“You might want to try sitting down next time.”
He chuckled. “Would you rather be a masterpiece painting?” She narrowed her eyes but motioned for him to go on.
“I could never make a living as a painter, because if I created a gorgeous work of art, I would never be able to sell it. I would want it for myself.”
“Better,” she acknowledged. “But in both examples you’re giving yourself a lot of credit for the final product being awesome.”
She should end this conversation right now, Danika thought. This verbal sparring with Sam was fun and she felt herself starting to like him more. Which would lead, inevitably, to her wanting to spend time with him that was not naked time and that would be a disaster.
Sam was simply the first man to get her to almost lose control. Had she given him thirty more seconds in Tease he would have been the first man to make her vulnerable. Liking him and being vulnerable with him might lead to her trusting him and then depending on him and…well,
that
wasn’t going to happen.
Sam moved in close, which obliterated all of the thoughts she’d had going.
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Erin Nicholas
“You’ll have to excuse me for thinking that I might not want you to share what I’m helping you learn with someone else.”
The breath Danika had just taken in stuck in her chest. He didn’t mean… He couldn’t… He wasn’t saying that he wanted to keep her all to himself…forever. She shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to break the ridiculous spell Sam seemed to have cast over her.
“No, I’m not excused for not wanting you to get good for another guy?”
“If that bothers you, then you better not be the one that helps me get good.” He frowned. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “You don’t care when someone buys a painting that someone
else
painted do you?” His frown deepened. “Um…no.”
“Then I’ll just find someone else to help with practice and feedback.” She hoped she sounded flippant. The awful truth was that she already didn’t want anyone else doing any of these things with her.
Which was a bad place for her to be and meant that she needed to get away from, and stay away from, Sam Bradford.
“Like hell,” he growled.
“It’s the only option,” she said firmly.
It was for the best.
Even though it definitely sucked. Absolutely no pun intended, she thought with a not-amused-in-the-least little laugh.
“Danika, I—”
“Usually, I don’t like getting called in the middle of the night, but I’m glad I’m the one who gets to hear
this
story.” Dr. Matt Dawson, the newest addition to the orthopedic surgical team, stepped through the door just then.
Danika was half relieved, half annoyed. She’d like to hear Sam Bradford beg to be the one to teach her about oral sex. Or any kind of sex for that matter. Or probably anything at all, sexual or not.
But if she felt like this after one night in his company, how much harder would it be to walk away after a week, or month, or whatever?
She was
not
going to spend any more time with Sam Bradford after this night was over.
“Hi, Danika.” Matt gave her a big grin as he looked up from flipping the first few pages of her chart.
“Hi, Matt.”
“You know each other?” Sam asked.
“She’s helped with placing a couple of my patients in rehab units.”
“Right. I heard that Danika works here,” Sam said sardonically.
“About two weeks now,” Matt said.
“I know,” Sam practically snarled.
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Just Like That
“Tell me what happened.” Matt said, taking Danika’s hand, putting his back to Sam.
She was sure she was wrong, but it looked like Sam’s jaw tightened as he watched Matt take a hold of her.
Danika told the same story she’d told already tonight and Matt continued examining her hand, fingers and wrist. As one of the team members called in when abuse was confirmed, or even suspected, she completely understood and respected the process of questioning. She noticed, however, that the questioning was much less intense and detailed and suspected that it was because Sam Bradford was the man in question. Not that it should make a difference who he was, but she further suspected that the staff was not aware that they were letting up on Sam and that said a lot, in her mind, about him. She knew for a fact, even in only two weeks of work, that this ER staff took their jobs and their patients seriously. One reason was Sam’s own sister, Jessica, the ER’s Chief Nurse.
“You had her up on a table, huh?” Matt grinned at Sam. “Beds are nice and soft, Sam. Couches, even, if you can’t be conventional.”
“Very professional,” Sam growled.
Matt didn’t seem fazed by Sam’s obvious displeasure as he crossed to the x-rays.
