“You’re gonna be just fine,” Jake said to the young boy while splinting his arm.
This one was lucky. A bad sprain, most likely, but only a radiologist in imaging would know for sure. The splint would keep the youngster from jostling his arm and doing any more damage in the interim.
For the most part, this was Jake’s life. Or at least it was on every other Friday from six in the evening until around six in the morning.
But these weren’t his normal patients. Partying college students. Domestic disputes. Drunks who’d slip and fall, or lash out and fight. Those were the garden-variety cases his services usually rewarded him with during his volunteer shifts.
But seeing this many children in one night? Each one was its own kick to the gut.
“Hang in there. A doctor will see you soon.” Jake did his best, reassuring the boy with a hand on his shoulder. At least these kids’ parents and guardians were here.
“Were you in combat?”
Jake’s smile warmed. “I was. What gave it away?”
“Your killer tattoos,” the boy said, staring wide-eyed at the few that were exposed on Jake’s arm. The boy’s gaze drifted to Jake’s neck. “Was that from a bullet?”
Jake’s hand moved to the long-forgotten wound, and he nodded. “What’s your name?”
“Travis.”
“Jake.”
Dramatically, Travis widened his gaze and looked up. “Did you almost die?”
Jake shifted uncomfortably with the hero worship. Under his breath, he said, “Twice, actually.”
Scanning across the busy waiting room, he had to find Kathryn. Had to at least see her in that moment.
“I’m gonna be a soldier one day, Mr. Jake.” The boy beamed with pride, addressing Jake formally as his grade-school training kicked in.
Travis’s father patted the boy’s shoulder in a show of affection and pride, and Jake noticed similar tattoos on the man. After all, this was Colorado Springs, a city that was overflowing with military veterans.
Connected in pride, Jake forced a grin. It could be the endless hours on his feet, or maybe he was just getting old. But whatever he was feeling, it tugged at just enough angst that he was already worried for the eight-year-old.
“You’ll make a hell of a fine one,” Jake said, mustering a smile. “Just remember two things. First, look out for one another. Watch each other’s backs. And second . . .”
Jake managed to catch a glimpse of Kathryn as his rushed little kitten took charge and kicked ass in the middle of the chaos. Fuck, she’s mind-blowing.
It was a moment. Barely a second when in the midst of rushing and directing and holding it together, she stopped just long enough to sweep those thick strawberry-blonde waves into a ponytail high on her head. Her back arched in a fluid move, and his gaze followed down the lines of her body—tracing those curves that dipped at her waist and flared at her hips. A perfect breathtaking moment of nothing but Kathryn Chase.
“Second,” Jake said, returning his attention to the boy, “be extra good to your nurse.”
The young boy seemed equally infatuated with Kathryn as she glided from one bay to the next. He looked up at Jake, grinning wide. “Sir, yes, sir.”
Jake kept up the pace for several more hours, and each time he ended with one patient, he was on to the next. Even tired and fatigued, nothing would keep him from helping every last person he could. Not unless he was ordered to stop. Or he passed out.
Dismayed, he huffed under his breath and rubbed his brow. “Shit. When will it end?”
“Here,” Julian said, offering him his choice of Coke or Red Bull.
“Thanks.” Jake grabbed the Coke, appreciating Julian more than he could know, with full understanding that the man lived for Red Bull.
“Oh, thank God. I was just being polite.”
Jake cracked a smile. “I know,” he said, popping open the can. The fizz and flavor were just the jolt he needed. “Ahh,” he said, springing back to life. “Kathryn might need—”
“Already taken care of, big guy. Thanks, by the way, for the pizza in the lounge.”
“My name shouldn’t have been on the order. How did you know it was me?”
“Well, when I called as Jake Russo and tried to use your card, Francesco said that you’d already placed an order. Color me awkward. If you talk to him again soon, he might ask about your memory issues. Damn football injury.”
“Speaking of my credit card . . .”
Julian’s face fell, unusually guilt-ridden. “Fine.”
He huffed, ditching his empty can in the recycling bin and opening his wallet. Holding it high between two fingers, he frowned.
“Here you go.” True lament filled his words, and it was clear to both of them that that card wasn’t leaving his hand unless Jake pried each finger off it.
“Keep it.”
“Really?”
The extra pop of Julian’s glee was enough for Jake to clarify. “Hey, I don’t see my ring on your finger. Not forever, just for tonight.”
“Why do men always say that to me?”
Jake glanced away, noticing a little girl who sat tucked away in the far corner of the room. How did I miss her? Balled up in her chair with her knees to her chin, the girl’s angst-filled face and worried frown were too much to ignore.
