Up by Five (19 page)

Well, it was better than calling herself an idiot. Which she wanted to do. She’d been living with the guy for two days. She’d slept with him once—okay, kind of twice, but it had been so close together it practically counted as once—and she was already letting it affect her at work.

And she wasn’t the only one.

Her unhappiness at having Conner’s blood on her hands was overshadowed only by the fact that she was
pissed
at him for getting in between her and Eddie in the first place.

Ryan hauled the bag up to Conner’s side. “What the fuck did you do that for?” he asked, digging for supplies.

“Shut up,” Conner told him.

Ryan pulled out a pair of scissors and deftly cut Conner’s pants away from the wound.

“Dammit,” Gabby muttered. It was deep.

“You need stitches man,” Ryan said. “A bunch of ’em. Let’s go.”

“Fuck,” Conner swore.

“We’re gonna need someone to come for the dogs,” Gabby said, pulling her hands away.

She grabbed the cloth that Ryan held out to her, wiping her hands as best she could. She headed for the rig and grabbed a pair of gloves. Typically, those went on
before
the hands-on-blood part, but now she’d use them to keep the blood off of her phone.

She called her uncle and he agreed to send someone out to pick the dog and her puppies up.

“Who do you think he’ll send?” Sierra asked when Gabby told the crew. Sierra was sitting next to Doug, the mama dog’s head on her knee, two puppies crawling on her lap while the other two nestled next to the big dog.

Gabby shrugged. “One of the guys.” It could be any of her cousins or brothers.

“I’ll just hang out here, make sure Doug’s okay until they get here. They’ll give me a ride, I’m sure,” Sierra said.

Gabby rolled her eyes. Sierra found two of Gabby’s brothers and several of her cousins hot, funny and sweet.

Gabby didn’t see it.

“You sure?” Ryan asked.

“Oh, I’m sure,” Sierra said with an eyebrow wiggle.

“You’re sure you’re okay to stay or you’re sure one of them will give you a ride?” Ryan asked, his emphasis on
ride
making the word dirty.

Sierra laughed. “All of the above.”

“I’m feeling a little sick,” Gabby said, packing up the supply bag and trying not to look worried when she glanced at Conner.

Ryan had a compression bandage on the wound, but the blood was still coming through.

“You’d love to have me as a sister-in-law or cousin-in-law,” Sierra told her.

“I would,” Gabby agreed. “As long as you promise not to tell me anything about your sex life.”

“We tell each other everything about our sex lives,” Sierra protested, her glance going to Conner, then back to Gabby.

Gabby frowned at her.

“Ladies, I’d love to hear all the details you’ve shared with one another over the years,” Conner said, “but if all my blood routes south at this point, I might bleed out.”

Sierra laughed and Gabby tried to smile. It didn’t matter; his eyes were closed.

“You’re such a drama queen,” she said instead, hoisting the bag onto her shoulder. “Do we need to take Eddie in?”

Ryan looked over at the still drugged man. “He should be out until the dog rescuers can get here. You okay with making sure he wakes up well?” he asked Sierra.

The sedative shouldn’t give Eddie any lasting problems but it was always good to be sure a patient was stable afterward.

“No problem.”

“You okay if he wakes up early?” Conner asked, pushing himself up to sitting, grimacing in pain as he did it.

“They’re on their way,” Gabby said. “I’ll call and make sure they know Sierra’s waiting. They all want to see her as much as she wants to see them.” Which was true. Too true.

“Yeah, he’ll be out until they get here,” Ryan agreed.

“I’m not worried,” Sierra said, grinning down at the wriggling puppies. “Eddie likes me almost as much as he likes Gabby.”

“And we’re taking his fucking knife,” Conner said. “In fact, pat him down for anything else,” he told Ryan.

“Uh…”

Conner frowned at his friend. “What?”

“Listen, I’m sorry he knifed you,” Ryan said. “But he lives on the street, man. I can’t take his knife.”

Conner started to reply, then apparently thought about it. “Fuck,” he breathed. “Fine, but give the knife to Sierra until the guys get here.”

Ryan handed the knife over. Sierra tucked it under her leg.

“Let’s go, big shot,” Gabby said to Conner. “You need us to carry you?”

