 
### Table of Contents

Title Page

Now Available

Publisher's Notes

Chapter 1: The Thrill

Chapter 2: Home Life

Chapter 3: Rude Awakening

Chapter 4: Bedside Manner

Chapter 5: Relating

Chapter 6: Setback

Chapter 7: Mistake

Chapter 8: Regret

Chapter 9: A Plot Afoot

Chapter 10: In the Meantime

Chapter 11: Just to Say Goodbye

Chapter 12: Settling

Chapter 13: Unsettled

About The Author
Swirl: Chasing Thrills (Book 1)

By: Lexi Lewis

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# PUBLISHER'S NOTES

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 Monster Media LLC

# CHAPTER 1: THE THRILL

"And next up we have Reese Abbot. I'm sure we've all heard his name making the circuit of competitive snowboarding."

"That's right, Tom. Reese has been making quite the name for himself in the past year and a half, and the rumor has it that he's looking at turning pro."

"Well, he's young enough to do it, Pete. Twenty-five and at the top of his game. This competition could be a turning point for this young man's career if he manages to wow the judges. I know there are sponsors in the audience."

"I'm sure he knows it, too."

"He's getting ready to make his run, the first ever from him in this competition. And with a wave to the crowd, he's off!"

"Look at him go! Right off the line, and it's obvious why this young man's name is on everyone's lips."

Go, go! Reese pushed himself mentally. The air was cold and sharp as it rushed past him, but this was only the beginning. He'd shot down the mountain like a bullet, but there were still the jumps and the tricks to land. He was in the zone. This was his element. Speed and danger, seeing the ground looming below him while he twisted his body into different positions, it all got his blood pumping faster than anything else did.

He focused on his breathing and the way his body moved, leaning into turns, angling himself properly to make the jumps he needed to. Reese could barely hear the roar of the crowd as he went, but this wasn't about them.

They would be satisfied either way. They just wanted a show. Reese was trying to satisfy himself. This had always been about him and pushing himself to do new and different things. To seek out those thrills that made him feel alive and keep trying to find one bigger and better than the last. In this line of work, it wasn't that hard.

Even though he wasn't a pro yet, he had made a name for himself and a small fortune working with smaller sponsors who wanted someone to wear their merchandise. He made it look good as he went flipping over a gap or soaring down a hill, and the offers kept coming in. His agent spent a good hour a day trying to sort through all of it.

In short, life was good for Reese Abbot.

For the moment, anyway.

The run was going smoothly. He blocked out the flash of cameras as he grabbed the bottom of his board, moving from trick to trick with smooth precision. He'd practiced this for weeks until he could almost do it blindly.

Up ahead was a small hill of snow, designed to launch him higher than usual to give him more time to show off. Each trick had to be hit with exact timing so that when he came down, he could move into the last part of the run without any incident. The judges took points off for sloppy landings and falls, and Reese wanted to get as close to perfect as he could.

He ran down his mental list of tricks in his head as he approached, prepping his body to launch into the first one as soon as his board had cleared the jump. The air was cold and clean, and the sun shone on the snow, sending up a glare, but he turned his head and avoided it, moving into the first trick and then the second.

His pulse pounded in his ears over the roar of the wind whipping past, and the adrenaline was amazing.

He was nearly halfway through now, and when he landed it would be on a steep downward slope, so he needed to angle his board just right.

Just as he was transitioning into his second to last trick, the sound of something snapping broke through his concentration. His center of gravity had to be just right for this to work, but his foot felt like it was coming loose from the straps that held it to the board.

It's alright you can still make it. Just adjust and scale back the trick. You'll lose out on style points, but it's better than fucking up this landing.

But then something hit the bottom of his board, startling him and making him lose the thread of what he was supposed to be doing. It tilted him out of the drop he had been preparing for, and with a rising sense of horror, Reese realized he was falling.

The ground rushed up to meet him, and he hit it hard on his side, pain cutting through the adrenaline rush as he dropped and rolled. The board was getting tangled up between his legs as he tumbled down the steep hill, trying desperately to get his feet back under him so he could at least finish on his feet and maybe try to scrape some points together for a recovery. But he was just moving too fast.

His body veered off the course a bit as it picked up speed, and Reese let out a sharp cry when his leg slammed a rock and then went over it.

Pain lanced through him, radiating out from his side where he had fallen all the way to his fingertips and toes. Each time he rolled, it just made the pain that much worse, but luckily he seemed to be slowing down, thumping along the snow covered ground. He ended up on his back at the bottom of the slope, right at the foot of the hill that would have launched him into another series of tricks.

His ears were ringing, and his chest heaved as he tried to draw breath. Each inhale felt like knives stabbing him under his ribcage and in his side, but he kept trying to suck in the cold air, desperate to stop the dizzy, light headed feeling that was stealing over him. Lights flashed and popped before his eyes, and in the distance he could hear the sound of yelling and people moving around. He was so out of it, and his head was spinning with the effort of trying to make sense of what just happened.

I fell. I messed it up. I've made that run fifty times in practice flawlessly, but I completely messed it up. I probably didn't even place after that.

It was all too much to deal with, and before it could register that it was a bad idea to pass out in the middle of the snow, his eyes were closing and darkness was consuming him. 

# CHAPTER 2: HOME LIFE

"Eve! Eve, you're gonna be late! I'm gonna be late! Everyone is gonna be late, Eve wake up!"

Evelyn groaned and rolled over, blinking her eyes open to look into the chocolate brown ones of her little brother, Devin. "What time is it, you little monster?" she asked, yawning.

Devin made a face and waved a hand in front of his face. "Ugh, morning breath. It's almost seven!"

"Shit!"

"You said a bad word!" Devin crowed, obviously excited to hear his big sister swear.

Eve groaned again. "Stop that. Why didn't my alarm go off?" She sat up and ran a hand through her messy hair, reaching for her phone on the night stand. She was sure that she had set an alarm for six-thirty in the morning. Plenty of time for her to get up, shower, and make breakfast before she had to get Devin to school and herself to work. She flipped to her alarm app and barely resisted the urge to swear again. "Because I set it for six-thirty pm, of course. God, I'm so stupid."

Devin had to be at school by seven-thirty, and she had to be at work by eight. At this rate, she was going to have to choose between breakfast and a shower in order to get them both where they needed to go. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have minded getting Devin to school a few minutes late since he just had homeroom first thing in the morning, but she very much did not want to deal with the looks people gave her when she had to sign him in.

It was bad enough that she was doing this on her own, she didn't need the entirety of the administrative staff judging her for it.

"Tell you what, squirt," Eve said, thinking quickly. "You go get dressed while I shower, and we'll stop at McDonald's before school."

His eyes lit up. Eating out was a luxury for them, especially for breakfast, and Eve felt bad. With her job as a nurse and the money she got from the state for taking care of her brother, she managed to keep all the bills paid and buy groceries as well as pay their next door neighbor to watch Devin while she had to work, but things were usually tight for them.

There would be enough to get them both breakfast from McDonald's that morning since she had just gotten her check cashed on Friday, but it would be their one indulgence for the week or maybe longer.

Devin dashed off to go get dressed and ready, and Eve hauled herself out of bed and to the bathroom to shower.

If someone had asked her even five years ago if this was how she envisioned her life going, she would have laughed in their face. At nineteen, she had been sure that she would be in medical school somewhere, learning how to save lives and put people back together. It had always been her dream to be a doctor, ever since he was a little girl playing with Operation games and making her Barbies operate on each other.

For the first two years of her time in college, she had assumed that was the path she would take. But then everything changed.

Eve could still remember it all so clearly. The phone call that had changed her life, the way her knees had given out and she'd had to grab onto the kitchen table in her apartment to keep herself upright.

"We're so sorry, Evie. There was a truck and the driver was drunk. Her little car never stood a chance. They got her to the hospital as soon as they could, but... She didn't make it, Evie. We're so sorry. So, so sorry."

Funnily enough, people saying sorry a million times didn't do anything to make her feel better. Not when her mother, the woman who had been her rock through her entire life, who had braided her hair, made her meals, shared her secrets, and just about been her best friend was dead.

Even now, three years later, she could barely remember that week.

The funeral and everything had been a whirlwind, and all Eve remembered of it was crying a lot and people handing her covered dishes. She could remember someone sitting with Devin and explaining it all to him at the hospital and the way he had wailed and begged for someone to get his mother. Her heart had clenched at that.

Devin had never known anyone but their mother. He was too young to remember their father and how terrible he had been. His mother and sister were all he knew, and with the removal of one, he had latched onto her.

Really, that was what had broken her out of her fog of depression in the end. She couldn't allow herself to go to pieces when Devin needed her.

One of their mother's sisters had offered to take him, but Eve barely knew her, and Devin didn't know her at all, and he had screamed and cried at the thought of being separated from Eve. There was talk of putting him in a foster home, but that was dismissed automatically. Eve wasn't going to leave her little brother to be raised by strangers who most likely wouldn't care about him at all.

So she'd changed her entire life around.

At twenty-one, she was in no position to raise a child. No court in the world would have granted custody of a seven year old to her, unemployed and still is school as she was then. So he'd had to go stay with their Aunt Michelle while Evelyn went to school to become a nurse.

It was as close as she could get to her dream with the way things were currently, and though on paper, her aunt was the one who had custody of Devin, once Eve had gotten stable enough to take care of him, he had come to live with her.

She liked to think they were doing fine. He was happy and healthy, and if she was overtired most days, then she could only imagine that that was how it was supposed to be when you were essentially raising a child alone and working full time. It wasn't how she had planned for things to turn out, but it was her life, and when it came down to it, it wasn't all that bad. Devin made her laugh and smile, and she still got to work with helping people, so it was close enough. As close as she could get for now.

"Eve! It's seven oh seven! McDonald's!" Devin shouted from outside the bathroom door, and Eve shook herself out of her memories and made herself get moving. "I'm coming. Put your coat on, it's cold out there!" she hollered back.

Thank god there was a McDonald's right down the street. If it wasn't packed, they could still make it on time.

She got dry and dressed in record time, standing in front of the mirror to pull her twists up into a ponytail.

Eve wasn't sure if she would ever describe herself as pretty, but she'd had plenty of time to get used to her face in the mirror. She was short, about five foot four, but that ran in her family, and she smiled when she remembered how tiny her mother had been. Her eyes were a warm shade of brown, and they sat, almost almond shaped, in her face. She had darker skin than her brother, who her mother had always said took after their father (much to both of their displeasure), and the years of hard work and cutting back what she are so that Devin would have more to eat had made her lose some of the softness that she'd had since she was a teenager. Now she was leaner, but still had the curves that also ran in the family.

Her hair was black and curly, currently styled into twists that were easy to pull back when she was in a hurry, and she was thankful that she had stopped straightening her hair months ago. It was a real time saver.

Once she deemed herself ready to head out, she grabbed her purse and her coat and then headed out into the living room where her brother was waiting, sitting on the couch and kicking his feet idly.

She inspected Devin's clothes and nodded, herding him into the car.

Luckily the line for the drive through wasn't long at all, so she got them both food and juice, watching Devin to make sure he didn't spill all over himself while she drove. They pulled up outside of his school at seven twenty-eight, and Eve breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring the sharp look from the woman who was directing traffic. It wasn't like there weren't six other cars in the line dropping their kids off at the last minute.

"Have a good day, squirt," she said, grinning and ruffling her brother's curly hair.

"Bye!" Devin chirped and hopped out of the car, slamming his door shut behind him before bounding up to the front steps of the school. He was always so energetic these days, and it made Eve happy to see it. The first couple of months had been rocky, and he'd barely talked or slept through the night, making them both cranky and tired when they had to report to their respective obligations. But as time had gone on, he'd warmed up to living with her and sleeping through the night, and things had worked themselves out.

Once she had pulled off from the school, and after shooting the traffic lady a bright grin, she headed towards the hospital.

She would be early, but that would give her time to mentally prepare herself for the day. There was a snowboard competition being held up on the mountain, and she could only imagine how busy the hospital would be what with all the thrill seekers who would undoubtedly be injuring themselves.

"I don't know why people gotta be trying to defy gravity all over the place. Just keep your damned feet on the ground like you're supposed to," she muttered under her breath as she crossed the parking lot and made her way into the hospital.

"Morning, Eve," called Lisa, the main receptionist. "You're early."

"Hey, Lisa. Yeah, which is surprising since I woke up late. Ended up getting me and the kid some McDonald's instead of trying to cook something."

"I bet he loved that," Lisa said with a smile. "My nephew is turning eleven this weekend, you know. I'm sure he'd love it if Devin came to his party."

Eve smiled back, but it was tight and a little wistful. Parties meant gifts and gifts meant money that she didn't really have to spare to give to someone else's kid. She could barely afford to give her own brother presents. But Devin and Lisa's nephew went to the same school, so she was sure that Devin would hear about the party and want to go.

How was she supposed to tell him he couldn't?

"We'll see," she said, turning up the brightness on her smile. "He might be going to stay with our aunt this weekend, but it might work out."

Lisa nodded. "Just let me know. Although I'm sure Thomas will tell him all about it at school. You know kids these days; they barely need us for anything anymore with all the technology and the internet."

"Right," Eve said, laughing hollowly. Lisa was about ten years older than her, and she wondered if the woman forgot that in some ways, Eve was still a young person herself. There was something about having guardianship of a child that either made people think you were older and more responsible than you were or that you were too young and had messed up your life. At least Lisa didn't glare at her and assume that she forgot to feed Devin or something the way the ladies at his school did. "Well, I should get on up to the fourth floor."

"Oh, yeah. It's probably going to be packed today with that competition in town. A few of the doctors are on standby up on the mountain, but they're bringing anyone with more than a few gashes down here for treatment," Lisa said. "Have a good day, Eve, dear."

"You, too," Eve said, relieved to be done with that conversation. She punched the button on the elevator to go up, and headed up to the floor she usually worked on.

It wasn't quite as good as being a doctor, but she usually worked with patients who were going to need surgery or long term care since the doctors had all been impressed with her bedside manner and the way she paid attention to things that were going on around her. So she got to see a lot of what went on when it came to caring for patients in critical conditions. It made her ache to be doing these things herself, to be the one giving the diagnoses and reassuring the families, but she told herself that it was better than nothing. It was better than not being a part of it at all.

The day started off as it usually did, with her making the rounds of the patients they already had, filling out charts and fetching different doses of different things for the doctors who asked for them. She chatted with the patients she knew and with the other nurses, and before long it was time for her lunch break.

Usually she just went down to the cafeteria for lunch. Sometimes she went out to grab something quickly, but she didn't have the money for that after that morning's breakfast. That was fine, though. The cafeteria food had grown on her, and she ordered a bowl of chicken soup and got a salad and a muffin to go with it.

She was enjoying her meal and her afternoon cup of coffee when Patty, one of the older nurses came to sit beside her. From the look on her face, she could tell that she had something she wanted to say, probably some piece of gossip, so Eve waited patiently, sipping at her soup and eating her salad.

"Have you heard?" Patty asked finally, breaking into a wide grin. She was pretty when she smiled, her skin a couple shades lighter than Eve's own, and she kept her curly hair cut short. "There was a major accident up on the mountain this morning. They just brought the guy in."