“I think we can do this with a cast. I don’t think it’s necessary to pin it. But I want to see you back in the office in two weeks to check that everything is healing up.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said with relief.
“You’re right-handed?”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t going to be easy,” he told her. “With this break, I’m going to want to immobilize from your fingers to your elbow. No movement at all until we repeat the x-rays. You’re going to be pretty limited.”
Instantly a thousand things she had to do with her right hand went through her mind. “I can’t type?”
“Not unless you hunt and peck with the left hand,” Matt said.
“No writing?”
“Nope.”
“What about driving?”
“I can’t clear you for that safely. At least not at first. If things heal correctly, we can cut the cast back next time and let you have some finger movement. Honestly, just take these two weeks off, don’t mess around and we’ll have a better idea.”
“What about…”
“She could make it worse?” Sam inserted.
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Erin Nicholas
Matt looked at him for several seconds before answering. Danika could only see the back of Matt’s head, but she could see Sam’s face. He simply stared, unblinking, waiting for the reply as if there was absolutely no reason why Matt shouldn’t have to answer to him.
Finally, Matt said, “Yes. She could make it worse. We might have to pin it if the break doesn’t stay stable and aligned. I want it to heal clean. I’ll do whatever I have to to make that happen.” He turned back to Danika. “I’m letting you off easy tonight because I trust that you’re an intelligent woman who understands why it’s important to be compliant. If you’re not, and that break shifts, sabotaging the alignment and healing, we’ll have to go in and pin it.” She frowned. That didn’t sound good. She worked in a hospital and heard lots of jargon. Most of the time she understood it, when she didn’t she could still figure out the gist. But now that she was the patient, she wanted it spelled out.
“What does that entail, exactly.” She had the fleeting thought that she didn’t want to know.
“We do surgery,” Matt said simply. “I go in and put pins into the bones to hold them in place.” Yeah, she’d been right about not wanting to know.
Strangely, her wrist started throbbing and she felt a little light-headed.
Stranger still, Sam seemed to notice and moved in next to her, putting his arm around her so that she could lean into him. “Falling off one table per night is the limit,” he said, his hand cupping her shoulder.
“You’ll be a good patient and not move around too much, not do too much?” Matt said, looking at her seriously.
She nodded. “I’m not sure I’ll ever move it again.”
He smiled. “You will. If you don’t, there’s a physical therapist who will move it for you.” She grimaced. She’d seen patients in physical therapy and while she knew it was necessary and the patients ended up very thankful to the people who helped them move normally again, the process wasn’t always very fun.
“I’ll be good,” she promised.
“I’ll make sure,” Sam said.
Matt looked at him again for several ticks of the clock, then nodded, wrote in the chart and turned to leave. “We’ll cast it and get you out of here.”
“I can go home then?”
“Under Sam’s supervision,” Matt agreed.
“Under…
what
?” But the door was already bumping shut behind Matt.
She turned, with eyes narrowed, to Sam. “What did he mean?”
“It’s normal,” he said. “A lot of times we won’t release trauma patients unless they have someone that can take them home and stay with them. Don’t worry, the guys will cover me at work for the next few days.”
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Just Like That
“The next few
days
?” She felt like a parrot. “And I’m not a trauma patient.”
“You fractured a bone. You’re a trauma patient.”
“I was clumsy and fell. That’s not like a ten-car pileup or falling off a roof.”
“You won’t be able to drive and you’re going to be on pain pills. You have to be released into someone’s care at least for the next twenty-four hours.” Sam’s tone implied that she was being unreasonable.
She didn’t care. “I’ll call one of my sisters.”
“That’s ridiculous. It’s the middle of the night, I’m already here and I’m willing.”
“You shouldn’t have to be responsible for me,” she argued. She wasn’t sure how she was going to handle having Sam with her constantly for another twenty-four hours. She’d end up completely head over heels for him and the pain pills might make her say or do something stupid.
