Kennadee inched open the hospital door and peeked in. Gideon lay on the bed, an IV tube in his arm, and other contraptions hooked up to him, monitoring his vitals. His eyes were covered with stark white bandages, sutures threaded the gash on his forehead, and tape covered his broken nose. He looked like he’d lost a fight with a heavy-weight boxer.

“Gideon?” she whispered his name, not wanting to wake him if he slept.

“Hey,” he responded, reaching out his hand that wasn’t attached to the IV. She rushed to his side to take it in hers. “Thank you. I owe you my life.”

“No, you don’t.” The words “I was just doing my job” were on the tip of her tongue, but they didn’t feel right. She’d done more than her job and she was vested more than she should be. She wished she could shake these feelings. They made her uncomfortable.

“You know in some cultures, when you save someone’s life, that life is now your responsibility.”

“I refuse to be responsible for you,” she teased. “I know you Rasmussens.”

He chuckled and then winced.

“Are you in pain? Would you like me to get someone for you?”

“No, I’m fine. Just don’t make me laugh.”

She took him in trying to match the man before her with the boy she remembered fondly.

“I should have recognized who you were, Kennadee Wilde. Your voice has gotten smokier, sexier. I still hear your voice in my dreams sometimes.”

He dreamt about her? “Why would you dream of me?”

“If you tell me you don’t remember our one night together, I’ll die of a broken heart right here.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that. No one forgets their first time.”

“Wait, that was your first time too?” He’d seemed to have known what he was doing.

“My ego just doubled if you didn’t guess from my fumbling that I’d never had a girl naked before.”

“You seemed to know what you were about. Not many women enjoy their first time.”

“So…are you saying you enjoyed our time together?”

“Well, since you’re in a hospital bed, I’ll cut you some slack and say yes.”

“Still brutal in your honesty, aren’t you?”

“To a fault.”

“When I get out of here, I think you owe me another chance to prove myself.”

“You did not just ask to sleep with me again. I’m going to chalk up your proposition to the morphine coursing through your veins.”

“A date then? You have a lot to make up to me.”

“I do?”

“Yes, we had the one date, prom, then we slept together. You had me elated with puppy love and then you dashed everything by refusing to go out with me again. You have no idea what that did to my ego.”

“Your ego seems healthy enough now.” Though she did have a pang of regret that she might have hurt him all those years ago. She hadn’t been very tactful back then. Hell, who was she kidding, she wasn’t tactful now. The filters most people had in place had never developed within her.

“Tell me then why you refused to go out with me again? I have to admit, while you might not have broken my heart, it took a beating.”

She squirmed in her chair, glad that he couldn’t see her. “I made myself a promise back then not to date any man more than once. I wasn’t about to be shackled to anyone.” Or fall hard like her sister Sorene had over Ash Bleu. Sorene and Ash started seeing each other their freshman year of high school, were already talking about getting married by junior year, until her mother had died, and Sorene had cut Ash loose. Seeing her dad and Sorene so heartbroken had Kennadee swearing off relationships. She didn’t want to love anyone like that, never wanted to feel that kind of pain.

“And now?” Gideon asked. While the question had been expressed with casual curiosity, Kennadee could tell her answer was important to him.

“Truth?”

“Remember I’ve stared the Grim Reaper in the eye today.”

She chuckled as he’d meant her to. “I’ve been known to date someone more than once. Though in truth, three is usually my limit.” Her life didn’t support anything long lasting, not when she was rushing off to parts unknown in the summers and courting danger in the winters.

“Good to know. What are you doing the day after they release me?”

She laughed again. “And you know when you will be released?”

“Of course. They’ll keep me for a few days, but I should be out of here Friday. So, Saturday night, are you free?”

How did she say no? “I’d be delighted, but let’s make it Sunday.” She doubted he’d feel like a date the day after being released from the hospital. Chances are he’d cancel on her once the nice drugs he was under wore off.