Free Worth It All (The McKinney Brothers #3) by Claudia Connor

it worked, he’d not only be able to move his prosthetic hand with his mind, but he’d be able to feel the heat and texture of what he was touching. The new finger joint he was working on for the patent should greatly increase reflex speed. “I’ll let the team know, and you can get him scheduled for next week. Anything else?”
    “No. I sent over the rest of the data I had this morning.”
    “I got it. Haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. I’ll get to it by the end of the day.”
    “No problem.” They passed the rock-wall area on their way to the PT side. He wanted to see their latest robotic arm in action.
    “How’s the sexy mom from the diner?”
    “Haven’t you given me enough shit about that yet?”
    “Not possible.
Jake.
She’s hot.”
    JT’s jaw clenched. “Stop saying that.”
    Simon busted out a laugh. “God, you’re so easy. Have you seen her again?”
    “No.” Not since last week when he’d kissed her and had his entire world rocked. And he wanted to again.
    “Well, you’re about to.”
    He glared at Simon, about to ask what the hell that meant as they rounded the corner.
    “I asked her to come back, let Casey play around some. Make sure the fit was still good. Did I forget to mention that?”
    JT saw Casey first. She was with a young therapy assistant, Marcy, working in a small open area off to the side. There were mats, weighted pieces of foam, and a treadmill he knew was able to detect and measure the slightest gait inconsistencies. But as interesting as that was, his eyes searched for Paige.
    The second Casey saw him, she called out, “Jake! Watch me!”
    He stepped closer, watching as Casey bent forward on her hands, kicking up her one foot, no prosthesis. She went five steps on her hands before coming down. “That’s good stuff.”
    “Yeah. I’m showing Marcy. You should try it,” Casey said and tried again herself.
    His gaze landed on the woman who was keeping him up at night. Paige knelt on the floor in jeans and a white sleeveless top. Her eyes collided with his, then slid slowly to his mouth. She swallowed, cleared her throat. Yeah, she was thinking about that kiss too.
    “Hey, Marcy.” He took another step until he was standing just inches in front of her. “Hi, Paige.”
    “Hey.”
    She wet her lips and pressed them together, and just that was enough to make him sweat.
    “Hi, Paige,” Simon said. “Good to see you again.”
    “You too. Thank you so much for having us back.”
    “You’re welcome. I’m sure Jake can set up another visit if you want.”
    Casey moved to a set of parallel bars used for walking support. “Look what I can do!” She hung by her hands, then her knees.
    Marcy and Simon watched for a moment then excused themselves. But not before Simon sent him a knowing grin. Because he did feel like a schoolboy with a crush. Not knowing what else to do, he crossed the room for a rubber ball about the size of a basketball and lowered himself to the mat. It was this or stand there, undressing Paige with his eyes. He leaned back on his hands and gave the ball a toss toward his feet.
    Curious, Casey moved to the mat. He kept it bouncing off the tops of his feet, alternating right and left, before giving it a final flick and catching it in his hand. “You want to try?”
    Casey eyed the ball. “I’d have to put my leg on.”
    “Yep, you would,” he said evenly, letting it be her decision.
    She thought about it, but in the end he got some participation, wearing her prosthesis.
    After a few minutes, Casey moved to sit close and stretched her leg out beside his. “Do all your friends have a leg like you?”
    He took a second to think about how best to answer. “Well, there’s Simon.”
    “What about your other friends?”
    He tried to think of other friends and came up short. “I have five brothers, but—”
    “
Five?
That’s how many years I almost am. That’s a lot.”
    “I also have one sister.”
    Casey’s face scrunched into a frown.