Officer, Surgeon...Gentleman!

“No.” Prior to seeing his handiwork on the man’s lacerations she might have argued that these days she could out-suture him. She was good, but Cole was doing a great job of repairing the man’s wounds. As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn’t have done better. “That isn’t why I asked, either.”

Wondering why her insides shook when what he thought of her didn’t matter. Neither should that twinkle in his eyes make her want to smile in return. She shouldn’t want to smile at him, shouldn’t feel lighter because he was teasing her.

But she did.

“Tracy told me I was treating you unfairly and should let go of the past.”

“I see.” Keeping his gaze trained on his handiwork, he looped the needle back through the sleeping corpsman’s flesh. “How did you respond?”

He’d already seen her response. He knew she was going to set aside her aversion of him for the better of the crew. But he’d asked because he wanted her to tell him one on one that she was ready to let the past go, for them to develop an amicable working relationship. Amelia wanted to dislike him all the more for it, but found she couldn’t. Not when he seemed so genuinely pleased, as if she’d done him some great favor.

“She’s right.”

His hands stilled for a brief moment, shook ever so slightly.

Amelia hated the tremor that shook her own body in response. Why was she so in tune with Cole? Why did being here with him feel so right? And so very wrong?

“You were right,” she admitted.

“About?”

Everything you said to me on the night you came to my dorm.

No, he hadn’t been right about that.

There could be nothing between them. Not physically. Not emotionally. Not anything. Nothing except the need to work amicably together for the next few months.

So why had she just thought about that night again?

She took a deep breath. “The first day you were on board you told me we’d have to come to some type of peace or our past would affect our jobs.”

He looped the needle through the patient’s gaping flesh, pulled it the rest of the way through with the needle holders.

“Obviously, I wasn’t as good at hiding my feelings toward you as I’d hoped. The crew thinks I don’t like you for some reason.” She said the last with a slight lilt to her voice, as if she couldn’t fathom what had given them that idea. “I do think you’re a great surgeon, for whatever that’s worth.” She nodded toward where he was closing the last wound. “And a fabulous seamstress. I’m impressed with how neatly you were able to pull his lacerations on his index finger back together. I couldn’t have done a better job.”

He didn’t look at her, just kept his gaze on his work. “My ability to outsew you makes me forgiven?”

“No,” she denied, knowing he wouldn’t buy it even if she lied. “I never said you were forgiven. I’m not sure I can forgive you. But for the duration of us working together, I’m willing to negotiate a peace treaty, so to speak.”

He seemed to consider her offer. “For the benefit of our coworkers?”

“Hey.” She tried to make light of it. “From time to time even sworn enemies have agreed to coexist for the greater good.”

He pulled the thread back through and examined the now closed wound. Satisfied with his work, he wrapped the thread around the end of the needle holder several times, pulled the thread tight and tied off a knot. He then repeated the process several times, changing direction of the rotation of thread each time to strengthen the knot.

When he’d finished, Amelia handed him a pair of suture scissors. He cut the line, leaving only a few millimeters of thread above the knot, just enough to make removal easier.

“You’re an interesting woman, Amelia Stockton. Generous to a fault.” Generous to a fault? What was he saying? “But, for the record, you’ve never been my enemy. Neither have I been yours.”

Amelia’s breath caught.

Rather than look at her, Cole gently shook the dozing man’s arm. “Paul? Wake up. We’re finished closing the lacerations.”

Slowly the man’s eyes blinked open, adjusting bit by bit to his environment.

“It’s okay that you aren’t feeling much, if anything, in your fingers. Your hand is still numb from the anesthetic. I need you to make a fist then flatten your hand for me so I can check your range of motion.”

The man did as asked.