Her head appeared first. She was still talking. “I didn’t expect you to be so modest. It’s not as if I haven’t already seen—oh! You’re hurt.”
He expected her to stop or at least turn away but she was still coming up, eyes fastened on his injury. “Oh, Law. Are you in a lot of pain?”
“No.” He shrugged, spreading his fingers to shield his crotch. All she had to do was walk into a room and his dick went hard enough to pump iron.
She bit her lip as she came closer still. He knew how his stump must look to her, bruised and swollen as if it had been beaten with a stick.
Her gaze met his, her eyes framed by a frown. “It looks really bad. You need a doctor?”
“No.” He let out a breath, trying not to groan.
She reached out and touched his bare shoulder, her hand smooth and cool on his skin as she examined him. “You’ve a nasty scrape on your hip and smaller ones on your torso.”
“This is nothing. You should have seen me after Scud and I took down a soldier who’d deserted and was hiding…” He stopped and swallowed. Why was he talking to her about Scud?
He looked away and picked up his prosthesis. “This is the problem.” He pointed to the crack. “I need it in good working order to pass my physical in two weeks. I can switch back to an older leg until it’s repaired.”
“Oh, Law.”
He watched her with a smile. “That’s the third time you’ve used my first name today.”
“Don’t let it go to your head.” She looked back at him, something new in her gaze he couldn’t pinpoint but he sure did like. “Now how can I help? Ice or heat?”
“I’ll take care of it later. I’ve got some paperwork to do back at the office after I drop you back at the motel.”
She pressed a second hand to his bare shoulder as if she could stop him from rising. “You’re not going anywhere on that leg tonight. You can deal with paperwork tomorrow.”
Her hands felt good against his skin. He wished she’d slide them lower.
“Can’t I do something to help?”
He ground his teeth. One day ago, he knew he would have answered with a crude suggestion. But he couldn’t do that, not when she was looking at him with more admiration and empathy than any other human had in a long long time. Something just under his heart drew tight with a pain tougher to deal with than his stump. He knew he would never again hurt or disrespect her. On his life. That realization made him very nervous.
He looked away. “It’s no big deal. Just clomping around on a given day, pounding the stump, can make it swell or shrink. See this beauty right here?” He pointed to a bright-red bruised area. “I call them stump hickeys.”
“Because the fit wasn’t good.” She nodded. “An air pocket suctioned the skin into a classic bruise. I read about that. Do you have a lotion or salve for this?”
“Yeah.” He pointed to a tube of ointment on the dresser. She read about it? She was reading up on the care of amputated limbs? That knot under his heart tightened.
She picked up the tube and came back. “I can put it on for you but you should wash and dry the area first. Let me get something to do that.”
She headed for the bathroom before he could move an inch. When she turned her back, he stood up and hopped quickly over to the bed and sat, so that he could toss one end of the comforter over his good leg and hide his hard-on.
She came back with a soapy cloth and a towel. “You clean up while I find some bandages to cover your scrapes.”
“Don’t have any bandages.”
She stopped short. “What about the K-9 first-aid kit we gave you?”
He grinned. “Fast thinking. Under the sink, downstairs.”
Jori came back with her booty of gauze, sterile bandages, hydrogen peroxide, an anti-bacterial ointment, and medical adhesive tape. By then he’d been able to clean his stump.
She examined it and then noticed his complete disregard for the rest. There were a few scrapes he probably couldn’t easily reach. “Let me help with the other wounds.”
“I can do it.”
“Sure you can, but you’ll like it better if I do it.”
She met his hot heavy gaze, but he didn’t say a word. He simply rolled onto his side on the bed.
“Ow. Ow. Ouch!”
“What a baby.” Jori leaned in close to the abrasion on his hip as she gently applied a fresh pad with hydrogen peroxide. “You’re like raw meat here.”
“Uh-huh. But if you don’t stop handling my butt like that you’re going to have to deal with the consequences.”
Jori laughed. “You’re in no shape to make good on those threats just now.”
Law chuckled. She had no idea. The shape he was in, covered discreetly by a towel, could have her walking funny for a week.