Hollywood House Call

Six



Callie took a seat on the small stool in front of the vanity. She wanted to get this doctor/patient time over with. Their bonding moment wasn’t something she was comfortable with because she certainly didn’t want to give him any more ammunition to fuel his pity.

She’d not only been so close to her dream of landing a role, she’d finally gotten Noah Foster to see her as a desirable woman. Now she didn’t even want to know what he thought when he looked at her.

“Sorry.” Noah came back in with supplies and a shirt. “I ran to my room to grab this for you.”

She eyed the shirt and glanced up at him. “A shirt?”

“It’s a button-down,” he explained. “You can’t keep your one arm tucked beneath a T-shirt for six weeks. This way you won’t have to lift your arm over your head. You can just slide it through the sleeve.”

That would be more convenient, but if she needed to change, then…

“I can help,” he offered.

“No.” She sat up in her seat, eyes on him. “I can do it.”

“You’re going to be stubborn, aren’t you?” he asked. “I’ve seen naked women before.”

“Not this naked woman.”

His eyes roamed over her, then back up. “Do you think the way we were headed a few days ago that I never would’ve gotten you naked, Callie?”

Chills spread over her; her skin tingled. She knew exactly where they’d been heading.

“Do you think I wanted to just kiss you like that and leave it?” He stepped closer, just enough for her to have to tilt her head up to keep hold of his warm gaze. “I don’t choose lovers on a whim.”

“Noah…”

He held up a hand, took a step back and shook his head. “Sorry. That was completely out of line. Let’s see what your face looks like.”

Callie released the pent-up breath she’d been holding.

Going to his knees on the plush carpet, he slowly eased the surgical tape from her face and below her jaw to examine the wound. “Sorry, I know that pulls.”

“It’s okay.”

She closed her eyes, not because of the pain, but because she couldn’t bear to see his face when he looked at her injury. She hadn’t let him look at her wound in the hospital. She’d been poked enough, and the last person she wanted playing doctor was her very attractive boss.

Biting the inside of her lips, Callie waited in the silence for anything. A hitch in his breath, a mutter of curse words. Anything to indicate his thoughts.

After a moment without the bandage, she finally opened her eyes, but didn’t look at him. “Be honest. I can handle it.”

“I’ll fix this,” he replied, his voice thick.

Callie eased around to look him in the eye. “That’s not what I asked. How bad is it? If I were your patient, what would you tell me?”

His eyes met hers. “You are my patient. This will take some time. I can’t tell you for certain because of the swelling, but if the tissues beneath aren’t too damaged, then we have good odds of minimal scarring. I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”

Callie held his gaze. “You don’t have to do this, Noah.”

“I don’t trust your care to another surgeon.”

“I didn’t mean the surgery,” she corrected. His face was so close to hers now, but if she thought she was hideous before with her bandages, she was certainly grotesque now without. “I mean take care of me. I know I need someone. I just don’t want to be a burden for you.”

A smile flirted around his kissable lips. “We’ve been through this. I’m a doctor and I’m your friend. If I didn’t want to help, I wouldn’t have offered.”

“But you offered out of pity,” she told him, hating that damn word and all the emotions it stirred within her.

“I offered because I don’t want to see you suffer and I want to make sure you get the proper care.” He sighed and turned to grab the ointment. “Now, are you going to let me help or are we still going to argue over the living arrangements for the next several weeks?”

Callie tried to grin, but her face was too sore. “I guess you can win this round.”

“You should know by now that I win all the rounds,” he told her with a full-fledged, double-dimple grin. “As a doctor and a man.”

Callie had to look away. She couldn’t fall under his spell even more than she already had. She couldn’t keep wishing for things that could never be because she didn’t think she could handle any more letdowns.

First things first. Her love life would have to be put on hold…again. She needed to climb back up and see what happened after she recovered and had surgery on her face. Then, maybe, if all worked out she could circle back around to where she and Noah had left off making out in his car. That is, if he hadn’t moved on. What were the chances of him staying single for weeks, months?

In fact, his personal life seemed to be very hush-hush, so it must be busy. Anytime she had tried to bring it up to Marie, she’d gotten the message clearly: his love life was off-limits. But Callie couldn’t imagine what a sexy, young plastic surgeon would keep so secretive.

* * *

Noah put away all the supplies once he was done changing Callie’s bandage. She’d taken her medicine and had asked for some privacy. He was all too happy to oblige.

He shouldn’t have forced his way into her room to change that bandage. She would’ve been fine until tomorrow, but he just had to see how she was doing. The doctor in him knew she was fine, but the man in him, the man who was filled with guilt, had to keep his eye on her to make sure she was okay.

As he started to head back downstairs, he passed by her room and heard the hiss of water running.

What the hell?

He knocked on her door, but got no response. Surely she wasn’t actually trying to shower or take a bath. Was she?

He tried her knob, and when it turned beneath his hand, he eased the door open and called her name. “Callie? Everything okay?”

She didn’t answer, but the sound of the Jacuzzi tub filling with water filtered through from the attached bath.

Damn fool woman. How could she do this on her own with that arm in a sling? Not to mention she couldn’t get her stitches wet.

He walked to the open bathroom door and sucked in a breath. Callie stood with her back to him wearing only thin satin panties and her T-shirt, which she was trying to wrestle up her body.

When she cried out in pain, he stepped forward. “Callie, stop.”

She jerked around, her eyes wide. “What are you doing in here?”

“I heard the water and thought you’d need help.” He willed his eyes to stay on her face and not travel down the path of her toned, tanned legs or to the triangle of pink satin between her thighs. “What the hell are you doing trying to have a bath alone?”

“I thought if I soaked for a while it might help the soreness.”

