We All Sleep Alone (Finley Creek #11) - Calle J. Brookes Page 0,86
after Henedy got us both? I know I did. It’ll have to be cleaned.”
She’d have to be the one to do it. There was no way he’d be able to reach the back of his shoulder.
Izzie followed him up the small step into the van. Once inside, she turned on the sink to warm the water and washed her hand quickly. There was a first aid kit. That wasn’t something she would ever think Allen would be without. The man believed in being prepared for anything. That had become more than abundantly clear.
Izzie definitely respected that.
She worked in silence to prepare everything they’d need. “Let’s get it taken care of, then.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She pulled in a breath. “Sit down.” She motioned to the dinette. He obeyed. The man absolutely dwarfed the van at times. This was one of them. “It’s pretty deep. It may need to be stitched.”
“Is that something you are comfortable doing? If not, sterile strips will work.”
No. They wouldn’t. He hadn’t been able to see the back of the wound as well as she could.
“I’ve done some. In class. Never at the hospital. At least my dominant hand is free. You got lucky there.”
“I’m not risking us being recognized by going to an ER. Not for this. Time for trial by fire, Izadora.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Honey, I don’t think you’ll do anything permanent to damage me. There’s plenty of lidocaine there, thanks to Nikkie Jean. She prepared us for a total zombie apocalypse with her first aid supplies.”
“That woman believes in being prepared for anything.” There it was. Lidocaine and a three pack of syringes, sterile needles, and different gauges of nylon thread, antibiotic creams, everything. This was something she’d done thousands of times too. It helped center her, at least. “I’m not sure of this.”
Suturing wasn’t a part of her job description.
“Slow and steady. You’ll do fine.”
It took twenty minutes, him guiding her through the process, so calm and steady that her own nerves evened out, before they were both satisfied with her efforts.
Izzie felt sick to her stomach when she finished. He looked pretty green around the gills himself.
“You did fine. I told you that you would. Once you’re finished with your degree, you’ll be one hell of a CNP.”
“If I finish, you mean.” It was surprisingly easy to tell him what she hadn’t told anyone else yet. Probably because her world had shrunk, narrowed only to him.
Her dreams of becoming a nurse practitioner were done.
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“What Henedy did screwed with my entire life. It depleted my savings and made classes impossible right now, and I’ve only made the first payment on the hospital bills. I don’t know when I’ll be able to save up again. Especially after this latest adventure means I’m off even longer.” She shrugged. It hurt. She was starting to accept it a little more than she had. Izzie was used to pivoting when things in life went sideways.
Her life had gone quite a bit sideways in recent months.
“You should go back. Find a way. Hell, sue that bastard for every penny he has. You’re entitled to that much. I may sue him myself. I wasn’t able to work for three weeks until the arm fully healed. I’ll sue him, too. You can have the proceeds, use it as a scholarship.” His hands slipped around her waist.
Before she could respond, she found herself sitting smack dab in the middle of the man’s lap, her hip pressed into the edge of the dinette table and her cheek pressed to his strong, hot chest. Oh boy.
A handful of kisses hadn’t prepared her for this. “What exactly are you doing?”
“You looked so green I thought you might need a hug.”
Yeah, right. Allen wasn’t the type to go around hugging women. Even women he was stuck in an RV with. No, the man wanted something more.
Izzie knew what he was ultimately after.
The man was attracted to her, and he wanted her. It had been in the way his storm-gray eyes had looked at her throughout the day.
She had to decide if she was going to let him…well…have her.
In all the ways he wanted.
For the first time in her life, she was seriously contemplating an affair with a man she worked with, a physician at that. Everything really had gone sideways. There was no denying that.
“Do I?”
“I vomited the first time I cut open a living being. It’s not something I’ll ever forget. Nikkie Jean still gets squeamish whenever she handles the stitching. Every single