Ten
Callie
I'm an awful person, and I'm going to hell.
I collapsed on my bed as soon as I got home but tossed and turned all night. I watched the falling snow. I couldn't get Noah out of my head. I didn't want the night to end. Thanking about the way he touched me and the way his lips felt on mine gave me goose bumps all over. By the end of the night, my brain had no trouble separating fantasy Noah with reality Noah.
Fantasy Noah and I had been intimate, beyond intimate. I blushed from ear to ear every time I go back and read our first time immortalized on my blog. Reality Noah's strong, commanding presence manifested from a dark place and his humility might be a product of the situation he found himself in, but his reflective side turned me on. The kind nature he showed me made me feel special. All these things made him more real and more attractive than I could have imagined.
I have to tell him the truth.
Or I could take off.
I pushed the covers off and shivered as my feet hit the floor. I slipped on a pair of gray jersey pants and my thickest socks and tennis shoes. I pulled on a couple of sweaters. I let Nip out the back door, careful to scoop it out first. I didn't want to run into Noah this morning.
Nip ran down the steps to the spot under the stairs and returned in record time.
"Good boy," I said as he leaped at my feet to pick him up. "Come on. Let's go to Grandma and Grandpa's and you can have heated poops."
My parents’ place in Manhattan had a dog park … in the building. Convenient for everyone except the guy who had to clean it.
I found Nip's sweater and arranged the doggy backpack with an extra blanket and his favorite toy.
"In." I tapped the top of the bag. Nip jumped in, turned around a couple of times, and settled.
I grabbed the pack and slid my arms through the hoops. I grabbed my own backpack and slung it over my shoulder. I had a room at my parents’ house, so I didn't have to pack much.
I peeked out the door toward Noah's place. The lights were out. I waited a beat or two before I tiptoed to the front door.
I pressed on the front door, but it wouldn't budge. The snow had accumulated on the doorstep. I pushed harder, and it opened enough for me to slip out. My shoes were buried after one step. The second step my feet were already soaked.
My luck I'll catch pneumonia.
I pulled my foot out, shook off the snow, and took another step down, but I misjudged the edge of the stoop. My body pitched forward, and I scrambled to grab the railing with one hand while holding on to Nip with the other. My other foot scrambled to find something solid. Instead, it folded over to the side. My entire weight shifted, and I came down hard on my hip.
As soon as I settled, the snow seeped into my pants. I forgot my gloves; my fingers froze in an instant. Hot tears poured out of my eyes, slid down my face, and stuck to my cheeks. My backpack had slipped off and fell on the top step. I tried to push myself up with my arms, but they slipped on the snow. I viewed up and down the street, but the street was empty.
Nip, over the initial shock, began to bark incessantly.
"Nip, shh." I cried out. The pain shot up from my foot as I tried to put pressure on it. I brushed the ice from my hands, bit my lip, and tried to push myself back up the stairs again. I only had three stairs to navigate. I groaned as I made it up one. I moaned on the next one.
I paused and surveyed my surroundings. A sob escaped my lips when I turned and found Noah inside the door staring down at me.
"Noah."
He opened the door, and it got caught in the snow. He shoved it harder and it opened wide, spraying snow in my face.
"Oh, shh— I'm sorry." He knelt down. “You okay?"
I rolled my eyes. I couldn't help it. I sat on my stoop in two feet of snow with tears running down my face. Ice had seeped into the seat of my pants, and I shivered uncontrollably from head to toe.
I garnered some satisfaction that his knee would freeze in seconds. He reached out and pulled the straps of Nip's carrier off my arm. He unzipped and let Nip out inside of the door.
I smiled despite the pain. I loved the way he took care of my little guy.
"What hurts?"
"What?"
"Callie, where are you hurt?"
"Everywhere." I adjusted my foot and winced in pain. "My ankle."
"Here." He placed his hand under my knees. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me off the ground and pulled me close to him. Despite the cold, my heart raced and my temperature rose. He wore a t-shirt and baggie sweats; he should have been freezing, but everywhere our bodies met, I felt heat. "Where were you going in this mess?"
"Just to the store," I lied. I didn't want him to know my true intention was to get away from him.
He stepped inside the house and set me down on the bench near the door.
He reached for my ankle, and I winced as he grazed it with his fingertips. He pulled my foot into his lap and removed my sneaker and wet sock.
"Does it hurt here?" He pressed on the front of my foot.
"No." His fingers moved up pressing every few seconds.
He grabbed my heel and turned it slightly to the left. "Owwww."
"I'm sorry." He winced as he turned it the other way, and it didn't hurt as much.
I bit my lip and groaned.
"It's already starting to swell." He lifted my foot and pressed his lips on the side of my ankle, and even though it still hurt, my heart melted.
"I don't think it's broken, but we should get this checked out just in case." He rubbed my foot where he placed his lips. "Doesn't it hurt anywhere else?"
Whimper.
We both turned to look at Noah sitting by the door. He pouted and whimpered again.
"Oh, Nip." I patted my knee. He skipped over and placed his paws on my leg. I reached down and picked him up. "I'll be okay. I'll be back soon." I kissed his nose and rubbed his fur. I grabbed my keys out of my pocket. "Can you put him inside?"
