She shook her head. “You’re bruised.”
“I’m a big boy, I can handle it.”
She didn’t fight him or argue further. Leaning her head against him, she was resting peacefully seconds later. There was something right about having her under his care. It made him think of what-ifs. But he didn’t do long term. Didn’t stay in one place. Guilt ate at him. He’d let Joey down. Would end up letting Michelle down also.
It was better not to get involved. But on some level wasn’t he already?
* * *
Michelle woke to Ty calling her name. What a wonderful way to come out of sleep.
“We’re home. I wouldn’t have woken you and just carried you into the house but my hand and arm…”
“Hey, it’s the thought that counts. I can walk.”
“Thanks for letting my ego down easy.”
She went in ahead of him. “I’ll get your medicine.”
Ty stepped to the kitchen counter to stand beside her. He took the prescription bottle out of her hand and put it down. He cupped her cheek with his good hand. “I can take care of myself. You’ve looked after everyone but yourself today. Go and get into bed.”
Michelle blinked slowly with a drowsy look that made him think of tangled sheets and her beneath him. She had no idea of the power she was gaining over him. Thankfully she didn’t argue, which told him just how worn out she was.
“Goodnight,” she mumbled as she walked off.
Ty groaned. He needed to take something that would make him sleep because every fiber in him wanted to follow right behind her and straight into her bed. But he wouldn’t take the medicine. He wanted to be alert if Michelle needed him during the night.
After securing the condo for the night, he headed down the hall towards his room. As he was entering, a sound of glass breaking came from Michelle’s room.
Ty went to her door, which was slightly open. “Michelle, is everything all right?”
A muffle sound was all the response he received.
He nudged the door wider. “Michelle, are you hurt?”
“I…need your help,” came from the direction of what had to be the bathroom. Ty stalked across the room and didn’t hesitate to enter the bathroom.
Tears ran down Michelle’s face. She sat on the edge of the tub with a towel haphazardly wrapped around her, leaving more skin exposed than covered. If she hadn’t looked so distraught he would have tugged on that towel and finished what they had started earlier in the evening.
Instead, he saw shattered glass surrounding her feet and some type of pink-colored liquid on the floor. Michelle held her hand in her lap. A finger dripped blood.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she sobbed.
Ty’s heart contracted. An emotionally brittle Michelle tore at his soul.
Still wearing his shoes, he stepped further into the bathroom and snatched a hand towel off a hook. Lifting Michelle’s injured hand, he wrapped the towel around it. He ignored his injuries that screamed against the pressure as he scooped her up into his arms.
She didn’t resist, leaning her head on his shoulder. So frayed, she didn’t comment on his wounds either.
He laid her on the bed. “Stay put. I’ll get something for that finger.”
She rolled away from him and pulled her knees up to her chest. The towel around her body slipped upwards, barely covering her bottom. Ty turned away and made his way to the kitchen to find the first-aid supplies she’d used on him earlier in the day. Locating them in a small drawer, he took out what he thought he’d need. By the amount of blood he’d seen, it looked as if she might need stitches.
Returning to her room, he found Michelle still curled on the bed. She looked so lost and pitiful. This was no longer the self-assured, in-control, sharp-tongued woman he knew from the OR. Michelle had morphed into a scared, exhausted and heartbroken daughter with an ill mother. The ice queen had turned human.
His chest tightened. All he wanted to do was to gather her up and hold her tight, reassuring her that all would be well. But if he did, could he stop there?
She needed someone to care for her. To help her carry her burdens. To stand beside her when she required help. Could he be that person? His past said no. But he was here now. He would take care of her while he was here.
Ty sat on the edge of the bed. “Michelle, you’re going to have to roll over and let me see your finger. We need to get it covered or you’ll get blood all over the bedspread.” He reached out to touch her shoulder but only let it hover, unable to trust himself if he came in contact with the creamy skin. He rested his hand on the bed. “Come on, ma belle, let me see your finger.”
Michelle rolled but remained in the same fetal position. She flopped her hand out into his lap. Ty undid the towel and was pleased to see that the cut wasn’t as extensive as he’d expected. Using the wet cloth he’d brought from the kitchen, he cleaned the blood away. A sticking-plaster would do.
