Page 58 of His to Protect

I nodded and shifted on the bed, feeling a warm weight slide off my ankle as I sat up. When I looked down, I saw an ice pack. I turned back to Declan with a questioning look in my eyes.

“You’ve been out for hours. Came back from the store and set the ice pack on you.”

It was not a big deal. Yet it was. Huge. Emotions threatened to overwhelm me at the simple gesture, something that probably wouldn’t seem unusual to anyone who’d had people care about them when they’d been hurt. When I thought my voice wouldn’t be shaky, I grinned. “Thank you.”

But even then the grin and the two words were shaky.

“David, meet Trina.” Declan gestured with one arm and I turned to see a handsome guy standing near the foot of the bed. He was dressed in typical pale-blue doctor’s scrubs, stethoscope still draped around his neck. Not only that, but he was handsome in a clean-cut, nice-guy sort of way. He was tall and lean, square jawed, and had short, sandy-brown hair that could either be light brown or dark blond. It was trimmed nice and short, professional looking. His jaw showed no hint of stubble, telling me that he took the time to look nice and neat. Small lines at the edges of his eyes said he lived a life of either high stress or a lot of laughter and emotion, or possibly both.

His appearance, along with his kind smile, was immediately calming. “Trina, David.”

“Nice to meet you,” David said, walking forward and holding out his hand. “Declan’s told me all about you.”

I shook his hand, noticing his warm, firm grip, before I twisted to look at Declan over David’s shoulder.

“Not everything,” Declan said, and David’s brow furrowed. “Get her looked at, David, so you can get back to work.”

“You have to go back?” I asked, shock evident in my voice.

“On for fourteen hours. This is just my dinner break, but it’s the quickest I could get here,” David replied, moving to the foot of the bed. When he reached out toward my ankle, I flinched away from his touch, anticipating the pain.

I sucked my bottom lip in between my teeth. “Sorry.”

His eyes flashed to Declan’s before coming back to me. When he met my gaze, his light-blue eyes softened. “I’m going to sit next to you and test your ankle. Okay?”

I nodded, still feeling embarrassed, more so now because of the understanding David seemed to have regarding me. I briefly wondered how long they had spoken while I slept, how much Declan had shared with David about me.

I tensed when David gently cupped my ankle in his hand and slowly turned my foot toward him.

I grimaced from the dull pain that began throbbing.

“Hurt?” he asked, his eyes on mine, not on my ankle.

“Just a bit,” I admitted unnecessarily. “But better than before.”

“Have you taken any pain meds?”

“She was out when I got back from the store. Just gave her the ice pack but she’s been sleeping.” Declan filled in the information without looking at either David or me. His gaze was glued to David’s hands on me.

My lips twitched, fighting a smile at his protectiveness, before David turned my ankle the other way. He set it down and I sucked in a breath when his fingers began prodding my skin. He alternated between watching my expression and where his hands were moving.

When he finally stopped examining with his hands and his eyes, I felt like I could breathe again.

I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until I felt the pressure ease in my chest.

I hated feeling under the microscope.

“It’s just twisted. Minor sprain, but nothing bad.”

My eyes flickered to Declan’s and I grinned. “Told you so.”

“Better safe than sorry.” His dark eyes showed no hint of amusement, so I wiped the grin off my face and turned back to David.

His eyes showed a great deal of amusement as he watched me. “I think you’ll be fine by the morning. It’s swollen, but not too bad. Take some ibuprofen every four to six hours if you need it, but you should be good to go.”

“Thank you for taking the time to check on me. It sounds like you’re a busy guy.”

He stood from the bed and tugged on the ends of his stethoscope. “I’m never too busy for a friend.” He nodded his head toward Declan without taking his eyes off me. “Plus, this asshole can be unbearable when he doesn’t get his way.”

---