Especially the hospital they both worked for. Everyone would know that she’d been admitted to the ER, for a fractured wrist, with Sam.
That might be interesting to explain on Monday morning.
“Oh, crap!” She stopped short.
“What? Your wrist?”
His concern was sweet. His guilt, not so much. “No, my sisters. I have to let them know what’s going on.”
She was able to pull her cell phone from the outside pocket of her purse but she did not want to call them. It would be a long, drawn-out conversation which would likely end in one or both of her sisters storming the ER. Especially Carmen, who worked here.
50
Just Like That
Damn.
“I’m just going to text them and tell them I’m with you,” she said.
“You know what they’ll think,” Sam said, looking amused and not at all concerned.
“It was their idea in the first place.”
“They’ll just be patting themselves on the back, then?”
“Exactly.”
She flipped her phone open with one hand but as soon as she went to push the first button with her right hand, she sucked in a breath. How could that even hurt?
“I’ll do it.”
She pulled the phone away from Sam. “I’ve got it.” But after two more painful buttons she sighed.
“Fine, here.”
Sam typed quickly, then handed it back.
“I don’t get to read the message?” she asked.
“No need. You know what’s going on.”
“What did you say?”
“That I’m taking very good care of you.”
She smiled, but one glance at his face, and the serious, regretful expression on it, she sobered.
“Sam…”
“I lied,” he said with a sigh. “You’re in the ER for God’s sake. Not really good care, is it?” She gripped his forearm with her good hand and squeezed. “It’s
not
your fault.”
“Who else was there? Who else tried to kiss you while you weren’t looking, while you were standing on top of a table, with nothing to grab onto for balance? Who else—”
“I fell because I had my eyes shut and because you made me literally weak in the knees!” she interrupted.
He did stop. Thank goodness. And stared at her with a goofy expression. “What?”
“It felt so good that I shut my eyes and when you kissed my leg I got wobbly…and fell.”
“You fell because it felt good?”
“I was completely overcome with passion,” she said, rolling her eyes.
He grinned, just a little. “Seriously?”
“You made me melt into a puddle of lust.”
“Wow.”
“Feel better now?”
“Your wrist is still broken,” he pointed out.
“You don’t know that.” But she’d be surprised if it wasn’t.
“I’ll bet you it is.”
51
Erin Nicholas
“What are we betting?”
“Dinner tomorrow night.”
She waited for the I’m-just-kidding-grin or the panic at having realized that he’d just turned a one-night stand into a two-night date. But he simply looked at her expectantly.
“What if I win?” she asked.
“What do you want?”
She decided to just say it. After all, what did she have to lose? And it
was
what she wanted. “You, naked in my bed, for eight hours straight.”
Heat flared between them instantaneously and Sam moved forward, again into her space. “I think I want to change my bet. Because I’m going to be right.”
“You don’t want dinner?” She had trouble getting the words out without air in her lungs.
“I can think of a dozen better things to do with my mouth.” He lifted his hand and dragged his thumb across her bottom lip.
“I think I can allow one change.”
“Thanks.”
“For a guy who was so adamant about her getting right in, you’re sure taking your sweet time.” Kaylee came up behind her, making Danika jump. “How about we x-ray her and
then
you can …whatever you’re thinking about doing.”
Sam didn’t answer her. Or look embarrassed. He took Danika’s left hand and started down the hallway. “Let’s get this over with.”
“It’s definitely fractured.” Chad Mitchell was frowning at Danika’s x-ray. “In fact, I’d like to call an orthopedic consult. I don’t want to cast it without someone else looking at it.” Sam bit back the swear words that he dearly wanted to use. He’d known it was fractured. He’d known it from the first moment. But hearing Mitchell say it,
and
want a specialist, made it all the more real and ugly…and guilt-inducing.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Danika protested. “It doesn’t even hurt that much.” Mitchell gave her an indulgent smile. “Maybe not right now. You probably still have some adrenaline going. Tomorrow morning is going to be a different story.” Danika sighed and looked at Sam. “You don’t have to stay.” He scowled at her. Just where did she think he was going to go? “I’m staying.”
“Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
He did, but so what? “Don’t worry about me.” Because that was what he needed—
her
being concerned about
him
.
52
Just Like That
“But you’ll be exhausted.” It was already one in the morning.
“I’ll get someone to cover.”
“Why don’t you just go home? This could take a while.” He moved to stand next to her. Up until now he’d hung back. Chad Mitchell hadn’t asked any questions about why Sam was there, or his role in the injury. He’d simply asked Danika to repeat what she’d already told two nurses.
But he knew the drill.
When anyone came in with a suspicious injury, at least three staff members asked for a recount of the injury to be sure that the patient told the same story each time. They also carefully watched the mannerisms of anyone who was with the patient. Women in domestic violence situations would sometimes stumble through their stories, or answer too quickly, or too mechanically. The men with them would often hover, answer questions for the woman, or otherwise give off aggressive vibes.
They hadn’t asked him to step out of the room either, but he’d voluntarily left for a few minutes so they could question her alone. The normal routine would have been for staff to ask the male to accompany them to the desk for paperwork, where they would again question him. Sam knew he’d been spared only because they knew him and knew him to be a good guy. In fact, he and his crew had answered more than their share of domestic calls because they were good at defusing situations, or handling the male aggressor if needed.
The problem was, he didn’t think he deserved special treatment. He had been the one to cause Danika’s injury. Of course it hadn’t been on purpose. Of course he felt like shit about it. Of course he’d go back and do it over.
Still, it was his fault.
“We can talk about it later. Let’s see what the orthopedic surgeon says.” Lord, he hated the idea of a surgeon needing to see her. Not only did that mean the injury was more serious, but also meant potential surgery—obviously. The idea of someone cutting into her, even if it was to help her, made him physically ill.
She shrugged. Maybe she would give up on the idea of him leaving now.
“I’ll get the consult on the phone,” Dr. Mitchell said. “I think someone is already here tonight. There was a car accident a couple of hours ago and someone was called in.”
“Thanks.”
Mitchell left and Sam turned to Danika. “Listen. I’m not leaving until you do. I’m taking you home.
Period. I’m going to be here for the whole thing. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Do you like Will Ferrell movies?”
He took a second to process the unexpected question. One, because she dropped it so easily and two, because of the actual question itself. “Yes, I do.”
53
Erin Nicholas
“What’s your favorite?”
He didn’t even have to think about it. “
Elf
.”
She grinned. “Good one.”
“Speaking of good DVDs, are you going to watch the one we got together when you get home?”
“What… Oh.”
He enjoyed watching her blush about the DVD she’d been so enthusiastic about buying. He’d wanted to distract her from the x-ray and confirmed fracture and the pending orthopedic consultation, though truthfully, she didn’t seem all that nervous.
“Probably not tonight,” she said. Was there a note of regret in her voice? “I’d almost forgotten about it.”
“But you will watch it?” Though it was torturous to think about Danika watching an erotic movie and learning about oral sex, he did want to think about it. If he couldn’t be there.
Which of course he couldn’t.
“Probably.” She sighed. “I’m a pretty curious person.”
“Is that right?” It wasn’t a blatantly sexual thing to say, but he found himself turned-on nonetheless.
Danika seemed to have a special talent for that.
“Yes. Sometimes I watch or read things I know I shouldn’t, or don’t want to deep down, simply because it’s something I don’t already know.”
That sounded interesting. “Like what?”
“Oh, I’ll read a news magazine story about children starving in other countries, even though I know I’ll hate everything I’m going to learn about the situation. Or I’ll see a pop-up ad on the Internet and I’ll click on it and learn all about how someone is torturing animals somewhere.”
“Not exactly the same type of subject matter as the DVD we bought,” he said dryly, his erotic visions abruptly leaving his mind as images of abused animals and dying children tried to intrude.
