Page 47 of One Unexpected Gift

“I’ll be stripping you from a nurse’s perspective.”

“You can’t tell me you’ve never taken an interest or a prolonged peek when stripping a patient.”

Instead of denying—which would be a lie, she did serve in the Army and there were plenty of chiseled physiques–—she helped him sit up and bunched his shirt up his chest and over his head. Picking up the johnny, she pretended to focus on it and not the expanse of naked chest only inches away from her.

Heat radiated off his body, yet he didn’t have a fever. His chest wasn’t overly buff like the men who spent all their time in the gym bench pressing. Instead, it was toned and lean like an athlete focused on speed and agility. He had swimmer’s shoulders. Wide and strong. This she already knew but seeing them without a layering of clothing was an impressive sight.

A smattering of hair coated his torso and a thicker line of dark hair under his belly button led like a beacon to what lay underneath his jeans.

“You have a way of making me forget about my headaches.”

Sky lifted her gaze to Nick’s which was heated and intense on her.

“I’m checking for scrapes and bruises.”

Nick picked up her hand and placed it on his ribs. “Any broken bones?”

His skin was as warm as she imagined. He slid her hand to his stomach, and then lower. Sky’s heart fluttered in her chest. She’d seen plenty of bare chested men before, and she’d slept with a handful. None, however, caused the stirring in her chest as Nick’s.

She licked her lips, tempted to lower them, then remembered why they were here. “Lift your arms,” she said with clinical distance and shook out the johnny.

While she slid it on him, she pretended not to notice his grin, or how still he sat letting her dress him.

“Mr. Pierce, I’m Doctor Turner. I read through Doctor Foster’s notes from your call earlier today and read through your records. How long have you been having headaches?” He approached the bed and Sky got up, moving to the corner by Gabby.

“About two weeks.”

“Mm hm. Follow my light.” Doctor Turner ran through his exam with minimal bedside manner. He was all business and didn’t even introduce himself to Sky, which was fine since she was only his ride and not family, but he didn’t know that.

What mattered was that he was thorough. The nurses were the ones who made patients feel comfortable.

“No tingling in the arms or fingers? No heart palpitations? No sign of stroke this time?”

“This time?” Sky didn’t mean to say that out loud.

Doctor Turner acted like he didn’t even hear her, as did Nick.

“None.”

“Good. Okay.” He pocketed his light and hooked his stethoscope around his neck. “We’ll send you up to radiology for the CT scan. I’ll be back after we’ve read through the results.”

When they were alone again, Sky sat on the edge of the bed next to Nick’s hip. “Stroke? This time? Tell me what’s going on, Nick.”

He closed his eyes and curled his arm around her waist, pulling her down next to him. There wasn’t a lot of space on the bed so she had two choices. Keep her feet on the floor and bend like Gumby and risk breaking her back, or crawl into bed and curl into Nick.

No brainer. Option two it was. She stayed on top of the sheets and laid on her side, resting her head on his shoulder and hand on his chest. “Am I hurting you?”

“While your examination wasn’t thorough, you still didn’t notice any broken bones, did you?”

“No.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I had a carotid artery dissection two years ago.”

Sky leaned up on her elbow and stared down at Nick in shock. “Seriously? And you’re still doing your daredevil acts? Do you know how dangerous that is?”

Pain was etched in his face as he scrunched his eyes tightly closed. “Not really.”

Softening her voice, she settled her head back down again. “What happened?”

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