Because of You: A Loveswept Contemporary Military Romance by Jessica Scott Read Free Book Online

mouth, just a little, and she’d met him halfway.“If there’s any way you can get me cleared today I’d really appreciate it … I need to deploy.”
    Jen then looked up at the man who had shielded her at the bar last night. At the man who, for one breathtaking, soul-blinding moment, had made her forget her own scars and inhibitions and made her feel sensual and beautiful and whole. She wanted to help him, but there were rules, very strict rules that could get her fired. Rules that invoked patient privacy and fit-for-duty standards. Too many commanders had bullied soldiers onto planes who weren’t fit to deploy. Broken legs or broken spirits, it didn’t matter, it was the commander who held the final vote. The tight rules were there to keep soldiers who weren’t healthy off the planes and out of combat until they were fully healed. Some never were. But it was the soldier who begged to deploy anyway, even though he wasn’t physically ready, that really tore at her soul.
    She looked up at the unspoken plea staring back at her from concrete-grey eyes.
    “I’m going to jail for this,” she murmured. She raised her voice, just a little. “Sergeant Garrison, would you step over here, please?”
    Jen motioned for him to follow her behind the white curtain, not missing the wary expression on his face. Last night he’d looked at her like she’d hung the moon. Now? Now he looked at her like she might be the enemy.
    “I need to take your vitals. Sit there.” She pointed at a chair then pulled out the blood pressure cuff, wrapping it around his arm. His skin was hot and smooth beneath her fingertips; the black tattoos writhed up his arm and disappeared beneath the cotton sleeve. She looked anywhere but in his eyes as she slipped the stethoscope beneath the cuff and listened to his heart. As she pumped up the band, his strong, solid heartbeat thumped inher ears over the hiss of air as she counted silently. Her gaze drifted down again to the outline of the dog tags pressed against his … wait a second. Beneath the soft tan cotton of his shirt, a small square outline caught her attention.
    “Shane, what is that?” She glanced at the area in question.
    He tensed, suddenly immobile. Totally still. No movement. No sound. The kind of still that her patients became when they were getting ready to lie to her.
    “What?” he asked, avoiding her gaze.
    “That lump beneath your T-shirt.”
    “Cut myself shaving,” he said, but his voice was tight.
    “You shave … your chest?” Jen asked weakly. She knew some guys did. She just never understood why.
    “Bad joke?”
    Forgetting his blood pressure, Jen tugged at the edge of his shirt, revealing a white bandage, stained with blood. Turning, she grabbed a pair of gloves and pulled them on, then quickly eased back the bandage. “That’s more than a shaving cut.” She finally met his gaze, confronting the emotions she’d tried to avoid. The torrent inside of her was nothing compared to the intensity looking back at her. Tiny flecks of green tinted the blue-grey of his eyes. Lines creased the skin beneath them and she very suddenly wanted to get as far away from him as she could. That or smooth her fingers over those lines after she asked him for the one thing she doubted he’d give her. The truth. “These are surgical incisions. Did … did you have surgery?”
    He swallowed, his jaw flexing, and looked away. The muscles in his neck visibly tightened. He breathed hard, his nostrils flaring. Finally, the answer ground from his lips.“Appendix.”
    Jen held her breath as she moved his shirt and saw the blood seeping around the edge of the bandage where she held it against his skin. This was a recent appendectomy. Really recent. What the hell was he thinking? She pulled the bandage off, and inspected the sutures. At least it had been laparoscopic surgery. Small wounds, one on his left side, the other at the base of his navel. The other bandage was still partially