Eve frowned. "And you're happy about that, are you? I think you might need to revisit the job description, Patty?"

Patty swatted her on the arm. "Of course I'm not happy he's hurt, but he is, and he's here, and he is gorgeous."

"Really?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, girl. He's one of those athletic types. I assisted when they brought him in, and he's bruised and battered up, but it's obvious he's got a body. And his face. Chiseled perfection. Jawline to die for. Head of blond curls, too. Like an angel."

"Aren't you married, Patty?" Eve asked, making a face. This guy did sound cute, but their job wasn't to ogle the patients.

"Married, not dead," Patty said. "I can still look, and then I can tell people who are in a better position to do something about it."

"Me? Oh, come on. I can just see it now. Hello, sir. You've got a concussion and several broken ribs, but how about a date when you can walk again? Sound good?"

Patty laughed and poked her. "You never know, Eve. You never know. Anyway, they just took him up to four, so you might get to see for yourself."

Okay, now that was exciting news. If he was one of the competitors, then he would be high profile, and if she hurried, she might get to help with it. Hastily, she gulped down the rest of her coffee, gave her muffin to Patty and made her way back up to the fourth floor. Patty probably thought that she just wanted to see this guy, but the job was more exciting that some cute guy any day.

# CHAPTER 3: RUDE AWAKENING

Reese didn't come to all at once. His senses seemed to be coming back online one after another so as not to overwhelm him all at once. He could hear a rhythmic beeping somewhere near the left side of his head, and he focused on that for a while, letting the steady pattern draw him up from the blackness that was covering everything. Wherever he was, it smelled sterile, and the antiseptic and linen scent could only mean one thing. Hospital, his still foggy brain supplied.

The rough cotton of the sheets over his body confirmed that well enough, and when his sense of feeling came back, the pain did as well.

Ouch. It was hard to concentrate on anything but the throbbing ache in his right side and arm and his left leg. He clenched his left hand in the rough blanket thrown over him and tried to breathe through it.

It wasn't like this was the first time he had woken up like this, after all. He was in a dangerous line of work that usually resulted in him ending up in the hospital for various lengths of time, though he had never taken a fall like that before.

Once he had figured out how to breathe through the pain, he opened one eye and then the other slowly, blinking against the harsh glare of the light. He was in a smallish, room, the bed elevated so that he could see everything around him. Standard hospital set up, and the door to the room was closed, so he couldn't see anything else. Everything was that industrial shade of white that was supposed to signify cleanliness, but it all seemed so face. Hospitals always put him on edge because places like this were where people went to die, and no matter how hard they tried to make it seem healthy and inviting, nothing good ever came from such stark whiteness, and the heavy feel of sickness and death would always be there. His body wasn't splinted or wrapped in bandages yet, so he could only imagine that he hadn't been here very long yet. If he tried very hard not to move anything other than his head and neck, then it didn't hurt so much, and he could avoid crying out.

Reese wanted the doctor to come in and tell him how bad it was already. He could only imagine that he was out of any other winter competitions, but the spring would bring the BMX shows, and he had to be in those if he wanted to continue to move on with his career. Probably he'd be down for a month at the most and then spend all of February and early March training and getting himself back in shape.

Having a plan was good. It gave him something else to focus on other than wondering just how bad off he was.

It was so rare for him to mess up like that, and when he tried to think back over the events that had led to him falling, it was all just hazy and foggy and it made his head hurt. Things had been going so well, just like they had always gone in practice, and he couldn't imagine what had gone wrong.

His strap had come undone or something, but would that have been enough to send him falling like that? He'd finished more complicated runs than that with board malfunctions before. Sometimes boards broke or bent or straps snapped in the middle of tricks, but he'd always managed to avoid taking a spill like the one he had that day.

Reese's head protested the heavy thinking, and he sighed, pressing himself back against the pillows and closing his eyes once more. It wouldn't do any good to get all worked up about things before he even knew what he was looking at here in terms of injuries. So he took a deep breath, ignoring the way it made his side protest, and tried to relax.

He felt like he had dozed off again, because he jolted a little at the sound of the door opening and then hissed in pain when it jarred his body.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Abbot," the doctor said as he walked in. "Sorry about that, we'll get your limbs in slings and wrapped up as soon as possible."

"No worries," Reese said, voice tight from the pain.

"I'm Dr. Smith, and I'll be taking care of you for the duration of your stay with us. Right now we're just waiting for the results of your x-rays."

"Great. That's the part I've been waiting for. How long do you think it will take?"

"It shouldn't be more than half an hour. We've been on standby since the completion was being held so close to here. We'll get your leg and arm taken care of and then your...agent I believe, would like to speak with you."

Reese nodded. "Yeah, okay. You can send him in whenever you're done."

The doctor nodded and made a note on his chart. "Alright, then. I'm also going to start you on a low dose of morphine for the pain. It shouldn't make you pass out, though you might get a little drowsy. Please let me or one of the nurses know if you feel like you're having a negative reaction to it."

"Will do."

He nodded again. "Very good. I'll send a nurse in to get started on that, and I'll be back when I've got your x-ray results." He withdrew from the room, closing the door behind him, but the room was only empty for another couple of minutes before the nurse came bustling in.

She was one of those severe, no nonsense looking women who didn't make small talk. All she did was swab his arm and hook him up to an IV, her hands moving quickly and skillfully as she worked.

The morphine did its job well, and Reese could feel it working, sliding through his body in a warm wash that drove away the worst of the pain, leaving a dull ache behind that was much easier to ignore than the sharp stabbing feeling from before. It made it easier to deal with the way she moved his arm and leg as she put them in their slings. The pain from that threatened to overwhelm the painkiller coursing through his veins, but having the limbs mostly immobile ended up helping a lot.

He let out a slow breath when the nurse left after pointing out the call button on the side of the bed, and slumped back against the pillows. The morphine made him feel fuzzy, and he was pretty sure he could go back to sleep if he tried, but the door was opening again, and Paul was coming in.

Paul Spencer had been his agent and friend since Reese had transitioned from riding and racing in his neighborhood park to competing in big time tournaments. He handled all of the publicity and offers from sponsors, and in general, made it so that Reese could concentrate the sport and not the business side of things.

He was a tall man with a shaved head and a close cropped beard, about five years older than Reese. His head glinted in the florescent overhead light, and Reese grinned. Alright, so maybe the morphine was affecting him more than he'd thought at first.

"Hey," Paul said. "You gave us a serious scare, man. Don't do crap like that."

"Wasn't like I meant to," Reese pointed out, blinking up at him. "I don't even know what happened up there. One minute I was soaring, next minute I was crashing. Sucked."

"Yeah, I know. It looked like you just fell out of the air. Nearly gave me a goddamned heart attack. Has the doctor said anything about your condition yet?"

Reese shrugged his good shoulder. "Not really. He's waiting on the x-ray results to come back first. How bad did I do?"

Paul sighed and shook his head. "It's not pretty. I mean, they talked about just disqualifying you since it's not like you'll be participating in the rest of the competition."

"Goddammit," Reese swore. "This was supposed to be a turning point, Paul. I was supposed to wow the crowd and get people's attention."

"On the bright side, you definitely got their attention," Paul offered with a weak smile.

Reese snorted. "Yeah," he said glumly. "Not in the way I wanted, though. Man. This is gonna set me back so much. I've gotta qualify for the spring games, or I may as well just hang it up now. If I go that long out of the circuit, no one's going to even be thinking about me anymore."

"Just calm down," Paul said, holding his hands up in a placating manner. "Wait and see what the doctor has to say before you go counting yourself out of the games. It might be better than you think. Knowing you, it won't take any time to get back into shape and on your bike."

He let out a low breath and nodded. Paul was right. Getting agitated before he even knew anything was just going to be a waste of time. "Okay, okay. Ugh. Okay. I hate the hospital."

"Yeah, I know. But some people have sent stuff to liven up your room if you want it."

"What, already? I've only been here for like an hour, right? How did they..."

Paul laughed. "This hospital has a rather extensive gift shop, and they've already been utilizing it. I told the nurses to let me talk to you before they started bringing the stuff in, but I can have them unload it in here if you want."

Reese couldn't help but chuckle. It was nice to know that there were still people out there who were pulling for him, even though he'd let them down. Apparently, he'd let himself down more than anything else. "Sure," he said. "Maybe not all of it, though. Maybe just some flowers or something so it doesn't get too crowded in here."

"Good idea. We want the lovely nurses to be able to work."

Reese rolled his eyes. "Please don't start perving on the nurses, Paul. I need them to like me so they'll take care of me and get me out of here sooner rather than later. That's not going to happen if you're trying to get into their scrubs."

"I'm not perving!" Paul insisted. "I'm just saying. Some of them making the uniform look damned good. This one who was in the elevator with me coming up? Perfect body. Curves just like I like 'em."

"Get out," Reese said, laughing. "Bring in the flowers and go take a cold shower back at the hotel or something. Ugh, the hotel. I forgot about that. We were supposed to check out at the end of the week."

"I'll take care of it. Your parents called and said we could stay with them for as long as we need to, and they're actually on their way over here now."

Great. That was just what he needed. Reese loved his parents, but they were exhausting sometimes. They lived about an hour's drive away from here, and he had been planning to stop in to see them before he left. They never came to his competitions because his father claimed that watching him defy gravity gave him a heart attack every time he saw it, and his mother mostly didn't care about the things he did since he had dropped out of school to pursue his passion.

"Guess it's too late to tell them to turn around," Reese mumbled under his breath with a sigh.

"Probably. But hey, c'mon. They're your parents and they just want to make sure you're alright."

"Could have done that with a phone call. But whatever."

Paul gave him a sympathetic smile. "Here, I'll have them bring the flowers in and then you can spend time reading about how much the teenage girls love you."

If Reese had something to throw at him, he would have.

The next couple of hours or so were a hive of motion and noise. Nurses brought in large bouquets of flowers, setting them on the available surfaces and putting some on the floor. Even though he had just been hurt that morning, there as already a pile of cards and letters from his fans, telling him they hoped he was alright and wishing him a speedy recovery. Reese actually did read every letter he got sent because he remembered the days when he would watch the games on TV and wish that he could be part of them. And now that he was, he wanted to feel connected to his fans.

His parents came in, and his father scolded him for being reckless while his mother looked disinterested in the whole affair. Same old. His parents had always been like that. His father got worked up, and his mother pretended not to care. He caught a hint of worry in her eyes when he shifted and winced as it jostled his leg, but neither of them mentioned it.

The doctor hadn't been back in yet, and Reese just wanted to kick everyone out so that he could come back and tell him what all was messed up. Paul was standing by the door while his parents were there, and Reese managed to catch his eye and make a face that he hoped said 'get them out of here and go find the doctor now'.

"Reese, you okay, man?" Paul asked, coming closer. "Is the pain coming back?"

Actually, the morphine was doing its job, but this was his chance. "Yeah, kinda. Could you go see if you can find the doctor for me. I'm supposed to let him know if anything changes."

Paul nodded. "Definitely. Come on, Mr. and Mrs. Abbot. Let's let Reese rest a bit before the doctor comes in. We can go check out the cafeteria."

Reese shot him a grateful smile when Paul ushered his parents out, and sighed with relief at the sudden quiet of the room.

He got to enjoy the solitude for another few minutes before Dr. Smith returned.

"Sorry for the wait," he said. "You seemed to have visitors, and I didn't want to interrupt."

"No, it's okay. Though, you really could have, and it would have been appreciated. So. What's the verdict?"

Dr. Smith sighed and opened his file with the x-rays in it. "I'm afraid it's not good news, really. You managed to damage a significant portion of your body, Mr. Abbot. The fall itself only managed to dislocate your arm and crack two ribs on your right side, but the rolling seems to have done you more damage than the fall."

Reese swallowed hard at that. He'd had dislocated arms before, broken bones, cracked ribs. He'd had a rambunctious childhood with a love of the thrill of danger that had turned into a career now that he was an adult. But something about the look on the doctor's face told him this wasn't going to be all that routine.

"What else is wrong with me?" he asked.

"Your leg is broken in three places. They're complicated breaks, no doubt aggravated by your tumble down the slope. We reset your arm, but there seems to be a sprain there as well. Between your ribs and your leg, you're looking at at least twenty-five to thirty weeks of recovery and rehabilitation."

Reese's world screeched to a halt. Thirty weeks? That was about seven months. Seven months of being unable to ride or use any of his boards. That meant missing the rest of the winter games as well as the spring and summer ones as well. It meant bed rest and probably physical therapy for the leg. Oh god. Darkness was starting to creep around the edges of his vision, and he recognized this as him having a panic attack.

He'd gotten them a fair bit as a kid, and sometimes on the road when he was in unfamiliar places and feeling overwhelmed. He was definitely feeling overwhelmed now. His entire plan for the year was coming crashing down around his ears, and with it, his plans for the next few years.

Missing out on so much of this year would spell the end for him. Some new up and comer would take advantage of his downtime and elbow their way into the spotlight, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

His chest heaved as he fought for breath, his broken ribs sending shooting pain through his side. The machine monitoring his heart was going crazy, and if it weren't for the needle in his arm and the fact that his leg was up in a sling, he would have been trying to get out of the bed already so he could get some air that wasn't heavy with the scent of sickness.

"Mr. Abbot! Mr. Abbot!" Dr. Smith was saying, trying to get his attention. But Reese was too far gone. He could see his dreams lying shattered around him, and he couldn't take it.

Eventually the added pain and stress combined with his current exhaustion took over, and his vision continued to go black until he had passed out once again. 

# CHAPTER 4: BEDSIDE MANNER

Eve knocked on the door of room 408 and then pushed it open when there was no answer. Reese Abbot, twenty-five year old male with multiple leg fractures, two broken ribs, and a sprained shoulder was sleeping in his bed. It was almost impossible to tell that just a couple of hours ago he'd been in the middle of a panic attack and had passed out.

Dr. Smith had asked her to take over for Cara, the nurse who had been working with him before, since Cara had problems connecting to the patients.

In Eve's opinion, Cara didn't care about connection, but she kept her mouth shut about that and told Dr. Smith that it would be her pleasure.

She crept into the room quietly and checked the machines, making sure all was well. Reese was nearing the end of his drip from the IV, but Eve had another one ready in case he needed it. She'd have to wait until he woke up so she could ask him about the pain.

While she had the chance, she let her eyes roam over him. He looked tired, and she could see the mottled bruises around his shoulder where it had been slammed into the ground from what she had heard. Patty was right, though. He was ridiculously attractive. His hair was a curly mop on his . His eyelashes fanned out and nearly touched his cheeks with how long and delicate they looked. She wondered what color his eyes were and marveled at his facial structure before she snapped herself out of it. She had a job to do, and it wasn't ogling her patient.

"Right, then," she murmured, stepping around the flowers on the floor and going to his chart to see what had already been done.

"Did they send the other nurse away?" a deep, raspy voice asked, and Eve's head shot up.

Reese was awake now and looking right at her through bleary looking eyes.

"Oh. Um...yes. Dr. Smith asked me to step in. I hope that's alright."

He shrugged his good shoulder. "The other one didn't smile or even really look at me. I'm probably gonna be here a while, so it might be nice to have someone who actually acknowledges me as a person here."

