She immediately worried about his lungs, his ribs, his everything. A new injury could compromise his recovery from the rapids accident.
“Luke?” Aware that she had an audience, she fought the urge to brush the hair out of his face and cup his cheek. “Are you okay? Can you sit up?”
His eyes fluttered open and landed on her before moving to the players looming above them. Faster than she would have recommended, he got to his feet.
“I’m okay,” he said, brushing his hands down his sweat pants and across his chest. “That was one hell of a hit, Pierce.”
“Sorry about that,” Pierce said.
“No worries, man.” He glanced at Sela. “Who called for a nurse? This isn’t Little League. I can handle a collision.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of his cold tone and disposition. He was not okay. She could see it in his eyes, in the tiny glower he tried to hide. But if he didn’t want her help, she wouldn’t give it. She turned and walked away.
He caught up to her a few seconds later. “Hey, can I talk to you?”
The wince of pain was there in full force when she twisted to face him. She crossed her arms over her chest.
Luke placed his hand on her back and led her around the dugout to a secluded area of the baseball field. “Sorry about that.”
“That?”
“For talking like a jerk back there. I was embarrassed and handled it poorly.”
She chewed her bottom lip, not sure how to respond. It bothered her that he had spoken that way, but she understood why he had done it.
“I think I might need medical attention.” Luke took her hand, for comfort or support, she wasn’t sure.
“No shit.”
“I don’t want to go to the hospital.”
“That’s stupid. Come on, I’ll drive you.” She stepped around him. Her heart beat with the same sick thuds that always drummed when someone she cared about was hurt.
Dammit. She cared about Luke.
“How about you drive me home and tend to me yourself?” he asked, his voice back to the warm, friendly Luke she’d tried to stop thinking so much about.
“I’m not a doctor, Luke. You need a doctor.”
“I need you, Sela. Not a goddamn MD who will want to run tests and keep me overnight for observation and other shit I’ve had enough of. If you don’t want to help, fine. I’ll drive myself home.”
She stopped. I need you. Sela the woman or Sela the RN? She didn’t much care at the moment. If she didn’t help him, she’d regret it later. “You’re sure it’s not life threatening?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. Let me just tell someone we’re leaving.”
Luke stayed quiet on the ride to his house. He adjusted the seat belt so the piece across his chest sat under his arm and low on his abdomen. His breathing faltered a time or two when he took a deep breath. Tiny beads of sweat dotted his forehead. She pushed the button so his window rolled down.
When they got to his house, he moved a little slower than usual up the walkway. She didn’t say anything but never took her eyes off him
“Let’s keep this to ourselves,” he said, leading her through the brightly lit kitchen and down the hallway to the guest bedroom.
“You know, moms aren’t the enemy. They generally like to help when one of their children is hurt.” The kitchen smelled delicious—Paula had something cooking in the oven—so she couldn’t be too far away.
“Not this time.”
“Or last time. Maybe you should tell her?”
He shot a glare over his shoulder and didn’t answer. With a controlled hand, he quietly opened the guest bedroom door.
Not a thing looked out of place in the room. No clothes lying around, no unmade bed, no suitcase with photography equipment spilling out.
“Jeez, are you neat,” she said.
Luke flipped on the bedside lamp, lending an additional glow to the canned lighting in the ceiling. He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Yeah, and you’re not. At least where you sleep.”
That’s right. He’d been in her bedroom. She felt herself blush and was glad his head was down, eyes on the floor.
“Hey,” she said, reaching his side a split second later. “Tell me what happened. I didn’t see it.”
“I was covering home on a crazy play for the second out when Pierce ran me down to score. He collided with my side and knocked the wind out of me more than anything.” He looked up. “But his cleat caught me right under the ribs.”
“Let’s take a look.” She was glad she wore her scrubs; it helped make her feel like she was still on the job. She had to look at Luke like a patient and not a warm-blooded, sexy man with a gaze that crushed her.
She lifted his T-shirt over his head. His sweats sat low on his hips, giving her a perfect view of smooth, rock-solid skin and muscle—except in the places he wasn’t. Her breath caught. One, two, three…scars bisected his abs, two his chest, and gave him a hard, real-man edge. The fresh clip, rendered by Pierce’s cleat, was wide but not too deep. Blood pooled around the edges. Bruising would probably show up tomorrow.
“Don’t move,” she said. She went into the bathroom, ran a washcloth under warm water, and grabbed a large Band-Aid and antibiotic ointment.
Luke flinched when she pressed the cloth to his skin. “You don’t need stitches, but you might want to skip any physical activity tomorrow so this starts to heal properly.”
He watched her work, his silent regard igniting a flurry of restlessness deep in her belly. She thought about laundry and bananas and other things she didn’t like, trying to keep her mind occupied. With gentle hands she cleaned him up and dressed the wound. Then without her permission her fingers smoothed over the largest scar, the one on his chest. The muscle underneath the raised, pink skin tensed beneath her hand.
“This is from your accident,” she said.
“Yes.”
“The others, too.”
“Yes.”
“Can you please take a deep breath for me. I need to be sure you can do that.”
