Page 77 of Unexpected Hero

My head sags to one side, and I warn, “Lettie.”

“Please. Just one more time, and I’ll never ask again.”

Instead of answering, I oblige her request with a simple nod as I move in close. Her eyes close, and her chin tilts upward again. Same as last time.

Right before I kiss her, I whisper, “Just this once.”

The reminder is as much for me as it is for her.

Giving in, I claim her mouth. As our lips connect, another surge of warmth ripples through my body. Time stands still, allowing me to lose myself in her sweetness.

Her soft whimpers and delicate gasps seep into my memory, where they’ll keep me company when I let her go.

As much as I wish I didn’t have to, I know I must let her go.

Before I end the kiss, I gently tug her lips between mine as if I could hold her there forever. Greedily, I take two seconds more, then another to savor her.

And then I let go.

Just like after our first kiss, I pull back slowly while studying the way she flickers her eyes open and licks her lips to indulge longer in the taste of our kiss.

Although it’s the same motion she did before, it feels different this time. Knowing I’ll never see her like this again has made it more meaningful.

When our eyes lock, my heart fractures as the realization dawns that I’ve kissed Violet Holt for the last time.

For once in my life, I’ve found someone who makes me feel something.

And I have to let her go.

Chapter 14

Superman and Lettie Lane

LETTIE

Why does this always look simple when someone else does it? And why hasn’t it gotten easier over the years? It’s not like this is the first time I’ve had to use them.

Calamity Lettie is intimately acquainted with one thing in life aside from shame. Crutches.And it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve had the displeasure, it takes a while for my brain to remember how to use them properly.

Tonight is no exception.

Waiting patiently for me, James holds open the exit door at the urgent care center. “You sure you got it?”

“Honestly, when it comes to me and staying upright, I’m hardly sure of much.”

He grins, his eyes heating the exposed skin of my legs as I hobble toward him, clip-clopping along.“If you can get to the bench out here, I’ll get the car.”

As I pass by him, a whiff of his subtle cologne socks me right in the ovaries. I attempt to cover up my arousal with a self-deprecating joke. “I’m a hazard to myself on two flat feet, but add some giant sticks and have me hop along between them on one foot? Recipe for certain disaster.”

Speaking of which... after disaster struck at the beach this evening, he insisted on taking me to a doctor. And I do mean insisted. My objections over cost and lack of health insurance went in one ear and out the other. He paid the few hundred dollars without batting an eye. Stubborn mule.

I’m racking up quite the debt with this man. And sadly, he’s not interested in cashing in with sexual favors.

Not that I’d be qualified for that anyhow. I’m just bitter knowing he won’t make my toes curl again with more kisses. I should be grateful for that, though, since two of my toes are, in fact, broken, according to the X-rays.

Pro tip — and this comes from someone with the utmost experience in getting first aid and emergency medical care — if you need to see a doctor, getting to an urgent care right before closing does wonders for reducing your wait time. They’re in a hurry to leave, so they whip you in and out lickety-split.

They did a buddy taping on each broken toe and gave me a boot to wear. The lovely metal crutches are like the cherry on top of the Calamity Lettie sundae. I should be okay to wear regular shoes in a few days if I stay off it and let it heal.

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