Eve smiled. "Well, I promise I will acknowledge and speak to you for the duration of your stay, Mr. Abbot. Now. You've reached the end of your IV, which means the morphine you were on is no longer in your system more than likely. How bad is the pain right now?"

He seemed to consider it. "On a scale from one to ten? About a seven."

"Huh. That's actually not too bad, considering. Would you like something else for the pain?"

Reese shrugged again. "I guess. It doesn't seem as bad as it did before, but I'm just sort of...numb right now."

Eve frowned at that and stepped closer to the bed. "What do you mean? Which parts of your body are numb?" That could be bad if he was losing feeling.

He shook his head and then winced. "No, no. I mean...emotionally numb. No, that sounds really stupid. Mentally numb? Something like that. I can still feel everything fine. No need to worry about that."

"Oh." Eve was quiet for a minute. She had been updated on the seriousness of Reese's injuries, and she supposed it made a lot of sense for him to feel like he was numb if he was having trouble dealing with it. She could only imagine how she would feel if someone told her that she was looking at more than half a year without being able to do the things she loved. "You must really enjoy your job, then," she said.

He looked at her, and she was startled by just how pale his eyes were. She had never seen such a light shade of gray before, and if she hadn't already thought he was attractive, then she definitely would have once those eyes settled on her. "It's not even a job to me," he said. "It's all I've ever wanted to do. When I was a kid, I would try to jump my bike over creeks and rocks and my friends. Anything that would be still long enough for me to get over it, basically. And then I learned how to skateboard and snowboard and ski, and it was like...like I had found myself. It all made sense."

"It was your calling," Eve murmured.

"Yeah. I guess that's as good a way to put it as any. It's all I've ever been good at, and now..." Reese sighed. "Now I'm going to be in a bed for seven months."

"You're not going to be confined to the bed, Mr. Abbot," Eve said. "They can get you a walking cast, and your ribs shouldn't give you too much trouble as long as you don't move around too much. They'll be all healed up in six weeks, tops."

He sighed again. "Yeah, okay, so I won't have to be in bed the whole time, but I can't ride or board like this. This is going to put me back so far."

She really could understand his frustration. But Dr. Smith had asked her to do her best to put him in a better mood, so she pasted on a smile. "Mr. Abbot, I understand how you feel, believe me, I do. I know what it's like to be so close to something you want, only to have it yanked away due to things you can't control. It's awful, and it feels like the whole world is going to collapse around you. Like your dreams are just shattered, and there's nothing you can do to put them back together again. But you can't give up. You can't let it end there. Opportunities are all around you, Mr. Abbot. I'd think someone like you would be daring enough to know how to reach out and grab them."

Reese was quiet, looking at her with narrowed eyes. It seemed like he was going to argue for a minute, but then he just tilted his head back and sighed once more. "Yeah, you're probably right. And you don't have to call me 'Mr. Abbot'. That sounds so weird. My name is Reese. We're probably going to be seeing a lot of each other so it makes sense to be on first name terms, right?" Those eyes found hers again.

"Sure. I'm Evelyn, but everyone calls me Eve. It's nice to meet you, Reese." She glanced up at the clock in the room. "I have to go see some other patients, but I'll be back. Can I bring you anything? More morphine?"

He shook his head. "Not right now. I think I can handle the pain for the time being, and I hate feeling jacked up on pain killers."

"Alright. We'll see how you're feeling when I come back. It should be dinner time by then, so I'll bring you a tray. It's Salisbury steak night in the cafeteria."

"I can't tell if that's supposed to be a good thing or not," Reese said.

Eve grinned at him. "Oh, you'll find out." She waved over her shoulder and headed out into the hall, checking her list of patients to check up on.

For the next hour she chatted with the patients, made adjustments to IVs, and reported to the doctors. She got a text from her neighbor who picked Devin up from school when her shifts prevented her from doing so herself. He often stayed late at school to get help with his math homework, and Eve felt bad that she couldn't be the one who helped him.

Her aunt reminded her constantly that she was the one who worked and kept Devin fed and clothed and happy, and that she shouldn't beat herself up for the things she couldn't do for him. It was hard not to sometimes when she knew how much he still lacked.

But there wasn't a lot she could do about it either way, so she texted her neighbor back, thanking her as always, and went on with her shift. She got off at seven, which was just about an hour away at this point. Devin would probably be interested to hear about her newest patient and his love of defying death with his stunts, but she didn't want her little brother getting it into his head that he could do those things, so she wasn't sure yet if she would tell him.

He loved hearing her talk about work and the different people she got to meet, and she always ended the night by sitting on the edge of his bed and telling him stories until he fell asleep. It would probably make him happy, so maybe she would tell him.

She was still smiling at the thought when she brought the tray in to Reese. He was sitting up, using his good arm to flip through the channels on the television on the wall.

He sighed and pointed to the television when he saw her. "Look, they're already talking about it."

Eve turned and saw that the local news was on, the reporter standing at the foot of the snow covered mountain.

"From what we've been able to learn from Abbot's representation, he is in stable condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital, and more information is still needed about Abbot's status for the rest of the season's competitions. I'm sure his fans will be heartbroken to hear that he will most likely not be returning to this competition at the very least. We'll keep you updated as information becomes available. Reporting live from Mt. La Crosse, I'm Abigail Simmons."

"Wow," Eve said, bringing the tray over and pulling the extendable legs down to have it stand over Reese's lap. "They move fast, don't they? You're not even in casts yet."

Reese sighed. "That's pretty much how these things go. You don't stay on top for too long because as soon as you fall, someone's reporting about it."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah. Don't you watch the reports on ESPN or the local sports channels?"

Eve laughed at that. As if she had time to watch ESPN. Hell, as if she had the money to afford cable channels. She had Devin made due with the local stations and whatever DVDs they could find on sale when she had extra money. And neither of them were at home for long enough to really miss television anyway.

"No," she said. "I work a lot, and I've never really been into sports. No offense."

"None taken, I guess. You're probably going to get your fill of sports talk in here, though. Especially if Paul's around. He's just going to want to talk about my options."

"Who's Paul?"

"My agent." Reese picked up the fork on the tray and poked at the food. "What is this supposed to be again?"

"Salisbury steak. It's a favorite around here."

He arched an eyebrow. "Whose favorite? People who've had their taste buds removed?"

She rolled her eyes. It wasn't the most appetizing looking thing that the hospital had ever made, but it wasn't like it was inedible. But Reese was probably more used to fancy meals and private chefs or whatever, so the lump of brown meat in greasy gravy with peas probably wasn't high on his list of things to eat.

"Look, you may as well get used to it. You're going to be here for a while, and unless you plan on having your agent bring you meals every day, you're going to have to eat the food. Unless you want to be in that bed for even longer than you already will."

It was a low blow and she knew it, but from the determined set of Reese's jaw, it was exactly the right thing to say. He sighed and grabbed the plastic knife, sawing through the meat before plopping the piece into his mouth.

He made a face, but chewed and swallowed diligently. "I guess it's not so bad."

Eve grinned at him. "Very good. Now. I'm going to get your IV all set up again with more morphine because trust me, you'll want it in a bit. And then the doctor should be back to set your leg and get your cast worked out."

"And where will you be?"

"At home because my shift is over in ten minutes," Eve replied. "But don't worry, the night nurse isn't bad, and I'll be back in the morning to make sure the oatmeal doesn't kill you."

Reese wrinkled his nose, and Eve could feel those pale eyes on her while she worked. "Aren't nurses supposed to be reassuring and warm and all that?" he wanted to know.

"Sometimes. Mostly we're supposed to adapt to the situation, and I don't think you really want someone to coddle you. So I'm doing what feels right. Feel free to let me know if it's not working for you." She smiled and injected the morphine into the IV. "There, you're all set."

"Thanks," he murmured. "And yeah. The teasing is much better than being coddled."

She was usually really good at figuring out what people were going to want, so she smiled at him. "I knew it. I'll see you tomorrow, Reese. Try to hang in there until then, hm?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll do my best. See you tomorrow." He waved his good hand, and Eve grinned and let herself out. Her shift was officially over, and she sighed as exhaustion made itself known. It hadn't even been one of the longer, more trying days that she had gotten used to over the couple of years she had been working at the hospital, but she was tired and looking forward to sitting on the couch in her apartment.

There was just enough time left in the day to go home and help Devin with his homework and make sure he got a bath and was properly fed before he had to go to bed, and she focused her mind on that as she drove home.

Eve always tried to switch her mind from work to Devin when she was home so that he wouldn't have to feel like she was neglecting him for her job any more than he probably already did. He never complained about having to stay with other people or her coming home at night instead of being there to greet him or pick him up from school, but it always made her feel bad because of the sheer amount of change that Devin had already dealt with in his life.

She wanted to be able to give him something stable. Something he could hold on to and rely on, but Eve knew that making sure he was fed and clothed was more important at the moment. And that meant working as hard as she could so that they would have the money for it.

That was just how things were right then, and all Eve could do was hope that one day things would change. They had to.

With a weary sigh, Eve got out of her car and climbed the stairs to her apartment, bypassing it at first to knock on the door next to hers.

A pretty woman in her mid-thirties answered the door with a smile. Carla had been watching Devin for as long as he had been living with Eve, so they knew each other well by now. She was a short woman, short enough to make Eve feel tall, but she had kind eyes and a warm smile.

"Hello, Eve," Carla said, stepping back to let her in. "How was work?"

"Hey, Carla. Not too bad. We've got an interesting patient in right now, so that provided some entertainment."

"Oh, yes. Reese Abbot, right? I heard about it on the news. Terrible what happened. Is he hurt badly?"

Eve shrugged. "Can't say, really. Because I don't know and because I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"Doctor patient confidentiality, right, right," Carla replied with a grin. "Well, Devin's just finishing up dinner with the boys. He was perfectly behaved as always."

That was one thing about this that always made Eve smile. Devin was so well behaved that people never minded watching him. It made everything a lot easier, and she wondered how he could be so good even after all that he had been through in his short life so far.

She tried not to think about it too much in case she ended up jinxing it.

Instead, she followed Carla through to the kitchen where Devin was sitting at the table with Carla's husband and their two sons. Devin was older than Adam and Sam, but the three of them were pretty much inseparable when they spent time together. Eve entered the kitchen in time to see Adam, the older of the two boys, slip Devin and extra piece of chicken from Sam's plate, and she shook her head with a smile.

"Eve!" all three boys chorused at once.

"Hello, gentlemen," she said, giving a little bow. "Hey, Ricky." She smiled at Carla's husband, who grinned and waved at her while chewing.

Eve never worried about Devin when he was being watched by Carla and Ricky Santiago. They were obviously good parents themselves, and their apartment was always cozy. Raising two boys, rambunctious and all over the place at the ages of nine and six, meant that sometimes their apartment was messy and strewn with toys and dishes, but it always felt like a home when Eve came in.

Something was always cooking, and someone was usually singing. There was laughter and the sound of family, and it never failed to make Eve feel good.

...And a little bad at the same time.

Carla worked from home as an editor, so she had time to be there for her sons and Devin, to pick them up from school and bring them back and make snacks and dinner. When Eve took Devin next door to their place it always seemed cold and empty by comparison.

There were just as many toys and dishes and clothes strewn around, but that warmth and laughter was missing during the week when Eve had to work. Things weren't the same quality at their place, either, and it was clear that having two people to work and help pay for things went a long way.

But she wasn't thinking about that. She wasn't going to be down on herself. They didn't have a lot, but they had a good life, and that was enough. They were working towards building good things, and that was something.

Eve waited until Devin was finished eating and then smiled and held her hand out to him once he had grabbed his backpack.

He stuck his tongue out at her and ran into the hall ahead of her.

"Fine, be that way," she teased, following him out. "Thanks, you guys."

"You know it's never a problem, Eve," Ricky said, pressing a covered plate into her hands. "I think the boys would have a fit if they didn't get to see Devin every day anyway. So it's no trouble."

Eve smiled at him and took the plate, which she knew contained the chicken and potatoes that they had been having for dinner. Honestly, the Santiagos were always so nice to her, and she wasn't too proud to accept their help when she needed it. "Thank you," she said, voice softer. They both nodded, and Eve went to unlock the door to her apartment, letting herself and Devin in.

She checked over his homework while she ate and he took a bath, and then she collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from the long day. Over twelve hours had passed from the time she had woken up, and she could feel every one of them.

By the time she had Devin put to bed with a story (not about Reese's stunts because she was just too tired), she was ready to drop herself, so she took a quick shower and got into bed, letting sleep claim her easily.

# CHAPTER 5: RELATING

Casts were the little gifts from the devil, Reese was sure of it. He'd been in more of them than he cared to remember, and they were always awful. Itchy, hot, constricting. He was used to being able to move his legs as he pleased, but now the left one was wrapped in plaster. His right arm was still in a sling, and he'd been advised not to move it around too much. Add that to the fact that his whole right side was a mess of bruising and pain, and he was uncomfortable, even with the morphine coursing through him.

He was coming to hate painkillers.

And hospital oatmeal.

The hospital had been so swamped with patients that it had taken nearly all night before anyone had come to put his leg in the cast or check up on him at all, and the nurse that had been assigned to him once Eve had gone was even worse than the silent one he'd had at first. Mostly because she'd spent all the time when she wasn't actively assisting the doctor making eyes at him.

Considering the fact that she looked like she was old enough to be his mother, Reese thought that his discomfort had been completely valid.

It was morning now, early if the soft light coming in from the window was to be believed, and he hadn't slept at all. Between the pain and the constant visits from the nurse and Dr. Smith, reassuring him that they hadn't forgotten about him and that they'd be with him soon, he'd been up all night. When they'd finally come in around three in the morning to start the process of dealing with his leg, Reese had given up on sleep all together.

No doubt Paul was in their hotel room, sleeping (and probably not alone knowing him), and Reese stifled a sigh. Breathing in too hard made his ribs ache.

They were still running scans on his body, and they had to make sure that his ribs weren't broken enough to warrant worry about whether or not his lungs or something were going to be punctured. But apparently they were going to be releasing him sometime that day.

Reese didn't know what he was going to do when he was released, and he sort of wished they wouldn't.

All he had to look forward to was seeing his parents and staying with them until he was healed enough to travel, and honestly he was not actually looking forward to that at all. If this had to happen, he would much rather it have happened closer to where he called home, a few states south of here. At least then he would have been able to be in his own apartment with his own things.

There wasn't much else to do, and he really didn't want to think about how long he was going to have to be bored and unable to do the things he wanted to, so he flipped channels on the television while time passed, watching infomercials and terrible morning talk shows as the sun started to come up in earnest and the hospital got busier outside of his door.

Someone with a history of injury like his couldn't not appreciate hospitals for all that they did, but he was bored and achy and displeased.

He finally gave in and heaved a sigh, wincing when it hurt just as much as he had been expecting it to. Great.

"Are you being melancholy in here?"

Reese looked up and into the dark eyes of Eve. From what he had seen yesterday, Reese was pretty sure that she was one of the nurses that Paul had been perving on the day before. She was very pretty and looked to be around the same age as him, or maybe a little younger. Eve was short, but curvy, and her skin looked soft. There was just something about the way she carried herself that made him take notice of her, and when she stepped into the room, dressed in pink scrubs, he couldn't help but smile.

