The Omega Team: Spurs (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

because I am not going to be responsible for finishing killing you.” Harsh words, but, damn, he was fine, and she’d jump on him if he wasn’t bleeding.
    “Are you saying you want me to fuck you?” He lay back on his elbows and extended his right leg. “Because that could be arranged. But I’d rather take my time and make love to you.”
    She glanced up, clutching the heel of his boot. “You don’t seem like the romantic type to me.” Bracing herself, she yanked and fell back on her bottom. “Are you?”
    He held out his other leg, and she managed to get the boot off without a huge jerk this time, but he still sucked in air through his teeth. “Whew.” Finally, she got his jeans the rest of the way off. “Not usually, but then I’m not usually this vulnerable to a woman.”
    She touched the skin of his upper thigh. “It’s hot. We have to get a doctor in here, Ryder. I’m afraid the infection will spread and you’ll lose the leg.”
    The concept should frighten him, but he shrugged it off. “A medical report of any kind with my name on it showing this injury has failed to respond to treatment will end my career. Just hang on until I can brainstorm with the guys when they get back. I just want to buy a little time.”
    Everything in her said this was wrong. She couldn’t be responsible for him coming to harm. But his plea, his gray eyes, lines of pain tightening his full lips…. “No longer than the morning. I’m not kidding.”
    “Deal. If we can’t come up with a better solution, I’m in your hands, you and the sawbones.”
    “Okay.”
    “Ryder?” The deep voice was accompanied by a rap on the door. “You decent?”
    “No. Just a second.” He glanced up. “That’s Sarge. Look, give me a pair of boxers out of the dresser. Top drawer. I don’t think he wants to see me naked.”
    She helped him pull them on, a little relieved not to have his erection waving at her when she planned not to take advantage of it. Once he was settled on the bed, she opened the door to find the older man bearing a basin of steaming water and a bucket of first aid supplies. Without a word, he set everything down on the dresser and moved the straight chair beside the bed.
    Ryder smiled at her over the man’s massive shoulder. “Sarge was a field medic for a while before he discovered his true calling as a cook.”
    “Dang, son, this is a mess.” Sarge dipped a towel in the hot water and cleaned around the edges of the open sore. “This is gonna hurt, but you can take it.”
    “Yeah,” he said. “I can. But I don’t want Isbet to watch in case I cry like a baby.”
    “But I don’t want to leave, I—” She took a step back.
    He bit his lip so hard a droplet of blood appeared. “Go, okay? Bring me some iced tea? I’m pretty thirsty.”
    She had no fear of physical danger, but someone she cared about in pain could really do a number on her and she’d never wanted to escape more. She wouldn’t stay gone, just needed a moment to gather herself, so she fled to the kitchen. Her hands shook as she poured a glass of sweet tea and added three ice cubes. She didn’t need a shrink to know where her reaction came from. Her mother’s lengthy, excruciating death from bone cancer haunted her. But Ryder had no cancer and he was not dying He had a bad wound, he’d overdone it…and he’d be fine. Maybe if she repeated it a hundred times more, she’d believe it.
    By the time she returned with the tea, and one for her, he lay with a sheet pulled up to his hips, no shirt on, and pillows fluffed behind his back.
    “I gave him some painkillers, and he’ll be okay for a while.” Sarge patted her on the back as he passed with his supplies. “It’s getting on toward supper, and I need to get everything dished up for the guests. I’ll send one of the boys up with a tray for Ryder and you.”
    “Thanks, Sarge. That’ll be great.” She handed Ryder the glass, and he took a sip and grunted.
    “Sweet tea?”
    “You