Beau unzipped the pack and then reached in. “I’ve got something better.” He pulled out an IV pouch.
Madison’s heart tripped, but Hunter grinned up at his partner. “I love you, man.”
She clutched his arm, and pinned Beau with a stare of her own. “I thought you said he was okay?”
“He is, but he’s going to be even better after I hydrate him.” To Hunter, he added, “You want to take a leak and brush your teeth before we get started?”
Hunter pushed himself off the couch and shuffled to the bathroom, pulling his undershirt over his head as he went.
When the bathroom door closed, she swung her attention back to Beau, who sat on the coffee table and began unpacking and arranging materials beside him—the IV bag, a line, a red plastic box, some white tape, a few packages of alcohol wipes, and a clear package containing what looked like a very long needle attached to a catheter. She swallowed hard. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
He didn’t look up, but his mouth stretched into a smile. “Don’t worry. I have plenty of experience administering the standard paramedic post-party cocktail.” He glanced over at her. “They teach this trick around the first week of paramedic school.”
Oh, God. She couldn’t watch. She stood to go hide in the kitchen, but just then Hunter walked into the living room, stunningly naked except for a pair of black basketball shorts sitting low on his hips, and stretched out on the couch. Chest and arm muscles flexed as he tucked a throw pillow under his head. Maybe she should hang out a little longer. She perched on the arm of the sofa, just above Hunter’s head, and distracted herself with an inventory of all the hard planes and angles of his body.
Beau taped the IV bag onto the wall above the couch. He inserted the tubing with the ease of someone who performed the task all the time, and then he filled and clamped the line.
Hunter turned his arm so the crook of his elbow faced up. His partner leaned close and tapped the puncture site.
“Get the angle right. Don’t move that fucking needle once it’s in my arm.”
Beau didn’t bother looking up. “Calm down. If I miss, I’ll just stab you again.”
“I’m serious.” He raised his head off the pillow and glared at his partner. “Don’t bruise me. I need my arms.”
“I could go for the vein in your dick, but I didn’t bring a small enough needle.”
Madison’s head went numb just listening. She crawled off the arm of the sofa. “I’m outta here. Do you need anything from the kitchen? Maybe some coffee?”
Beau glanced up and gave her an apologetic smile. “I’d love some. Thanks.”
“Anything in it?” You could take the girl out of the coffee shop, but you couldn’t take the coffee shop out of the girl.
“I drink it black.”
“Like his soul,” Hunter added.
She escaped to the kitchen to brew a pot and puttered around, listening with half an ear to the proceedings in the other room.
“Ow! You sadistic fuck, stop moving the needle around.”
“Stop moving your arm around, dickhead, or I swear to God I’m going to…there. It’s in.”
“Thank Christ. Where’s my lollipop?”
“You can suck on this.”
Men. She rolled her eyes and got two mugs down from the cabinet. Their no-doubt heartwarming conversation continued, but the noise from the coffeemaker made it impossible to follow. When the machine spit the last of the coffee into the pot, she poured two cups then walked back to the living room in time to catch the end of Beau’s sentence.
“…she’ll come through with a recommendation letter.”
“I don’t think so,” Hunter replied.
Beau reached out and took the mug she’d handed him. “Thanks.” To Hunter, he said, “I’ll write you a letter. Thankfully, they want a professional recommendation, so I can leave out any mention of what a pathetic lightweight you are.”
She put the other mug on the coffee table next to Hunter and settled on the arm of the sofa again. “I’ll write you a letter, too, if it helps. I know I don’t work with you, but I have firsthand experience with your medical skills, and I think you’ll make an excellent doctor.”
Hunter moved his left arm from behind his head and rested his hand against her thigh. “I sincerely appreciate the offer, but I had to give the school a list of my references. They expect a letter from Ashley Granger. If I substitute someone else at this point, it’s the same as admitting my current supervisor thinks I’ll make a shitty MD.”