ego further so she spun away to dry her hands before holding them out to the assistant to put gloves on for her.
This whole sexual distraction was ludicrous when they were in the middle of an emergency. ‘Do we even know if the attack is completely finished?’ she asked no one in particular.
‘Apparently so,’ Cooper replied as he began scrubbing up, a smug look on his face.
He could get over whatever was causing that. They had surgery to perform, which left no room for anything else. Sexual tension included.
* * *
Uncountable hours later Sophie smothered a yawn as she leaned back against the outside wall of their little hospital and watched Kelly being transferred to the medic truck that would take her to the airfield. ‘Thank goodness she’s survived her first round of surgery,’ she murmured to herself, suddenly wanting to hear her voice in the rare stillness of the night.
‘She’s got a long way to go yet.’ Cooper loomed up beside her.
So much for talking to herself. ‘I’m worried about her left leg. I suspect she’s in for an amputation despite everything we did.’
‘That patella wasn’t broken, it was pulverised,’ Cooper agreed.
‘Kelly’s a fitness freak, runs marathons for fun.’ Not any more. Or not for a long time and after a lot of hard rehab. Tears threatened. ‘It’s so darned unfair.’
‘That’s war.’ His tone brooked no argument and suggested she needed to get used to the idea.
‘I know. But I’m hurting for a friend. Okay?’ Sophie straightened her back, hauled her shoulder off the wall, took a step away. She’d had enough of Mr Confidence, didn’t need reminding why she was here.
‘Don’t go. Not yet.’ Cooper’s voice was low and, strangely, almost pleading.
She hesitated. Going inside where everyone was still talking and crying and laughing as they finally came down off the high caused by shock over the attack and continual hours of urgent surgery turned her cold. But staying here, talking to Cooper Daniels, held more danger, and she’d had her fill of that already. ‘Think I’ll go to my bunk.’
‘I’ll walk you across the compound.’ When she opened her mouth to say no he talked over her. ‘We don’t have to talk. I’d like your company for a few minutes, that’s all.’
There were no arguments to that. None that she could find without sounding like she was making a run for it to put space between them. Anyway, she suddenly felt in need of company too. Talk about being all over the place. ‘Sure.’ She stepped away to put space between them and rammed her hands into the pockets of her fatigues. Then tripped on a small rock.
Cooper caught her, held her until she righted herself. Left his hand on her elbow as they slowly made their way through the throng of personnel wandering almost aimlessly back and forth on the parade ground they were crossing.
Out of the blue came the need to keep Cooper with her. His hand was reassuring against her unease. Leaning into him, absorbing the warmth of being with someone as tension held her in its grip, was a tonic.
Thump. She jerked around, staring into the night, seeing nothing more than she’d been gazing at a moment earlier.
‘It’s okay. Some clown tossed a metal bucket at the fence.’ Cooper slipped his arm over her shoulders, drew her in closer.
‘I thought...’
‘Yeah. Me too.’
‘Have you ever experienced anything like what went down here?’ She’d known signing up to the army, even as a medic, had its dangers, but this was the first time she’d been confronted with the truth of living and working as an army officer in Afghanistan. She needed to toughen up and put it behind her, not let every little sound or bang have her leaping out of her skin.
Tension tightened the muscles in the arm draped across her shoulders. ‘Once. Near Kabul.’
‘Why do you keep coming back?’ She’d signed up for one year and now she wondered how she’d make it through without turning into a freaked-out wreck.
‘Army orders.’
So he wasn’t up for personal conversation. ‘Of course.’ She pulled away, put distance between them again. Wrapping her arms around her body, she stared ahead at the officers’ quarters. Lights blazed out over the compound and the idea of going inside to be surrounded by her colleagues became repugnant.
‘Want to keep walking for a bit?’ So he could mind-read. Probably as well as he could twist a dislocated clavicle back into place, as he’d done for Kelly. Or as easily as he had most upright females drooling over him without a word.
Including her, she realised. He had to be the most sexy, gorgeous, mouth-watering man she’d met in a long time. Had she drooled when Kelly had pointed him out? Couldn’t have or he wouldn’t have come over to see her, dribble on the chin being highly unattractive.
‘I’ll take that as a yes, then.’
Huh? Oh, right. Unused to women not gushing out answers to his questions? ‘I won’t be able to sleep. My head’s spinning and my body aches from being tossed through the air.’
‘That was some landing you made.’
‘Didn’t you get thrown down?’ she asked, suddenly remembering how quickly he’d seemed to be with her, covering her as bullets had flown past. ‘Thank you for protecting me. That was incredibly brave.’
‘Honestly? It’s something I did without considering the consequences. You looked vulnerable and I just fell over you.’
Sophie sighed. ‘That’s how brave people act. They don’t weigh up the consequences. Wasn’t it random how the three of us standing together ended up in different places? Kelly copped the worst of the explosion and was thrown in the opposite direction from us. We’re relatively unscathed.’
‘Be grateful. We were needed in Theatre afterwards.’
‘True.’ They were heading behind the officers’ quarters into comparative quiet and some darkness. Sophie looked around, saw no one in the shadows, and stopped. ‘Maybe I should go back.’
‘Afraid to be with me?’ That earlier challenge was back, deepening the huskiness in his voice.
‘Not at all,’ she snapped, even as awareness of him teased her. He was large; tall and broad. It would be so easy to lay her head on that chest and wrap her arms around his waist. She knew she’d feel safe for as long as she held onto him. Shock made her gasp.
But she didn’t pull away from that tiny touch of his hand brushing against her thigh as he waited to see what she’d do. She couldn’t move. Hell, she didn’t even want to. Right this moment she needed him. Needed reassurance that she’d survived her first bombing alive and well. Needed to get close to another human, to share the horror and the recovery from the shock. Wanted more than to be held. Wanted to feel alive in his arms.
‘Sophie?’ Cooper growled.
She stepped closer, so near
