His cell phone rang and he snatched it up. Normally he wouldn’t answer the phone while driving, but it wasn’t as if he was actually moving.

Over the last thirty minutes he’d managed to crawl no more than a mile on Interstate 95. He was almost to the point of pulling over and walking the rest of the way.

“It would probably be faster,” he mumbled. Then he put his phone to his ear and said, “Hello?”

“Hey, Ace. It’s Shep.”

“Hey, man, how’ve you been doing?”

Shep had been in his old unit. He’d been tight with him and a few other guys. They still kept up through e-mail, but he missed hanging out with them. It had been a hard move when he’d been reassigned to a new unit after his injury. Difficult but necessary. He’d been an expert marksman before, but unless he could get his health handled, there was a chance he’d have to consider changing his specialty.

“We’re going to be in your area soon, possibly. Cora wants to take a trip to see the national monuments, so I asked Tommy and his wife to come along. I’m not sure when we’ll do it, though. Maybe when it’s not so cold.”

“That would be great. You know you’re welcome anytime. Actually, just make sure you let me know first because I’m doing some physical therapy in a different city, so I might not be home.”

“How is that going, by the way? I know you had a rough time last year.”

After the accident, he’d been too delirious to care much about what was happening to him. He’d had the surgery to fix the tear in his shoulder, but he wasn’t sure if there were other things he should have done. He’d been too lost in grief, second-guessing if he could have done more to prevent the way things had turned out. When the pain in his shoulder had started, he’d thought it was just the way it was. It had simply echoed the pain he’d been going through mentally. Pain was all he had known.

Maybe he should have done something else besides the physical therapy. Maybe it was his own fault he wasn’t healed.

“Improving slowly. I’m on my way to a physical-therapy appointment now.”

“Good. Maybe you’ll be back with us soon. I heard we might be deployed again this year. Afghanistan this time. You know there’s no one I’d love to experience the desert with more.”

Matt forced himself to laugh, swallowing the bitter pill of resentment. He’d been through this once already. His old team had been deployed back to Iraq without him. Being left behind had hurt the first time, but he’d believed he’d be healed and ready to go before the next tour. Now the time was almost here, and he was no better off than he was a year ago.

“Bet on it. I’ll call you later.”

After they disconnected, Matt threw his phone on the passenger side seat and looked out at the traffic with disgust. He wished he could turn the car around and go home. He didn’t really want to waste an hour of someone’s time so they could tell him what he already knew.

Matt gritted his teeth and rested his head against the back of his seat. If he hadn’t spent the past six months ignoring the increasing levels of pain, he would have already had the second surgery he needed by now. He’d likely have healed enough to be going with his unit when they deployed next week. He’d be back where he belonged instead of just taking up space.

When the next person cut him off, he leaned out the window and screamed, “Pick a lane, jackass!”

CHAPTER TWO

“SERGEANT SEXY IS here.” Georgia leaned back against the door and fanned herself with her hand.

Penny sat at her desk, peering into a small handheld mirror. Eyedrops couldn’t conceal the effects of exhaustion completely, but it should be enough to keep her from scaring her patients.

“I never knew you had such a fetish for military guys. Does James know about this?”

“I don’t have a fetish. I just have appreciation. Where have you been hiding this one? No wonder you never talk about your friends. You’re keeping them all to yourself.”

Penny put the eyedrops back in her bag and stored it in the drawer of her desk. “What are you talking about? I told you I haven’t seen either of the Simmons twins in a decade, at least.”

“Oh. So you’ve never seen him as an adult?” Georgia touched the tip of her tongue with her finger.

“Uh no. Why?”

“Nothing. I’ll let you see for yourself. It’ll be more fun that way.” With a wiggle of her eyebrows, she was gone.

Penny shook her head hard to clear it of any lingering fog as she walked down the hall from her office and into the waiting room. There was only a smattering of people waiting: an older woman with a lapful of knitting, a pregnant woman, and two older men chatting in the corner. She turned and called out, “Sergeant Simmons?” No one looked up. She let out a breath and then turned again, bumping into an incredibly wide and incredibly hard chest. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m—”

The man who stood behind her looked about six feet and had dark hair and eyes. She would have known he was military even without the Army hat he was wearing. He stood too straight, his eyes darting around the room as if on alert for disturbances. That wasn’t what made her lose her breath, though.

Maybe it was the muscles stretching the fabric of his cotton tee shirt. It was definitely the eyes, thickly lashed and the color of dark chocolate. Whatever it was, she shivered when his gaze roamed over her lazily. When he got back to her face, his eyes narrowed slightly. Penny shivered when she met his gaze.