room floor. “Let’s have a look at it for you, shall we?”
April didn’t move from the door, even though I was waiting for her to precede me out of the office. “That’s actually what I came to talk to you about. Adi, will you be okay hanging out here for a minute?”
Hunter must’ve been hanging around because he appeared at Adi’s side seemingly out of thin air. “She’ll be just fine. I’ll show her around a bit.”
Like all kids, Adi looked a little apprehensive about Hunter but then recognition dawned in her eyes and her face lit up with a smile. “It’s you. Sure, I’ll hang out with you.”
“Great.” He put a beefy hand on her shoulder, shooting her a playful grin. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll make you famous.”
“Famous?” She frowned. “I don’t want to be famous.”
April took two steps forward to clear the door, then closed it behind her, cutting off what was sure to be a smart-ass reply from my friend. She cleared her throat before bringing her green eyes to mine.
“Let’s not beat around the bush,” she said with that same mama-lion-protecting-her-cub fierceness in her tone I’d heard before. “Do you really think you can help Adi?”
“I really do.” I met her gaze unwaveringly, keeping mine there. “If you tell me what concerns you have, I’m sure I can address them right here, right now.”
I respected her for putting her daughter above all else. As someone who’d dealt with my fair share of patients whose parents ranged from viewing us as a babysitting service to those who just didn’t care about therapy because it would eat into their own time too much, a mother who actually cared was always a welcome sight.
She leveled me with a stare, but her eyes were filled with doubt. “I’m just not sure what she can get out of this. I don’t want to get her hopes up that this therapy of yours could work when that’s not a realistic outcome.”
I nodded. “I completely understand that, and I understand why you would feel that way, but I’ve seen injuries like this one hundreds of times before. Recovery time differs from person to person, and I’m not saying it’s not going to be hard work, but Adi can absolutely come out of this with her use of her arm fully restored.”
“Guaranteed?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
I blew every rule the department had with just one word. “Yes.”
April searched my eyes as if she was looking for a lie. When she didn’t find one, she visibly relaxed. “Were you serious about doing this for free? Because I meant it when I said we couldn’t afford it.”
My feet were on the move to close the distance between us before I even realized my brain had given the command. I didn’t know what it was about this woman that drew me to her, but it was like I couldn’t stop myself.
Placing my hands lightly on her shoulders, I bent my knees to be at her eye level. “I would never have offered if I wasn’t serious. I promise you, April, I can help your daughter and I will. Will you let me?”
She held my gaze for another beat before letting out the softest sigh and finally nodding. “We’d love to take you up on your offer. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything. I’ve just learned that most of the time when something sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is.”
I regarded her for a moment, wondering what the hell had happened to her to make her think my offer was either untrue or some kind of a trap. Having met her jewel of an ex, I suspected he was behind her apparently severe distrust of people.
It made me wish, once again, that I’d put my fucking fist through his face. “You didn’t sound ungrateful. You just sounded like a mother who didn’t want her kid to get hurt again. I admire that about you.”
Her brows swept up before they pulled together. “Did you just say you admire something about me?”
“I did.” I grinned. “Why does that surprise you?”
She hesitated for a long minute, looking at me like I was a thousand-piece puzzle she needed to put together. “You’re not at all what I was expecting, Doctor Sexy.”
“Doctor Sexy?” I repeated, blinking in disbelief. “Did you just—”
“Don’t take it personally,” she said, her voice even but a rosy blush spreading across the tops of her cheeks. “It’s what the nurses call you