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He gritted his teeth, torn between gratitude and frustration that he couldn’t do this himself. “It’s in the bathroom.”
She immediately left him and came back in a couple of seconds. “We’re going to bandage this for now.” Her tone was maternally scolding. “At least until the swelling goes down. Once that happens, we can stop using it.” She faced him and started to wrap. “What did the doctor say?”
“I bruised my bones. Two months of recovery.”
He made a grunting noise as she pulled the bandage snugly against his ribs. “Not too bad, considering. I’m assuming they iced it at the hospital.” When he nodded, she wrapped some more. “I think you could benefit from icing it. We’ll do that after dinner,” she said, securing it at his waist. “How are your teammates?”
“All pretty much in the same boat as me, except for my LT. His side was punctured with shrapnel. He almost bled out.”
“You guys have been through the ringer, but I’m sure you’ll all bounce back.”
“Like basketballs,” he said, slipping his arm into the sleeve of the shirt she held out.
Her voice got tentative as she walked around him for the second sleeve. “Your teammate, D-Day.”
“What about him?”
She started doing up his buttons, keeping her head down. “Ah…I kinda saw him naked.” He couldn’t help but notice that her voice was a tad breathless when she spoke. She finally looked up at him, and he detected a flash of amusement.
Buck stiffened and gave her a look that would have made most men quail. “You what?”
“Well, half-naked,” she amended, her eyes telling him she wished it had been all the way. He sighed heavily. “It wasn’t his fault. He was in my bedroom, and I wasn’t aware we had a guest, so don’t browbeat him.”
“I wasn’t going to browbeat him,” Buck growled.
She raised her brows and smirked. “Yeah, right.”
He stared at her for a moment, then said, his tone quiet. “Don’t go messing with him, hellion.”
Her face carefully arranged into a non-expression, she said with deceptively innocent eyes. “I wouldn’t do that.”
There was a hint of a smile around his mouth. “You could never really lie well, baby sister.” He paused, then said, “Or act. I saw you in Gone with the Wind, remember. He’s a teammate and he’s a good guy, so leave him be.”
Her chin lifted and her gaze riveted on his face, then she looked down, her movements jerky. “That’s a mite mean,” she said, her tone just a little snippy. “You never said he was so good-looking and built. But then I should have guessed he would be, being a SEAL and all.”
He considered her a moment, and he could almost feel her squirm. “I don’t usually go around girl-gossiping about my teammates, Helen. He’s a fine SEAL and a good man.”
“I get that. I was just making a comment.”
He studied her and asked, “Why are you home early?”
Caught off guard by the change of subject, she turned away from him, and said, “We better get downstairs for dinner.”
“Helen.”
She turned back to him and lifted her shoulder in a small, defeated shrug. “The government kicked us out of South Sudan. We had no choice.”
“That’s where you were? That’s a dangerous place, Helen.”
“I know, but there are so many people who need help, Sam. So many and I’m not just talking about war casualties.” She closed her eyes for a brief moment. “I often ask myself: How do I hold onto my pledge in that kind of situation? We’re impeded and exposed to dangers ourselves. That question haunts me.”
“If you hadn’t been asked to leave?” he asked roughly, his affection for his sister both filling his chest and tightening his throat. The fear for her safety made him realize what their family members went through regarding him. But he respected her for what she did just as she respected him.
“I’d still be there.”
He nodded. “I get it. I do, but sometimes determination isn’t enough.”
She smiled softly. “Sometimes that’s all I have, big brother.”
