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She blinked, then rolled her eyes, but the pink that bloomed on the warm tan skin of her face belied her effort at disdain. Dani liked to play that he didn’t affect her, but he damn well knew that he did. Just like she affected him. “Fuck sake,” Dani muttered under her breath.
That made him chuckle. And that made him cough. He hugged the pillow to his chest with one arm.
Dani cradled his other hand in her palm. “Serves you right. I literally don’t care what you’re good at.”
She didn’t say he wasn’t good, though, and that released a probably ridiculous masculine satisfaction through his blood. Because she knew damn right well that he could suck like a goddamned champ—a champ that had given her two orgasms with his mouth while she was spread out over the bench seat of his truck. Amused despite hacking up a lung, he watched her unwind the length of gauze until he finally regained his breath. “I got skills, D. As you well know. That’s all I’m sayin’.”
Even the glare she threw him couldn’t quite hide her humor. Or the knowingness in her eyes. “You’ve got a ridiculous ego. That’s all I’m saying.”
Enjoying the banter, he grinned and met her gaze head on. “Well earned, baby girl. Well. Fucking. Earned.”
“Call me that again and I’ll punch your other eye, baby boy.” She arched a brow at him. “Hear how ridiculous that sounds?”
He chuffed out an almost-laugh as the last of the gauze on his left hand fell away, and Sean took a gander at the damage. Someone had taken a cheese grater to the knuckles on the back of his hand, and the cuts stung when he tried to make a fist. Otherwise, his lefty was in decent shape. “And this was with gloves on.”
“The hit really sent you flying,” she said, unwrapping his other hand.
Surprised, his gaze cut to her. “You saw it?”
Without meeting his gaze, she nodded. “Yeah. I was coming to talk to you, but you’d already pulled into the street. So I was at the corner when it happened. I knew he was going to hit you but couldn’t do a goddamn thing.”
Competing thoughts erupted in Sean’s head. What had she wanted to talk to him about? Was she finally going to give him the dressing down he deserved for how hard he’d hit her? And, wait, she didn’t think she’d helped him? She’d apparently stayed at his request and spent the whole fucking night sitting at his side.
He inhaled to speak just as she removed the second bandage—and a new doctor knocked on the door jamb.
“Ah, Mr. Riddick, you’re awake,” the man said, entering the room. “I’m Dr. Nassir.” He did a double take at Dani. “Daniela, you’re not on duty, are you?”
“No, Sean and I are friends. Either that, or I can’t get enough of being here.”
The guy chuckled as he washed his hands. Sean examined the chewed-up mess that were the knuckles on his right hand. He guessed he was lucky he hadn’t broken a couple fingers.
“Hey, Doc. Hope this is okay,” he said, holding up his unbandaged hands. “The gauze was making me crazy because I couldn’t hold anything.”
The man took a look. “The gauze will help keep the cuts clean. Given how deep some of them are, you might want to give it another day or two. But we can wrap them differently so they’re not so bulky.” The doc stepped closer. “Let’s take a look at the eye while we’re at it, shall we?”
Sean’s heart tripped over itself. “Yeah.”
“Do you want me to step out, Sean?” Dani asked.
No. The quickness and certainty of his reaction was a total gut check. Thing was, they might not get along half the time, but Sean knew for certain that he could count on Dani to tell him the truth, so he didn’t want her going anywhere. He peered around the doctor. “Not at all.”
Nodding, she came around the other side of the bed, gaze intent on his now even uglier mug.
Removing the last of the tape, Dr. Nassir pulled the eye shield and gauze away.
Sean blinked against the light and had two competing reactions. First, his vision was fucking blurry. But, second, he had a sudden flash of clarity that told him it wasn’t anywhere near as blurry as the night before. And, remembering that, he suddenly recalled an image of Dani kneeling on the street and talking to him. Encouraging him. And she thought she hadn’t done anything for him?
“How is your vision?” the man said, disposing of the bandage.
Swallowing hard, Sean tried to focus on the man’s name badge. Blurry. “Uh, better than last night, I think, but not all the way clear.”
The doc nodded in that non-committal way doctors had. “Let me take a look,” he said, reaching for a scope with a light on it.
