“And eat brownies,” Hazard said, drawing out the word and grinning so sloppily that Somers had to hide his face in his arm, reconsider the whole shower question, and try not to giggle.

After that, Hazard slept for a while. When he woke up, he wanted a ribeye.

“I don’t see why that’s too much fucking trouble,” he snapped when the nurse had left—escaped, was a better way to describe it. “It’s twenty ounces of USDA prime. You can get it at the fucking Publix for the love of fuck, and if they don’t have a fucking skillet to cook it on, what kind of shit-can operation are they running? Research on consuming red meat after injuries—”

“And he’s back,” Somers told his book.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“What the fuck did you do to your hair? It looks fucking terrible.”

“The girls at the beauty parlor said you’d love it. I did it special for you.”

“Come over here,” Hazard said. His long hair was messily shoved back behind his ears; those scarecrow eyes were on fire.

“I think I’m close enough already,” Somers said, licking his finger to turn another page.

“I want a better look at you.”

“Oh,” Somers said, adding a little catch to his voice. “That’s so sweet. But I’m pretty comfortable.”

“John, come over here.”

Drawing out a note of indecision, Somers shook his head.

“John,” Hazard said.

“This book is really good.”

“Please?”

“Huh.” Somers laid the book on the chair, stood, stretched. He scratched his stomach. He arched his back. He ran fingers through his hair and twisted at the waist until his spine popped.

Hazard was growling.

As Somers settled onto the edge of the bed, he was very careful to hide a grin. His butt had no sooner touched the mattress, though, than Hazard hooked an arm around him and dragged him up next to him.

“Oof,” Somers said, squirming around, pretending to try to sit up and letting Hazard drag him back down. “Watch out, you’re an injured man.”

“I injured my leg,” Hazard said in a low voice, tugging Somers closer. “Not my arm. Well, not this arm, anyway.”

“Not another part either, I notice.”

Wrapping Somers in an embrace, Hazard kissed him once and then, with a suddenness that surprised Somers, buried his face in Somers’s neck. Somers relaxed into the hold until he felt Hazard shake once and then relax too, but the bigger man didn’t release him. After a few more minutes, Somers worked an arm free and ran his fingers through Hazard’s hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Somers asked.

Hazard shook his head, but then he did pull back, and he caught Somers’s eyes. “It was so terrible. It went on and on. I know I was only in there for an hour, but it felt like a lifetime. And at the end, I didn’t know if you were there. I heard something, and I thought it was you, but it was a rat, and then I thought you weren’t coming and—” The big man shook again, wiping furiously at his eyes, and cleared his throat. “And you did come, so it’s fine.”