Time to get back to work.
“Use that card,” he told Julian. “Take care of anything that you think needs taken care of, and thanks for the drink.”
Before he hurried off, Julian pressed a palm to his arm. “Kathryn was frantic, you know?”
He didn’t know. Frantic? The little girl could wait thirty seconds more. He had to give Julian his full attention.
Concerned, he asked, “About what?”
“About the ring. She didn’t take it off on purpose. Not like that. We went a little crazy with the appetizers, and at some point the guacamole might have tipped on her hand. Accidentally.”
Jake smirked.
“She might have been accidentally trying to fish a corner of a chip out of it.”
“That’s my girl. No chip left behind.”
“But you didn’t hear it from me. Anyway, she washed her hands and scrubbed the hell out of that ring with her toothbrush—even handed it to me to show me the great job she did—and then I must have laid it down. Kathryn turned that hotel room upside down this morning, hung over and swearing at herself the whole time. Offered an obscene amount of money to housekeeping if they found it.”
Jake’s tight lips lifted in relief. “Thanks, Julian. I assume you’ve got video footage of my girl manhandling the guac?”
That warranted a chuckle. “Sending now.”
A few more patients later, and Jake was ready for a bona fide break. Just ten solid minutes to check up on his kitten before another few hours of work.
Kathryn wasn’t hard to find. With the way her body zipped through the halls, it was as if she was everywhere at once. He caught up to her in a nearby room.
“It’ll only sting for a second, but you’ll start to feel much better.” Quietly, she explained the procedure to the terrified wailing girl, her weeping mother, and an anxious young nurse. “Like this,” she said, working through the steps of administering what could be a cortisone injection, or possibly a nerve block. Having a nurse like Kathryn administer the shot was rare enough. More unusual was for her to have to do it on a patient so young.
Loud voices echoing through the halls halted Kathryn mid-shot. Looking up, her eyes locked onto his. Her tight lips warmed with barely the trace of a smile. She lifted a brow, a silent plea as she narrowed her gaze deliberately at the door.
It was a delicate procedure. A momentary pause or a sudden move could go terribly wrong. They needed quiet. Privacy. And Jake had done what he’d come to do. Marginally, at best, he’d accomplished his small gesture to let her know he was thinking of her. Wanting to do more would have to wait. His short-lived presence would have to be enough.
Nodding in understanding, Jake smiled back and prepared to step out. The procedure shouldn’t take long, but they needed to work. And the second his feet hit the hall, he’d be up to his collar in the next round of patients.
“Just the door, Mr. Russo. We could use your help.”
Jake shut the door. “Yes, Nurse.”
Yup. That made my dick twitch. She’s in the middle of administering an excruciatingly painful injection, and I want to take her up against a wall. Reason I’m going to hell number two.
“Where do you want me?” he asked, and her sudden blush had down, boy written all over it.
“On the other side of us,” she said.
Jake took his position, his trained smile emerging as he looked down on the hysterical little girl. Her mother tried holding her in place, but it was the point at which loved ones often failed. Not applying enough constraint. This close, the bulge in the child’s knee was alarming.
She can’t move.
Kathryn slipped into medical speak, hurried in her recap to catch him up. “Six-year-old admitted with a swollen knee. Fluid buildup below the kneecap. Possible meniscus tear. IV pain relievers administered with no effect. Pain is eased in this position,” she indicated the pillow postured under the little girl’s knee, “but barely.”
She paused, apparently using code to avoid saying the words surgery or operating room in front of the small child. “Imaging ASAP—OR in two hours or less.” She held up the shot. “Lidocaine to ease the immediate pain.”
Numbing the pain would also keep the child from moving. If they were doing an X-ray or MRI, she’d have to refrain from any movements at all. Damn near impossible when you were in agony.
“Hold her still?” Jake asked.
“Please,” Kathryn said calmly and directly.
Jake was gentle but firm as he directed the mother to the head of the bed. He needed her out of the way, but he knew mama bears. Based on the streams of tears sliding down her puffy cheeks, there was no way this woman would move more than two feet from her daughter’s side.
“If you could hold her hand,” he said. “Nurse Chase is the best. It’ll only take a second.”
It broke his heart to see the cute little girl with missing front teeth bawling her eyes out. But he knew the drill. No sedation. It was imperative that through most of this, they could ask her questions and she could answer.
No more talking was required. He and Kathryn didn’t need to speak. They’d never worked together, but it was as if they’d worked together for years. Knew each other’s glances. Read each other’s thoughts.
