She blinked. “What?”
“You heard me. I’ll go over your EEG readings with you after I have a chance to look over them. And before you toss out more orders, just ask yourself if you’d cave in to a patient’s unreasonable demands. Because I don’t and I suspect you’re the same.”
Damn the man; he was right. “My biggest concern is you drugging me without my permission.”
“I didn’t drug you.”
She frowned and resisted touching the things attached to her temple. “But you obviously had to put the electrodes on my skin. I’m a light sleeper and would’ve woken up at the first touch.”
“Aye, well, you must like my gentle touch,” he said as he winked.
“More likely I blocked it out because it was traumatic.”
Gregor chuckled. “Tell yourself that, Cassidy. You’re just upset you missed the whispers of my manly fingers.”
Not wanting Gregor to know how right he was, she changed the subject. “Speaking of which, why are your fingers so rough? Every dragon-shifter doctor I’ve met has soft hands.”
He shrugged. “I like to carve wood. Since I do it by hand, my palms had to roughen up over the years or they would always be raw.”
“You carve.”
“Yes,” he said with a grin. “Are you about to ask me to carve you in the nude?”
“I—of course not. That’s bloody ridiculous.”
He leaned in a fraction. “Someone doth protest too much.”
Sid’s cheeks heated and she mentally cursed the dragonman. The longer Sid was around Gregor, the more she yearned to feel his fingers caress every inch of her body. It would be even more erotic to have him caress her slowly with his eyes.
Get a grip, Jackson. Clearing her throat, Sid sat up in her bed. “Does everyone know about your naked statue collection?”
“Sadly, I don’t have any naked ones yet. I mostly carve animals and dragons. Lochguard is planning to have a fair later this year and I can finally sell off some of them. They take up an entire room in my cottage.”
Sid was grateful for the distraction and pounced on it. “The DDA might change their tune about your fair if the drone attacks continue or intensify. I’m fairly confident the drone is related to what happened to me.”
A few months ago, the new DDA Director, Rosalind Abbott, had encouraged dragon clans to hold gatherings with the local humans. Because of security concerns, Stonefire still hadn’t made any plans to do so.
“One random attack does not make a war. For all we know, it could be one local teenager trying to prove themselves,” Gregor said.
“Or, it could be a trial run for a bigger attack. You should prepare the staff for one.”
“I already have.”
“But you just said—”
“Just because I like to be optimistic doesn’t mean I’m not grounded. Lochguard was bombed last year. Believe me, I’m aware of the possible threats.”
When Gregor turned his back to her, Sid guessed it was to hide his emotions about the death of his sister and niece. As Sid knew too well, doctors rarely looked after themselves. No matter how much Gregor might goad her or irritate her, she couldn’t let him suffer unnecessarily. She needed to try and help him.
“Gregor.”
He turned, his eyes expressionless. “That’s the first time you’ve used my first name.”
She wasn’t about to be distracted. “Tell me about your sister.”
To her surprise, Gregor gave a sad smile and said, “Nora was quiet, especially for an Innes. She liked to keep to herself and either watch the birds or read a book. It drove our parents crazy because they could never get her out of the house.”
Sid smiled at the image of a bird-watching bookworm curled up in the corner of a cottage. “And given my experience with Lochguard, I bet she probably hated most clan gatherings. You lot are nosey.”