Fragged: A BWWM Military Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

my entrance, but he took his time giving me his attention. My pulse threatened to crash through my chest again. He must have heard Lilly. Was he playing dumb to dull my interest?
    Or maybe, he was hiding his.
    Finally, his pale blue eyes landed on me. He looked completely at ease.
    So much for hidden attraction.
    “Hey, good morning,” I said, shoving all my turbulence into a syrupy sweet voice.
    “Good morning.” His voice was crisp and dark, a natural bass. It was hard to think this man did anything by accident.
    “How’s the pain?” I remembered that I was here for work and busied myself over his monitors.
    “It’s there. I’ve had worse.”
    The edges of his mouth tightened for a flash. I looked at his tray and saw the little tin still holding pills.
    “You need to take your meds,” I said.
    “I can manage.”
    “It’s not just painkillers, dummy. There’s antibiotics, too.”
    I thought he might protest, but he just breathed out loud. “Then give me those alone.”
    “You’re hurting,” I said. “There’s nothing unmanly about dulling the pain from a freaking gunshot.”
    His lips spread into a powerful smile. It was unexpected and utterly gorgeous.
    “Unmanly?” he said. “You think that’s my concern?”
    I forced myself to sound easy. “I know you military types, all full of testosterone and bravado.”
    “Then you haven’t met many who actually fought. I’m no stranger to painkillers. But they make it hard to be alert.”
    “Alert?” I said. “You’re in a hospital. What’s the danger?”
    His cheer vanished like a stray note. Had I tripped something? He’d been in a warzone until recently. Maybe his head wasn’t as clean as I dreamed it was.
    “I don’t see a need for them,” he said firmly. “Eventually I’ll feel the injury. If I start feeling now, every day can only be better than the last.”
    I covered my heart with my hands. “Oh, that’s good. You should write a book. Oprah would love you.”
    He seemed to relax again, but he didn’t say anything. I wondered if he was going to make me drag things out inch by inch.
    “So, about last night…”
    “You still want the story?”
    I leaned on the window and found a spot where the buildings didn’t cast the sun on my face. “A promise is a promise.”
    “I shot myself,” he said. “I dropped my gun and shot myself as I picked it up.”
    “That’s it? That’s the story?”
    “It’s what I told the police.”
    A dark little smile shaded his face. I shivered at what that could mean, but asked anyway. “So what’s the truth?”
    “That is the truth. I did shoot myself with my gun. It just wasn’t my army issued gun.”
    “No?”
    He searched his thoughts a moment - for the truth, or perhaps the details he could trust me with.
    Maybe, it just wasn’t that exciting. I reminded myself I shouldn’t want him to be that exciting. Exciting meant dangerous, and I had been with enough unstable men already.
    Dating a soldier might be the one chance to eat my cake and not end up with a stomachache.
    “My family lives here,” Calix said. “It was a Sunday and I was visiting. My father told me his gun was misfiring when he took it to the range. I cleaned it. I dropped it. I picked it up by the trigger, not knowing it had a bullet. Now I’m here.”
    “So same story. It just happened at your folks’ place.” I shrugged. “What’s the difference?”
    “It sounds worse.”
    “It doesn’t sound that bad to me.”
    I remembered the proud look on his face as he walked in. Maybe this was some pride BS I couldn’t understand.
    Or maybe it wasn’t the truth.
    “But wait, why did you come here alone? I thought your father was with you.”
    “He’d left for morning service.”
    “Your mother too?”
    A shadow sank over his face so dark, so hard. I almost wanted to see if something had flown past the window.
    “She left this world a long time ago,” he said, with a voice like granite.
    “Oh,” I said, feeling