“Well…I mean…We don’t need his number or anything,” Harlyn sputtered. “I’m just saying, he should watch what he eats and going to the Rooster is not the best thing for him.”
Mave cleared her throat and shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like he eats there every day. I don’t think a cheeseburger is going to send him into cardiac arrest or anything.”
Jay laughed. “A week ago, he was eating there every day.”
I shot him a glare. Jay needed to keep his mouth shut right now.
“Why can’t we go somewhere else for dinner?” Harlyn whined.
“Where?” Jay and Remy asked in unison.
Harlyn turned back to Mave expectantly. “What would you recommend, Mave?”
“I, ah, well.” She opened and closed her mouth but nothing came out.
“Knock it off, Harlyn. She’s a doctor, not Google.” I glanced at Mave. “Besides, we’re eating at home. You guys can go to the Rooster.” I wasn’t up for hanging out with the crew anymore today.
Harlyn took a step back and looked sheepish. “Oh, well, I guess I just figured you would want to go out with us.”
“We can go out if you want, Roc. A cheeseburger isn’t going to be the end of the world.” Mave’s tone was even, and I could tell that she was trying to defuse whatever the hell was going on.
“Nah, it’s been a long day.” At least I made it through the day helping get everything put away. Going out with the crew did sound like a good idea in theory, but I knew I would probably fall asleep before the food even got to the table. “We’ll do a barbeque at the house this weekend if you guys want to come over.”
Brooks took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll talk to Frankie. See if she had any plans this weekend.”
“Are you talking about me?” Frankie shouted from the other side of the shop.
“Yeah,” Brooks hollered. “Wanna know if you want to go to the new sex toy shop over in Drafton?”
“So we can get that ten inch dildo you were wanting?” Frankie fired back.
“Burn!” Remy hooted.
Jay doubled over laughing and even I had to admit that was pretty good.
“Dude,” Remy chuckled. “I have told you that Frankie has three brothers, and she is well versed on every and any comeback. You. Can. Not. Beat. Her.”
Even Mave couldn’t hide her smile.
“All right, assholes. I’m heading out. Enjoy your two days off.”
I started rolling toward the open overhead door, and I felt Mave come behind me and help push. My arms were exhausted from wheeling all around the shop today, and it was a welcome relief for her to push me.
“I’m fucking old,” I grumbled when I was finally in the truck and we were headed back to the house.
“If you’re old, then I’m old,” Mave laughed.
“I’m fifty-one years old, Mave.” I ran my fingers through my hair and chuckled. “The gray hair gives that away, though, right?”
“I’ve had patients in their twenties who were gray. Your hair color has nothing to do with how old you are.”
“Yeah, those ones were gray by choice. Came from a fucking box. This gray hair is from a twenty-seven year old daughter and over thirty years of early mornings and long nights at the track.”
“Those patients, by the way, were naturally gray, and the only reason you feel old right now is because you were just in a car accident.” Mave glanced over by me. “Besides, gray looks good on you.”
I sighed and stared out the window. “Seven days ago, Mave. Seven days ago, I was in a car accident, and I feel like it happened seven months ago.”
“You really think you’re just going to bounce back like that, don’t you?” Mave laughed and turned down the street to home. “Seriously, Roc. You need to just slow down. I don’t know how many times I need to say that to you.”
I laid my head back on the headrest and sighed.
Mav pulled up to the house and killed the engine. “Dinner, bath, and then bed, Roc. You had a long day.”
I couldn’t argue with her.
It was a long day, and I was just getting old as fuck.
*
Chapter Ten
Mave
“I don’t think the nurses in the hospital gave me a more thorough sponge bath.”
I ringed out the wash cloth and draped it over the faucet. “I’ve seen plenty of sponge baths in my life, and I’ve also given my fair share of them.” I stood up and rolled my head back and forth. “I was a CNA in high school and ‘til I was a sophomore in college. Though you did basically all of the work today.”
“You were a nurse and then decided giving sponge baths wasn’t for you so you became a doctor?”
I shook my head. “No. Doctor was always my endgame, but I wanted to know everything a nurse did before I became the person who would be telling them what to do. I wanted to make sure what I wanted them to do, I could also do.”
Roc sat on the shower chair Susan had brought over with his legs hanging out of the shower. He had done ninety percent of washing himself. I was just there to wash his hair and back and to make sure he didn’t fall out of the chair.
“Kind of like how I worked my way through all of the pit crew jobs before I became crew chief.”
“I think so,” I laughed. “Your racing world is still pretty weird to me, but yeah.”
It should have been weird or even awkward for me to give Roc a bath, but somehow, it wasn’t. I mean, it was awkward for a second, and then Roc cracked a joke about me taking advantage of him if he dropped the soap.
I had managed to take his underwear off without glimpsing his dick, and I was hoping to be able to do the same when I put them back on.
Truth time.
Roc was hot. I couldn’t deny it. I was a hot blooded woman who could appreciate a handsome man. Roc fit squarely in that category.
But he was still paying me to take care of him, and I didn’t want it to be weird when he paid me and then I had also seen his dick.
I worked his underwear over the casts on his legs then my eyes drifted over his shoulders when he moved the towel that had been covering his dick. I waited ‘til he lifted himself up enough to pull them on all of the way.
“Are those some more of your nurse skills?”
My eyes connected with his. “Huh?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “The ability for you to completely zone out and ignore the fact I was naked five seconds ago.”
“Well, when you point it out, it makes it a tad bit harder to ignore.”
Sass seemed to be the way to go right now. My eyes were connected with Roc’s, and I was not going to look down at his crotch. It was taking all of my willpower not to take advantage of him.
“Just a tad bit harder? You’re gonna give me a complex here, Mave. I already feel old.”
“We’re not doing this, Roc. You’re not gonna flirt with me.”
“I don’t flirt,” he stated.
I quirked an eyebrow. “Right. Then what the heck are you doing right now?”
“Talking.”
I tipped my head to the side. “About you being naked.”