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‘Patient three has a gunshot wound to his chest. Entry wound but no exit wound. The wound has been cleaned and packed. He had no radial pulse and minimal external bleeding. Needle compression resulted in return of radial as well as easier breathing.’
Satisfied, the sergeant directed the lads to ferry the three casualties to the waiting helicopter, where the MERT team would be ready.
CHAPTER NINE
THE LULL OF the four-by-four had been almost soothing as they’d begun their recce the following day. A corporal was acting as their designated driver, and she and Kane had been in the back, sitting opposite each other on the hard metal seats that lined each side, ostensibly poring over the map and the potential sites. Going through the scenarios one more time to determine what kind of cas-evac would be ideal for each. Helicopter? Vehicle? Ambulance?
But a couple of hours in and the tension that had begun winding between them ever since they’d set off had become fraught, and thick.
It had started with the first sway of the vehicle as Mattie’s leg had rocked against Kane’s. She’d moved it away, trying to create some space, but as they’d moved from the level tracks around the hospital onto the more uneven ground of the landscape the rocking motion had grown more pronounced.
With every passing minute, and each brush of her leg against his, each moment of delicious friction, Mattie had felt her resolve slipping. She’d tried to focus on different things in the space. The jerry cans, the sticker, the stretcher behind Kane’s head. Yet nothing had worked and, instead, all the professional attitude they’d been focused on had crumbled with each roll of the cab. Especially when Kane had snagged her gaze with his and slowly, slowly moved his thigh—hard and defined—to pin hers in place. As though his resolve was as fragile as hers.
As though he’d wanted as badly as she did.
There was no way that the corporal driving the vehicle would possibly have detected anything, and yet Mattie had felt instantly exposed. Edgy. Like they’d been teenagers caught necking in the back of a taxi. Except that it wasn’t a taxi, they weren’t teenagers, and they sure as hell hadn’t been necking.
But she’d wanted to.
She still wanted to.
And now, several tense hours later, the four-by-four having left the main track for off-road terrain, and the wallowing becoming more and more pronounced, the contact was becoming almost unbearable.
‘Bit rough, isn’t it?’ Kane murmured, pitched low enough for their driver not to hear in the front.
She blinked slowly, the tone sounding innocent enough but the glint in his eyes suggesting anything but. Despite everything they’d said the other day in her office, a wicked thrill poured through her in an instant.
She didn’t mean to, but Mattie felt her eyes drop to his mouth. She’d avoided looking at him for the last few days but now that she was, she realised that the urge to kiss him, to taste him was right there. Like lifting a teacloth cover off a poorly concealed cake she’d been hankering over for too long.
And then she dropped her gaze again. Down the front of his jacket, which did little to disguise the well-built chest beneath, and the lower abs that she’d traced with her fingers, and then her tongue, that night back in the hotel.
And suddenly she was staring straight at the part of him that she should be looking at the least. The part that got her the hottest.
The vehicle lurched without warning, and Mattie shot her hand up to brace herself on the inside of the roof as they bounced along, helpless to stop her legs from banging against Kane’s.
He lowered his hand, out of sight, to rest it on her thigh, steadying her. But the contact was scorching, branding her from the inside out. It was insane how badly she wanted to slide down her seat and make Kane’s hand move higher. More centrally.
She wouldn’t. Of course she wouldn’t. But the need that pounded through her was incredible. Almost overwhelming.
‘Sorry, ma’am...sir,’ the young corporal designated as their driver apologised for the third time. ‘The ground is a lot boggier than we thought.’
‘Yeah, the map will show a lot of things, but it won’t pick up weather-affected terrain,’ Kane muttered as Mattie was flung towards him again. ‘The place was probably bone dry a month ago.’
She braced her hand tighter against the roof, trying to give herself support. If she got thrown around any more, she was in danger of landing face first in Kane’s lap, which was hardly going to help their efforts to ignore whatever this thing was between them. And they’d been doing so well over the past couple of days.
Yeah, keep lying to yourself if it makes you feel better, needled a wry voice inside her head.
Because, for her, every touch was reigniting the sparks she’d told herself she’d snuffed out.
Suddenly the vehicle wallowed heavily, and despite her best efforts Mattie pitched forward, slamming into the solid wall that was Kane’s chest. Only his hands reaching out to grab her and steady her against him stopped her from sliding painfully to the floor.
‘Thanks,’ she muttered, wanting to move but unable to.
It was too intoxicating to stay here, pressed against him. She could feel his heart beating, strong and slightly too fast, echoing the pulse that drummed at her neck. Making her wonder if he could feel everything that she felt.
If he was as close to the edge as she was, so that a moment like this could undo all the good work they’d managed by avoiding each other the past couple of days.
‘You okay, ma’am?’
