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Chapter One

“Car accident Ten-year-old girl Possible ruptured spleen”

Luke Carson dropped the x-ray he was groggily reviewing to run beside the frightened girl as rapidly losing blood Her cheeks were stained with tear tracks and her long blond hair blew off the side of the gurney as the nurses wheeled her into surgery She looked up at Luke with big, barely conscious blue eyes

“I know you don’t feel so good right now, honey, but in a few seconds everything will be better I’ to take care of you”

“Promise?” she whispered

“I pro in his power not to let her, or her family, down

He held out his hands for surgical gloves just as Robert, another traueon who’d come on an hour earlier, popped his head in the door

“You’ve been on for twenty-four, Luke You want me to take this one for you?”

“Nope I’ve got it”

Saving lives was not just a job for Luke Being a traueon hat he’d been born to do He was the best ance

It was the truth

Luke was ten years old when he decided to becoh the rest of his friends – and his brother, Travis - had been out partying in their twenties, he didn't regret a single one of the long hours he'd spent in class or poring over thick textbooks in the library His number one priority had always been to save lives Because he knehat happened to families when somebody died

They fell apart

Every parent he brought back from the brink meant there was one more kid who had a dad to play ball with and a ht And every child he took care ofto pick up the pieces of their life

Luke's job was everything to hiirl's life was at stake

He had caught a very brief flash of her parent's faces as they ran into the ER behind the parahtened than they'd ever been before If she died, the hole in their hearts would never be healed

Luke couldn't let that happen But when he irl’s skin, he suddenly realized he couldn't control his hands

Shit

He pulled his hands away and took a deep breath Surgery required coth of will had never failed him before But even with his hands still at his sides, he could feel the shaking groorse, damn it

He looked up and was surprised to see Robert standing unobtrusively against the wall, looking concerned, but waiting for Luke’s cue When had his colleague come into the OR? Had it been that obvious to hiht?

Fuck, no He could do it He was going to stand by his proirl's life

A second later, everything began to blur, and he felt Robert's hand on his ar him

“I'm fresh, Luke Let me take this”

Luke had to fight like hell not to shake off Robert's hand