Free A Heart Decision by Laurie Kellogg

shriveled up old men
whose bodies needed to be ironed.” She turned and filled the sink
with hot water while he worked at taking off his jeans.
    He only got as far as lowering the left side of his
pants before a whoosh of air hissed through his teeth as he
attempted to push the right side down with his injured hand. “Damn,
that hurts.”
    “Then stop trying to be a hero, and let me help
you.” She knelt in front of him and stripped his jeans down his
muscular legs. “This is precisely what I’m here fo—”
    Her words died on her lips as she lifted her gaze
and found her mouth only a millimeter from the peak in Luke’s
boxers. Good grief . Maybe there was some truth to that
propaganda about big feet.
    He stared down at her, desire flaring in his eyes.
“Then by all means, Princess, help me out.” One corner of his mouth
twitched. “Do you think this is what Ben had in mind when he
insisted on you takin’ care of me ?”
    She could tell him the truth, but she didn’t want to
have to perform CPR on him. Although, that was a good excuse to put
her lips on his. “You’re deliberately trying to embarrass me.”
    Luke peered pointedly down at his erection. “There’s
nothing deliberate about this. As a nurse, you should know a guy
has no control over his Johnson.”
    “Maybe so,” she said, her voice rising an octave
higher than normal, “but you don’t have to stick it right in my
face.”
    “I didn’t stick it anywhere.” He sank onto
the lid of the toilet and yanked his good foot out of one leg of
his jeans while she peeled the other off over his cast.
    When she stood, she wobbled as if her legs had
turned to rubber. “Maybe not, but you want to.”
    “I don’t think we’d better discuss what I want.”
    She soaped the washcloth, and when her hands started
trembling as if she had Parkinson’s, she tossed it to him. Once he
washed and rinsed the right side of his upper body, he tried to
clean the left without much success. After several failed attempts,
he finally surrendered, raising his hands. “Okay, so you can do my
other half and my back.”
    Gladly. She’d wash a lot more if he’d let her.
    She rinsed the terrycloth and lathered it again. He
lifted his left arm so she could scrub his hairy armpit. As she
swiped down his side, he bit his lip.
    “Do your ribs hurt?”
    “Yeah. Don’t sweat it. The doctor said they’re just
bruised.”
    “Well, tell me if something is sore. I don’t want to
hurt you.” After rinsing the rag again, she pushed gently on his
head. “Lean forward so I can wash your back.”
    As she reached across him, her chest brushed against
his cheek. His face turned, grazing her breast, causing her nipples
to pop up under her tank top like two spring-loaded poultry
thermometers.
    There was no question whether she was up to temp.
The fire raging inside her was nearly hot enough to incinerate
her.
    “Brina,” he murmured, rubbing his cheek against her
softness. “At the moment, my self-control is stretched as thin as a
cobweb. I’ve had about all the stress I can take for one day.”
    “I know.” Trembling, she drew back and whispered,
“I’ll get you a clean pair of shorts while you wash the rest.”
    As she escaped into the bedroom, she gulped several
deep breaths, attempting to slow the jackhammer in her chest. Luke
was right. In the last twenty-four hours, not only had he dealt
with the Jillian crisis, he’d been in an accident that very likely
would’ve killed him if he’d been a fraction of a second slower. He
had to be mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. If they
made love right now, he’d be doing it for all the wrong
reasons.
    She sorted through his clean laundry and found a
pair of charcoal gray boxer briefs. “Are you finished?” she called
through the door.
    “I guess so. I’m as clean as I’m gonna get with a
washcloth.”
    When she pushed open the door, he was standing with
the towel secured around his hips. Her gaze dropped to