Page 14 of Love in Fine Print

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Charli’s gaze bounce between Ben and me, so I looked back at her. “Okay, what seems to be the problem?”

As I explained that I’d fallen and hurt my hand and ankle, I could feel Ben’s gaze on me. I also felt my cheeks heat again, which meant I was blushing.

This was ridiculous. I didn’t blush. I didn’t stammer. And I certainly didn’t need any man to rescue me.

That was my story, and I was sticking to it.

6

BEN

What the fuckis wrong with me?

I couldn’t believe I’d said her name out loud. I hadn’t meant to. It was a knee-jerk reaction, like when the doctor hits your patellar tendon with a rubber hammer and your leg flies up. It was an automatic response. I didn’t think about it, it just happened.

Maybe I should be embarrassed about it, but right now I was too worried about Olivia. I stood back with my arms crossed, letting Charli do her thing. Olivia’s expression remained calm, cool, and collected during the examination. But I could see the moments she was in pain. Her color drained slightly, and she winced. It was subtle, nearly imperceptible, but I perceived it. I perceived the hell out of it. And I didn’t like it.

During my thirteen years in the NFL, I’d seen dozens of injuries worse than hers. Hell, I’d had dozens of injuries worse than hers, none of them had ever made me upset. None of them had ever made me wish that I had magical healing powers, but that was exactly how I felt now.

It wasn’t the first broken bone that I’d been responsible for. I’d played football for thirty years of my life, starting with PopWarner at age five, then high school and college ball, before being drafted at age twenty-two.

But this was the first broken bone I wanted to throw up over.

“So how did this happen?” Charli asked.

“I fell,” Olivia claimed.

“Dolly,” I spoke at the same time she did.

“It was an accident,” Olivia quickly came to my goofball dog’s defense. “She just got overexcited.”

Charli looked over her shoulder at me, clearly amused at the entire situation. “I thought you were training her.”

“It’s a work in progress.”

Charli grinned, “Apparently.”

“I’ll need to x-ray your wrist and ankle but I am fairly confident that the ankle is a sprain and the wrist is a fracture.”

“A fracture?” I repeated what I’d heard. Lifting my arms, I ran my fingers through my hair.

“Does that mean I’ll need a cast?” Olivia asked.

Charli nodded.

“On my right hand. That’s gonna be fun,” Olivia sighed.

“I’m so sorry.” I knew that my words were empty, but I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“It was an accident,” Olivia reiterated and then shrugged. “On the bright side, I’ve never broken a bone before. I guess I can cross that off my bucket list.”

“Come on, let’s go take a picture of your hand.”

Olivia started to grab her purse.

“You can leave that here, we’ll be right back,” Charli explained.

Olivia nodded and followed Charli out of the room, and I followed behind them.

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