Page 65 of The Wounded Warrior

Matty rose to kiss Momma’s cheek. “Love you. Come on, Lu. Shtuff won’t wait.”

He grinned and headed out with Matt, feeling damned good in his bones. Maybe he was finally getting his shtuff together after all.

Chapter Nineteen

“Come on, man. Just a couple more steps.” Avery was at the end of the parallel bars, encouraging him, cheering him on.

Luke was going to kill him. That blond surfer dude smile and ‘can do’ voice was so much harder to take than, say, a military trainer shouting at him to sink or swim.

“Trying,” Luke panted.

“Try harder. You’re rocking it. Your quads are ten times what they were when you started with me.”

Luke gritted his teeth, lifting his upper arms off the bars, using just his hands for balance as he forced out one more step. Then two.

“Right on!” Avery was right there, refusing to let him fall, easing him into his chair and handing him a bottle of water. Evil fucker.

For a long moment, all he could do was wheeze for air. Then he took a drink, pulling hard at the cool liquid.

Hot towels appeared like magic on his legs, wrapped tight around his thighs. Asshole that he was, Avery was damned good at his job.

Cold chills swept over him as his muscles seized up for a moment, then relaxed.

“Oh, fuck me raw.”

“Not my job, sailor.” Avery grinned at him like a monkey, those blue eyes dancing. “Rumor is that you’ve taken up with Rory McConnell, though.”

“How widespread is this rumor?” They weren’t hiding it, but he didn’t want to cause problems for Rory, either.

“I heard it, but Rory and me, we had an ill-fated thing, so Lori made sure I knew.”

“Ah. A thing.” That was a little odd, but he could brazen it out. “Long or short?”

Avery snorted. “Infinitesimal.”

“Well that’s good.” He winked, feeling easier in his bones. Luke expected a long thing, damn it.

“No. It was awful. His cats hated me. He’s a good friend, though.”

“The cats like me. Well, the Persians love me for my tuna, but Mal and I are buds.”

“There? See? Made for each other.” Avery replaced the cooled towels with hot ones.

“Yeah.” He grinned, because he was beginning to believe that shit. “You like your job, Aves?”

“Huh? Sure I do. Why? You thinking about going into physical therapy?”

“Not exactly, no. If possible, once I get up and running, I’ll hire someone. I’m way more about logistics.”

“Up and running? Did you hit your head, sailor? Seriously. How many fingers am I holding up?”

Luke swatted at Avery’s hand. “Three. Sorry, I’ll start over. I been talking to Matt and Rory about a place for animal therapy. You know, injured service people, rescue horses.”

“No shit? How much does that rock, man? I love that. Hot men at every stall!”

Jesus, he was surrounded by horndogs. Either that or he had managed to meet both gay guys not him or Matt in town. Score!

Luke shook his head in mock sorrow. “I think you’re overestimating the hotness of anyone but Navy SEALs like me.”

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