“Come on, Cameo. Time to wake up.” He tried again.
This time, she frowned and her eyes fluttered open, and she twisted onto her back, a sleepy smile curling her lips.
“I thought you’d wake me with a kiss,” she husked, her voice low and laced with sleep.
Gods, he wanted to kiss her. He really did. He stepped aside and her sky-blue eyes widened as she saw Yasmin. She was quick to sit up, a panicked look flitting across her beautiful face.
Lowe glanced at Yasmin and grimaced as he found Saint standing on the step just behind her, a questioning look in his dark eyes. He stared at the male, sure that Saint would say something about what Cameo had said.
Saint just shrugged. “Where do you keep your coffee?”
“Bottom left cupboard.” Relief blasted through Lowe as Saint turned away and trudged back down the stairs.
Clearly, staying up all night with his new mate had put his alpha in a very good mood, one where he would even let the fact Lowe had been kissing a human slide.
“I’m sorry I startled you.” Yasmin’s voice softened, taking on a tone that made her sound every bit the doctor she was. “I’m a doctor from the neighbouring property. I’ve come to take a look at your… leg… was it?”
Cameo nodded and smiled, her eyes brightening with it as she drew back the blue covers, revealing her bare left leg. Damn, Lowe was thankful that Saint had gone back downstairs because if the male had been up here, he might have erupted in his direction. Just the thought of Saint seeing Cameo like this, so much naked skin on show, was enough to have him wanting to head downstairs to force the male to leave.
“Lowe mentioned there was a doctor nearby.” Cameo’s gentle voice calmed him, soothing his raging bear side.
In fact, she tamed that part of him so quickly he could only stare at her in shock. His bear side was notoriously grouchy, didn’t usually back down when the mood to fight struck him, but something about Cameo had it calm in an instant. Because she was his fated one?
He stared at her, needing to know the answer to that question. He suspected she was, but he could be mistaken. He glanced down at the floorboards as Cameo spoke to Yasmin while she inspected her leg, tuned into Saint and Holly as they murmured things to each other.
Tender things.
Lowe scrubbed a hand over his mouth and looked back at Cameo. He wanted that kind of relationship for himself, wanted Cameo to be the other half of his soul, the one female in this world he could mate with and spend the rest of his life with by binding them together.
Cameo’s blue eyes slid to him as Yasmin checked her leg, her look softening as her gaze met his, a warmth emerging in it that drew him to her, filled the darkest corners of his heart with light and worsened the ache in his chest.
She had to be his mate.
He had never felt like this around a female before, both sides of him reacting fiercely to her. Both the bear and the man in him wanted to be close to her, calmed whenever she was near him and raged if she was in danger.
She had to be his fated one.
She smiled slightly, kissable lips curling, tempting him to capture them with his own and spend another day worshipping them.
That smile faltered when Yasmin spoke.
“It’s definitely a fracture. Hairline at most… maybe. It’s hard to tell without an x-ray.” Yasmin offered Cameo a consolatory smile. “It doesn’t seem bad though. I would say it should be healed in…” She glanced at Lowe and Lowe gave her a look he hoped conveyed that he knew what she was and what he wanted her to do. She nodded, the barest dip of her chin as she looked back at Cameo. “I’d say no more than two weeks.”
Cameo’s face brightened. “Really? That soon? That’s… wow. That’s great. I thought it would be a month or more.”
Damn, it was good to see her cheery again. He hated the thought of her being down, let alone actually seeing it and feeling it in her. He wanted her to always smile, even when he knew that wasn’t possible. Another mate thing? He would move heaven and earth to make her happy.
“I’ll just take another look.” Yasmin glanced at him again and then lowered her dark gaze to Cameo’s leg as she ran her hands over her shin.
He was going to owe her for this. He knew it and he didn’t care. Whatever she demanded of him, he would pay it in order to have Cameo on the mend. There was a reason Yasmin had become a doctor and a reason he had wanted her to take a look at Cameo.
Yasmin had a natural talent for healing others with her touch.
Lowe watched Cameo as Yasmin worked, knew the moment she had given Cameo’s healing a boost because Cameo suddenly looked even brighter, the fatigue that had been in the depths of her eyes and the dark shadows beneath them disappearing.
Yasmin leaned over and fumbled around in her bag, pulled out a black brace and held it against Cameo’s leg, measuring it. “It should fit.”
She opened the straps and set it on the bed, took out a cream support bandage that looked a little like a long fabric tube to Lowe, and eased it on over Cameo’s leg.
“Does that hurt?” Yasmin glanced at her as she carefully drew the tube of material up over her shin.
Cameo stared at her leg and shook her head.
“That’s good.” Yasmin finished with the bandage and set Cameo’s leg into the brace. It covered her leg from foot to knee, resembling a plastic padded boot. The last time Lowe had seen a cast, it had been made of white plaster. This new version was ingenious, would mean Cameo could remove it if she needed to. Yasmin tightened the straps and checked it over, making sure it was snug. “How does that feel?”
“It feels great.” Cameo’s blue eyes shone, dazzling him and making him want to smile.
She glanced at him and a hint of colour touched her cheeks, a spark in her gaze that spoke to him on a deep, primal level. She was thinking wicked things. He swallowed and ran a hand over his mouth again, tried to ignore the way that spark ignited his blood and had him itching to make Yasmin and the others leave so he could be alone with Cameo.
Yasmin rifled through her bag again and held something out to Cameo. “Take them if the pain is too much. Go easy on them though. They’re strong.”
Cameo took the plastic bottle and stared at it as she nodded.
“You’ll still need to be careful with the leg. Don’t put too much weight on it and rest it as much as possible.” Yasmin’s voice took on a harder edge, one that had Cameo nodding and looking at her. The raven-haired female stood and grabbed her bag. “I think I’m done here. I’ll come by in a week to check on you. If you need anything, just send Lowe to the Creek.”
Cameo kept nodding.
Yasmin looked at him as she turned and walked towards him, and he dipped his head, silently thanking her for helping Cameo.
He waited for her to head downstairs before he went to Cameo, leaned over her and tunnelled his fingers in her hair. He tipped her head back and captured her lips, kept the kiss tender and slow, an outpouring of his feelings for her.
When he eased back, she smiled hazily at him.
“There’s your good morning kiss.” He smoothed his palm across her cheek.
She sighed. “It was worth waiting for.”
His thoughts exactly.
“Lowe. Coffee.” The hard edge to Saint’s deep voice had Lowe tensing and releasing Cameo.