She grimaced. “No. But it’s the same tendency I have to watch or read things if they’re available.”
“Let’s talk about oral sex. I like those images a lot better.” She smiled up at him. “I don’t have any images to think about. Until I watch the video.” His eyebrows shot up. “You’ve never…”
She shook her head. “I told you at Tease that I need to learn.” He coughed before he said any of the twelve inappropriate things to come to mind. All of it was pretty much implied anyway by the fact that almost every time they were within twenty feet of one another the room temperature went up.
Then she frowned. “But I don’t know if the video will be enough.”
“Oh?”
“I think it’s like knitting.”
54
Just Like That
“Did you say
knitting
?”
She nodded.
“Oral sex is like knitting?” Sam repeated. “
This
I’ve got to hear.”
55
Chapter Four
Danika giggled. It was all so silly. The conversation, the situation, the entire night. And she was loving every minute. Well, except for the moments when her wrist throbbed like there was molten lava inside trying to burst free. But other than that, she was having a great time.
She supposed it said a lot about Sam that he could make the night she broke her wrist one of the most fun she could remember ever having.
“When I wanted to learn to knit, my grandma showed me how she did it. But I didn’t get good at it until I tried it myself.”
“I’m with you so far.” And he sounded vastly amused. “Though I’m not sure your grandmother would appreciate the comparison.”
She ignored that. Because he was right. “And I messed up a few times in the beginning before I got good.”
“And…” Sam sounded like he was choking. He had to clear his throat and cough before he finally managed, “You don’t think you’d be good at oral sex?”
“I haven’t practiced.” Also true. With the guys in the past it had been pretty…conventional. She’d never
wanted
to do anything else with any guy she knew.
Until now.
“Couldn’t you just practice on that blue thing I bought you?” Now Sam sounded disgruntled.
“The blue thing can’t tell me how I’m doing.”
He swallowed hard. “Did the scarf you knitted tell you how you were doing?”
“With a scarf you just kind of know.” She couldn’t believe that she was tempted to smile in the midst of this conversation. She should have been embarrassed, at the very least. But instead, she wanted to laugh.
“So, you’re looking for practice and feedback?” he asked.
As she’d previously decided, Sam Bradford was way out of her league. There was no way she was going to perform oral sex on Sam, practice or not. But she was enjoying Sam’s reaction to this whole thing.
He certainly wasn’t nonchalant about it. Which gave her a thrill.
“How can I get good at it without those two things?”
“Right.” He muttered something else she couldn’t quite hear. Then said, “Think you can wait until we get back to your place?”
She nearly fell off the table. “What?”
Just Like That
“Or do you want to do it right here and now? We probably have time.” His hands went to his belt buckle.
“Are you insane?” she demanded, in spite of the fact that her blood was coursing hot and fast through her body in response to his words.
“I assume that you want to get good as quickly as possible.”
“You’re offering to help me? With oral sex?” Which was a terrible idea. A wonderful, swirling-intense-heat-in-her-stomach terrible idea. “Here? Now?” The last word was more of a squeak.
“Of course.”
There was
no way
she was doing…that…with Sam. Not here and now, anyway. “You didn’t sound very happy about the whole thing,” she pointed out, thinking of all the muttering.
“I have absolutely no protest to helping you with this, Danika,” he said sincerely.
The way he was looking at her made her stomach flip.
“Then what was with the grumbling and frowning?” she wanted to know.
He looked at her for several heartbeats, as if trying to decide if he should answer honestly or not.
Finally he sighed.
“To borrow your habit of making analogies,” he said. “I could never be one of those guys who flip houses. You know the ones that buy an old dilapidated house, go in and make it over and then turn around and sell it again. If I went to all that work of making something so awesome, I would want it for myself.” Danika crossed her arms. “I’m the old dilapidated house in this example?” He grinned at her. “Sorry. I thought that was pretty good for thinking on my feet.”