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One of his daytime nurses slipped her white-capped head into the room just then, and Luke perked up at the sight of a pretty young female’s face. “Everything all right here, Mr. Preston? Do you need anything?”
Luke shot her his best smile. “Just you, babe.”
She giggled in an enchanting way, but rather than coming to him, she disappeared into the hallway.
“Sheesh, you’re incorrigible.” Daniel pointed at his chest bandage, a two-inch square securely taped to one side of his left nipple. “Man, look at you. You won’t let up on the ladies even for a second.”
“Because, FYI, I wasn’t shot in the balls and everything is working perfectly down there.”
“You’re unbelievable, Luke,” Chloe said as she came closer. She rumpled his hair like she always did, and Luke considered playfully grabbing her fanny and pulling her up onto the bed with him, but then he was certain that Graves would finish what Luke’s shooter had started.
And Luke was at a slight disadvantage with a needle up his arm.
Propping her little butt at the side of the bed anyway, Chloe went somber, her voice dropping. “When they called and said you’d been shot…” She shook her blond head, her green eyes clouded with worry. “Luke, this is really serious. We think you need to stay away from Chicago until this bastard is caught.”
“I agree, man, you need to relax and recuperate, tone down the sex, get out of the city for a while,” Daniel said.
“Tone down the sex? Daniel, you probably have someone locked in your bedroom as we speak, waiting for you to come back and do the hell out of her.”
Daniel ignored him, which just made Luke jealous that his friend could be enjoying sex while he was lying here, inspiring pity. “The Prince of the Windy City” just stood there, a living, breathing Adonis with those perfect Lexington genes, perfectly healthy and perfectly able to fuck. He was Chicago’s very own JFK Jr. and had he been shot, Luke was certain the entire city would be out with baseball bats and kitchen utensils while searching for the culprit.
“I really think you’d better lay off your vices for a while,” Daniel insisted, because clearly he was getting a lot of what Luke wasn’t. “Your lifestyle is going to be the end of you just like it was the end of the Romans. All that sex, booze, and partying can’t be good.”
“Hell, man, you’re a worse womanizer than I am, don’t even deny it,” Luke shot back.
“I’m just a little more discreet, buddy,” Daniel said easily.
“Guys, come on!” Chloe said, already up on her feet and quickly settling back onto Graves’s lap when he possessively hauled her to him. “What matters here, Luke, is your worth to us. You have incredible wealth and power and could do something more with your life other than getting drunk and laid. You deserve more than that—even the women you sleep with deserve more than that.”
“Chloe, I’m like the fucking holy pope of sex. A night with me is the pinnacle of a lot of these women’s sexual lives.”
Chloe threw her head back and laughed. “All right, I won’t argue that,” she said, but she was so crazy for Graves and Graves was so completely mad about her that he might as well have been invisible. “All my friends are in love with you and keep asking when you’re going to call them again, so I can’t say they don’t like your style, mister, but what about you, Luke? Every year you party harder…Clearly there’s something missing and you could use some one-on-one time with Luke.”
He signaled toward the door with a disgusted face. “When I leave through that door, Chlo, it’s not going to be to hide like some chicken-shit.”
“It won’t be hiding. Come on! Just take a vacation. You’re in real danger here and the police were very concerned about the possibility of him trying once more. We can’t just allow you to be a walking target around town, and you’ve always been too loose with your security, Luke.”
Luke sighed and rubbed his temples. “If I say yes, will you shut the hell up? You, too, Cade.”
“Ah, blow me,” Cade snarled. “And take care of yourself for a change, Preston.”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck in exasperation. “Luke, we all think—and this includes the police—the bastard might try again, and his aim might just hit the spot next time. So why not take a break and relax, go to a beach, get a beer, have some downtime?”
Graves came over to slap the side of his head. “In plain English, it means you should stay the fuck away from trouble and keep your dick in your pants, if that’s even possible.”
Luke laughed. “Of course it’s possible.”
“Prove it.”
“Do you promise, Luke?” Chloe said. “Will you lay low for a while?”
“Do I have a choice? You’re basically browbeating me.”
“Good, so it’s settled then. And before I forget…” She reached into her purse and retrieved an envelope. “Your gay neighbor who has a crush on you brought you this. Gregg or something?”
“It starts with a damned G is all I remember,” Luke grumbled. Then he saw it was a get-well note with a heart and a message.
Luke stared up at the ceiling when they left, feeling sorry for himself. He’d screwed half the city and the only person apparently worried whether he’d make it was one of the precious few he hadn’t fucked—because he just didn’t swing in that direction.
