Ready To Love Again (20 page)

Distracted, she turned to put the contents into a bucket when she lost her footing on the slippery floor. Grabbing at the table to stabilize herself, she felt the knife slice deep into the palm of her hand. On instinct, she released the table and pulled her hand close to her body instead of catching her fall. She hit the concrete hard and lay there for a moment before she felt the wetness run down her hand. Katie knew from the way her hand was bleeding that the cut was bad. Cautious of her injury, she sat up and checked the rest of her body for damage. She’d be sore the next day, but her hand was the more pressing matter at that moment.

Katie yanked off her sweatshirt, thankful she’d thought to wear a T-shirt underneath, and wrapped it around her hand. She pulled her walkie-talkie off her belt and took a deep breath to steady her nerves before she pushed the talk button.

“Amelia, I need you in the kitchen immediately.”

“Katie? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll be there in two minutes.”

Katie took several deep breaths and leaned against the stainless steel cabinets. Shock registered across her boss’s face when she walked into the kitchen and found Katie on the concrete floor.

“What happened?” Amelia asked, kneeling next to Katie.

“I cut my hand.”

Amelia unwound the sweatshirt from Katie’s hand and gasped when she saw the damage. She wrapped it back up and pulled out her cell phone.

“Gina, get your car and meet me out front. You need to run Katie to the ER. She cut her hand, and it’s pretty serious.”

Katie’s stomach rolled, and she felt every heartbeat in her hand. Taking long, steady breaths, she breathed through the pain.
 

“Are you okay?” Amelia asked. “You’re really pale. Do you think you can walk?”

“Yeah, let’s go. I don’t know how long I’ll last before I pass out.”

Amelia pulled Katie up and wrapped her arm around her waist just in case she went down. She held her tight to her side while they made their way back down the long concrete corridor to the employee parking lot. Gina waited in a red convertible.

“What happened?” Gina asked, flinging open the passenger door.
 

Amelia situated Katie in the car before she turned to Gina and filled her in on the accident.
 

“I’ve already called Chase,” Gina said. “He’ll wait for us at the Emergency entrance.”

She looked over at Katie with concern before she pulled onto Oceanview Boulevard. Katie laid her head back on the seat and tried not to focus on the blood-soaked sweatshirt.

Gina zipped in and out of traffic, driving right up to the emergency room doors, where Katie caught a glimpse of Chase pacing out front. Before Gina had the car in park, he flung open the door, scooped Katie out, and swept her toward the entrance to the hospital. She was in too much pain to protest, instead laying her head against his chest while he carried her past the registration desk and toward his office.

“Aren’t you going to take her into the ER?” Gina asked, trying to keep up with him.

“I’m already breaking a thousand rules. I don’t want an audience.”

Katie shook her head against his chest and looked up at him. “I can’t let you get in trouble over this. I can—”

“Do you have insurance?”

She blanched, then shook her head. “No, not until next month. Shawn’s on Victor’s insurance, but mine ended when the divorce was final.”

“That’s what I figured.” Chase kissed the top of her head before he shoved open the door to his office. “I won’t feel better until I’ve taken a look at your hand, and trust me, if you need stitches, I’m your man.”

“But—”

“Katie,” Chase said, cutting her off. “Let me do this, please?”

She pressed her cheek into his shoulder and nodded. 

“Thank you,” he said.

He situated her on the edge of his desk and unwound the sweatshirt while she closed her eyes. Going into doctor mode, he asked her quick questions to ascertain the mobility in her hand. Gina hovered in the corner. Katie looked over at her and smiled, trying to let her know she was okay. Once Chase had cleaned up the blood, he probed the area and sighed.

“When was your last tetanus shot?”

“I don’t know—maybe nine or ten years ago.”

“You’re going to need stitches and another shot. I don’t think you have any nerve damage,” he said, taking a closer look at her hand. “But it looks like Shawn will need to do the dishes for a week or so.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen.” She rolled her eyes, which made him chuckle.

“I’m going to go pick up the kids. Can you bring her to the house?” Gina asked while she gathered up her things and opened the door.

“Yeah. We’ve been slow, so I can slip out early.”

Gina nodded, gave Katie an apologetic smile, and then was gone. Chase rubbed Katie’s leg and turned to a tray that held a huge needle. Looking away from what he was doing, Katie focused on his medical degree hanging on the wall and waited for the pain to come. She was surprised when all she felt was a tiny pinch before the palm of her hand went numb. Chase worked with an expert hand while he cleaned and stitched her up.

“You know”—a crooked smile spread across his face as he worked, drawing Katie’s attention back to the handsome man she had grown so fond of—“if you wanted to see me today, all you had to do was call. You didn’t need to resort to such drastic measures.” Chase looked up at her with a twinkle in his eye, and she laughed.

“So does that mean you’re free tonight?” she asked in a flirty voice.
 

Chase searched her eyes with an intense stare, and she had a moment of panic, thinking maybe she was being too forward. Then he smiled.

“I’m not letting your accident-prone self out of my sight this evening.”

Her heart sped up a little at the suggestion in his words. Chase grew quiet while he focused his attention back on her hand, making her wonder if he was rethinking his remark.

“Ten stitches later, and you’re as good as new,” he said, holding up her hand so she could inspect it.
 

Katie looked at the dark thread that protruded from her skin and felt the room spin. Fighting the urge to pass out, she thrust it back at him.

“Aren’t you going to bandage it up?”

“Yes. I just thought you’d like to see my fine needlework.” He laughed then took her hand in his and wrapped it with care.

“Exactly how did you get the cut?”

Chase turned around and grabbed the tetanus shot off the tray. Katie gulped at the size of the needle before looking away.

