Callie released the pent-up breath she’d been holding.
Going to his knees on the plush carpet, he slowly eased the surgical tape from her face and below her jaw to examine the wound. ?
?Sorry, I know that pulls.”
“It’s okay.”
She closed her eyes, not because of the pain, but because she couldn’t bear to see his face when he looked at her injury. She hadn’t let him look at her wound in the hospital. She’d been poked enough, and the last person she wanted playing doctor was her very attractive boss.
Biting the inside of her lips, Callie waited in the silence for anything. A hitch in his breath, a mutter of curse words. Anything to indicate his thoughts.
After a moment without the bandage, she finally opened her eyes, but didn’t look at him. “Be honest. I can handle it.”
“I’ll fix this,” he replied, his voice thick.
Callie eased around to look him in the eye. “That’s not what I asked. How bad is it? If I were your patient, what would you tell me?”
His eyes met hers. “You are my patient. This will take some time. I can’t tell you for certain because of the swelling, but if the tissues beneath aren’t too damaged, then we have good odds of minimal scarring. I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”
Callie held his gaze. “You don’t have to do this, Noah.”
“I don’t trust your care to another surgeon.”
“I didn’t mean the surgery,” she corrected. His face was so close to hers now, but if she thought she was hideous before with her bandages, she was certainly grotesque now without. “I mean take care of me. I know I need someone. I just don’t want to be a burden for you.”
A smile flirted around his kissable lips. “We’ve been through this. I’m a doctor and I’m your friend. If I didn’t want to help, I wouldn’t have offered.”
“But you offered out of pity,” she told him, hating that damn word and all the emotions it stirred within her.
“I offered because I don’t want to see you suffer and I want to make sure you get the proper care.” He sighed and turned to grab the ointment. “Now, are you going to let me help or are we still going to argue over the living arrangements for the next several weeks?”
Callie tried to grin, but her face was too sore. “I guess you can win this round.”
“You should know by now that I win all the rounds,” he told her with a full-fledged, double-dimple grin. “As a doctor and a man.”
Callie had to look away. She couldn’t fall under his spell even more than she already had. She couldn’t keep wishing for things that could never be because she didn’t think she could handle any more letdowns.
First things first. Her love life would have to be put on hold…again. She needed to climb back up and see what happened after she recovered and had surgery on her face. Then, maybe, if all worked out she could circle back around to where she and Noah had left off making out in his car. That is, if he hadn’t moved on. What were the chances of him staying single for weeks, months?
In fact, his personal life seemed to be very hush-hush, so it must be busy. Anytime she had tried to bring it up to Marie, she’d gotten the message clearly: his love life was off-limits. But Callie couldn’t imagine what a sexy, young plastic surgeon would keep so secretive.
* * *
Noah put away all the supplies once he was done changing Callie’s bandage. She’d taken her medicine and had asked for some privacy. He was all too happy to oblige.
He shouldn’t have forced his way into her room to change that bandage. She would’ve been fine until tomorrow, but he just had to see how she was doing. The doctor in him knew she was fine, but the man in him, the man who was filled with guilt, had to keep his eye on her to make sure she was okay.
As he started to head back downstairs, he passed by her room and heard the hiss of water running.
What the hell?
He knocked on her door, but got no response. Surely she wasn’t actually trying to shower or take a bath. Was she?
He tried her knob, and when it turned beneath his hand, he eased the door open and called her name. “Callie? Everything okay?”
She didn’t answer, but the sound of the Jacuzzi tub filling with water filtered through from the attached bath.
Damn fool woman. How could she do this on her own with that arm in a sling? Not to mention she couldn’t get her stitches wet.