“You still in pain, G?” He’s suddenly right next to me, his fingers in my hair, brushing it away from my forehead, and it feels so nice, so sweet, that I can forgive him for nearly killing me on the highway.
“It’s not so bad,” I murmur, enjoying the sensation of his fingers gently raking through my hair. “That feels good.”
“Yeah? I’ll keep doing it.” He says nothing for a while and I revel in the sensation of being taken care of. Knowing this big guy is watching out for me and will protect me no matter what. It’s a nice feeling. One I’m not really used to.
Guys rarely stick around long enough to even want to take care of me, not that I need a man. I prefer to be on my own, doing my thing. I can handle whatever comes my way.
But it’s kind of nice, how attentive Caleb is being. How much he seems to genuinely care about my well-being.
“You scared me,” he murmurs after a few minutes, pulling me out of my sleepy state. “I could tell you were in pain.”
“No one else noticed.” Not even Hayden, and we were hanging out together the entire time.
“Maybe I’m always paying real close attention to you. Closer than anyone else,” he says, his fingers still stroking my hair.
I crack one eye open. “You sound like a stalker.”
“I think you like it.” He chuckles. Even grumpy and tired, he’s sexy. I wish I could pull him into this bed with me, feel that big, hard body cuddled up next to mine but that wouldn’t work. There’s hardly any room on this bed, and I don’t want to seem too clingy.
“I like you,” I admit, tightly squeezing my eyes closed. I’m tired and in pain and feeling vulnerable right now. “Thank you for bringing me to the emergency room.”
Caleb shifts, coming closer to me, and I feel his mouth move against my forehead. “I would do anything for you.”
I take those six words to heart and savor them. Does he really mean that? I want to believe he does.
I want to believe it so badly.
I’m in a darkened room on an examination table, my legs spread wide and my feet in stirrups while I stare at a screen. I’m having a transvaginal ultrasound, which means I currently have a wand up my vagina and we’re looking at my internal reproductive organs.
Not the way I envisioned the night ending, that’s for sure. And I made sure Caleb wasn’t allowed in here. He tried to come in with me, insisting to the nurse that he was my boyfriend, the little sneak, but I refused to let him enter the room.
“Your boyfriend was persistent,” the doctor says to me as she taps at the keys on the computer keyboard.
I don’t bother correcting her. “He’s very determined when he wants to be.” Which is pretty much all the time.
“I’ll say.” She studies the screen, before reaching forward and pointing at a dark spot with her pen. “Looks like you have a fibroid.”
I frown. “Really?”
“Yes,” she says firmly, tapping at the dark spot. “That’s it, right there. You’d be surprised how many women get them, but we never realize it. Sometimes they can grow rather large and cause some discomfort. Even pain. We can even have a lot of them. Looks like I can only see the one, so that’s good.”
“What should I do about it?”
“Remind me again about a few things. Are your periods heavy?”
“They have been lately,” I admit.
“Strong cramps?”
“Sometimes.”
“Anyone in your family who’s had fibroids?”
“If they have, no one’s told me about it,” I say.
“Are you on birth control?”
“Yes, I am. I have been since I was seventeen.” I frown. “Could being on the pill cause this?”