I watched Noah picked Nip up and kiss him on the nose as I did. "I'm going my coat and get you some warm socks."
He returned in a few minutes and carefully placed the warm sock on my bad foot. He snaked his arm under my knees, and lifted me again.
"You aren't going to carry me to the hospital."
"It's just around the corner." He winked and my insides warmed. "You have a better idea?"
Nope, being in his arms is exactly where I want to be.
Eleven
Noah
Why can't the paparazzi be around when I'm actually helping a woman?
We both held our breath as I maneuvered down the stairs. I smirked when we made it safe to the bottom.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"How did you fall down the stairs of your own house?"
"Well, I guess I need to add some agility drills to my workouts." She snuggled up closer.
Her little athletic quips made me laugh.
They had cleared off the streets but not the sidewalks as the snow continued to fall. I walked in the street; I hadn't seen a car all morning.
"I thought you said you didn't know anything about football."
"I didn't say that. I just said I hadn't watched it in years."
We turned the corner, and two blocks down, I spotted the hospital on the left. Callie stared as she clung to my neck.
"You okay? I'm not hurting you, am I?" I asked.
"No. I'm fine." She blew a piece of her hair out of her face and leaned her head on my shoulder. "You're pretty good at this damsel in distress thing."
"You think so. I have hero potential?" I patted her butt. "I think you bring it out in me."
We stopped at the corner. She lifted her head and placed a soft kiss on my lips.
"What was that for?" She blushed and looked around.
"It's what the heroine would do in this setting." She patted my cheek. "Quick pause in the drama for some gratuitous PDA."
She blushed again and laid her head back down.
&nbs
p; I squeezed her closer to me and continued on to the hospital. I had to get my princess some help.
The noise of the hospital ruined our romantic walk through the streets of Brooklyn. We arrived just as two ambulances skidded around the corner and came to an abrupt stop. The doctors and nurses sprang to life like in an episode of ER. We walked in, and I set Callie down on the nearest chair in the waiting room, careful not to jar her ankle.
"I'll be right back." I slid my thumb along her jaw.
She pushed a smile on her face even though I knew she was in pain. She surveyed the emergency room full of people in varying degrees of distress. One guy had a towel over his head with blood seeping out from the corners. A woman rubbed the back of little kid throwing up in a bucket.
I approached the nurse behind the reception desk. With her wrinkled pink scrubs and the two pens sticking out of the back of her dark hair, it looked like it had been a long night.
I leaned on the counter.
"Hi, my friend fell on the ice, and I think she sprained her ankle pretty bad."
The woman didn't even look up. "Here, fill this out and bring it back. Someone will call her back shortly."
"You have some ice I can put on it while we wait?" I tapped the counter.
She released an exhausted and exacerbated sigh. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped. Her eyes opened wide and her hand shot up to smooth down her hair. The blinking eyes and the grin tipped me off. She recognized me.
"Oh, my God. You're Noah Patrick."
I tilted my head and gave her a wink, hoping it would keep her from broadcasting my identity to the entire hospital.
"Hi, Jennifer." I read her name tag.
"Oh, my God."
I held my finger up to my lips and leaned in closer.
"Shh, I don't want to get hassled by any Giants fans this morning."
The woman giggled and stood up. "Why don't you go ahead and bring your friend back."
"No, these people have been waiting, and she's tough." I winked again for good measure. "We'll wait our turn."
The woman swooned right in front of me. You would have thought I cured cancer. She got teary-eyed and handed me the forms again. "I'll get you some ice."
I turned back to Callie.
Her arms crossed over her chest. Her swollen ankle bounced on her crossed leg.
I returned to sit next to her.
I set the forms on my knee and poised with the pen ready to fill them out.
"Name."
"Callie Alise James." Her stern tone hit me in the gut.
"Address."
I glanced back at her.
She rolled her eyes.
I chuckled and wrote our address on the form. I filled out her phone number and sex.
"Social Security number."
"460 --"
I waited for her to continue. When she didn't, I glanced back at her, but her gaze had fixated on something across the room.
I followed her line of site and fuck me.
Jennifer, the nurse, approached.
She had fixed her hair and removed the ponytail. It fell over her shoulders and bounced as she walked. She had applied lipstick and had her phone in one hand and an ice pack in the other.
"You've got to be kidding me," Callie whispered under her breath.
"Hey, Noah." She leaned over and her cleavage came into view. I sensed the intense stare from my right. I reached for the ice.
"Thanks so much, Jennifer."
"You are welcome." I turned to Callie, but Jennifer touched my shoulder. "Would you mind if I got a picture with you?"
I surveyed our surroundings, and thankfully, no one paid us any attention.
"Sure." Jennifer sat next to me. I turned to Callie and shrugged my shoulders; her lips formed a thin line. Her pale skin found some color.
Jennifer wrapped her hand around my bicep and squeezed it. She laid her head on my shoulder and snapped the selfie. She squealed under her breath and stood up.
"Are you in much pain?" Jennifer asked Callie.
She shook her head, but didn't speak.