"Who me?" he asked innocently. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Uh-huh." She picked up his chart and looked it over, frowning at something she saw. "Did it really take them until three-thirteen in the morning to come and get your cast on?"

"Yep. Apparently they were swamped with patients or something. Dr. Smith and Nurse Can't Keep Her Eyes to Herself kept coming in to tell me it wouldn't be much longer, but it took forever."

Eve made an amused noise. "Nurse who now?"

"Older lady, curly graying hair. Would not stop staring at me while she was hooking me up to stuff."

"Ah. You must be talking about Patty," Eve replied with a smile. "She thinks you're really hot. When she first found out you were here, she ran to tell me all about it."

"Did she now?" Reese teased. "And what was your response?"

It was amusing to see her cheeks flush, and he found that the flood of color on her darker skin was really nice to look at.

"I told her that I was going to treat you like any other patient. And I am."

He pouted. "So you don't think I'm really hot?"

"Stop fishing for compliments. How was the oatmeal this morning?"

That was enough to have him dropping the flirty eyes he had been giving her as his stomach rolled with the memory of the gray-ish lumpy mess of breakfast he had been presented with that morning.

"Please don't remind me of that," he groaned, and she laughed softly.

"Sorry. Yeah, oatmeal day is never very popular around here."

She snapped his chart closed and replaced it at the end of his bed before going about checking the machines he was hooked up to and his IV. "How is the pain?" Eve asked, eyeing the levels of fluid in the bag.

"Scale of one to ten? About a five. Six if someone makes me laugh."

She flashed him a smile, and he couldn't help but notice how pretty it was and how it lit up her eyes. "Well, I'll keep my jokes to myself, then, so I don't agitate your ribs. How do you feel otherwise?"

Reese shrugged. "A little lightheaded, and my stomach's been acting up, but I'm blaming the oatmeal for that. Not too bad, considering."

"It could be worse. The oatmeal might be the cause, or you might be having a reaction to the morphine. Hit the button if it gets worse, okay? I've gotta go make the rounds, but I'll be back to check on you in a couple of hours."

He nodded and gave her a little wave. "Hurry back. You're just about the most entertaining thing in this hospital."

To his great pleasure, the color flooded her cheeks again, and he smiled. It was nice to know that even laid up in bed like this, his charms were not completely gone. Reese watched her go, and he couldn't help but get a look at her butt as she went. Even the shapeless scrub pants she was wearing couldn't hide the fact that she had a great ass, and he smiled to himself before shaking his head. He wasn't trying to get like Paul.

The TV was proving to be just as uninteresting as more time passed, and it was almost a relief when someone knocked on his door.

"Come in," he called, using one arm to push himself up out of the slumped position he'd been in. With any luck it would be the doctor coming to tell him some good news. Not that there was much to ne had here, but still.

Unfortunately, it seemed like luck was just not going to be on his side because when the door opened, his mother stuck her head in, his father close behind.

Somebody just come and put me out of my misery now, he thought to himself and then pasted on a smile. "Hey, guys."

"Reese," his mother said evenly. For once she wasn't on her phone, and Reese didn't know if that made him feel better or worse. His mother was always busy with her job, always taking calls and conducting business, and he couldn't even remember the last time her focus had been completely on him.

No, wait, scratch that.

It was when he told her he was dropping out of school to pursue his dream. Then nothing had distracted her from her yelling lecture about how he was going to either end up a failure or laying on the concrete with his head cracked open.

Funny how he had landed somewhere squarely in the middle of those two things.

"How are you feeling, son?" his father asked, looking concerned. Being his focus was nothing new.

"I'm fine, I guess. Pain's not too bad, and they finally got around to taking care of my leg last night." He wiggled his leg in its massive plaster cast. "They said if everything stays the same, I should be out of here sometime today."

His mother made a face, but his dad was grinning. "Good, good. We've got your room and the guest room all made up for you and Paul, and we're staying in town until you're ready to go."

"You don't have to do that," Reese said quickly, really hoping they wouldn't. "Paul rented a car, and we can just drive there ourselves. I know how much Mom hates missing work." He glanced over at her, and from the twist of her mouth, he could tell that it was killing her to be here instead of in her office yelling at her underlings.

"It's fine," his dad assured him. "Isn't it, Carolyn?"

"It's what has to be done," his mother answered, and that was probably as close as she was going to get to agreeing with her husband.

Reese rubbed at his face with his hand. "Look, it's...I appreciate it, I do, but I don't need you guys to treat me like an invalid or a little kid. I can handle getting there on my own. I don't want to put you guys out."

His mom snorted. "You're acting like a child now. You are in no condition to be trying to get anywhere on your own. Your father and I have taken time off to help you, and you will accept that help and not throw it back in our faces."

It was a struggle not to snap at her, but the look on his dad's face made him hold his tongue and keep quiet. He knew how much his dad hated it when he and his mom fought, and they would probably be doing plenty of that while Reese was staying with them. No need to start it early.

He dragged in a deep breath, ignoring the sharp stab of pain from his ribs. "Yeah, okay. Thanks. I'll...give you a call when they release me, I guess. Unless you guys are going to be around here all day?" Please say no. Please say no.

"No," his father said, and Reese barely held back the sigh of relief. "Your mom wants to go to that coffee place down the street so she can plug in her laptop and use the Wi-Fi. You know how she is."

"I am right here, Anthony," she said, voice dry. "But yes, that's where we'll be. I assume your agent will take care of getting your luggage and things from your hotel?"

Ugh. Paul would groan and complain about that, but there was no way Reese was going to tell her that that wouldn't be happening. He'd just have to deal with Paul. "Yeah, he'll handle it. I'll tell him bring it and meet us here with the car."

"Why do you still need the car?"

"Because he's going to want to go places while we're here, Mom," Reese said. "He might not even want to stay the whole time. It's not like I need him glued to my side through this whole thing."

She made an annoyed noise. "He sounds so very loyal."

"Mom."

"Alright, alright," Anthony broke in. "It's fine if he wants to leave, Carolyn. We can't make him stay, and if there's no reason for him to be there, then it's fine. I'm sure he's a busy man anyway. It'll just be nice to have Reese home for a while, won't it?"

"Yes. So nice," his mom replied, but her smile was strained and barely even real. "Well. Since you're clearly alright for the moment, we're going to head out. Remember to call us when you hear something."

"Right. I'll remember. See you later."

He practically held his breath while the two of them were leaving, and didn't let it out until they were gone and he could hear the sound of his mother's heels clacking on the polished floors getting fainter. Then he let it out with a whoosh and flopped back against his pillows, making a pained sound when he jostled his arm and his ribs.

How in the world was he going to survive staying with them for so long? He and his mother could barely be in the same room for seven minutes without arguing, let alone seven months, and the more he and his mom fought, the more overbearing and smothering his father got. There was no way this was going to go well, and by the end of it, Reese would be lucky if he and his parents even wanted to see each other at Christmas anymore.

"Goddammit," he groaned.

His stomach was still in knots from the oatmeal and the visit from his parents wasn't making it feel any better. In fact, the rolling nausea was starting to take on a pained edge, and Reese made a face.

None of this would even be happening if he had just done better in his run. He should have triple checked his equipment or practiced his runs more. Something. Anything to keep that accident from happening and landing him in this position. It was hard to say what was worse at this point, being grounded for so long or having to deal with his parents for so long.

He picked his phone up from the side table and sent Paul a quick text, letting him know what was going on and that he needed to pack and bring their luggage to the hospital.

As predicted, the only response was: You owe me.

Yeah, well. He would deal with that later. Like when he didn't feel like he was going to throw up all over the place.

It was getting warm in the room, and Reese looked around for something that would turn the air on or something. In his experience, hospitals were always too cold, and it was rare for him to feel like he was overheating in one.

But it was so hot.

He felt like his hospital gown was sticking to his body, and his throat was so dry. Reese looked over to the table to see if there was any water left over from breakfast, and his hand trembled when he reached out to pick up the cup.

The water was cool and relieving on his tongue, and he sipped slowly, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He felt hot and shaky all over, and that usually a symptom he had when he was sick. But he'd felt perfectly fine just a minute ago. Something had to be wrong. Reese chugged the rest of the water and set the cup back down.

Apparently that was a bad idea. His stomach gave a lurch, and he groaned loudly, resting his good hand over it. "Forget this," he mumbled and reached over for the call button to summon a nurse. They'd told him to let them know if anything changed, and he was pretty sure that wanting to throw up his oatmeal and water counted as a change. If they'd poisoned him with that horrible slop, he was going to sue.

When his fingers found the button, he mashed it hard, listening for the beep that indicated it went through.

"Yes?"

It sounded like Eve's voice, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered hoping that it was her. "Hi. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm about to lose my breakfast all over your pretty clean floor and these flowers, so maybe--"

That was as far as he got before the threat of throwing up became a reality. Reese barely managed to lean over the bed in time before the oatmeal and water and whatever else was coming back up and he was puking all over the floor.

God, he hated throwing up. Hated it, hated it, hated it.

He heaved once, twice, and then threw up again, gagging when there wasn't much left in him to come up. His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath, and the taste in his mouth was foul. The door opened, but he didn't have the energy to lift his head to see who it was.

Soothing hands pulled him back upright on the bed, and smoothed his hair out of his face. "You're okay, you're alright," a warm voice said, and Reese found himself succumbing to the darkness that pulled at him. 

# CHAPTER 6: SETBACK

"It looks like it's an infection," Dr. Smith said, standing at the foot of Reese's hospital bed. "The cause is still unknown, but it's clear that the injury only aggravated things."

Eve could see the blank, bleak look on Reese's face, pale as it was from him being sick multiple times throughout the day. They'd had to eventually give him something to keep him from throwing up and getting even more dehydrated than he already was.

"Do you have any questions?" the doctor asked.

"How much longer am I going to have to stay here because of this?" Reese wanted to know.

"At least another couple of days. We just want to run a few more tests, and I don't like the look of your blood pressure. You're probably feeling light headed at the moment, and I'd like to get you a bit more stabilized before we let you go."

Reese nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

"I'll let you know as soon as we know more," Dr. Smith promised, and then withdrew from the room, leaving Eve standing there. She leaned against the door when he closed it, her eyes on Reese.

She had been the one to rush in when he'd hit the call button, and she remembered the look on his face when he had been leaning over the bed, groaning in pain and losing whatever had been left of his breakfast. He was hardly the first person she'd seen throw up in her time working in the hospital, and he wasn't even the only one to take a set-back badly. But there was something about him that made her feel sorry for him.

"How do you feel?" she asked, pushing off from the door and moving closer to the bed.

Reese startled like he'd forgotten that she was there. "How do you think I feel?" he muttered. "I hate being sick more than anything."

"More than having broken bones?" Eve joked weakly, making a face when Reese didn't even react to it. "Look, you're going to be okay. Dr. Smith doesn't think it's a bad infection, so you'll probably be out of here in just a few more days."

He snorted. "That's not even... I'd rather stay here, honestly."

"What? Why? I thought you were moping because you didn't want to be bedridden. Don't you have somewhere better to be than in the hospital?"

"Okay, first of all, I wasn't moping. Second of all, I have to go stay with my parents when they let me out of here. And like I said, I'd rather stay."

"Ah." Eve knew that a lot of her patients weren't on good terms with their parents and that sometimes those terms got even worse when injuries and sickness were brought into the picture. Some of the parents she had met through this job were overbearing at best and smothering at worse, and Reese wasn't the first person to prefer staying in the hospital to going to live with their parents again. "I'm guessing you and your parents don't get along very well?"

It was none of her business, but the look on Reese's face compelled her to keep him company.

"Not...well, I mean, we do sometimes. My dad I and I do, anyway. But my mom is this...workaholic perfectionist, and no matter how good I am at what I love doing, it doesn't matter because it's not what she wants me to be doing. So I could go to the Olympics tomorrow and bring home the gold in every event, and she'd just be disappointed that I dropped out of school to pursue something that could end up killing me in the end."

"Oh."

He sighed and dragged his hand through his mess of curls. "Sorry. I didn't mean to unload that on you. I'm pretty sure you have better things to do than stand around and listen to me complain about having two parents who probably both love me."

Eve smiled at him and shook her head. "Nah, I'm on break for the moment. And anyway, you think you're the first patient I've ever had to complain about their parents? I've treated a lot of teenagers since I started working here."

He laughed dryly and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Charming," she teased.

"May as well act the part if you're gonna compare me to a teenager. But yeah, the idea of being stuck in my parents' house, barely able to move for however long it takes me to heal is really not very comforting. If it wasn't for the stupid nausea, I'd be glad for this infection."

"Don't say that," Eve chided him. "It could get worse, and then you'll be here longer. Less time with your parents, but also less time on your bikes or boards or whatever."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. All of this just feels like going backwards. I haven't spent more than a night in my parents' house since I moved out of it. You know that feeling? That amazing feeling when you move out and can do whatever you want?"

Eve considered for a moment. When she'd gone to college, it had been a good feeling, but not because she was getting away from her family. Because it had been one step closer to her dreams. "Sorry," she said, shrugging. "I'm one of those weird people who actually like their parents. Well, my mom anyway. I liked her."

"Past tense?"

And this would have been the perfect time to tell Reese to mind his own business. She had known him for less than a day, and he was one of her patients. Eve liked to get to know the people she helped heal, but she usually kept a professional distance. It was the way things were supposed to be done, after all. But there was something so compelling about Reese, and Eve hadn't talked about her mother in a long time.

"She died," she said softly. "A few years ago."

"Oh. I'm...that sucks. I'm really sorry. And here's me going on about what a pain in the ass my mom is when you don't even have one anymore. That's pretty crappy of me, huh?"

Eve laughed softly, going to sit down in the chair against the wall facing the bed. "No, no. Just because I lost my mom doesn't mean I suddenly expect everyone to like theirs. That's not how things work. And my mom seems like she would have been kind of the opposite of yours anyway."

"What do you mean?"

And so Eve told him all about her mother. About how she woke up in the morning singing, roping Eve into dancing around the kitchen with her while she made breakfast. It had always been like that. She told him about how her mother had been like her best friend. How they went shopping together and how they had both cried in each other's arms when Eve had gone off to college. Her mother had always supported her goals and dreams, and Eve had never had to worry about telling her mom what she wanted out of life, because she'd known that her mother was her biggest supporter. She didn't go into too much depth about how she had felt when her mother had died because he didn't need to hear about that, really.

"But you should know that even if you don't like your mom, if something happened to her, it would leave a hole in your life. You'd be affected one way or another."

Reese was quiet for a while, clearly thinking about that. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I mean, I'm used to her being stern with me by now. She's hardly ever anything else, and it's... My dad says it's her way of letting me know she loves me."

"Maybe it is. At least she cares and wants what's best for you. Even if it's just what she thinks is best for you."

"Yeah." He sighed and looked at her. "You're really smart, you know that?"

That got a bright grin from her. "Charmer. Flattery will get you nowhere."

"I'll be sure to tell my agent that, then."

"What?" Eve furrowed her brow, not sure what he was talking about.

"Paul, my agent saw you yesterday when I was first admitted, and he was very impressed with what he saw, let's just say."