Jake readied his hands, getting into position. Studying her eyes, he postured and waited.
The shift in Kathryn’s features was subtle. Almost imperceptible. Her eyes dilated. The thumping pulse in her neck quickened, and her lips parted. Before she nodded or said now, his hands locked around the little girl’s leg.
Needle in. Needle out. Hands eased off. It was over.
“There.” Kathryn’s shoulders relaxed and her tension dissipated. She expelled a small breath. Looking at the mom, she grinned. “In two minutes, she should start feeling a whole lot better.”
And just like that, the deafening wailing stopped. Sniffling, the little girl raised her tear-filled eyes to Jake. “Thank you.”
Embarrassed, Jake pocketed his hands, ready to shyly explain he’d done very little except hold her tiny little leg down.
“Yes.” Kathryn gave him her warmest grin. “Thank you. You have the magic touch.”
Jake made his way out of the room and waited, leaning on the wall just outside the door. It only took Kathryn a few more minutes to wrap up, and the second she stepped into the hall, their eyes met.
“I’ll catch up with you in a bit, Megan,” she said to the nurse.
“You were amazing in there.” Jake didn’t hold back his adoration. “That’s a tough technique. Even harder when you’re performing on a tiny knee like that, all while teaching.”
“It’s Megan’s first night. She just graduated. The most she saw in her internship was a sprained wrist. She’s doing great, but had no idea how to really handle an injection with a thirty-gauge needle. I probably should have let her do it, but—”
Jake couldn’t help it. He jerked Kathryn into him, locking one arm around her waist as he cupped that damn gorgeous face in his other hand. “Using that little girl as a pincushion turned my stomach too. You did the right thing. You always do the right thing. I’m living proof.”
Modest as ever, Kathryn turned her shy glance away, biting back a smile. It gave him the excuse he needed to lower the hand that was cupping her cheek to glide along her neck. His mild, soothing massage was welcomed. Her moan was almost inaudible. Almost.
“Do you need anything?”
Not now, she glared.
He chuckled in her ear. “Like food,” he murmured, letting his hand drift further down her arm, brush her tummy, until two fingers slipped into the waistband of her jeans.
Her head shake was unhurried and indecisive. She could take all night contemplating whether or not she needed food. At least she wasn’t pulling back or resisting.
“It’ll just slow me down,” she finally said, her big eyes meeting his. Leaning forward, she pressed against him. An attempt to get a better look at the waiting room, but he’d take it. It was the closest she’d felt to him in over a day.
Jake inhaled. Half a day on her feet, and he could still detect the fragrant notes of vanilla, a scent that always perfectly swirled with that singular smell of her.
“I figure two more hours at the most. I can hold out.”
“Hmm?” Hold out? Right. Food. She means food.
“Late dinner?” He upped the ante. “And a massage?”
Maybe she was too tired to argue. Or maybe the idea felt just as right to her. Whatever the reason, she agreed. “Yes.”
There was a long pause afterward. Her tongue made a gentle swipe along the fullness of her lower lip, in every way but physical driving him to his knees. Her big eyes searched his, eager to find something.
What?
He let his fingers slide along the velvety skin beneath her waistband. “Talk to me. What’s on your mind.”
“I—” She sucked in a breath. “I know what the surprise is.”
“You do?”
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together to know how she figured it out. Julian. But for a woman about to receive more diamonds than South Africa, she didn’t look particularly pleased. It was extravagant. Maybe she was worried about the cost.
“It’s just a gift,” he said, reassuring her with a peck. “But if you don’t like it, we can always try something else. Hell, get a bunch and rotate them.”
Jake couldn’t be certain, but with her eyebrows shooting clear to her forehead . . . is that fear?
“I, uh . . .” The smallest gasp escaped from her throat before Kathryn whooshed out of breath. “I love you, Jake. And I trust you.” Her words along with that sweet simmering gaze lit him in instant heat, until she said, “I’ll try anything . . . once.”
The once managed to resonate in the air, hanging between them with intense, strange energy.
Jake cocked his head. Twisting a woman’s arm to be allowed to drape her in diamonds? It was the new definition of insanity.
Am I missing something?
“Here.” She pressed a folded sheet of paper in his hands.
“What’s this?”
“Nurse Chase?” Megan was up to her elbows, desperately searching for something in a trauma cart.
Kathryn popped up on her tiptoes to give him a small kiss. “Read it for yourself.” Tearing herself away, she said, “Coming.”