“Let me see.” Lock got to his feet, ignoring the aches and pains he felt throughout his body. By the time he made it over to her, she opened her eyes and blinked wide, leaning back.
“Hey, hey! Get that thing out of my face!”
His cock was right there, now wasn’t it? He knelt down on one knee in front of her and said, “This is the best I can manage at the moment. I don’t exactly have the time to run off and kill an animal for its hide.”
“Fine,” she muttered. “Just watch where you’re swinging that thing. You’re liable to break my nose.”
Focusing on her leg to keep from appearing way too proud at that statement, he grasped her foot and lifted, keeping his movements slow and his fingers gentle. He didn’t allow himself to wince when he saw the damage. It was bad, and she was losing blood. Probably more blood than she realized. “I didn’t do this did I?”
“No. I got this from that She-bitch.” She leaned over, trying to get a better look. “Do I have any calf muscle left?”
He wasn’t going to answer that. At least not honestly. Instead he gave her his best “reassuring” expression and calmly said, “Let’s get you to a hospital.”
Her body jerked straight and those pretty eyes blinked rapidly. “No.”
That wasn’t the response he expected. Panic, perhaps. Or, “My God. Is it that bad?” But instead she said “no.” And she said it with some serious finality. In the same way he’d imagine she would respond to the suggestion of cutting off her leg with a steak knife.
“It’s not a big deal. But you don’t want an infection. I’ll take you up the embankment, get us some clothes—” if she didn’t pass out from blood loss first “—and then get you to the Macon River Health Center. It’s equipped for us.”
“No.”
“I’ve had to go there a couple of times. It’s really clean, the staff is great, and the doctors are always the best.”
“No.”
She wasn’t being difficult to simply be difficult, was she?
Resting his forearm on his knee, Lock stared at her. “You’re not kidding, are you?”
“No.”
“Is there a reason you don’t want to go to the hospital?” And he really hoped it wasn’t something ridiculous like she used to date one of the doctors and didn’t want to see him, or something equally as lame.
“Of course there is. People go there to die.”
Oh, boy. Ridiculous but hardly lame. “Or…people go there to get better.”
“No.”
“Look, Mr. Mittens—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“—I’m trying to help you here. So you can do this the easy way, or you can do this the hard way. Your choice.”
She shrugged and brought her good foot down right on his nuts.
BRAVA BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2009 Donna Kauffman
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A Great Kisser Page 42