselves out
and were snuggled together on the bed, mussed, but fully
clothed.
    “I should probably get home. Jeremy’s
probably already texted my phone a dozen times,” Silas said
despondently.
    Sarah nodded against his shoulder where her
head rested comfortably. “Is he a worrier?”
    “Not so much these days, but when I first
got back, I had some trouble acclimating. I’d disappear for hours
to be alone, and it always freaked him out. One of our high school
buddies committed suicide back in 2007. He’d just come back from
Iraq, and he couldn’t deal. I think Jer knows now that I’m not so
bad off, but he still worries.”
    “It’s good to have someone worry about you.
It means they care.”
    Silas lifted his head and smiled. “Pot meet
kettle. I’ll remind you of that when you get snippy over your back
hurting and I make you ice it.”
    “As long as you’re holding the ice, I won’t
complain,” she threw back.
    “Don’t tempt me, love. My restraint is
weakening as we speak,” he said, his eyes running down the length
of her body. The heat in his gaze was almost tangible, and she
flushed under his scrutiny.
    “Well just because we can’t go all the way
doesn’t mean we can’t fool around a bit,” she offered, stroking her
fingers over the buttons of his shirt. She really wanted to release
them and see what his rock-hard chest looked like. She had memories
from overseas of golden, tanned skin and dark-colored hair that
pointed like an arrow to his groin. Even then, she’d had a fantasy
or two about tracing that line of hair to the Promised Land.
    Silas took her hand and kissed her
fingertips. “Soon. I promise you. But I want you and Jeremy to have
some time to adjust to each other and see if this could be a real
thing between all of us.”
    “And if not?” she asked tentatively.
    He took a deep breath and shrugged. “We’ll
cross that bridge if we come to it. For now, let’s just do as you
asked and take it one day at a time.”
    After another heart-stopping kiss, he said
his goodbyes, and she walked him to the door. Peering through the
curtains, she saw him outside waiting on the sidewalk until she’d
thrown the deadbolt, and she waved as he got in his truck. Just
before he pulled away, he blew her a kiss, and even from a
distance, she could see the desire in his eyes. It matched the lust
still coursing through her veins.
    Quickly tossing the remnants of dinner into
the trash, she flipped off the television and lights and hurried to
her bed. Her vibrator was still tucked in the back of her
nightstand drawer even though she hadn’t used it at all in the last
two years. With a silent prayer, she flipped the switch, and cursed
when it remained still and quiet in her hand.
    “You’d better just need batteries,” she
hissed at the device. Emptying the TV remote of its batteries, she
quickly restocked the phallic toy and squealed