Her eyes went wide, and she flushed. "That's...I can tell if I'm flattered or disgusted."

Reese laughed. "Go with disgusted. He's not a bad guy, but you're way too good for him."

"Oh, really? And how do you know what I'm like?"

"I can just tell. I mean, he wasn't wrong when he said you were beautiful, but there's a lot more to you than that, and Paul likes to skim the surface pretty much."

Eve smiled, taken aback. He wasn't the first patient to hit on her, but it was a surprise either way. Especially considering he was one of those men who could probably get anyone he wanted with very little effort.

"Well. Thank you," she said, flashing a smile at him. "Do you act like this with all the nurses who've helped treat you?"

"Nah. Some of them have been really old, and none of them were like you."

Her face was definitely red now, and she glanced up at the clock, stuck between being relieved and being disappointed that her break was over and she had to get back to work. She got to her feet quickly and wiped suddenly sweaty hands on her scrubs. "I've got to get back to my rounds," she said, offering him a somewhat shaky smile. "I'll be sure to stop in and see you before I leave for the night, though."

"Sure. I'd like that. Somehow...you make this place more interesting. And you tell good stories."

Eve laughed at that. "Comes from having to tell my little brother stories all the time. I'll tell you about him later." And she knew that she actually would, too. Because she liked talking to him, and she didn't see the harm in it.

That was the beginning of it.

Reese ended up being in the hospital for longer than even the doctors had anticipated. His blood pressure kept dropping, and his infection wasn't getting any better, and they couldn't in good conscience let him leave like that.

Eve could see that it was bothering him to be cooped up in the hospital no matter how much he insisted that it was better than the alternative, and she made a point to stop in and see him whenever she could, telling him about other patients, herself, the things she liked, and occasionally about her brother to help him keep his mind off of the fact that no one had any idea when he would be released.

She took her breaks in his room, laughing at his jokes and his wry sense of humor, and he always managed to catch her off guard with some flirty comment, seemingly from out of nowhere.

Eventually, she learned to shake it off, though. Reese was probably just kidding around with her, and she didn't want to assume otherwise. Besides, she barely had time for her job and taking care of Devin. She definitely didn't have time to be mooning after some extreme sports junkie, no matter how good looking he was.

Patty teased her about it all the time, though. She smirked when she caught Eve grinning as she let herself out of Reese's room on the fourth day of his stay in the hospital.

"Well, well. For someone who wasn't even interested in him in the first place, you sure are spending a lot of time in there," she teased.

Eve blushed and cursed herself for not being able to hide her emotions better. "I'm just trying to cheer him up, Patty. It's part of the job."

"Sure it is," Patty replied. "Except you and I both know that this falls under the heading of 'above and beyond' don't we?"

She huffed and folded her arms. "Are you scolding me about doing my job poorly?"

Patty rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm not. You're an excellent nurse, and you would never let having a crush on a cute patient distract you from your job. That's not even sarcasm. If this helps, and it seems like it does, then I don't see why it would be a problem."

"I guess so," Eve replied, relaxing. "I just..."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. I know what he looks like." Patty winked and then turned to head back down the hall, presumably to tend to her own patients.

Eve sighed. She was usually so good at not seeing the patients as more than temporary people she was going to be friendly towards. She sought to make their stays as comfortable as possible, and then they were gone from her life, probably forever. So what was the deal with her urge to spend as much time with Reese as she could?

# CHAPTER 7: MISTAKE

The hospital was driving him stir crazy, he was pretty sure.

In the back of his mind, he kept reminding himself that it was better than being stuck at his parents' house. That it was better than having to deal with his mother's nitpicking and his father's constant attempts to get closer to him. At least here he didn't have to do much other than eat what they brought him, surrender to their daily tests, and watch TV.

It was so boring.

And his broken leg was making him miserable with how much it itched in its massive plaster cast. It was a walking cast, so he'd been able to get up and go to the bathroom, though he hadn't had a proper shower in days because getting the cast wet was a bad idea. So he was making due with a weird combination of half showers and sponge baths.

They weren't even the fun sponge baths like he saw on TV where the pretty nurse would come in and do it for him. Because that would definitely have livened this whole thing up.

His mind supplied him with an image of Eve coming in, dressed in the traditional nurse's outfit, armed with a bucket of warm, soapy water and a sponge.

It was late at night, and he hadn't seen her that day, assuming that she either had the day off or had taken another shift, so he let his fantasy run unchecked for a bit, admiring the way the white of the outfit seemed to glow against her dark skin and the way her twists tumbled down over her shoulders.

She would put the bucket down, but the sponge would already be dripping, and the way she held it would allow the drops to fall on her chest, soaking through the white fabric of her top and turning it sheer.

The soft swells of her breasts would be so clear to see, and Reese licked his lips at the thought, his body reacting to the image in his head.

For all he was probably considered some kind of playboy because of his fame, however limited it was, Reese actually didn't spend a lot of time pursuing women. That was more Paul's thing than his. He was interested in his sports and perfecting his techniques, not trying to impress some woman that he barely knew.

It had always been like that, really. All the girlfriends he'd had through high school and his brief foray into college had complained that he loved his bikes and boards more than he loved them, and it really hadn't been an exaggeration.

He'd gone on a few dates with women since he'd gotten big in the extreme sports world, but they hadn't really gone anywhere. With the added fame, now he had to be on the lookout for women who only wanted to be with him because his name was on billboards and he was being considered for sponsorships. Reese just didn't have time for that.

So it surprised him how much he liked Eve. She wasn't even the type of woman he thought that he would go for. She didn't like sports, and she spent most of her time making fun of him, but there was something about that that he couldn't help but like. Eve had a beautiful smile and a way about her that made him feel so comfortable and relaxed in her presence, and he always looked forward to the mornings when she would come through the door and tease him about whatever had been brought for breakfast that morning.

He was sure that he wasn't her only patient, but she spent more time in the room with him than she did with any of the others, and there was a silly little thrill of pleasure at that thought.

Maybe she liked him. If she did, Reese knew it wouldn't be because of his skill at biking or boarding or whatever because she had never seen him compete. She had literally barely ever heard of him before this, and there was something about it that was so compelling.

Eve smiled and teased him in his daydream about her giving him a sponge bath. She called him an idiot and opened his gown at the front, warm water sluicing down his chest when she squeezed the sponge. It should have been damp and uncomfortable, but as the water slid down his stomach towards his crotch, it only added to the excitement in his body.

Reese checked the time and saw that it was after nine already. A night nurse would be coming by in about fifteen minutes to check the machines and see if he needed anything for the night, and his hand itched to slip under the covers and touch himself.

He hadn't since before the accident, and the thought of doing it now sort of made it better. The idea of getting caught appealed to him (well, the idea of being able to get caught; it was the thrill he loved, not actually getting caught with his hand on his dick), and the more he thought about it, the better an idea it seemed.

It would help him relax and probably he'd sleep better after a little release. Having to hobble to the bathroom in his unwieldy cast to clean up would even be worth it.

Just as he was considering sliding his hand under the covers to give an experimental touch, the door opened and the object of his fantasy walked in, making him snatch his hand away from his crotch like it was on fire.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, surprised.

Eve huffed. "I'm working, what does it look like?" she said, and her voice was sharper than he had ever heard it before, making him raise his eyebrows.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Why would anything be wrong? I love being here in the middle of the night like this. It's my favorite shift. I'm just peachy." She stomped over to the machines that he was hooked up to, poking at the readouts before going to get his chart and make a notation. He'd been told that they were watching his blood pressure for the next couple of days, and since he'd been having fewer issues with nausea, he was probably on the mend and would be released soon.

Reese was impatient for it, even while he wasn't. He turned his attention back to Eve, though, and he could see the tension in every line of her body. She looked like she wanted to hit something, and he sincerely hoped that he was not on that list.

Guilt ravaged him because of the way he had been thinking about her only minutes before, and he chewed on his lip, watching her write down whatever she had gleaned from the beeping machines and then replace the clipboard at the foot of his bed.

"I'll go refill your water pitcher," Eve said, and took it up without waiting for him to tell her that that wasn't necessary.

She looked like she needed to be in motion anyway, so Reese just leaned his head back and sighed. He used the control on the bed to angle the head of it up more, so he would be in a more sitting position when she came back in.

He wanted to ask her what was bothering her, but he was consciously aware of the fact that it was probably none of his business. He'd learned a lot about her so far, about her mother dying and her giving up her dream of being a doctor to settle for being a nurse so she could take care of her brother.

She was unlike anyone he knew, and he was drawn to that, as cliché as it was.

When she came back in, she looked moderately calmer, and he was familiar with the 'take a few deep breaths in the hallway' technique that she must have employed.

"Sorry I snapped at you," she murmured, eyes on the shiny floor as she maneuvered around the bouquets of flowers that were still on the floor in their vases. She had taken to switching out the new ones that still came in with the ones that were starting to wilt.

"No, it's okay," Reese said cautiously. "It makes since that the job would kind of stress you out."

Eve snorted. "That's an understatement. And it's not even that, really. I just hate the night shift. I told the person in charge of making the schedules that I need to be home at night, and usually he listens, but one of the other nurses needed to take the night off, and I'm pretty sure he wants to get in her scrubs if you know what I mean. So of course he gave her my shift and moved me to the night."

Oh. Well that explained a lot.

"You'd rather be home with your brother," Reese said, and it wasn't a question.

Eve paused and looked and him, blinking in surprise. "Well...yeah. I hate leaving him alone at night. I mean, he's not technically alone. He's staying over at the neighbor's house, but..." She sighed and tugged at one of her twists. "I don't like not being there and having to push him off on the neighbors. It's not fair."

"To who?"

"To him. The Santiagos never mind watching him. Devin and their sons get along really well, and they always love having him over, but he's my responsibility. And it's even worse because I'm pretty sure he was running a fever when he came home from school today, and I just..."

"Hey," Reese said. "First of all, don't talk like you're bad at looking after him. I've know you for less than a week, and I've never met the kid, and I can tell that you'd do anything for him. I mean, you're here, doing this for him, right?"

She fidgeted a little, tugging at the hem of her top. "Yeah, I guess I am, but--"

He cut her off. "No buts. You're doing the best you can with what you've got, and I think that's really amazing. All I do is sit around and whine about what happened to me, but you're really doing something great. You're great."

Eve still looked tense, but there was a little smile on her mouth, and Reese was happy to see it. "You're such a charmer," she teased him, poking him in his good shoulder. "But thank you. I guess I needed to hear that tonight. And I mean, the Santiagos are always saying that, but it's different when it's someone who doesn't know me that well, you know? It feels like maybe it's true."

"It is true," Reese insisted with a grin. "Trust me, I know things."

She laughed at that and sat down on the edge of his bed, careful not to jostle his leg. "You're silly. Anyway, how're you feeling? I'm not supposed to let my personal life distract me from my job."

Reese waved a hand. "I'm fine. Same old, really. I still get pretty tired a lot, and they've been checking in my blood pressure like all day."

"Any nausea?"

He shook his head. "Not today. Dr. Smith thinks I'm finally on the mend."

Eve smiled, and it was lovely to look at. "That's good. I'm glad. I guess you'll be out of here soon. You must be so relieved."

"Oh yeah. Can't wait to go back to my parents' house and spend time lying around in my pajamas all day. It's going to be a blast."

She poked him again. "You'll be fine, and you know it."

"Yeah."

He fell silent, and for a bit she seemed content to be quiet as well, the two of them just sitting there in the low light in the room. This wasn't the first time she had perched herself on the edge of his bed, but this time her proximity reminded him vividly of what he had been thinking about before she'd come in, and he couldn't help the way his eyes skimmed over her body, lingering on her chest and the curves of her hips before flashing back up to look at her mouth.

Eve had full, soft looking lips that he wanted to taste. He was attracted to her, there was no doubt about that. He wanted to touch her and pull her down to kiss him, but he didn't want to screw things up. She was one of the things that he looked forward to the most while he was here, and if she decided that he was some kind of creeper and didn't want to talk to him anymore, it would suck.

But...apparently he wasn't thinking with his brain. Her mood and their conversation hadn't really done all that much to get rid of the semi hard on he'd had when she walked in, and her being so close and smelling lightly of something sweet definitely wasn't helping.

Reese bit his lip and the reached a hand out to trail up her arm. If she batted his hand away or said no, he would stop immediately, but for now...for how he had to know if she was even a little bit interested in him.

He'd half expected her to ask him what he thought he was doing, but she didn't. She just turned dark eyes to him and quirked her mouth in a little smile, eyebrow arching in challenge.

Oh. That was not what he had expected, but it sent a curl of desire through him and made him wrap his fingers around her forearm, tugging until she leaned in closer to him, close enough that he only had to lean in a little to cover her mouth in a kiss.

She stiffened a little, and Reese backed off a bit in case she wanted to pull away, but then she was moving in closer, kissing him back and bringing one hand up to rest on his shoulder.

His heart pounded in his chest.

She was kissing him back, and there was a very high possibility that this wasn't a dream. God, her lips were soft, and when he trailed his tongue over the bottom one, she parted those lips and let him slip his tongue in to tease and tangle with hers.

Reese had never kissed a woman in a hospital before, and with one arm in a sling and his leg in a cast, it was hard to maneuver. But the kiss gradually grew in heat and intensity until they were both kissing each other hungrily.

They had to stop to breathe after a minute or so, and the sounds of their ragged breaths echoed in the room with the soft beeping of the machines. Reese licked his lips and waited to see what she would do, and good god, he wasn't disappointed. He watched as she carefully moved herself on the bed, slinging one leg over his lap until she was straddling him, one hand slipping up to play with his hair.

"This is all kinds of unethical," she murmured.

"Yeah? I thought this was all that happened in hospitals." And he really wished his other arm was better so that he could wrap both hands around her hips and drag her closer, but he settled for using one and slipping his fingers under the hem of her top to touch soft, warm skin.

"You've been watching too many soap operas," she teased him with a smile, and then she leaned in for another kiss, not protesting when his hand slipped up higher.

It seemed like she liked it, and Reese took that as a good sign. They kissed slower this time, and he let his hand explore under her shirt, sliding around to caress her back. Eve seemed to like that, and she pressed down over his crotch, rocking her hips and making him groan into the kiss.

Fuck, that felt good.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked, pulling back and opening her eyes.

Reese shook his head. "Not even close. Just...don't stop, okay?" Her mouth was kiss reddened and now he was thinking about those lips in other places, but he was pretty sure they didn't have time for that. He pressed his hips upwards as best he could, making a pleased sound when she pressed down against him and rolled her hips forward.

His hand slid back around to the front and then up to cup one of her breasts through her bra. "Can I?" he asked, voice barely pitched above a whisper.

"Yeah," she breathed back, and he wasted no time in pushing up the cups of her bra, freeing her breasts.

They were just as soft as he had imagined they would be when he let himself think about it, and he brushed a thumb over her nipple, grinning crookedly when it hardened under his touch. The little intake of breath that she gave was so damned alluring, and he pushed his hips up again, now fully hard in the flimsy hospital gown and his boxers.

He wondered if she could feel his erection under her and if she was getting as excited by this as he was. It was such a turn on, doing this in the hospital room where anyone could open the door and come in to see them like this.