His chest rose and fell without any hint of difficulty, relieving the knot of worry in the back of her throat. But when the breath he exhaled fanned out against her neck, tingles spread over the backs of her arms.
She took a step back. “Feel any sharp pain when you did that?”
“No.”
“Good. And you never blacked out when you fell, right? Your head didn’t hit the ground?”
“Uh…I don’t think so.” The corners of his eyes crinkled and lines creased his forehead.
“You don’t think so? Luke, if you have another concussion, that’s very serious. That’s why you needed me, isn’t it? You were smart enough not to drive right after bumping your head again.”
“I’m smart enough to know that when a beautiful RN is around, I should take advantage.”
“You think I’m…” She hesitated. He’d spoken brusquely in front of a crowd, reminding her she shouldn’t trust him. “You think because you know how to sweet talk that it excuses your behavior? This isn’t something to take lightly.”
“I’ll be fine.” He pushed back to lean against the headboard.
She crossed her arms. “Are you dizzy at all?”
He shook his head.
“Nauseous?”
“No, Nurse Sullivan.” That damn slow, lazy smile of his appeared.
“Don’t get cute with me.”
“You think I’m cute?”
“Errgghh. No. I think you’re stubborn and annoying and you’ve ruined my night. Thank you very much.” She paced around the room. “Where’s your cell phone?”
“Left it at the field.” He yawned and slouched down until his head rested on a pillow.
In that moment, he looked like a little boy and everything inside her turned to mush.
She sat on the bed beside him. “Luke, you can’t go to sleep. Not if there’s a chance you’ve got another concussion. I’ll call Erin and make sure she bring
s your phone home. I’m going to call you every couple of hours and you’re going to answer.” She grabbed the blanket folded at the foot of the bed and covered him with it. “Everyone at the baseball field saw you take a hit, so it’s common knowledge you got hurt.”
He put his hand on her arm. “But no one needs to know the details.”
“Right. That’s why I’m going to call you to be sure you’re okay. But if you don’t answer, I will call your mom and tell her the truth and let her deal with you. Got it?” She hated this idea of keeping something from Paula. But she’d kept one Luke Watters secret, so what was one more?
“Did you know your eyes turn this amazing shade of mahogany when you get fired up?”
That was the second time he’d said something about her eyes that liquefied her insides. No one had ever commented on her eyes before. Probably because no one angered her as much as he did. “I’m going to find your mom and tell her you’re home.” She stood. “Please, Luke, if you start to feel worse, go to the hospital, okay?”
“I won’t feel worse.” He held up a hand to stop the protest he saw coming. “But if I do, I’ll go to the ER.”
“Thank you.” She put her hands in scrub pockets. “Good night.”
“’Night. And thanks,” he said, his tone filled with gratitude and genuine appreciation.
Sela stepped into the hall and leaned against the wall. Feelings of worry and safekeeping and possession flooded her.
She didn’t just care about Luke. She was falling for him.
…
Images of Sela swirled in Luke’s head.
He stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. Glancing at his torso in the mirror, he felt her hands on him with such clarity his body ached to feel that gentleness again. Even at his weakest, she cared for him, and no one in his adult life had ever treated him with the kind of tender generosity she did.
Granted, he’d been injury-free until now.
The run-in last night hurt worse than Luke had let on. He couldn’t admit to Sela that in his already weakened state, the collision stung like a mother. He didn’t want to admit it to himself.
If he thought about the women he’d gravitated to in the past, he couldn’t imagine any of them taking the kind of care she had. In his world, relationships were artificial, only skin deep.
Which was how he’d liked it.
This morning, though, the man staring back at him looked different. Felt different. And damn if that didn’t screw up whatever the hell he thought he was doing in Cascade. Being away from the job to recuperate and be with family was one thing. To have the kind of unwelcome thoughts about a woman that made a man weak was an entirely different thing he wished would go away.
Sela had driven him crazy last night with her phone calls every two hours. The one at two a.m. with her gravelly bedroom voice had been the worst. His sweats had sprouted a tent that wouldn’t quit.
The hospital would have been less painful.
He left his new cut bandage-free and pulled a shirt on. Jeans followed. Today he planned to grab his camera, hop on his motorcycle, and head out of town to take some pictures. He needed space from Cascade, needed to get his head back in photography and forget about this physical vulnerability crap.
His cell phone rang, and for a second he paused to think about whether or not to answer it. Lifting the phone off the nightstand, he took note of the caller’s name on the screen.
“Hey, Simon,” Luke said. Simon Baum was his business manager and the only person besides the crew in Tibet who knew about his accident. “How are you?”
“Things would be a lot better if I heard from you once in a while.”
Luke knew he owed Simon an update, but every time he’d picked up the phone to call, something stopped his fingers from pushing the numbers. “It’s been busy here. I had no idea a wedding took up so much time.”
“That tells me shit, Luke. How the hell are you feeling?”
The only answer Simon wanted to hear was that Luke felt great. Which he did—eighty percent of the time. He had ten days to work on the twenty percent. “I feel good.”
“Good enough for Chile? They’re expecting you in two weeks. And they’ve been having one hell of a winter.”