“I can think of better ways to get your hands on me,” he said, trying to push to his feet.

She clung to the flirting and teasing. “You shouldn’t jeopardize those opportunities by getting yourself hurt. You’re no good to me like this.”

“Babe, I’ll be good to you, blood loss or not.”

She wrapped an arm around his waist, whether he needed it or not. “I might make you prove that to me.”

“Maybe I’ll stay back with Sierra,” Ryan muttered, taking the bag from Gabby when it was clear that she was handling Conner.

And Conner wasn’t protesting. He leaned his weight on her, off of his sore leg.

“No you won’t!” Sierra called. “The puppies and the hot Evans guys are all mine!”

“They’re not my type anyway,” Ryan called back, striding ahead to the rig, leaving Gabby and Conner alone.

“You’re in big trouble, you know,” Gabby told Conner once they were sort of alone.

“I’m not apologizing.”

“I’m shocked to hear that,” she said dryly.

She helped him up into the back of the ambulance and started to slam the door, but Conner caught her hand and tugged her up into the rig with him. “Back here with me,” he said.

“You’re a patient.” But she sat down next to him on the gurney.

“This is your best chance to dote on me,” he said, still holding her hand. He settled back against the side of the ambulance as Ryan started it up and headed for the hospital.

“You expect me to dote on you
now
?” Gabby asked.

He gave her a half smile. “You know you want to.”

“I want to kick your ass,” she told him. “What the hell was all of that? You know I could have talked him down.”

Conner’s smile died and he frowned. “He had a fucking knife.”

“He wouldn’t have hurt me, Conner.”

“You don’t know that.”

She studied his face for a moment, then glanced up front to where Ryan sat.

“Ryan!”

“Yeah?”

“Turn up the radio.”

“Why?”

“Just do it,” she told him, focusing back on Conner.

Ryan glanced in the rearview mirror. “I can still see you, even if I can’t hear you.”

“You’re only going to be missing the ass chewing,” she said.

“Sure.” But he leaned forward and turned the volume dial.

She turned sideways, tucked her foot up underneath her and leaned in toward Conner. “Dixon, you need to get your shit together if we’re going to do this.”

“This?”

“The sleeping-together and working-together thing.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” But he was looking at the oxygen tubes swaying on the other side of the ambulance from where they sat.

“A week ago, this whole scene at the warehouse would have gone very differently,” she said. “You never would have stepped between me and Eddie.”

Conner frowned. “Yes, I would have.”

“No. I’ve been on the hot end of a gun, I’ve had a guy grab me in a choke hold…and you let me handle it. You and Ryan both wait for me and Sierra to tell you we need help. You trust us to do that. We know you’re there. Escalating a situation like you did today is not cool.”

Conner’s jaw tightened but he didn’t say anything.

“The only thing that’s changed is that we’ve slept together,” she went on. “If you’re having…feelings for me…you have to lock it down at work.”

“I don’t want to have…feelings,” he muttered after a long silence.

Gabby felt her heart thump in her chest. So there
were
some deeper feelings going on.

She liked that more than she should.

It complicated things. She didn’t want things to get complicated. She was trying to
un
complicate her life right now.
And, yeah, she hadn’t expected some of the things she was feeling where he was concerned either. She’d thought she knew Conner. Discovering there were layers there was a surprise…and very nice.

And complicated.

“I know you don’t want these feelings,” she said. Conner liked superficial and easy.

That finally drew his eyes to hers. “I’m not complaining.”

“Really? Even as your leg is throbbing like a bitch?”

“Ryan shot me up.”

Ah, Ryan had given him an injection for pain. That explained why he’d been able to walk to the rig without being carried.

“Then these feelings might be just the effects of the drugs,” she said with a shrug.

He leaned toward her. “That’s not it, Gabby girl, and you know it.”

She wanted to kiss him so bad it hurt. She knew he was going to be fine. They were going to take care of his wound. It was nothing serious, really. But she was feeling some new emotions here too—like feeling that she wanted to hold him and fucking
dote
on him.

“I hate this uniform on you,” he said.

“Random thought of the day?” she asked.

“No. I’ve been thinking about it since I saw you in the break room. I also hate your hair up like that.”