She watched him work with blank eyes. She didn’t even wince when he touched the cut with the cloth. Her detachment worried him. Had she become so despondent that she’d given up?
As he finished applying the dressing he smiled at her and said, “You know, at this rate the two of us aren’t going to generate much trust in our patients. We both look like accidents waiting to happen.”
He was pleased to see a slight smile form on her lips. He liked it. She didn’t do it often enough.
“I’m going to clean up the mess in the bathroom. While I’m doing that why don’t you put on a nightgown and get into bed? You’ll feel better after a good night’s rest.”
Not waiting for her answer, he took the first-aid supplies back to the kitchen and found the broom and dustpan. When he returned Michelle was asleep but still covered in only the towel and lying on top of the spread.
Putting the broom and dustpan in the bathroom, he came back and pulled the spread away on the opposite side of the bed from Michelle. Circling around to her side again, he lifted her. She snuggled against him, warm and perfect. She was very appealing with her hair disheveled and so much smooth skin showing. Most troubling of all was that she smelled wonderful. Like springtime flowers and rain.
Ty placed her on the sheet and gently pulled the towel from her with a growl of remorse and a straining of his manhood. Reminding himself that at this time she was more patient than lover, he resisted the urge to linger and look his fill. With a jerk of the covers he pulled the top sheet and spread up over Michelle’s shoulders.
After turning the bedside table lamp on and the overhead light off, he headed to the bathroom to clean up. Minutes later he had what he assumed was bath oil removed from the floor. The smell was strong but it reminded him of the sleeping woman who so tempted him in the bed just a few feet away. With a sharp note to keep his mind on the job, he went back to sweeping.
This clean-up job was the most domestic thing he’d done in years. In fact, the last few days had been most unusual. Eating in a kitchen. Sleeping in a real home. Being a part of someone’s life. For once in a long time he wished for more. These types of thoughts wouldn’t lead to anything positive. He’d already learned more than once that he couldn’t take a chance on having those feelings. It was too easy for it all to be gone. It wasn’t worth the pain.
Replacing the broom and dustpan, he threw the towels he’d used to clean up the oil into the washer. He’d check on Michelle and head to bed.
Unable to resist touching her and making the excuse that she might have a fever, he pushed a ribbon of hair away from her face. He was pleased to find that her skin was cool. Satisfied she wasn’t sick but unsatisfied where his body was concerned, he reached over and turned out the lamp.
“Ty.”
“Yes, ma belle?”
“Would you hold me?” The words came out as if she was bone weary.
He stood shock still. Could he? Could he not?
“I’m so cold inside.”
He’d hold her until she went back to slee
p. Surely he could muster that much self-control over his basic instincts and help her through this time. But she was naked.
Breathing deeply and kicking off his shoes, he slid under the covers and onto his side. He ran his unbandaged arm under her neck and the other circled her waist. This time he was grateful that a bandage covered most of his hand. If he been able to feel her skin against his palm there would have been no way to control his desires. Michelle snuggled up against him and with a deep sigh stilled. He gritted his teeth and tried to think about taking a bath in ice water. Seconds later her even breathing told him she was asleep again.
Would she even know she’d asked him into her bed tomorrow? Or what he’d suffered to be here?
His fingertips brushed her skin. It felt warm and silky smooth. He wanted to explore more of her. With a groan, he shifted. Even the loose pants of his scrubs felt tight. With great effort he pushed the fact that she was naked out of his mind, or at least tried to. It was impossible. His body throbbed with lust, despite his best efforts to convince it otherwise.
Ty rubbed his cheek against her soft hair. Breathing in the floral scent of her bath oil, which was as classy as Michelle, he looked off into the dark. He begged for sleep to ease the agony, confident it would never come. The night would be a long one.
* * *
Michelle shifted to find a wall of warmth preventing her from totally rolling over. She snuggled closer, her face padded against the musk of heated skin. Wanting more, she put an arm over it and aligned herself.
“Michelle. Stop.”
A dark rumble above her head jerked her to reality. She held her breath.