Luke peered out the bedroom window. Dark clouds filled the sky, but not a single leaf moved on any of the trees. Springtime in Cascade often brought rain, but nothing strong enough to prevent him from hitting the road for a few hours.
“I’ll be good enough. No worries.”
“ESPN wants you the week after in Australia for the Australian Open of Surfing. Shall I confirm?”
Luke’s throat clamped shut. The backs of his ears itched. Simon had asked for confirmations a hundred times and Luke had never hesitated to answer yes before.
“Luke?”
“I’ll get back to you on that.” Luke’s gut told him to give Australia some thought, to take things slowly. He flexed the fingers of his right hand, the one Sela had briefly held last night. Her touch had made him feel a hell of a lot better and he wasn’t sure if his taking things slowly meant his physical recovery or seeing where things might lead with her. Chile had been booked before his accident, but new assignments could be at his leisure. He had plenty of money and didn’t need to accept every job that came his way anymore.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Simon asked. “You are, right?”
“I’ve been working nonstop for the past five years, Simon. I’m enjoying time off and might want to enjoy some more.”
“Who is she?”
“Excuse me?”
“The girl who’s got you staying in one place. She must be something pretty special for you to only consider Australia.”
Luke ran a hand through his hair. “There’s no girl.”
“Bullshit. But don’t let me convince you. You need to figure that out for yourself. When will I hear from you?”
“Within the week.” He grabbed his camera bag, opened the bedroom door, and headed to the garage. He needed fresh air before he choked.
“Fine. Take a look at your e-mail once in a while, too. I’m getting tired of waiting for your replies.”
“I will. Talk to you soon.” He hung up and was on his bike and racing down the coast in five minutes. He had no set destination. He only needed to get out of town and find something interesting to photograph.
Dreary weather combined with the middle of the week meant a quiet ride. Once he’d cleared Cascade, the tension thrumming through his veins subsided. Fewer houses and businesses dotted the coastline. Longer views of the sea kept him company. After a half hour he was damp from the moisture in the air, but he didn’t care.
Up ahead he noticed two cars pulled over to the side of the road, one with its hazard lights on and hood open. He slowed as a precaution, but the closer he got, recognition dawned. The car in trouble was Sela’s.
The second car had obviously stopped to help, and a man was looking under her hood. He shouldn’t stop. He should pretend he didn’t recognize her and keep going. Luke needed to clear his head and seeing Sela was counterproductive to that.
But when she stepped out of the car with her arms wrapped around herself, he couldn’t have passed by even if a herd of buffalo was chasing him.
She turned his way as he pulled up behind them.
In black leggings and a thick, loose gray sweater that fell just past her hips, she looked beautiful. Her tawny hair was down, and he wanted to run his fingers through it. Her lips were slightly parted and he wanted to kiss them.
“Luke?”
He pulled off his helmet and put it on his seat before stepping toward her. “And here I thought I was in for a Sela-free day.”
She scowled and wheeled around. “Ben, sweetie, I know it’s just the gas tank again, but thank you for taking a look to be sure. Could you give me a ride to the nearest gas station, please?”
Ben, sweetie hit his head on the hood when he lifted up. “Oh, sure. It would be my pleasure.”
“What are you doing?” She shrugged out of his hold.
“I can take it from here, Ben,” he said.
“You’re Luke Watters.” Ben’s voice shook. Poor kid. He looked twenty-one, maybe twenty-two, and was about to miss his chance with Sela.
“Nice to meet you.” Luke put out his hand. To Ben’s credit, he had a strong grip.
“You, too.” Ben’s gaze swung to Sela. “Sela?”
She moved beside Ben. Okay, so he should have opened with something nicer than Sela-free day.
“I’ll just grab my bag out of the car and go with you, Ben. I’d hate to trouble you today, Luke. Thanks for stopping, though.”
Ben closed the hood. “Cool. Let’s go.”
“Not so fast. Sela can’t go with you.” Luke leaned against the car.
“She can’t?”
“No. This has happened before. Several times in fact. And the only way she’s going to learn is if she walks to the gas station.”
Sela laughed. “You think you’re so cute.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t we go over that last night?”
Ben coughed and looked like he just remembered he had a very important appointment. “You were with him last night?”
“Yes, but—”
“And you’ve run out of gas before?”
“Yes, but—”
Sweetie suddenly didn’t look so sweet. “I’m going to go and let you two figure things out. Good luck.” Ben jumped in his car and took off without a glance back.
Luke pushed away from the driver’s side door. “Come on.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She put her hands on her hips. “What are you doing out here anyway?” A small ray of sunshine peeked through the clouds and cast a warm glow around her.
“I could ask you the same thing. Why haven’t you gotten your gas gauge fixed? You’re lucky I came along when I did. Ben is not the sort you want to get in a car with.”
She cracked up. Every time she laughed he felt stronger. “Ben is the mayor’s grandson and about the most decent boy in Cascade. He was doing a good deed. That’s all.” She moved around the hood to the passenger-side door, opened it, and pulled out her shoulder bag. “I’ll see you around.”
Kissing the Maid of Honor Page 12
