“You want to know what’s wrong?” He placed his hands on her delicate shoulders. “It’s me. That’s what’s wrong. I’m wrong for you.”
She reached up and touched his face. “Why? Please tell me why.”
“Because I have cancer.”
“Cancer? Okay.” She closed her eyes, certainly considering the gravity of what he’d told her. But when she opened them, what she said surprised him. Her words weren’t of pity or sadness. They were of action and to the point, something that spoke to him on a very deep level. “That’s very difficult to come to grips with, but don’t think for one minute that’s going to stop me. I would rather have just one day with you than no days at all. Now, let me take care of that foot of yours. Where do you keep your first aid meds?”
“Underneath the bathroom sink.” He’d never met anyone so brave and strong as she was.
“Listen to me, Aaron Strait. You don’t move a muscle until I get back.” She trotted off to the bathroom.
He started laughing. And you call yourself a Dom. I just was bested by a curvy little spitfire.
She came back with peroxide, bandages, cloths, and more.
“Singer and nurse? I had no idea.”
“There’s a lot more to me than you know, Aaron. Be careful and sit your stubborn ass in this chair.” She pointed to the same one he’d placed her in just moments ago.
The tables have definitely been turned.
She walked to the sink and filled a bowl with warm water. He watched her every move, unable to look away now.
She knelt down in front of him and placed the bowl at his feet. She lifted the cut foot and placed it in the warm water. Her washing his wound felt soothing.
“It’s a tiny sliver. I think I can get it with these tweezers.”
“Knock yourself out, doc.”
She looked up at him and grinned. “Who knew you could be so funny?”
“There’s a lot more to me than you know either, Gya.”
In a flash, she had the glass out, the wound cleaned, and his foot bandaged.
“Good as new, but I wouldn’t put too much pressure on it.” She stood and sat down in the chair next to his. “You don’t want to make it bleed again.”
“You’re the one with the medical degree, not me.”
She laughed. “Funny man.”
“Gya, I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass. You didn’t deserve any of my shit.”
She leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. “Now we’re even.”
“God, you’re something else. I haven’t felt this good in a long time.”
“What kind of cancer is it?”
He loved her straight-to-the-issue approach. No beating around the bush with her, that was for sure. “I have Hodgkin disease.”
“That’s a cancer of the lymph nodes, right?”
“Yes.”
“When did you get diagnosed with it?”
“The same day I met you in Houston. That morning.”