Zeke, Elizabeth Lennox [readnow .txt] 📗

the nape of her neck. “Wear your hair down tomorrow, okay?”

“Zeke,” she sighed, not sure what she wanted to say.

But before she could make a fool of herself, Zeke stepped back and opened her car door for her. “Until tomorrow,” he said with a gentlemanly bow.

Abby stared up at him for a long moment, debating with herself. But she knew the limits of her self-control, so instead of stepping closer, she stepped into the driver’s seat and pulled the door closed. Starting up the engine, she looked at him one more time, admired the play of muscles along his arms and shoulders and…all over. Then she carefully backed out of the parking space and drove home.

That night, after she’d washed her face, brushed her teeth, and changed into a soft, silky nightgown, she turned off the light and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about all she’d learned about Zeke tonight. She pulled her pillow against her chest and fell asleep with a smile on her lips.

Chapter 4

“What has you grinning like a Cheshire cat?” Cathy asked as soon as Abby stepped into the women’s locker room the following morning.

Abby shrugged, then pulled on a clean pair of scrubs. “I had a date last night. And I had a great time.”

“With that hottie from the other day? The big one with the yummy muscles?” Cathy probed hopefully.

Abby laughed, and nodded. “Yes. We had pizza last night and we’re having dinner again tonight.”

“Oooh! Sounds nice! Where is he taking you tonight?” The walked out of the locker room into the brighter lights of the main hospital hallway.

The whoosh of the doors to the emergency room sounded and they looked to see who was coming through. Since it wasn’t an emergency, they turned back to sorting through the supplies. “I don’t know, but apparently, he’s some sort of trainer. He told me so many hilarious stories about training new recruits last night that my stomach still hurts from laughing!”

Cathy looked at her curiously. “He’s a trainer?”

“Yeah. I don’t know which teams he trains, but I suspect he’s pretty tough on the soldiers.”

“Hmmm…I thought…” Cathy started, but trailed off.

Abby looked at her friend, her eyes worried. “What? What did you think?” Cathy had been stationed on the base for several years now and knew nearly everything that went on around here. Abby had only been here for a couple of months, so she wasn’t “read in” on a lot of the training that happened in the outer areas of the base.

Cathy waved a hand, shaking her head. “Oh, nothing. I just…”

Before she could finish, the doors opened again but this time, it was a team of paramedics that had an older officer on the gurney with breathing trouble. “Time to work,” Abby sighed, quickly moving towards the gurney and giving instructions to the paramedics before taking over.

Zeke whistled as he stepped out of his truck, scanning the area for…whatever. He was itching for a really hard work out, but knew that he had to wait until the stitches came out. Otherwise, he knew that Abby would put him on bed rest. Not that he’d follow her orders, but he didn’t want to push her too far. He could wait another few days to work out, but only a few more days. The stitches itched worse than ever and he really needed something to distract himself. He’d gone through worse, he reminded himself.

Besides, he would be seeing Abby tonight, and that made the world a pretty good place, right at the moment.

“Stop it.”

Zeke turned to Derick who was checking off inventory on a clipboard.

“Stop what?” Zeke asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Derick looked back down at the clipboard. “Stop being so…happy.” The man’s disgusted tone was obvious. And amusing!

Zeke threw back his head, laughing at his friend. “Right. I’ll get on that.” Then he walked away.

Joe was over in the corner with some of the other guys, lifting weights, but at Zeke’s approach, he sat up and glared at him. “I’m with Derick,” Joe announced, shaking his head. “If you’re going to spread that annoying happy crap, then stay away.”

Chuckles echoed throughout the group, but none dared to openly agree with Joe.

“What has you in such a foul mood?” Zeke asked, leaning against one of the weight machines. He was back in uniform today, his back healed enough for him to pull shirts over his head without tugging at the stitches. But he didn’t dare start in on the weight lifting again, even though his muscles and his mind craved the exertion.

Joe stood up and grabbed a towel, wiping his face. “It isn’t that I’m in a foul mood. It’s that you are acting just like Mike.”

Zeke glanced over at their friend and leader, who was in the conference room. The door was open at the moment so they could all see Mike as he pointed out something to General Kelly. Then Zeke glanced over at Lexie, Mike’s new wife, who was smiling as she worked on her computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard. The woman was one of the most efficient assistants their team had ever had. Add in the fact that she worked her butt off, both during the day to help out the team, as well as at night, when Mike stopped bothering her, to write romance novels.

Zeke would never admit it to anyone, but he’d read her books and…hell, they were pretty damn good!

“What’s wrong with acting like Mike? He’s a good guy.”

Joe glared at him for a long moment, then just rolled his eyes and turned away.

Zeke laughed, and strolled into his office, sifting through the tasks that required his attention. As he sat down and got to work, he