“Just throw a few stitches into me so I can get back to work.”
She jerked her gaze up to his face. “Are you out of your mind? You’re done for the day.”
His jaw set, he leveled a mutinous glare in her direction. “I’m not a pussy. It’s hardly a scratch.”
Jolene came back with Walker and Gage.
“Trying to commit suicide, I heard,” Walker said with a smirk as he came up to them.
“Fuck you,” Mason said. “You trying to take over my job?”
“You dyin’ today?” Walker asked.
“Not likely.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to wait until you pull some other dumbass move.”
Gage squatted down next to Valerie. “She scissored right through your Wranglers.”
“I know.”
“That’s a hangin’ offense, cutting through a man’s Wranglers,” Gage said with a smirk on his face.
Valerie finished pressure dressing the wound, taped it, then glared up at all three grinning men. “I can’t believe all you’re worried about is his jeans.”
“Hey, work clothes are hard to break in,” Gage said, standing. He held out a hand for Mason. “Think you can get up or do you need Walker and me to carry you?”
“Assholes.” He jerked on Gage’s hand and stood.
“Hey!” Valerie pivoted to shoot daggers of venom at Gage. “Take it easy. I don’t want that bandage falling off and him bleeding again. I just got it stopped. Now, let’s see if you morons can gently get him into the Jeep.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Walker said, sliding around Mason’s side. “Come on, honey. Let me carry you.”
“You try picking me up and you can pick up your last paycheck when we get back to the house.”
Valerie rolled her eyes as Gage and Walker snickered the entire way to the Jeep. Men so didn’t take injuries seriously.
“Take him upstairs to my room,” she instructed when they reached the house.
“My place is fine,” Mason said.
“I have more medical supplies in my room,” she replied.
Gage and Walker took him upstairs. She ran ahead of them and placed a sheet over her bed.
“Lay him down there. And get his pants off while I get my supplies ready.”
She went into the bathroom and grabbed some towels, ran a washcloth under hot water. When she came out, Mason was alone. On her bed. Wearing just a sleeveless T-shirt and his boxers.
“Where did everyone go?”
“The guys snickered about you ordering me stripped down and what kind of wicked intentions you might have for me, so they said they’d give us privacy. And Jolene and Brea said they didn’t care to see me in my underwear. So I guess it’s just you and your patient, Doc.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She eased the bandage off, cleaned the wound area with hot water, then antiseptic. Mason always had been tough and didn’t even wince when she poured the antiseptic in the wound, or when she numbed it with the needle. He just watched her with that unfathomable gaze of his that never failed to make a room heat up a good ten degrees or so.
She pulled off her jacket and long-sleeved shirt, leaving her in only her tank top, and went to work.
mason was enjoying the view. sure, he’d done something stupid today, but at least the end result was turning out pretty enjoyable.
“Hey, I didn’t know a striptease went with the stitching.”
She lifted her head, her bewitching gaze colliding with his. “It’s hot in here and I need freedom of movement.”
“Whatever you say, Doc.”
Her lips compressed and he knew she was trying desperately for control.
He liked her out of control, like she’d been last night. Not thinking, just reacting. The softness of her skin under his hand was enough to make him hard. Which given his current predicament was probably not a good idea. He counted cattle instead of thinking about Valerie’s half naked body next to him.
“Am I hurting you?” She paused, needle in hand.
Yeah, she made his balls ache. “No. Not feeling a thing.”
“This cut is deep. You’re lucky it’s farther down your thigh and not near your femoral artery. Out there, middle of nowhere, stabbing yourself like that. You could have bled to death in minutes if you’d hit the artery. There’s not a hospital near enough we could have gotten you to.”
He was pretty sure she was talking to herself and not to him, so he let her ramble. Her hands were sure as she sewed him up. Part of her hair had escaped her ponytail and fell against her cheek. It didn’t seem to bother her any as she concentrated on her task. He wanted to reach out and sift strands of her hair through his fingers. He already knew the sensation—it felt like silk. He remembered how it used to slide across his thighs when her mouth had been busy on his dick.
She jerked up, stared at his now erect cock lying rigid against his boxer briefs. Her gaze slid to his face.
“Do you mind? I’m trying to work here.”
He grinned. “I have to do something to pass the time.”
She lifted a brow. “Mason.”
He shrugged. “Can’t help if it I was thinking about the last time you were . . . down there.”
Her face turned a pretty shade of pink. “Goddammit, I’m sewing you up here. This isn’t foreplay.”
“Sorry. I’ll think about horse shit instead.”
Her lips quirked. “Uh . . . thanks.”
She bandaged his leg after she finished sewing, then filled a syringe. “Roll on your side.”
He did. She drew his boxers down over his hip to give him a shot.
“You just want to look at my ass.”
“I’m giving you a shot of antibiotic to ward off infection.”
She wasn’t going to give. Even a little.
“Want a Band- Aid?”
“I’m not twelve, Valerie.” He rolled back over, then started to sit up.
“Oh no. You stay right there.” She planted her palm on his chest and applied pressure. As if she could keep him down if he really wanted up. To placate her, he stayed there.
“I’m stitched, right?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a good doctor, Valerie. Thanks. But I’m going to be fine.”
There was something about her expression that was . . . off. He didn’t know what it was.
“Just . . . hang there for a minute, okay?”
She didn’t wait for his answer, just pivoted and went into the bathroom. Mason heard the water running, so he slid off the bed and walked in there.
She was leaning over the sink, the water running. She gripped the sides of the sink so hard her knuckles were white. So was her face. Their gazes met in the mirror.
There were tears in her eyes. He stepped into the bathroom, stopped just behind her.
She didn’t turn around. “I told you to stay on the bed.”
He wound his arms around her. “I’m fine. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He’d seen the tears in her eyes, felt the tension in her body. “Valerie. What’s wrong?”
She shuddered, sighed, then leaned against him. “This is what’s wrong, Mason. What’s always been wrong.”