Page 16 of Stockman's Stormcloud

Breathe.

But he had to ask, even if it was a struggle to say it louder. ‘You have a name, don’t you?’ If her name was Kitty, he was going to have a cardiac arrest.

No woman affected him like this—it had to be the medication he was on. Especially since he’d sworn to never trust a female again, and he was not about to start now, no matter what drugs they gave him.

Yet, he had to know the simplest of pleasures first, and that was to at least learn her name.

Six

The patient was so brash, staring at her so coldly, like she’d done something wrong.

‘It’s S-S-Sophie.’ She swallowed hard, trapped under the intensity of his stare. ‘Sophie Pendleton.’

He gave a gruff nod, sliding his mask back on before breaking eye contact, which allowed her to breathe again.

‘Why?’

‘You know my name and all about me.’

‘That’s part of my job. Declan—’

‘Ugh!’ He cut her off, holding up his hand. ‘If we’re going to be involved in some sort of friendly engagement, you’d better call me Dex.’

‘Fine, Dex.’ She couldn’t stop her smile. ‘Now that you’re awake, do you want to get out of bed?’

‘To leave? Hell, yeah, I’m in.’

‘I was thinking more of a short walk down the corridor.’

‘I’m down for that.’ He went to move, but paused as he took a few breaths, while nodding at Mr Purrington. ‘What about the cat?’

‘I’ve got him.’ She shifted the lump of fur to the end of his bed. ‘Do you hate cats?’

‘I’ve never owned any or know of anyone who has one. We class cats as a feral animal, like rabbits.’ He rolled to the edge of the bed and sat up slowly. The pain was obviously bothering him enough to make him pause and just breathe.

‘How are we going to do this?’ He pointed at the tubes and oxygen mask.

‘Well, if you play nice, this is where I can do my job to ensure you don’t trip over any tubes.’

The corners of his lips curved with only a hint of amusement. ‘Can’t have that now, can we?’ He struggled to breathe, taking in a flurry of quick breaths.

‘Hey, slow breaths.’ She rubbed his back in slow circles. ‘How about we start you on those breathing exercises?’

Dex scowled at the floor as if annoyed with himself. Given this guy’s peak physical condition, it had to be annoying for him to be forced into taking breathing lessons.

‘Let’s start with something simple,’ she continued, with her tone calm and encouraging. ‘I want you to imagine that you’re blowing out a candle. Just a gentle puff, nothing more.’

His scowl deepened. He didn’t puff buthuffedwith irritation.

‘You can do better than that.’ Her unwavering patience drew a reluctant nod from him.

‘Good, just like that,’ she encouraged as he exhaled slowly, the struggle obvious.

But he sat straighter, as if his pride was returning.

‘Now, let’s take a shallow breath in through your nose. Don’t worry about going deep just yet. Do what you can, a little at a time.’

At first, he rolled his eyes. But she wasn’t giving up on him, coaxing him through several ragged breaths where each inhale and exhale was accompanied by a slight wince of pain.

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