“I was cutting up the white shark’s meal when I slipped,” she said.

“I’m curious—how and what do you feed the white shark?”

“She’s eaten salmon, mackerel, and sardines, all of which are restaurant-grade fish. She’s a bit picky, so we have to supplement her diet with vitamins.” Katie blocked out what he was about to do while she focused on her work. “What’s been really interesting is that, with the other sharks, we can put the food on a pole, kind of shish kebab style, and they pluck it off. Not with her. She gets about two feet from it, and then lunges at it as though she were attacking prey.” Katie took a breath to continue, and that’s when she felt a gentle pinch on her arm. She looked in Chase’s blue eyes and was struck by the depth of compassion with a hint of worry she saw before he returned his gaze back to her arm.

“That sounds a little dangerous for the person holding the pole,” he commented while he pulled out the needle and replaced it with a Band-Aid.

“We had to create a special pole so it wouldn’t break off and hurt her. Then we added some safety devices to keep the feeder safe.”

“She hasn’t taken a bite out of her roommates?”

“Unfortunately, yes. She’s showing some aggression, but so far the wounds inflicted weren’t fatal. The sea turtles are oblivious to her, but it’s obvious the other fish in the exhibit are very aware of her presence.”

He took her bandaged hand in his, opened her palm, and brought it up to his mouth. He kissed over the spot he’d wrapped with a tenderness that made her heart flutter in her chest.

“Please, be careful,” he whispered, stepping between her parted legs.
 

Katie’s breathing quickened. The desire in his eyes made her tingle all over.

Chase’s hand came up and cupped her cheek. Rubbing his thumb over her bottom lip, he tilted her head back and brushed his lips against hers.

“Ahem.”

He pulled away and turned toward the nurse in the doorway.

“Well, it seems like someone has finally caught the interest of those pretty blues,” the stout, older nurse with graying hair said.

Chase’s cheeks flushed pink as though he had just been caught making out in the back of his parents’ car. When it appeared that he wouldn’t say anything, the nurse turned to Katie and gave her a kind smile.

“Hello, dear, I’m Sadie.” She cocked her head toward Chase. “I’m the head nurse in pediatrics, but my title also includes fly swatter when it comes to Dr. Blue-Eyes here,” she said, pointing a small, chubby finger toward Chase.

“Katie.” She introduced herself with a small wave of her bandaged hand. “Fly swatter? What does that job entail?”

“I swat all the flirtatious nurses and the occasional patient away from our sexy attending surgeon,” she said with a chuckle and a nod toward Chase. “Who needs prime-time television when you have
that
to look at all day long?”
 

Katie looked over at Chase. He turned away, busying himself with the instruments on the tray, but not before she saw him roll his eyes.

“What did you need, Sadie?” Chase mumbled, and Katie grinned at his obvious discomfort.

“I need you to sign a chart.”

“And it couldn’t wait until later?”

“Nope. I was also curious why you tore out of pediatrics like your pants were on fire.” She winked at Katie before giving Chase an innocent smile. “Now I understand.”

Katie liked this spunky woman.
 

Chase took the chart from Sadie and scanned over the paperwork before he signed it and thrust it back at her.

“Nice to meet you, Katie.” Sadie smirked at Chase once more before she walked out.
 

Chase raked his hands through his hair and turned back to Katie. She grinned wider as she thought of the many ways she could razz him.

“Dr. Blue-Eyes, huh?”

He shook his head and held out his hand to help her off his desk, ignoring her teasing. “Let’s go. I’ll get Dr. Lee to write you a prescription for some pain meds, and I’ll drive you to my house.”

“But my car—” Katie started to argue, but he shook his head.

“The cut is going to be tender for the next couple of days. Grabbing on to the steering wheel is not going to feel pleasant.”

End of argument.

After they picked up the prescription, he handed her two pills and a bottle of water and directed her toward his car.

Once they’d arrived at his house, she waited while he walked around the car to open her door. Taking his offered hand, she stepped out onto the driveway. Katie wobbled from the sudden motion, and he grabbed her around the waist to keep her upright.

“You’re a lightweight,” Chase said with a chuckle before scooping her up into his arms. The sudden movement sent Katie’s head spinning. “Maybe you should have only taken one of those pills.”

His laugh rang in her ears when she felt the universe spin in a blur of lights. Pressing her face into the crook of his neck, she hoped she would be able to keep the contents of her stomach where they belonged.

Chase kissed the top of her head and laid her on the sofa.

She didn’t let go of his neck for several reasons. The first was that she didn’t trust the room to keep from rotating if she didn’t have something to hold on to. She also felt safe with his strong arms around her. Plus, he smelled
really
good.

He knelt down beside her and ran his fingers through her hair until she released him and let her head fall back onto the plush pillows. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I should have asked if you had adverse reactions to pain meds.”

“Hmm. Do you know you smell amazing?”

“I’m glad you approve.” Chase laughed and kissed her forehead. “Rest here for a minute while I go let Gina know we’re here, and then I’ll see what I can do about dinner.”

~*~

Katie didn’t last two minutes before she passed out. She slept through dinner, a rubber-band war between the boys, and Liz squawking when they declared war on her. Chase considered letting Katie sleep on the sofa, but he didn’t think leather was the most comfortable fabric to be stuck to.

Gina pestered Chase to take Katie to bed, but the only bed available was his. He didn’t want to presume she would feel comfortable sleeping with him, passed out on pain medication or not. It wasn’t until Gina said she’d pick Katie up herself that he relented.

“Chase?” Katie whispered when he carried her up the stairs. Her voice sounded like a frog was stuck in her throat.