Tempted Read Free Page B

dog just stared at each other while I swear we all held our breath.
    “Hi, pretty girl.” Stark spoke hesitantly, his voice choked with tears.
    Duchess’s ears perked up and her head cocked.
    Stark held a hand out and made a beckoning motion. “Come here, Duch.”
    Like his command had broken a dam inside the dog, Duchess surged forward, whining and wriggling and woofing—basically sounding and acting way more like a puppy than her one hundred plus pounds said she could no way be.
    “No!” Darius commanded. “Not up on the bed!”
    Duchess obeyed the warrior and contented herself with stuffing her head against Stark’s side and sliding her big nose under his armpit while she wagged her entire body, and Stark, face glowing with happiness, petted her and told her over and over again how much he’d missed her and what a good girl she was.
    I hadn’t realized I’d been bawling, too, until Damien handed me a tissue.
    “Thanks,” I muttered, and wiped my face.
    He smiled briefly at me, and then he moved to Jack’s side, putting his arm around his boyfriend and patting his shoulder (and handing him a tissue, too). I heard Damien tell him, “Come on, let’s go find the room the sisters have ready for us. You need to rest.”
    Jack made a sniffling, hiccupping sob sound, nodded, and let Damien begin to lead him from the room.
    “Wait, Jack,” Stark called after them.
    Jack looked at the bed where Duchess still had her head pressed against Stark, who had his arm wrapped around the Lab’s neck.
    “You did good taking care of Duch when I couldn’t.”
    “It wasn’t any trouble. I’ve never had a dog before, so I didn’t know how really great they are.” Jack’s voice broke only a little. He cleared his throat and went on. “I’m—I’m glad you’re not, uh, evil and awful and stuff like that anymore so she can be with you again.”
    “Yeah, about that.” Stark paused, grimacing as the pain of his movements caught up with him. “I’m not exactly one hundred percent yet, and even when I am, I’m not sure what my schedule’s going to be. So I’m thinking that it would be a big favor to me if you and I could maybe share Duchess.”
    “Really?” Jack’s face lit up.
    Stark nodded wearily. “Really. Could you and Damien take Duch back to your room, and maybe bring her to see me again later?”
    “Absolutely!” Jack said, and then he cleared his throat and continued. “Yeah, like I said before. She hasn’t been any problem.”
    “Good,” Stark said. He lifted Duchess’s muzzle in his hand and looked into the Lab’s eyes. “I’m okay now, pretty girl. You go with Jack so I can get all better.”
    I knew it must have caused him agony, but Stark sat up then and bent to kiss Duchess and let the dog lick his face. “Good girl . . . that’s my pretty girl . . .” he whispered, and kissed her again and said, “Go on with Jack now! Go on!” and he motioned to Jack.
    After one last lick of Stark’s face, and a single reluctant whimper, she turned from the bed and trotted to Jack’s side, wagging her tail at him and nuzzling him in greeting while he wiped his eyes with one hand and petted her with the other.
    “I’ll take really good care of her and bring her back to see you as soon as the sun sets today. Okay?”
    Stark managed a smile. “Okay, thanks, Jack.” Then he collapsed onto the pillows.
    “He needs rest and quiet,” Darius told all of us, and he continued to work over Stark.
    “Zoey, perhaps you can help me get your grandma to her room? She, too, needs rest and quiet. It has been a long night for all of us,” said Sister Mary Angela.
    Shifting my worry from Stark to Grandma, I looked back and forth between the two people I cared so much about.
    Stark caught my gaze. “Hey, take care of your grandma. I can feel that the sun will be rising soon. I’m going to go out like a light about then.”
    “Well . . . okay.” I went over to the side of his bed and stood there