Page 45 of In Love with a Ranger

“Don’t laugh,” he chuckled. “I mean, in the Army, it was showers all the time and when you are in the field, sometimes it’s days. I can’t remember the last time I took an actual bubble bath – and you might have the right idea about soaking at night. This feels so dang good,” he uttered and then winked at her. “But you still hold first place in my heart.”

“So I’m better than a bubble bath?” she smiled as he rolled from his side slightly onto his tummy and then caught himself as his leg started to slip, bursting out laughing at his own antics.

And grabbed her off the bench.

“Whoooaaa!” Christina balked, laughing wildly as he pulled her into the bubble bath with him, fully dressed. His head went under the water and shot back up, shaking his head and laughing as she sputtered in disbelief and saw his tender gaze.

“I love you,” he murmured softly, touching her cheek. “And I was lonely.”

“I love you too, but your cast is going to get wet,” she whispered, leaning forward at the same time he did, moving to kiss him.

“It comes off tomorrow…” he reminded her, his voice warm and full of longing. “And besides, I was distracted.”

“Oh?”

“I can’t get the idea of ‘Becking and Necking’ out of my mind…”

“Me neither,” she smiled softly as he kissed her tenderly.

12

* * *

GIDEON

Sitting there on the table in the doctor’s office, he couldn’t stop staring at his leg which was now free of the cast. It was funny to notice that there was a slight bit of atrophy when compared to his other thigh from lack of use. It felt so good to be free of it, to be able to scratch behind his knee. He couldn’t wait to put on a normal pair of jeans that hadn’t been cut away to allow room for the bulky cast.

They shared a smile over the doctor’s frown when part of the cotton within the cast near the middle of his foot was wet. Sure, it was weird feeling a cold, wet spot consistently in his shoe but did he mind? Heck no – best night ever, he smiled, glancing at Christina, who was watching him and holding their coats.

“No more jumping out of planes, Mr. Beck,” the doctor teased quietly, yanking off his gloves and tossing them in the receptacle before leaving the room.

Gideon gave a chuckle easily, realizing he sure didn’t mind as much as he once did. When everything had happened, and he woke up in the hospital, he’d been devastated. Now, it felt almost like a gift that he didn’t know he wanted. He was alive, living a life he had never dreamed of, with a wife he possibly wouldn’t have met if it hadn’t been for his faulty parachute.

“How does it feel?” Christina asked quietly.

“Great,” he admitted, smiling at her. “I can finally scratch that spot behind my knee that’s been driving me nuts… or maybe I should pretend that I can’t, so I can get you to scratch it for me.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically before smiling at him and handing him his bag that had his pants in it.

“This is going to feel so good to be able to move around, bend my knee, and not have to worry about hitting my cast on everything. That thing was seriously a pain – in more ways than one.”

“Remember that if you get the urge to do some death-defying thing for the thrill of it.”

“My thrills,” he began, hooking the heel of his now-freed limb around her leg and pulling her close. “My thrills are much closer to home.”

“Are they now…”

Gideon shared a look with her before reaching up to cradle her cheek in his palm. He knew this wasn’t the time or place to start things between them, but it was moments like this that stayed with him. He loved the way she flirted with him, the sassy way she would make a comment or clap back in a saucy manner. Her eyes seemed to say so much sometimes whereas in other moments, he felt like he was ready to drown in them happily.

“I love you,” he breathed tenderly, brushing his lips against hers. “My life started the moment I hit the ground and got some sense knocked into me… I may not say it all the time or be the ideal guy for you, but I will always love you with every fiber of my being.”

“Gideon,” she murmured thickly, touching his cheek in response to his words. “I love you more than I dreamed – and you are exactly the right guy for me.”

“No regrets?”

“Nary a one, knucklehead.”

“Sweetheart, I love your pillow talk,” he chuckled, treasuring the way she seemed to make his soul feel lighter than air.

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