Of course, Reese didn't want that to happen, since he was fairly sure that Eve would get in trouble if someone saw them, but the fact that it could happen, that there could be some witness to what they were doing here, was enough to have his blood pumping.

It was the same kind of thrill that he got from flying down a hill on his snowboard, preparing to make a jump that was ridiculous and hard, and Reese was willing to bet that if they went all the way, it would feel the same as sticking a landing and looking up to bask in the roar of the crowd, barely able to hear it over the thundering of his own heart.

But that might be too risky to think about. It was one thing to touch like this, and definitely another to take that next step, and anyway, with the way she was grinding on him, it wasn't going to take too long for this to be over and him to find his release.

Reese wasn't selfish, so he went back to paying attention to her, touching and stroking her skin, and rolling his hips in an effort to give her some pleasure as well.

From the sounds she was making, he was succeeding, and he grinned against her mouth, nipping at her lip and pulling back for just a second. "Not bad for a guy working with one hand, huh?" he teased, tweaking her nipple and relishing the gasp she rewarded him with.

"Oh, god," she groaned, and it could have been a reaction to his comment or to the way he was touching her, but Reese didn't care either way. He kissed her hard as they moved together, and when she pressed down hard, he couldn't hold back anymore.

Heat and pleasure raced through his body, and he felt the front of his boxers become wet as he came, the clammy dampness seeping into the hospital gown as well. He swore against her mouth, pinching her nipple harder and drinking in the sounds she made as she came as well, writhing and thrusting down on his lap.

They parted to breathe, and Eve's eyes were wide and dark. Reese watched as the pleasure and satisfaction was edged out by something colder and sort of...terrified.

"Oh, god," she said again, but there was no warmth in it. "Oh, no." She was up from his lap in a matter of seconds, fixing her clothes and looking at him like he she had never seen him before.

"Eve?" he asked, frowning. "Are you..." Before he could finish that question, she was out the door, letting it close behind her as she hurried away.

Reese let his head flop back against the pillows, and he heaved a sigh. Maybe that had been a mistake after all.

# CHAPTER 8: REGRET

Oh, god. Oh, god. What had she done?

She'd never messed up like this before. Reese was a patient. He was someone who was looking to her to help with his care, not to make out with him in his bed like some kind of horny teenager. What had she been thinking?

Granted, he had started it, which clearly meant that he'd wanted it, maybe that he'd even been thinking about it before, but that didn't make it right. It didn't mean that she was excused from the fact that he was a patient and what she had done was the height of unethical behavior.

And really, what was the reason they had done that? Because he was bored and she was angry at having to work the night shift? She'd managed to work nights before without ending up straddling a patient.

Just the memory of it had her pressing her hands over her face and letting out a low groan. Of course, that noise just reminded her of the noises she had been making into his mouth when they had kissed and when he'd touched her, and it was all too much. She wanted to go back in time and not kiss him. She wanted to go back and shake his hand off of her arm and tell him that it was inappropriate for them to do things like that.

She wanted to pretend like she hadn't liked it.

But, oh that wasn't true.

Eve had liked it quite a bit. Reese was skilled with his mouth and his hands, and when she closed her eyes and licked her lips, she could still taste him there. She could taste him on her mouth and feel his hand on her breast, and it made her heart race.

"You are an idiot," she said to her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her shift was nearly over now, just about half an hour to go, and she'd managed to avoid going back into Reese's room. When she'd peeked through the window, he'd been lying on his good side, facing away from the door, and she'd hoped he was asleep.

Really, she was probably the only one making a big deal out of this. She was probably just one in a string of women that Reese kissed. It didn't mean that he felt anything for her or that he wanted anything from her, and assuming that he did was stupid.

Just because he'd touched her and kissed her better than anyone had in a while (and really, how sad was it that a quick fumble in a hospital room was one of the best experiences she'd had with this kind of thing?), didn't mean that it had to mean anything. She'd probably show up for her shift the day after tomorrow and he'd have nothing to say to her about it.

After all, someone like him was clearly able to have whoever he wanted, and she wasn't so naïve as to believe that he wanted her.

She had nothing to offer him. She barely had the time to sleep and keep herself fed between her job and the time she spent with Devin. When would she have time to have a boyfriend or a sex friend or whatever?

Even when Reese was healed, it wasn't like she could invite him over to spend the night at her place. Devin would want to know who he was and why he was there, and explaining that to her ten year old brother was definitely high on her list of things she never wanted to do ever. And anyway, she knew better than to think that someone would stick around when she had to have her focus on her kid brother all the time. So it was a moot point, either way. And that was good. It needed to be moot. It needed to never happen again.

"Pull yourself together, finish your shift and then go home," Eve muttered to herself as she let herself out of the bathroom to make her last couple of patient visits.

She had the next day off from work, which worked out fine since it meant that she would be able to spend time with Devin and run some errands she had needed to do for the last little while. The apartment was practically empty of food at this point, and the weekend was approaching fast.

Having things to do and being away from the hospital would be enough to keep her mind off of things, she hoped, and by the time she came back, she would have her head on straight.

That was all there was to it.

Forcing herself to focus, she completed her shift quickly and then headed home, tired and on edge. It was three in the morning, and she wanted nothing more than to fall into her bed and maybe use the empty apartment to her advantage. Whenever Devin spent the night with the Santiagos or some of his other friends, she cleaned and took some time for herself, putting her trusty rabbit vibrator to good use.

This would definitely have been the occasion to do that since few things relaxed her like a good orgasm, but she was pretty sure that it would just make the problem worse since getting off was what had started this whole damned thing in the first place.

She let herself into the apartment with a low sigh and then headed for the bathroom, deciding that a long soak in the tub would be just the thing to help her calm down from the nerves and agitation that were jangling around in her.

The hot steam helped to clear her head, and she dumped in some bubble bath that she'd been given as a gift last Christmas and had yet to use. It smelled sweetly of vanilla and cocoa butter, and she liked that, so when she finally stripped out of her clothes and underwear and eased into the bathtub, she was feeling better.

All she had to do was clear her mind and let herself drift, and it would all be fine. At least, that's what she told herself.

The water felt good lapping over her skin, and she let out a low sound of pleasure as her tense muscles were eased by the heat. She still felt slick between her legs from when she had come in Reese's lap, and as soon as she let that thought form, she was thinking about it again.

"No," she groaned, but it was too late. Her body was reacting to the water and the memory of his touch. How long had it been since someone else had gotten her off? Probably since before her mother had died, and that was a very long time to go without having any other's touch but her own. It explained why her body was reacting so strongly to this.

Eve resisted for as long as she could, but then she slid her hand down her torso and under the foamy water, sliding her fingers over her clit and shivering at the sensation it produced.

It felt good. Not as good as having Reese pressing his own crotch against hers, but with the memory in her head, it was close enough.

Her other hand came up to caress her breasts, pinching and twisting her nipples in turn while she worked fingers into herself, spreading her legs wider in the water.

"Oh," she breathed, pushing her fingers in deeper, pretending that they were something thicker and hotter. That she was astride Reese's lap, him in his bed and both of them barely clothed. She thought about sinking down onto what had felt like a very impressive cock, and having it deep inside of her.

She thought about the look on his face as she rode him, how he would touch her hips and her chest and tease her nipples. He had both hands to work with in her fantasy, and god, did it add to the sensation.

Her soft cry of pleasure echoed in the otherwise silent bathroom, and the water sloshed against the side of the tub as she fucked herself on her fingers faster, her other hand coming down from her chest to tease her clit.

When she came, it was with a shuddering gasp and his name on the tip of her tongue, and she knew, she just knew that she was screwed beyond all belief.

# CHAPTER 9: A PLOT AFOOT

"I have some news, and I'm pretty sure you're not going to like it."

Reese groaned. After the day he'd had, the last thing he wanted to hear was bad news. He hadn't seen Eve since the night they had kissed, and he assumed that she'd had the day off since she hadn't come in at all. At least, he hoped that she was just off and that she hadn't requested not to have him on her rounds anymore. There were still things he wanted to say to her; mainly he wanted to find out what the hell had happened that night, and why she had suddenly run off. Was it because he was a bad kisser? Did he not make her feel as good as she made him feel? He hoped that wasn't the case either, but he'd spent the whole day worrying about it and couldn't bring himself to ask one of the other nurses who'd come in to check on him what the deal was.

So he'd gone a whole day without seeing her, and now it was early in the morning, and he was waiting with bated breath to see if she'd come in today or if he would never see her again.

How had she worked herself into his head so thoroughly? It hadn't even been that long since he'd met her and now he was feeling like he was missing something if he went more than a day without seeing her.

Maybe he was losing his mind. It would make sense.

"Reese," Paul said, snapping his fingers. "Are you with me, man? Because I really need you to pay attention here."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm listening," Reese said, shaking his head to clear it. It was probably best to just listen to whatever crappy news Paul was going to tell him. "Let me guess. I'm being dropped by sponsors already."

Paul shook his head. "No, no. Word of exactly what's going on with you hasn't been released yet. You're still fine on that count. You might have to do an interview next month or something, or release a statement telling people you're taking some time off for your health. If you reassure them that you'll be back full force eventually, it should be fine."

"Eventually," Reese snorted. "Right. Six to seven months in a cast and then another who knows how long for physical therapy to get my leg back in working order. It's going to be like another year before I'm at the top of my game again."

"I know it seems pretty bad, but don't give up on me," Paul said. "You're not done yet."

Reese sighed. He felt done. But whatever. He could mope about that later. "Yeah, I guess. So what's the terrible news, then?"

Paul pulled his tablet out of his bag and flipped the cover open, tapping a few things on the screen. "I asked for the footage from your fall at the competition," he said. "I knew you'd want to see it so you could see where you might have gone wrong with the trick."

It was one of Reese's habits to watch the footage of his performance in competitions so he could critique his form and his tricks from an outside point of view. This, though, he wasn't sure if he wanted to relive.

"And you want me to watch it now?" he asked, making a face.

"It's kind of really important that you do," Paul remarked, holding the tablet out to him.

On the screen was the frozen image of Reese in all his gear, somewhere before he had started the trick that had gone wrong. He didn't know what Paul was expecting him to see, so he sighed and tapped play, watching as he headed towards the jump.

He watched himself launch into the air and then start going through the movements, each one fluid and precise. As he looked, his brow furrowed.

Reese had assumed that he'd done something wrong. That he'd come at a trick from the wrong angle or with too much spin or something, but that wasn't the case from what he was looking at. It looked like he had done everything right. All of the moves looked like they were supposed to, and that didn't make any sense.

He watched as his board went off balance, sending him crashing down to the snow in a fall that made him wince to relive. Reese pressed pause before he had to watch himself roll down the slope. His arm and ribs twinged with pain just thinking about it.

"I don't get it," he said. "I thought that I'd done something wrong, but all of this looks so solid. What happened?"

Paul knew something; Reese could tell.

He leaned over and swiped his fingers over the screen, rewinding the video and then zooming in closer. "Watch it now," he said. "And pay attention to the area around your board right before you start to fall."

Reese frowned but obeyed, watching it again.

What the...

There. Right before his board went out of his control, something dark and roundish seemed to smack into the bottom of it, hitting the bottom and the side and putting him off kilter. It wasn't big, but it was apparently enough to have him losing the thread of the trick and plummeting down into the snow.

"What was that?" he asked, looking up at Paul.

"I'm not sure. It's too hard to see when it's zoomed in that much, but it looks like... Well. It looks like a rock or something. Like someone threw it or shot it or something and hit the bottom of your board to throw you off."

Reese stared. Sabotage. It was the one thing he hadn't considered. Reese was always more inclined to blame himself when things went wrong in his runs, and he hadn't even thought about someone else being at fault. About someone else trying purposefully to hurt him or put him out of the game. He had competitors, sure, rivals and people who he raced and went up against in competitions, but that was the nature of the sport. Of every sport, really. Someone had to lose and someone had to win.

"How could someone throw something at just the right time like that?" he asked.

"I don't know that either. There are a few different ways it could have happened, but unless a stone or something just magically happened to be right there at that exact moment, we're looking at someone who did this to you."

There was a mixture of relief and horror coursing through Reese that made his stomach hurt. On the one hand, this wasn't his fault. He wasn't a failure. If there hadn't been action from someone else, he probably would have finished that run perfectly and not had any problems. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders all of a sudden, and he wanted to smile.

Of course, the fact that there was someone out there who either disliked him or wanted him to fail enough to make him get hurt like he had was enough to put that weight right back on his shoulders.

"How do we find out who did this?" Reese wanted to know.

"I'm working on a few things. Once I saw the footage, I called the people in charge of the competition, and they're going to do some investigating. There were trees all along either side of that run. Anyone could have been hiding in there trying to cause trouble."

"Right." It was going to be hard, then. "Do you think...do you thing they wanted to hurt me? Or just get me out of the competition?"

Paul shrugged. "Hard to say. No matter what they wanted, you did get hurt, and it could have been much worse. I hate to say it, but it seems like someone who would know exactly where to aim on your board to make you mess up would also have to know a thing or two about the sport. So it's probably someone who wanted someone else to win."

"Which means either one of the other competitors was in on it, or they had some ridiculously overzealous fans."

"Right. It's gonna be hard to pin down which one we're dealing with here. I was going to head over to the mountain and do some digging of my own. There hasn't been any fresh snow since your accident, so if there are foot prints or any other evidence out there, it should still be untouched. Unless they've gone back and tried to cover it up."

Reese sighed and dragged his hand through his hair. "Let's hope they haven't. This is..." he shook his head. "I kinda can't believe someone would do this."

"It's not that uncommon, you know," Paul pointed out. "And it's been all over the media about how that competition could have boosted your popularity and gotten you more notice from the sponsors and pros. It was the perfect time to try and get you out of the picture."

"Never mind if I got killed or something in the process," Reese muttered, scowling down at the tablet in his lap.

"Let's not jump to that just yet. We don't know if murder is in the cards or if they were banking on your being okay in the end. I called up to the equipment room to see if they've got security tapes or something and if they know who all was authorized to be around the boards before things got started. Didn't you say you felt your strap give out?"

Reese nodded. He'd forgotten all about that. "Yeah, right before I fell. I remember thinking that I could have finished if it was just the strap, not like I haven't done runs with one strap before. But then the rock or whatever hit, and I was down."

"Huh. Yeah, we're definitely looking at someone who wanted to mess you up. They probably wanted to make sure that you were going to end up on the ground one way or another, and I bet only having one strap made it harder for you when your board got hit."

"Makes sense," Reese replied. "Awesome. So there's someone gunning for me. That's just great."

"Don't get yourself all worked up about it yet," Paul advised, taking his tablet back and swiping his fingers over the screen a few times. "There are still a few more things I've got to look into. In the meantime, you work on getting better. The sooner you're out of the public eye, the better, and no one's going to be stupid enough to bother you at your parents' house. No one's even gonna know you're there."

"Right. Okay."

Reese trusted Paul. He trusted him to take care of this so that it wouldn't happen again. And he had a good point. None of the people who might have been behind this would know that he was staying with his parents, so hopefully he would be safe.

