scrubbed his body, but he didn’t do it for her. No, he did it for himself. It felt so good to have hot water running down his body.
Long after he was done washing, Chase continued to sit there enjoying the water. Soon he found himself nodding off but managed to force his eyes open when he felt a towel rub over his skin.
“It’s okay. Let’s get you dried off and into a warm bed,” Sloane said soothingly.
Too tired to argue, Chase simply sat there and allowed her to dry him off, move him to his wheelchair, and wheel him into his room. A few minutes later, he was aware of the scent of fresh laundry and the feel of crisp, clean sheets against his skin.
“Your urinal is by the bed and I’ll be right back with a pitcher of ice-water in a few minutes. I’m going to leave the bathroom doors open just in case you need me. Okay?”
His last thought before he dozed off was wondering why a woman would be foolish enough to leave her bedroom door open for a man she’d just met. Then it hit him.
He really wasn’t a man anymore.
Chapter 3
“I’m so glad that I took this job,” Sloane said dryly, nodding as she glanced at the bathroom door that had been slammed shut in her face with a mumbled, “Fuck off,” to start her day off right.
Sighing heavily, she turned around and debated putting her things away. Normally, she liked to wait a week before she settled in to make sure that the job was a good fit, but something, mostly his file, told her that probably wasn’t going to matter. It also told her that he probably wouldn’t end up being her favorite patient. That was fine, Sloane told herself as she headed for her bags and placed them on her bed.
She didn’t need to like him in order to do her job. It would just make her job easier, Sloane thought, biting back another sigh as she put her clothes away. It would also make her life easier, Sloane mused as she grabbed her toiletry bag and placed it in her nightstand drawer, knowing better than to put her toothbrush within reach of a patient that hated her.
For a moment, Sloane debated leaving her shampoo and body wash in here only to decide to chance it since she hadn’t seen any Nair in his bathroom yesterday. She grabbed her travel bag and knocked on the bathroom door. When she didn’t hear anything, she tried the doorknob only to find it locked.
“Chase?” Sloane said only to sigh and head for the hallway, absently noting that he was already sitting in front of the living room television with a beer. For a moment, she considered saying something, but…
That was a battle for another day.
They had other things that they needed to work on today, Sloane reminded herself as she walked into his room and found herself biting back a groan when she saw the mess he’d left behind. Sighing, she walked into the bathroom and placed her things in the shower before shifting her attention to the mess he’d left behind.
As she threw his dirty clothes in the hamper, she went over everything they had to do today and sighed again because something told her that her new patient wasn’t going to make this easy on her. Telling herself that it was fine, because that’s what she did so that she could handle this job without losing her mind, she made his bed, noted that he hadn’t used the urinal that she’d left by the bed, and headed back to her room. She grabbed his file along with her phone and iPad and headed to the kitchen, absently noting that he was still in the living room.
Once she was in the kitchen, she put her things down and decided to grab something to drink while she tried to make sense out of the mess that the previous nurses left behind. Four hours later, with the file that his sister had provided, Sloane had managed to put the pieces together and once she did…
She decided to confirm her suspicions.
After a quick search of the bathroom, his bedroom, and the kitchen, she found herself staring back down at the list of injuries that her newest patient had endured, noting the number of broken bones, stitches, and surgeries that had been needed to save his life and tried to wrap her mind around the fact that he’d