Page 40 of Protect

“Trevor?” Rowan asks with mischief in his tone.

“Troy,” I correct, knowing he knows full well what my soon-to-be ex-husband’s name is. Very soon. Like three days soon.

Hmmm. That seems to be working. Troy, Troy not coming to see Hollie, Troy always putting himself first.Yep, definitely working to stop me from drooling over my patient.

“Fuck,that feels good, Violette,” Rowan groans, his spicy sandalwood scent and the gravel in his tone floods my senses, bringing me right back to drooling. I back up and reach for another cloth as he leans back in his bed.

Just the lower half now,I tell myself.

“Do you two get along?” he asks, his jaw setting as I stare at his feet.

I realize a random conversation is the distraction he’s looking for too.

“Yeah, you could say that,” I mutter.

“That doesn’t sound very convincing,” he observes. I gently scrub his strong calf and the inside of his good thigh. I'm pretty sure I’m holding my breath at this point because his thighs are so thick and hard, they’re just as enticing as the rest of him. I can’t be sure, but I swear I hear him groan again, softly into his rag as he finishes washing his face.

I know it must feel good to be washed after a day in bed, but those groans are like little cherry bombs racing through my blood every single time.

“Troy was hard to be close to, hard to know. He’s in a very prominent position at the hospital we worked for. He’s always focused on work, so as long as I never wanted more than that or got in that way of his job, we got along fine.”

“That doesn’t seem very fair.” Rowan's voice is deep as I carefully work on his thigh, taking time to work around his dressings. “To you or Hollie,” he adds, tossing his face rag into the basin.

My gaze moves to his. I didn’t even realize he knew Hollie’s name.

“It isn’t,” I give. “He wasn’t always like that, we had fun together before. But now, we’ve been separated for a year. It’s why I’m here and why in three days we’ll be divorced.”

He nods but doesn’t say anything else for a moment.

And I keep washing and talking, forbothof us.

“I thought maybe once we split and he didn’t see Hollie every day, he’d want to see her more often, or make more of an effort, but that’s not the way it worked out.”

Rowan makes a sort of a deep growl, and I wonder if I hurt him.

“It’s his loss, Vi. He’ll regret that someday. The one thing you can’t get back is time.”

“I know that, and you know that. I just wishTroyknew that.”

Rowan gestures to his still covered wounds, I assume to change the subject, and then surprises me by his next honest words.

“I still don’t know how you do it,” he mutters so quietly it’s barely audible. I watch a slow trickle of water drip down his thigh, through the dark hair there then onto the bed.

What did he say?“It would be like bringing his death back every day, wouldn't it?”

I make my way carefully up his other thigh, almost done with this sweet sort of torture. His leg flexes and I’m momentarily mesmerized by it. I blink and keep going.

“It actually helps me to know every story doesn’t end like his. And this might sound odd, but I feel close to him here. This was the last place he ever took a breath.”

He nods, his face filled with emotion. I do my best to lighten the heavy subject.

“You’ll have some scars here, but eventually they’ll fade.” I pause to look at him, offering him a small smile.

“That so?”

“Yes,” I whisper, returning my gaze to his damp skin. “The human body is an incredible thing.”

I feel his gaze move to where I’m touching him, on the underside of his knee. And I make the mistake of looking up at him just as he looks at me. We both just sit in a suspended silence for a beat, staring at each other.

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