“I should,” he said firmly. “I know you don’t want to hear it, and no, I didn’t mean for this to happen, but I did have a part in it.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “I’m not in a coma, it’s not cancer, I didn’t lose a drop of blood. I’m healthy.
I’ll heal. It’s nothing.”
“Danika,” Sam said with a serious, no-argument tone she wouldn’t have even imagined he possessed.
“I am
not
leaving your side for the next seventy-two hours. You can call whoever you want, but I’m not asking to stay, I’m
telling
you that I’m staying.”
“Seventy-two hours? What happened to twenty-four?”
She wasn’t going to call her sisters. It was…well, all of the things Sam pointed out including the middle of the night. Besides, Carmen would come in and take over everything. That meant that Danika’s cupboards and closets would be completely cleaned out and reorganized since she wouldn’t actually need much care and Carmen would go stir-crazy with nothing to do. Then there was Abi. She’d cry, then come over but be so miserable that Danika would feel worse having her there than putting up with Sam. Abi couldn’t handle it when people she loved were anything other than happy and fulfilled and healthy in every way.
Sam, obviously surprised by her sudden lack of argument, put his hand on her head, smoothing her hair. “I’ll call them,” he said gently. “But I’m not leaving, even if they show up.”
“Don’t call them.” She sighed. It would be worse—for all of them—if Carmen and Abi came. Their husbands would both gladly help out, but couldn’t possibly do it without their wives finding out. Her father was in Texas. She had friends, of course, but Sam was here, and not leaving. Why would she drag someone else out of bed at this time of night? “You can take me home.” Sam sighed and it was obvious that he was genuinely relieved. Which made her feel good, even as she knew it shouldn’t.
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Erin Nicholas
So she now had slinky lingerie, a video about oral sex, a broken wrist and a crush on a guy who was the opposite of everything she was trying to find in a man.
What a night.
Danika lived in a two-story brick duplex only seven blocks from his apartment. Sam rolled his eyes.
Not only did she work at the same hospital, but she probably shopped at the same grocery store. Yet he’d never met her.
He had to unlock the door, an awkward movement with a non-dominant hand as it turned out. Just as he’d had to help hook her seatbelt and dig in her purse for her keys.
He was sure in a few days she would have compensated and would learn to do a lot with her left hand.
But it was all new and she was obviously not
ambidextrous. Added to that was the weight of the new cast, the lateness of the hour and the pain medication that Matt had insisted she would need to sleep well. Danika was quite clumsy with her left hand and still in the habit of reaching first with her right hand, then having to adjust.
“Here we are.” She managed to flip on the front hallway light with her left hand.
“Nice.”
“Don’t you need to go get some clothes or something?”
“I was thinking about that. I’ll run home in the morning. I don’t live far.” She shrugged and yawned. “Sorry.”
“It’s been a long night.” A great night, he added silently, but long. It seemed like days ago that he’d met her at Marina’s.
“I’ll get some sheets for the couch,” she said, tossing her purse toward the small table just inside the door. Since she had to use her left hand, it didn’t quite make it. “Damn,” she said softly.
It was obvious that she was frustrated with her lack of ability and discomfited with him in her house.
She was going to have to get over it.
“You can’t put sheets on the couch with one hand.”
She went to the first door on the right of the short hallway and pulled out a stack of sheets. She crossed to the couch and dumped them on the cushions. “Yes, I can.” He smiled. He was glad she had some spunk at this point. “Sorry to doubt you.” She sighed. “Sorry I’m being grumpy.”
“No problem,” he said, meaning it. “You’ve had a lot happen. Being grumpy is a normal side effect.” She propped her left hand on her hip. “Quit being so nice.”
“You want me to be mean?”
“I…don’t know.”
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Just Like That
“You’re exhausted. Go to bed. We’ll figure everything out in the morning.” She glanced over her shoulder toward what he assumed was her bedroom. “Yeah. I’ll just…” She looked so confused, so tired and so beautiful that he knew he had to kiss her.