Paul stayed for a while longer, talking about his plans and asking about Reese's health and possible discharge days, and when he finally left to go head up to the mountain and do his poking around, Reese sighed and flopped back against the pillows before reaching back and pulling one over his face.

If whoever was responsible for this had wanted him out of the picture for a while, then they'd damn well gotten what they wanted. It would be months before he'd be able to compete again in any sport, and by that time whoever they wanted to be at the top could be in his spot already.

In his head, he ran down a list of people who he had beaten at various things who might have a grudge against him. Most of the time the competitions and tournaments were friendly enough, the athletes focusing more on being at the top of their game than on trying to make others lose. It was worth more if you beat someone with your own skill, yours against theirs, than if you sabotaged the game, but apparently this person didn't care about that.

He cast his mind back over the last few competitions he'd been in, trying to remember if anyone had stood out as particularly hostile.

There was Matt Carpenter, who always managed come in at second or third whenever Reese got first. But then there was also Jesse Donahue, who seemed to be stuck at fifth most of the time. There were rumors that if his performance didn't improve, he was going to be dropped by his sponsors pretty quickly.

Reese grabbed his phone and texted Paul to email him the leaderboard from the competition so he'd know who had placed. He'd so far avoided looking at it because he didn't want to see how far he'd fallen, but now he pretty much needed to know.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the door being pushed open and Eve stepping inside. Her presence hit him like a ton of bricks because for a moment he had been more occupied with thinking about his latest problem than with thinking about her and whether or not she was going to come back.

But there she was, dressed in her purple scrubs, with her hair pulled back with a headband. There was something resigned in the set of her mouth, and Reese made a face.

"Hey," he said, giving her a little wave. "Long time, no see."

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Not really. I was only gone for a day. Let's see if you managed to keep yourself in one piece while I was gone."

Something like that would have usually been delivered in a joking tone, colored with warmth, and Eve would have been smiling crookedly. Now, her voice was just mildly pleasant, and he recognized the generic 'kind nurse' bedside manner that he got from most of the other nurses. That wasn't what he wanted. There had been something different besides the normal nurse/patient dynamic between them since the very first day, and he didn't want to let go of that.

He watched as she checked the machines and then went to look at his chart as per usual, trying to think of something to say that wasn't rude or accusatory. He still had no idea what had happened to make her run from him that night, and he didn't want to push too hard if there was something sensitive there or something in her past that made it hard for her to be intimate with others. That would just be counterproductive.

"So...you left quickly the other night." There. That was neutral enough, right?

Eve stiffened, keeping her eyes on the chart. "I had to finish my rounds," she said. "There were other patients who needed me."

"Probably not in the same way," Reese joked weakly.

Her eyes darted up to his and then back down. "I..." She seemed to be struggling with what to say, and if she didn't have the chart in her hands, Reese was willing to bet that she would be wringing them together.

"What happened?" he asked finally. Apparently beating around the bush was going to get them nowhere. "We were fine and having a very good time if the noises and end result can be believed, and then you just...were gone."

"Reese," she said, and her voice was almost pleading. "You are a patient, and I'm supposed to be helping you get better. Not...doing those things with you."

He frowned hard. "So this is about your job? I mean, that's kinda a relief because I thought it was about me being bad at the kissing and stuff, but still."

"But still nothing," she said firmly. "It's not supposed to happen. It shouldn't have happened, and it's not going to happen again. You're supposed to be concentrating on being able to leave, and whatever happened the other night is not a part of that."

"Actually that made me feel better than I have in days," Reese pointed out. "I get that it's messed up to be doing stuff like that with a patient, but I'm not always going to be your patient."

She faltered a little at that, and her eyebrow knit together. "You're not going to be thinking about this anymore when you're not here," Eve mumbled, and Reese barely heard her.

"What?"

Eve shook her head and let out her breath in a messy whoosh before drawing herself up. "Mr. Abbot, your vitals are looking better. Your blood pressure is steadily increasing, and your reduced need for painkillers shows that your ribs are on the mend. You should be out of here very soon. If you need something, press the button and a nurse will be with you as soon as possible."

She replaced the chart in its slot and then she was leaving.

"Eve," Reese called, not wanting to see her go again. Not when he was still so confused about what was going on in the first place. "Will you just talk to me?"

"This is a hospital, Mr. Abbot," she said softly. "I have other patients to see. If you have a question, then one of the other nurses can answer it, or you can wait until I make my way back around."

The door closed softly behind her, and through the window he could see her standing there for a few seconds before she headed off down the hall.

Reese blinked and then covered his face with his hand. That was rejection if he'd ever experience it before, but he just didn't know where it was coming from. They had been getting along fine before the kissing and during the kissing and for about two seconds after the kissing. And since she was apparently not going to talk about it, Reese was left wondering if he was ever going to know what was going on in Eve's head.

He'd at least been hoping that he would be able to tell her what was going on and what Paul had found out, but now...

Now he was ready to just get out and go stay with his parents. Which was definitely saying something. 

# CHAPTER 10: IN THE MEANTIME

The next few days were nearly unbearable. He didn't have Eve's good humor or stories to distract him from just how boring the hospital was. All he knew was that he was tired of lying in bed and tired of eating the crappy food, and he was tired of her pretending like nothing had happened.

He wasn't going to force the issue because he was well aware that wouldn't do anything but make it all worse, but every time she came into the room, it was like a punch to the stomach. She barely met his eyes anymore, instead talking to the machines or to the chart or to the floor. It was all 'Mr. Abbot' this and 'is there anything else you need' that. Gone was the warmth and the joking air that had hovered between them for so long. Now there was staunch professionalism that he hated.

Along with that, there was the fact that Paul had yet to learn anything about whoever it was that was trying to put him out of the games. There had been footprints in the snow behind a few trees and evidence of the ground being disturbed a few feet away, probably where they had dug up the rock from under the layer of fresh powder.

So it was all but confirmed that someone had it out for him. Great. There was a threat, and even if they had been able to figure out who it was, there was nothing Reese could do about it from his hospital bed.

He wanted to tell Eve at least, to let her know what was going on, but she barely spoke to him for the next few days, and he didn't even see the point of trying.

Instead he answered her questions woodenly and watched her fill out paperwork, wishing she'd just sit down and talk to him for a minute. He wouldn't even bring up the kissing again if she didn't want to talk about that.

Reese just wanted something more than this stunted silence between them.

His mood was terrible on the day his dad called him. Talking on the phone was better than having to deal with his parents in person, and at least if it got too annoying he could claim the doctors needed him for some tests or something. So when he saw the house number on his caller ID, he sighed and answered it.

"Hey, kiddo. How're you feeling?" his dad asked.

Reese barely held in the sigh. He hadn't told either of his parents about Paul's findings yet because that was just going to make things worse. His mother would have that look on her face that always screamed 'why the hell are you still doing this?' and his father would worry. A lot.

It was just better for everyone involved if they didn't know.

"Pretty good," he replied. "My blood pressure's been going up steadily, so they're pretty sure I can leave soon."

"Good, good. Your mother's anxious to have you home."

He almost snorted out loud. That meant that his mother was tired of waiting for him to show up. She was ready to have her life back and be able to devote all her energy to her job like she wanted to.

"...Yeah, okay," was all he said, desperate to avoid more conflict. "It shouldn't be too much longer. They just want to make sure that I'm not going to get there and then have a relapse or something."

"I understand," Anthony replied. "We all just want you to get better, you know. I'm sure your fans can't wait to see you back out there doing what you do best."

"I can't wait to get back out there. It's going to take a long time before I'm well enough to do that, though. Broken legs don't heal overnight."

His father chuckled. "No, they don't. But I know you, son. You've never been one to give up on the things you want, and I can tell how much you want this. Even if you have to be away from it for a while, I know you'll come back stronger than ever. And we'll be rooting for you."

That made Reese smile. Usually his dad's overzealous cheerleading made him want to hide his face, but for the moment, it was exactly what he needed to hear. Eve had been the one who had been keeping his head up about everything for the first part of his stay here, and without her doing that, he had been sliding down under the weight of all the things that were against him.

"Thanks, Dad," he said. "I'm gonna try. I know there's a lot of people who're waiting for me to get back out there, and I don't plan on letting them down."

"That's my boy," Anthony said, and Reese could practically hear the smile in his voice. "You know we're just a phone call away until you get released, right?"

"Yeah, I know. It helps a lot to know that."

"Good. Well, I'll let you go. I just wanted to check in. I'll tell your mother we can expect you soon."

By the time the call ended, Reese felt a lot better than he had before. There was still a part of him that was probably going to be upset about Eve until he got some kind of resolution there, but the rest of it didn't seem like so much to deal with just then.

Either they would find the person who had sabotaged him or they wouldn't, and there was no chance that he was going to let them or his injury keep him from doing what he loved. It just wasn't going to happen. So he smiled as he leaned back against the pillows, already planning in his head the way he was going to make his triumphant return to extreme sports when the time came. 

# CHAPTER 11: JUST TO SAY GOODBYE

Eve took a deep breath as she lingered outside of Reese's hospital room. She needed to go in there and get him to sign his release papers so that he could be discharged, but she just...ugh. She had been so stupid. It had been a week and a half. Ten days of them knowing each other and getting to a level of comfortable friendship that she had ruined by acting like such an idiot over something that hadn't even had to be such a big deal.

She'd spent a good deal of time beating herself up over the idiotic way she had behaved and how much she found herself missing him.

And she'd wasted so much time.

Time that could have been spent getting to know him better and being friends. Even if it was pretty impossible that he would want to see her in a romantic sense after this, they could have at least been friends.

She was going to miss his wry sense of humor and the way he never seemed to take anything seriously until he would just say something insightful out of nowhere.

This is what comes from getting too close to patients, she scolded herself. She always tried to be friendly and good to her patients, but this...this had become something else entirely. Something she didn't want to lose. But as soon as he signed his papers, he would be out the door and she'd only see him if she happened to catch one of his competitions or something on television.

"Suck it up, girl," she muttered to herself and knocked on the door firmly before opening it.

Reese was just emerging from the bathroom, and he was wearing real clothes for the first time since he had been admitted. Eve's eyes widened at the way the long sleeved shirt clung to his leanly muscled frame, and the way the baggy gym shorts hung low on his hips. He couldn't wear pants because of the cast, so even though it was probably freezing outside, he was going to have to make due in the shorts, it seemed. At least he was wearing socks. Well. One sock.

"Hello," she said after a bit when she realized with a jolt of horror that she had been staring at him.

"Hi," he said back.

He'd seemed to be in a better mood for the last couple of days, and she could only imagine that it was because he had finally decided he'd had enough of her. It would make sense considering all the other admirers he had.

"I um...I have your discharge papers here. All you have to do is sign them and then you're not our problem anymore." She gave him a tentative smile.

His eyes widened and he returned it, hobbling slowly back over to the bed to sit down. "I'm sure you'll all be glad to be rid of me."

"Oh, I don't know. You livened the place up a lot. I don't think the doctors were too happy about the reporters that hung out outside for the first couple of days, but you weren't a bad patient."

Eve watched as he seemed to think something over and then those pale eyes flashed up to her face, holding her gaze.

"Really? Even when I crossed the line with you?"

Ah. So there it was. She'd wondered if he was going to leave without bringing it up, and she'd had a hard time trying to decide if it would be better for him to just leave it alone. Eve let out a breath and then put the papers down on the chair. "That's not... You didn't cross the line. I mean, I told you it was okay. It's not like you forced yourself on me."

"Yeah. But then you ran away and practically refused to talk to me for the next like week. That doesn't seem to indicate you liking it."

Eve shook her head. She had no idea how to explain this. She certainly couldn't tell him that she had gone home that same night and got herself off in the tub thinking about him and his fingers and his kisses. But she didn't want him to think that he had been the problem.

"No, that's not how it was. I mean, yeah, I...I just kind of freaked out." She tucked a twist behind her ear. "I've never gotten intimate with a patient before, and you're practically famous and leaving soon, and I just...I didn't want to wait for you to drop me or realize that this was just a little bit of fun for you to have while you didn't have anything else to do."

Reese frowned hard. "Is that what you think of me? That I would do that to you?"

She shrugged a shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that. Not to anybody and definitely not to someone I like as much as you. If you had've said no that night, I would have just backed off and we would have gone back to the way things were. Do you have any idea how much I've missed the way things were?"

"But...you barely know me."

"So? Everyone's a stranger until you get to know them. I liked what I had gotten to know about you. The hard working woman who would do anything for her family. Your sense of humor, the way you tell stories. I like all of that a lot, and it didn't have anything to do with me being bored or looking for a distraction. If I'd met you at Starbucks it would have been exactly the same."

Eve blinked in surprise. "Oh. Well. Now I feel kind of silly."

He smiled at her. "Don't. It's not like you knew or I ever declared my intentions or anything. I just wish we could have talked about it before now. But if you think this is the last you're going to be seeing of me, then you are dead wrong."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. Because I am going to give you my number, and if you want, you can give me yours. And then we can keep in touch. I'll text you when my parents are driving me insane, and you can text me when you get weird patients or when your brother does something awesome."

She could feel the wide smile stretching her face at that. Because it was what she wanted, what she had wanted since she'd admitted to herself that she was attracted to him, and hearing that he wanted it to was such a relief.

Eve didn't want him to go. Not yet, anyway. There were still so many things up in the air with them, things that they hadn't talked about, hadn't discussed. She knew this wasn't really the time to discuss any of it. His agent was probably around somewhere, and she knew that his parents were on their way to take him back to their house, which was only an hour away from the hospital.

He was going to be leaving, and even though they had just made plans to keep in contact, there was something in Eve that wanted to make sure that he remembered her. She thought about the last time they were alone together like this. That time had been different. The hospital had been quieter, and there was much less chance of them getting caught doing something they shouldn't have been.

But Eve was pretty sure that Reese still got off on the chance that there could be someone just outside, preparing to come in, not knowing what was happening. Even she had found the thrill erotic and she didn't have a danger kink or whatever it was that made Reese like that.

And now...now there were people milling around just feet away outside the room. Doctors and nurses and patients, and any one of them could hear something or mistake this room for another and come waltzing in. Anything could happen that would make the idea turning over in the back of her mind a terrible one.

But still she wanted it.

"Sign the papers," she said, eyes going to his.

He frowned. "That eager to get rid of me?"

"No. I'm eager for you not to be my patient anymore. Sign them."

"How is that different from what I just said?" Reese looked confused, but he took the papers and the pen she offered him, using the night stand beside the bed to scribble his signature on the paperwork.

As soon as he was done, he looked up at her expectantly, but before he could say anything, Eve was coming closer and leaning down to kiss him.

It felt as good as it had that night, even though he stiffened against her for a moment at first, making her think that this might have been a mistake. But then he made a pleased noise into her mouth and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer so he could kiss her more deeply.

He was much taller than her, even seated on the bed, so she only had to dip her head to meet his lips again and again, loving the way his hands felt as they splayed across her back, the warmth of his palms radiating through the fabric of her scrub top.

"Do these doors lock?" Reese asked as he lifted his head to breathe, those pale eyes going a bit darker with want that made Eve shiver.

"No."

A smile stretched across his face. "On the one hand, I like the danger. On the other, I'm not sure I'm stupid enough to strip you naked and kiss all over your body when there's a chance someone could come in and see it."