“Good. That should be less distracting then.”

“You’d think so. But it’s
more
distracting because I’m constantly thinking about the contrast between this and how great you look in jeans…and out of your jeans.”

Her heart flipped and she felt everything in her body go soft and warm.

“You have to stop that.”

“I know.”

“And you can’t be worrying about me at every scene and jumping in. At other scenes there will be other people who need you and if you distract
me
then I can’t do my job either—”

“I know.”

“I don’t need you to take care of me.”

“I fucking know that, Gabby.”

He looked incredibly irritated. Well, good.

“Then knock it off. You can’t think of me as a girl you’re sleeping with when we’re at work.”

“I don’t get stupid about the girls I sleep with,” he said, his attention on the swaying oxygen tubes again.

That was…interesting.

“Who do you get stupid over?”

“My sisters.”

“I was pretty sure we’d established that I’m not one of your sisters,” she said lightly, even as her entire chest felt tight. She didn’t want a relationship with Conner. Not a
relationship
anyway. His life was crazy too. If they combined their two crazy lives, and families, she’d be…crazy.

But it felt pretty damned good to hear that he was feeling differently for her than he did for most of the women he slept with.

He’d never done it on a poker table with any of them either.

Of course, now the poker table was broken.

She sighed.

Maybe that was a sign. A metaphor, at least.

“My sisters…and you,” he finally said.

She swallowed. “That’s probably not good.”

“It’s very not good.”

She was a big girl. She knew what she wanted. She could handle this. Probably. “It’s two months, Dixon. Can you handle it or should I sleep on Sierra’s couch?”

He was quiet for a moment and Gabby felt her heart in her throat. She didn’t want to move out. But she knew she should do just that.

“Well, you’ve already got your stuff all moved in,” he said.

Relief flooded through her. Stupid, complicating relief. “Yeah, that’s true.”

He grinned at her and she could have easily labeled it goofy. Conner did flirtatious and sexy and over the top, but he didn’t do goofy.

She grinned back. Goofily.

Conner reached and cupped the back of her head, pulling her in for a kiss that was hot and sweet and felt completely, totally right.

Chapter Eight

“Well, that explains it.”

Gabby turned toward the back of the ambulance. Which was now open. With Ryan and Nate standing there looking in. With a bunch of ER staff gathered behind them—as ER staffs were inclined to do when an ambulance pulled in.

She hadn’t even noticed that they’d arrived at St. A’s.

And dammit if she didn’t feel herself blushing.

“Why are you here?” Conner asked Nate with a frown.

“I’m a doctor. You need stitches. And Ryan likes me so he called to be sure I’d be here waiting for you.”

“It’s a cut. Any intern can handle it. You’re a big-shot trauma surgeon. Don’t you have real patients to treat?” Conner let go of Gabby and eased himself off the gurney.

“No. And this is far more interesting. I can’t wait to tell Emma.”

“You can’t tell Emma,” Conner said quickly.

“Why not?” Nate asked, helping Conner into a waiting wheelchair.

“Because…she’ll tell everyone.”

“Emma? No,” Nate said with an eye-roll.

“My sisters don’t even make cereal without asking each other how much milk to use,” Conner said.

Nate laughed and started pushing him toward the ER. “Exaggerate much?”

Ryan turned in the direction of the locker room.

Gabby followed Nate and Conner, but hung back slightly.

She had heard the guys interact a thousand times, but honestly, she usually tuned it out. Guys giving each other a hard time was like white noise.

Now, suddenly, she felt like she should pay attention.

“But you don’t want them to know about Gabby?” Nate asked Conner.

“No. They like her.”

Nate glanced at her over his shoulder. “That’s a bad thing?”

“It will be when the two months are up.”

Gabby lengthened her strides to be sure to keep up as Nate rolled Conner through the ER waiting area, past the Admissions desk and down the hallway leading to the exam rooms.

“When the two months is up?” Nate asked. “What’s that mean?”

“That’s when Gabby and I will be done.”

He glanced at her again. She tried to keep her face impassive.

“You don’t have to be done,” Nate said.

Gabby felt her stomach flip at that. Of course they needed to be done then. Very done. I’m-over-this-and-never-want-to-do-it-again done.