AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I am a fully trained neurosurgeon,” Agnes said through pursed lips. “I assure you, I am perfectly capable of stitching you up.”
“Yeah, right—sitting up there with your papers, I bet your skills aren’t as sharp as they used to be. I’ll take a practicing doctor, thank you.”
Now, this guy was really getting on Agnes’ nerves. “Well, then I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer, as all of our ‘practicing’ doctors are occupied at present.”
What happened next was so quick that Agnes almost missed it. The patient grabbed a scalpel from a nearby tray table and lunged for Agnes.
Only having been in similar situations before saved Agnes from getting hurt a lot worse than she did. This wasn’t the first violent patient in the ER and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. She managed to throw her body to the side just as the scalpel came for her. She wasn’t fast enough to dodge it entirely, but she avoided a slash to the throat.
Instead, the scalpel sliced across her bicep. Agnes hissed in pain and automatically put a hand up to the wound as she staggered back. Security was already piling onto the guy, and someone caught Agnes in strong deft arms as she stumbled.
“Agnes! Are you alright?”
Cora. Well, that was just great.
Her strong arms… mmm…
“I’m fine.”
Agnes tried to brush Cora off, but Cora wasn’t having it. She kept an arm around Agnes and led her to a free bed, sitting her down and gently but firmly helping Agnes out of her white coat to better see the wound.
“Let me see it.”
“It’s just a flesh wound. One of the interns can take care of it. I’m sure you have more important things to be doing.”
“No, I don’t.”
Agnes opened her mouth to argue. She was absolutely certain that Cora had better things to do with her time than stitching surface wounds. She should be performing lifesaving surgeries, not doing what any surgical intern could do in their sleep.
However, as she looked into Cora’s eyes, the words got lost somewhere on their way to her mouth. She found herself simply staring at Cora, who stared back at her for several seconds before breaking her gaze.
She unbuttoned the top buttons of her blouse and slid it down over her left shoulder exposing the cut the scalpel had made.
Cora looked down at the wound and when her fingers touched Agnes’s skin, she thought she might spontaneously combust. Electricity flooded through her from Cora’s touch. “This won’t take me long. I’ll just pop a couple of sutures in for you.”
Agnes knew that, of course; she could see as much for herself. However, she didn’t interrupt as Cora kept talking in a quiet, soothing voice.
“I’m sure you know the procedure, so I won’t bore you by talking you through it like I usually do with my patients. Do you have any allergies?”
“No.” Agnes’ voice was rough, but she hoped that Cora would assume it was shock. Itwasshock, but not the type of shock she was willing to admit to. Having Cora’s hands on her, touching her bare skin, was affecting Agnes in a way she didn’t like at all.
It was making her brain throw relentless images of herself and Jackie into the forefront of her mind. They weren’t even sexy images, either. Something about Cora’s kind touch was evoking tender moments with Jackie that were even more disturbing when elicited in Cora’s presence than horny thoughts would have been.
Agnes closed her eyes as she remembered how Jackie had made a point of making her pancakes on her birthday every year, even though Agnes always insisted she didn’t need them. Jackie knew how much she loved them, and that was motivation enough for her. Agnes remembered Jackie’s warm smile as the two of them lay in bed together, eating syrupy pancakes and talking about what they wanted to do for the day.
“Nearly done with the sore part,” Cora murmured.
Agnes realized that her eyes were screwed up and forced them open. She saw a needle in her arm. Huh. She’d been so immersed in her own disturbed thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed Cora beginning to inject her with local anesthetic.
Cora smiled at her warmly.
“I’m fine. Just do what you need to do.”
Soon enough, the area was completely numb, and Cora started stitching. Her hands at work were downright sexy. Agnes couldn’t take her eyes off Cora’s strong hands as they worked smoothly, going quickly but never rushing. Within the space of three minutes, the wound was neatly stitched up and Cora was wiping away the blood with disinfectant-soaked gauze.
She wrapped the wound in a clean white bandage adjusted Agnes’s blouse and patted Agnes on the shoulder. Her touch sent Agnes into yet another flashback.
This one wasn’t a pleasant one about eating pancakes. This was of the day Jackie died.