Eve laughed softly, tracing her tongue over his lips. It felt good to let go for once. She was so used to having to be there for Devin and having to hold herself back from the things that she wanted, that having time to do what she wanted now was something of a blessing. It wasn't a lot of time, but there was no chance of Devin finding out about this and asking uncomfortable questions, so she was going to take advantage of it while she could.

"Is that really what you want to do?" she asked, her own eyes bright with good humor and desire. It sounded good, to be honest. To have his lips and hands all over her. If the stuff they'd done the last time had been any indication, then Reese would definitely make her feel good.

But that wasn't what she wanted at the moment. Right now, she wanted to focus on making him feel good. She had overreacted and treated him badly for the last few days, and she wanted to make it up to him.

With a gleam in her eye, she disengaged from his arms, stepping back and smiling at his puzzled look. It had been ages since she'd done anything like this, and her heart was hammering in her chest because she wasn't even sure if she still remembered how to do it properly, but the look on his face when she sank down to her knees between his legs was enough to make her think that maybe she knew what she was doing after all.

"Fuck," he said, letting out a messy breath. "This isn't a dream, right?"

Eve grinned at him and reached her hand up, stroking along the bulge of his growing erection through his gym shorts. "No, not a dream. Just a...goodbye gift. If you want to look at it like that."

Reese licked his lips, and she laughed softly as his hips pushed forward, pressing his hardening length against her hand more. "You are definitely my new best friend."

Well. Maybe one day she would be more than that, but for now that would do. "Just wait," she said. Eve worked her hand into his shorts and got the waistband down enough that she could pull his erection out of his boxers.

It looked as nice as it had felt, the tip flushed, and the shaft curving lightly upwards. She licked her own lips then, glancing towards the door to make sure that no one was about to turn the handle before she leaned in and pressed a kiss to the head of him.

His sharp inhale of breath made her grin, and she licked the slit before opening her mouth and taking him in.

He was hot and thick in her mouth, and she loved the way it felt. His skin was velvety on her tongue, and she took her time, exploring the ridges and veins that she could feel. But there wasn't a lot of time for her to get acquainted with his body, so she decided that there would be another time. They would make it happen, and her goal for the moment was to make him want it to happen again.

This wasn't like her at all, but she wanted him to go to his parents' house with the memory of her on her knees, mouth around him while she gave him pleasure.

When was the last time she had done something strictly for herself? When had she last just...gone after something she wanted? It felt selfish, but she knew that she deserved it. She knew as she bobbed her head and took more of that sticky, hot flesh into her mouth that she was a person who had needs and wants just like every other person, and that every once in a while, it was okay to go after them.

Reese groaned, making her concentrate on him fully. The fingers of the hand on his good side threaded through her twisted hair, not forcing her down or even guiding her, but seemingly just holding on.

"Eve," he groaned in a strangled voice, and the sound of her name on his lips like that sent shudders through her.

She brought one of her hands up to wrap around the base of him, holding where she couldn't make her mouth reach. The other hand teased and toyed with his balls, weighing them in her palm before stroking her fingers over them lightly. And he reacted to all of it, arching and moaning, biting his lip to try and keep it all quiet.

"Eve," he panted. "Eve, I'm not gonna...I'm so close."

That was what she wanted to hear. Her jaw was starting to get sore because she was so out of practice with this, but from the fire between her legs, it was pretty safe to say that she was enjoying this almost as much as he was. Even with the way her jaw protested, she sped up her movements, sucking him down as far as she could and then back up, paying attention to the sensitive head.

Reese's fingers tightened in her hair, and he managed to get out a breathless warning before he was spilling himself inside of her mouth.

It was a surprise, and Eve was glad that she had room to breathe or else she would have choked. She swallowed what he gave her, not minding the taste, and then leaned back to lick him clean and grin at him.

She wanted to do more, but for now, this would do. It would be a taste of the things that they might do later if they could. Maybe it would be enough to keep them both going. 

# CHAPTER 12: SETTLING

Reese would say one thing for his parents' house. The beds were way more comfortable than the hospital beds could ever even dream of being. They were plush and had memory foam toppers, and when he woke up on the fifth day of being back at home for a while, he sighed and let himself just lay there, soaking up the comfort.

His father had insisted that he stay in bed as long as he needed to, but Reese was done with being bedridden. After he took this breather and got his mind prepared for the day, he planned to be up and on his feet, so to speak.

There wasn't a lot to do around here as far as he was concerned, but he was going to find something to do. He couldn't drive with the cast, but he could call a cab if he needed to, and Paul was staying in the guest room, and he was sure that they could work out some kind of deal that involved Paul driving him around for a couple of hours.

He glanced at the clock on the night stand and saw that it was just after ten in the morning. From the smell in the air, his father had made breakfast, and Reese knew that his mother would have left for work hours ago. If she was in bed after seven in the morning, she considered the day wasted, so she was long gone by now.

Reese stretched and pulled his phone from the charger, swiping across the screen to wake it up and check for any messages. There were a few emails that he planned to look at later and a couple of texts.

One was from one of his friends who looked after his gear when he needed help, wishing him well, and the other was from Eve. In the five days since he'd left the hospital, they had texted every day.

He could still remember the feeling of her mouth around him, and he'd given himself a pretty good orgasm the night before with just his hand and that memory. They had gotten in the habit of sending good morning texts when they woke up, and since she had to get her brother to school and then get to work early, hers always came in first.

Good morning, the text read. I'm sure you're still in bed pretending to be an invalid while the rest of us do real work. But have a good day anyway. :)

The smile that curved his lips was involuntary and bright, and he quickly typed a message back, teasing her and telling her to have a good day herself.

Deciding that he couldn't put off getting up for any longer, he pushed the covers back and struggled to his feet, waiting for his balance to adjust to the perpetually unwieldy weight of the cast on his leg. God, he couldn't wait to get rid of the thing. It was itchy and hot, and it made getting ready take twice as long.

He pulled a shirt over his head and then sat back down on his bed to struggle into the wide legged gym shorts that had become a permanent part of his wardrobe while he had to have a cast on.

Running fingers through his hair to settle it from the unruly tangle it became every night, he headed out of the room to the bathroom, grateful as he had never been as a kid that his parents' house only had one floor, not counting the basement. Stairs were just not going to be happening for a while.

Once he'd washed his face and rinsed his mouth out, he hobbled into the kitchen, giving his dad a crooked little smile as he watched the older man dance in place while he made pancakes.

Anthony Abbot was older than his wife by a good ten years, and while Reese's mother was still very much a force to be reckoned with in the work force, her husband had retired from working for other people and had his own tax business that he did from the comfort of his own living room. It made his dad happy, and Reese had forgotten how much the sight of his father dancing around the kitchen while he cooked breakfast could cheer him up.

"Morning, Dad," he said with a smile, going to sit at the table, leg propped up on the chair opposite him.

"Good morning," Anthony replied, grinning back and sliding a plate piled high with fluffy pancakes in front of him. "Hungry?"

"Always." Reese pulled the syrup closer and was going to struggle up to pour himself a cup of coffee, when one was presented to him. "Thanks, Dad," he said with another smile.

Mornings were always the best time. It was before the boredom had a chance to really settle in, and Reese always found himself in a better mood, then.

"Is Paul still here?" Reese asked as she dumped syrup over his breakfast and tore into it. So much better than anything the hospital could come up with.

"No, he was up and out the door around the same time as your mother," Anthony replied. "I offered to make him breakfast, but he said he doesn't do breakfast."

Reese snorted. "No, he doesn't. He pounds a cup of coffee and that's about it. I've never seen him eat before noon."

Anthony shook his head. "That's not healthy, but I guess he's been getting by this long doing it. It can't be killing him or anything." He shrugged and dished up his own plate of breakfast, and father and son sat together to eat.

The peace of the morning lasted into afternoon, but by the time Reese's mother had come home from work, Reese's familiar agitation at being home was starting to show. It definitely didn't help that Paul had shown up right before Carolyn and hissed that there was something he needed to tell him.

Getting privacy in this house was practically unheard of, but the two clustered in the guest room, which was furthest away from the kitchen where Anthony was making dinner while chatting to his wife.

"What is it?" Reese wanted to know. He rarely saw his friend and agent look so serious.

"We've found out some more about the situation."

That was what they had started calling the sabotage issue since they'd come to stay with Reese's parents. He still wasn't sure that he wanted them to know about this, after all.

"What? Is it bad?"

"Well, it's not good," Paul replied with a sigh. "I managed to track down the guy who was in charge of looking over all the equipment before the runs. Apparently there was a significant amount of time when things were left untended, and there is security footage of someone coming up and going into the equipment room. He was wearing a staff shirt, so I guess that's why no one bothered to say anything. But no one could identify him when I asked."

"So you think he messed with my stuff?"

Paul shrugged. "It's the best guess, so yeah. That's not all, though. Apparently there was some guy in the crowd who was supposedly writing for some magazine, and he was doing a poll of the spectators for who they thought was going to come out on top. According to someone who was there, if they said your name, the guy would then ask them how they would feel if you were to 'have a fall from grace'." He made air quotes around the words. "Then apparently he'd ask how they would feel if you stopped competing all together."

Reese's stomach twisted. That definitely sounded more deliberate than he had been expecting, and even though he'd already known that whoever this was had the goal of messing with him and keeping him from competing, this was hard to hear. He felt sick that there was someone out there who disliked him enough to want him to be out of the game that badly.

"So...what are we going to do?" Reese asked, keeping his voice steady. It wouldn't do to fall apart because of this. He'd told himself that he wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of him doing what he loved, and that included whoever this guy was.

"I'm going to try and see if I can talk to some more spectators. It seems like a good bet that most of them were from around here, so they shouldn't be that hard to track down. If I can get a good enough description, it will give us something to go on."

"But there's a good chance we won't find out who it is, right?" Reese said. There would have been hundreds of people there, and it could have been anyone.

"Well...yeah. I guess so. But I'm not giving up so easily. I have a couple other ideas that might get this guy to come to us if we need him to. You focus on getting better, and I'll focus on hunting whoever this is down and giving them a piece of my mind."

Reese smiled, but his heart wasn't really in it, and it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

Paul clapped him on the shoulder. "Good man. Now let's go see what your dad is making for dinner. I haven't eaten all day."

# CHAPTER 13: UNSETTLED

Eve hummed under her breath as she let herself into her apartment. She'd worked a shorter shift that day, the nurse who she had covered for that night a couple weeks ago (a night she couldn't forget) having offered to take some of her shift in case she wanted to go home early. It had been ridiculously nice of her, and it sort of just confirmed Eve's suspicions that some favoritism had been in play when it came to her shift being changed. But at least it had been made right.

Being home earlier than usual meant that she'd be able to go pick Devin up from his after school program, and she texted Carla to let her know.

She flipped through the stack of mail on the kitchen counter, finally having more than five minutes to go over it. There was a letter from their aunt, a couple of bills, the usual slew of junk mail and advertisements. The bills got put to the side with a bright pink sticky note on the small pile where she wrote down the dates that they needed to be paid by.

There was another hour before Devin needed to be picked up, so she decided to just...relax. A pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream was in the freezer, and she settled on the couch with it, watching the news and just unwinding from the day.

It was so rare to have a moment to breathe in the middle of the day like this, and she was determined to enjoy it.

Lately her head had been full of swirling thoughts. Mostly about Reese and how they were going to make this fledgling thing between them work. At least he understood, she thought. He knew that her brother and her job were going to have to be priorities in her life, and he'd told her that since he had very little to do until he was all the way healed, he had no problems with working around her schedule.

All in all, things were looking up. Devin was doing well in school, her bank account was not as full as she'd like it to be, but it was enough to make sure everything got paid and there would be a little extra this month, so maybe they could have a few nicer things. Her job was still going well, and even though she missed the dash of humor that Reese had added to her day, being able to text him was helping a lot. They'd even talked on the phone a few nights ago, his soft voice had lulled her to sleep after a long day of work.

Now she ate ice cream from the carton and watched a news story about adopting dogs from an animal shelter, wondering how much extra trouble it would be to get Devin a dog.

In her pocket, her phone vibrated, and she put down her spoon to fish it out of her pocket. The number was unfamiliar, and not even an area code of the city, so she frowned, not sure who would be calling her.

Muting the television with one hand, she hit the button to answer the call with the other. "Hello?"

At first silence, then. "Hello, Evelyn."

Her blood ran cold.

Even over the phone, and even after not hearing it for a good number of years, she recognized that voice. Her father. The man who had ruined things time and time again for her and her mother. The man who had run out on her mother when Eve was about ten only to come back and beg for forgiveness a couple years later. Her mother had wanted them to be a family, so she'd taken him back, but then he'd just knocked her up again and walked right back out.

He was scum, in Eve's opinion. He'd never hit her, but she knew that was because her mother had literally been her shield. She'd taken the brunt of the man's anger so that her daughter wouldn't have to.

He hadn't even come to the funeral when her mother had died, and Eve had been glad for that. He didn't deserve to say goodbye. He deserved to rot in hell.

"Eve, are you there?"

She wanted to hang up on him and block his number, but if he was back again, that could only mean he wanted something, and she needed to know what it was.

"How did you get my number?"

"From Cousin Sharon."

Of course. She was on her father's side of the family, and she was always advocating that they let the past be 'water under the bridge'.

"What do you want?"

"Why didn't anyone tell me Amanda was dead?" There was a tinge of some emotion in his voice, but if it was real, Eve would eat her remote.

"Why do you care? You hadn't been to see her in seven years. You just walked out, and you didn't deserve to know."

"She was my wife," he fired back.

Eve snorted. "Yeah, right. Because you cared so much about her. What do you want?"

He was silent for a bit and then he sighed. "I want to meet my son. And you're not going to keep me from him, Eve, do you hear me?

The world ground to a halt.

# ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello,

My name is Lexi Lewis. Reading many romance novels is what eventually got me into writing them myself.

As a teenager, I would constantly go to the library or bookstore and pick up romance novels. While I did enjoy them very much, I noticed that most of the women in these covers and stories where not like me. You see, I'm a an African American woman with curves. Besides perfect looks, these characters I read as a teenager seemed to have perfect lives. Therefore, I was having a hard time relating to the characters in these stories.

I started writing Fantasy and Multicultural Romance stories because I wanted to represent woman of color and give them great romantic stories that they could indulge in and relate to. Love comes in all sizes and colors, so should the women in romance novels.

If you wish to contact me or keep up with my latest works, please visit my website at <http://lexilewis.net>

Kisses,

Lexi

# Table of Contents

  1. Table of Contents
  2. Title Page
  3. Now Available
  4. Publisher's Notes
  5. Chapter 1: The Thrill
  6. Chapter 2: Home Life
  7. Chapter 3: Rude Awakening
  8. Chapter 4: Bedside Manner
  9. Chapter 5: Relating
  10. Chapter 6: Setback
  11. Chapter 7: Mistake
  12. Chapter 8: Regret
  13. Chapter 9: A Plot Afoot
  14. Chapter 10: In the Meantime
  15. Chapter 11: Just to Say Goodbye
  16. Chapter 12: Settling
  17. Chapter 13: Unsettled
  18. About The Author

