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“That’s okay. In our line of work, our hands are always like that.”
He smiled a little, sitting down and closely observing the knife scars. “Do you mind if I do a little examination on them? It will help me understand the best way to manipulate the muscles in each area.”
Daria shook her head. “No… go ahead.”
“I will be very gentle but, if it hurts, let me know?”
“Yes, because that whole area is really tender.”
Nodding, he moved his fingers lightly across the three pink scars. The flesh was shiny, indicating early-stage scar tissue. He felt the solid firmness of her thigh, once again reminding himself she had been a sniper for a long time and was used to hard, physical punishment, hiking through some of the worst possible terrain in order to gain the high ground for her hide. “Relax,” he urged her quietly as his fingers grazed each of the scars.
“Sorry, it’s just sore.”
“Am I hurting you?”
“No… just my reaction. When I was doing physical therapy, which was brutal and painful, my leg was always bruised-feeling afterward…. it’s just an old knee-jerk reaction… excuse the pun.” She saw Nik’s eyes grow hooded as he nodded and continued to gently palpate the skin around each wound. His contact was amazing to Daria and she found herself sighing, relaxing and enjoying the skimming of his long fingers as they began to slowly probe around each of the old knife wounds.
“It’s all right. I understand.” Nik frowned, beginning to move the muscles lightly below the first wound, the one highest above her knee. “From the looks of this one, I’d say a curved blade was used. Do you know?”
Mouth flattening, Daria placed her arm across her eyes. “Taliban always use a curved blade.” She saw his mouth thin a little as he began to investigate around the scar. Grunting, she stiffened.
“Sorry,” he murmured, lightening his touch. “Just a little more? I need to know how many layers of muscles are involved.”
“Now you sound like my PT gal. She was always saying the same thing.” She saw a corner of his mouth lift momentarily. There was utter intent in his face as he leaned over, looking and feeling around that first wound.
“Yes, we all say ‘just a little more,’ knowing full well it’s hurting you, but it’s for a good reason.” Nik moved his thumb in a caressing motion downward from the scar.
“Owwww,” Daria muttered, scowling.
“I’m done.” Nik smoothed his hand across the shiny welt. “You’ve still got healing to do, Daria. At least on this one,” and he gestured to it. “It’s not fully restored. I’m perplexed why your doctor would release you for duty.”
Shrugging, Daria muttered, “I had nothing to do with it.”
“But did you tell your doctor how tender your leg was? How much it stiffened up on you after use?”
“Yes,” she muttered. Daria saw Nik give a slight shake of his head, absorbing his light, soothing stroke. Instantly, the pain went away and in its place was warmth. And care. She was privy to his compassionate medic side right now. “Honestly? Alex Kazak checked it out and argued passionately that my muscles weren’t fully healed like they needed to be. He argued with Jack Driscoll, my boss, that I should be given another two months of rest before being put out in the field again.”
Smiling faintly, Nik held her gaze. “My dear friend Alex was right. He’s a good medic.”
“So are you.”
“How does it feel now? Is the pain less?”
Just the slow, gentle strokes around her wound made her sigh. “Yes. It feels so good right now. Don’t stop, Nik…”
“I won’t. I can feel the muscles begin to trust my touch. They are sagging with relief. They were very tight and hard before. I’ll do more serious massage, but first, I want to check out the other wounds. The muscling and ligaments are different the closer you get to your knee.”
“Sure, go ahead.” Daria didn’t want Nik to ever stop laying his roughened fingers upon her flesh.
The second scar was in the middle, the worst-looking one. As he manipulated her thigh carefully, he saw her mouth flex. “Pain?”
“Stiffness more than anything else.”
“This knife wound went in at an angle opposite of the upper wound.”
She was blown away by his knowledge. “I wasn’t exactly watching what was going on when it happened.” Daria saw his mouth flex.
“I understand,moya kotya,” and he followed the damage done to the muscles beneath. She stiffened and he murmured, “Just a little more…”