"Oh, good. We'll call you back soon, okay. Just keep it elevated, apply the ice pack, and if the pain gets any worse, come and let me know."
"Uh-huh," Callie said.
"Thanks, Jennifer," I said waved.
As she backed away from us, grinning, I shifted in my seat and looked back at Callie.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah. I'm just fine. Please go ahead and continue flirting with Nurse Jennifer. I'll be here ... in pain." She snatched the clipboard out of my hand and leaned back to fill out the forms.
I loved the little jealous streak.
I scooted my chair around so it faced her and placed my back to Jennifer. I pulled her foot into my lap. She cringed from the pain.
"I'm sorry."
I began rubbing her foot.
I placed the ice pack on top, and she bit her lip as it settled.
"How's that feel?" I rubbed the arch of her foot.
"Cold," she answered.
I continued to massage the bottom of her foot to get the blood flowing and to calm her chilly disposition. I enjoyed touching her.
She shook her head, bit her lip to avoid smiling, and continued filling out the rest of the forms.
"You have a lateral malleolus fracture of the left foot." Dr. Phillips held my x-ray up to the light and pointed. "It seems to be in line, so it shouldn’t need surgery, but since it's still a bit swollen, I'd like to fit you in a walking boot. Ice it, keep it elevated, and try to stay off it as much as you can for the next few days. We'll determine if you need a hard cast or can continue with the boot. You can either come back and see me in a week or make sure you see your regular doctor. "
"You sure she doesn't need an MRI?" I asked.
The doctor frowned and inspected Callie's chart.
"You know only you professional athletes can get an MRI on demand." I narrowed my eyes at him, but Callie grabbed my hand. The doctor looked at her and then back at me and cleared his throat. "I don't think that's necessary unless the pain increases in the next few day." The doctor scratched his head and turned back to Callie.
"You have any questions?"
"No."
"Okay. I'll write you a prescription for the pain. Wait here and the nurse will be back with you shortly."
The doctor left us alone. I sat at the foot of the bed.
"Relax, Noah. Normal people break their ankles all the time."
"I should take you to see Dr. Andrews." I couldn't stop touching her.
"Who's Dr. Andrews?" she asked.
I smirked.
"He's the best orthopedic doctor in the world. He repaired my ankle two years ago."
"Yeah, well, since I don't see any route running in my future, I'm sure Dr. Phillips will be fine."
"Route running, huh?"
"What? Did I not use it right?" she asked. "I've been doing some research."
"No. You said it right. I'll make a football fan out of you yet."
Twelve
Callie
When we returned from the hospital, Noah bypassed the living room and carried me upstairs, through my bedroom. He set me on the bathroom counter.
Nip followed close behind, looking up at us both.
He unzipped my coat and threw it on my bed. He reached for the bottom of my sweater.
"What are you doing?" I was suddenly aware of being alone in my bedroom with Noah Patrick and he was about to undress me.
"I was going to help you put on something more comfortable." He smirked and reached for the bottom of my sweatshirt again.
I stared up at him. He pulled the two sweaters up over my head. My t-shirt remained. He grabbed the waist of my pants. They were stiff from air-drying.
I placed my hands over his.
"Why don't you give me the robe on the back of the door." I pointed.
"Oh, yeah. Okay." Noah turned his back and handed me the robe.
I p
ut it on and tied it as I shimmied off my pants.
"You decent?" He asked.
"Depends on who you ask," I said and giggled.
"The pain meds kicking in?"
"Maybe." I let out a huge yawn.
Little Noah sat at the entrance of the bathroom growling.
"Nip." I pouted.
"I don't think Noel likes me touching you." Noah bent over and scratched the top of his head.
I leaned back to check out Noah's ass. He had a perfect ass.
"Well, I don't care what he likes at the moment." I placed the tiniest bit of weight on my foot as I scooted off the counter, but it hurt.
Noah ran his hands up and down my arms. "You warming up?"
Goosebumps popped out on my skin.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I shivered under his touch.
He raised an eyebrow and rubbed my skin with more pressure.
"That's you, not the cold."
He laughed.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"I like that you tell me exactly what you're thinking." He pushed a stray hair out of my face. "It's refreshing."
"Well, I don't think it's a stretch for you to hear you give a girl the chills. I mean look at you." I pointed at him in the mirror. "You're gorgeous."
"You're a little loopy from the pain." He turned away from the mirror. "Can you stand on one foot and get dressed in something warm?"
He offered me his arm.
I missed him carrying me. I hopped out to my room and plopped down in the middle of my bed.
"There are sweatpants and a sweatshirt in the closet, the black ones." He opened my closet and walked to the back. I stifled a gasp and my eyes grew wide. His number eighty-nine San Diego Chargers jersey hung near the front.
Noah had walked right by it.
My favorite Chargers sweatshirt hung next to it.
Noah walked right past them both.
I thought I had removed all physical evidence of my obsession. I pushed myself off the bed and hopped into the closet.
"I'll get it." I reached up, pulled the two items down, pushed them in the hamper, and closed the lid.
"What was that?" he asked.
I reached up and pulled the sweats from the top shelf. I lost my balance and placed my other foot down.
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