Page 52 of Wicked Healing

Erin rocked her head to look at him. “I think we rocked that out,” she said with a grin.

Luca grinned too. How could he not? “Yes, we did.”

He leaned over and kissed her, wishing they could start all over again.

* * *

Erin couldn’t rememberthe last time she’d been so well-fucked. She sighed and rolled up into a sitting position, then she laughed when she caught sight of his feet. “You know, there has to be a joke about a Navy SEAL not even taking his shoes off to fuck. “

Luca glanced at his feet and laughed with her. “I think you just made it.”

She looked down at him, appreciating all the work he’d done for himself over the past few weeks. She brushed her hand over the scars along his right side. Now that he wasn’t wearing anything she could see the destruction the IED had wrought on his body. It had been devastating. Crippling. There were dark pink scars all up and down his side, with more along his upper chest and arm. She’d seen the injury to his arm and as he lay there in front of her she could almost see the position he’d been in when he’d been hit, jerking Wicked out of harm.

“You two were so lucky to survive,” she murmured. She traced her fingers over the bumps and ridges of scars and surgery lines when they’d had to go in after the shrapnel.

“Yes, we were,” he agreed, watching her face carefully, unblinking. She knew he was looking for any kind of rejection, but he wouldn’t see it on her face because she didn’t see anything worth rejecting. Everyone had a story. Luca’s story was just more visible than others’.

As if he reached some conclusion he sat up on the edge of the bed. “Let me run to the bathroom real quick and I’ll show you how this works,” he said, tapping the outside of the prosthetic.

Erin waited, her eyes going to his tall form as he re-entered the room. He sat down beside her, his prosthetic nearest her.

“The outside of the prosthetic is carbon-fiber. This,” he indicated a small round rubber thing, “releases the pressure inside the socket. Then I hook behind the knee and pull it off.” He did exactly that, then showed her the interior vinyl lining and the cotton pads meant to take pain away from his pressure points. “When the leg is amputated it takes a while to settle into its final shape. Exercise makes it slim down quicker. I’m probably going to need to be fitted for a new socket in a month or so.”

There was a blue silicone sleeve over his stump and he took a deep breath before he rolled it off. Again, Erin could feel his gaze on her, weighing her reactions, but his leg didn’t bother her. The incision lines looked a little angry.

“Are they supposed to be that red?”

He shrugged. “Probably not, but I’ve been working pretty hard.”

Before he could tell her otherwise she reached out and stroked down the leg to the end, fingers brushing gently over the scars. She ignored his harshly drawn breath. “It’s warm. Are you sure?”

“I think it’s all right. It’s usually warm at night, after I’ve been on it all day. In the mornings when I wake up it’s cool.”

“Do you have phantom pain?”

“I do, sometimes” he said softly. “Not as bad as other guys. And I thought I stubbed my toe the other day. I slammed into a door jamb and just for a split second I waited for pain from my toes.”

She laughed a little. “That has to be weird.”

“It is, but I’m getting used to it. Your brain learns to compensate.”

Finally, she looked up into his eyes. They were both naked, but she didn’t think he even noticed that. Exposing his leg to her had been hard for him, but there really was nothing to be ashamed of. “Thank you for explaining it to me.”

“Thank you for not freaking out,” he told her, voice rumbly deep.

She shook her head at him, reaching out to run her hand over his chest. “There’s nothing to freak out about. You were fighting in the war and you were injured. Period. Now you’re learning to adapt and I think you’re doing a phenomenal job. And don’t thank me. It’s an observation. Period.”

He gave her a crooked grin and reached out to flick her nipple. “I can add something else to my list of accomplishments now.”

She arched a brow at him. “I don’t know about accomplishment, per se. I think you need more practice.”

A wicked glint entered his expression. “I’m all about perfection. Tell me what I need to do.”

He tumbled her to the bed and Erin completely lost track of everything.

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