He leaned over and turned the faucets off so he didn’t have to keep talking over the water. “It will, but you can’t do this on your own, remember? That was the whole reason for having someone care for you.”

She eyed the tub, then him. “There’s no way you’re going to help me take a bath.”

The image nearly killed him.

“I need to at least help you out of that shirt and underwear.”

He resisted the urge to swipe his damp hands down his jeans. He was a doctor, for crying out loud. He’d seen more naked women than Hugh Hefner, and here he was in his guest suite afraid to see Callie in nothing but a tan. But no matter the near-naked women he’d seen in his office, none of them had been Callie. None of them conjured up emotions, feelings…hormones…the way Callie did.

“Don’t make this uncomfortable, Noah.” She tried to pull the hem down lower, hiding her flat stomach and the flash of a jewel in her belly button. “I can take a bath. It may be hard, but I won’t overdo it.”

“Nothing has to be hard. That’s the whole reason you’re here.”

God, this was infuriating. He stepped forward and reached for the hem of the shirt, but Callie stepped back.

“Noah, I can’t do this.” Her bottom lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears that nearly dropped him to his knees because he couldn’t handle seeing her so hurt. “I’m a horrifying sight, I have bruises all over me and I’m stuck here until I can be alone. Added to that, I can’t let go of the memory of us kissing and it’s really making staying here, being so close to you, difficult. Please, I’m begging you, let me have what little pride I have left.”

Shocked at her declaration, he remained silent. The woman was blunt, truthful, and he admired the hell out of her.

“You can stay in the bedroom. I’ll close this door and if I need something I promise to yell.” Her chin tilted up as she blinked away the tears. “Can we agree to that?”

Damn, he admired her stubbornness. He had to admit that if the tables were reversed, he’d be pissed to have his independence taken away.

Noah nodded. “I’ll be right outside that door, Callie. Be careful not to get the bandage on your face wet or move your arm too much. You can bend at the elbow, but don’t lift the entire arm up.”

Callie smiled through her watery eyes. “I’ll be careful.”

Hesitating only a moment, Noah reluctantly left the room and shut the door. With just that piece of wood between them, he leaned against it and closed his eyes.

Callie was so much like Malinda. So strong-willed, so independent and stubborn. Why was he attracted to that type?

And that was just their personality. He didn’t even want to think how their physical attributes were similar. Same long, dark red hair, same milky skin tone.

He could admit to himself that when he’d hired Callie, her looks were just another reason. After all, Malinda had only been gone six months and this was just one more way he could hold on to her.

But the longer Callie worked for him, the more he could see the differences between the two women. Callie laughed more, smiled when she spoke and truly had a gift for making a room brighter simply by walking into it.

Noah listened, waiting for her to call for him, praying she did all the while praying she didn’t. He’d go in there in a second if she needed him, but first he’d have to turn on doctor mode. If he went in there as a man—a man attracted to a woman—he’d be a complete jerk and forget about her injured body and take his fill of looking at her, touching her and quite possibly kissing her breathless as he had the other day. God, he wanted his mouth on her again.

And didn’t that make him all kinds of a fool for having these thoughts about an injured, vulnerable woman?

He heard the water slosh and his mind filled with the erotic image of her settling into the oversize garden tub.

“Turn the jets on,” he yelled through the door. “That will help ease the soreness.”

As if he needed another image of her relaxing, now he pictured her with her hair spilling down around her, her head tipped back against the porcelain as the jets brought thousands of bubbles up to the surface.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, but when he checked the caller ID and saw it was his Realtor, he shoved the cell back in. He wasn’t in the mood to hear another piddly offer on the house they were trying to sell. The other two offers were laughable; he wasn’t selling this home just to get rid of it and he sure as hell wasn’t selling it at a loss.

Malinda had chosen this Beverly Hills mansion when they’d decided to move in together. Noah had a home on the other side of town, but this was closer to where she was working as a personal shopper until she caught her “big break.” In love and naive, Noah agreed to move, but he loved his other house so much, he held on to it and rented it out.

He still had that home he could go to, but he just couldn’t say goodbye to the memories he and Malinda had made here…the happy ones.

Noah swallowed the lump of guilt that always settled in his throat when he thought of how he should’ve seen the signs of her abuse earlier. How he should’ve done something…anything. He was a doctor, for pity’s sake. His job was to fix people, but the one person he’d loved and had planned to spend his life with he had failed and she had paid the ultimate price.

“Noah?”

He jerked against the door and opened his eyes. “Yes?” he called back.

“Um, it’s hard to wash my hair with one hand.”

Oh, Lord. He was going to have to go back in there—where she was naked, wet and needy. Noah took a deep breath and shoved aside the man who had wanted Callie’s sexy body for months now and he slid his doctor persona into place.

You’re a professional, damn it. Act like one.

“Need help?” he asked, gritting his teeth.

“Please.”

One simple word. It meant so much and he knew she’d put her pride and dignity aside.

He eased the pocket door open and entered the steamy room.

“I’ll need another towel,” she explained. “I wanted to cover up so this wouldn’t be any weirder.”

He glanced her way and sure enough she had draped the large white bath towel across her. It was tucked beneath her armpits and floated down across her tanned thighs.

He knelt down beside the tub. “Just sit up a tad.”

Taking the shampoo bottle, he squeezed a generous amount into his palm and lathered his hands together. When he finally started rubbing his fingers through her long, silky strands, she moaned.

“God, it always feels so good when someone else washes your hair,” she said. “I can scrub and massage all day, but it’s just not the same at all.”

So had her previous boyfriends done this for her? If she was his, and this was the type of thankful reaction she gave, he’d sure as hell wash her hair every damn night.

“I actually tipped the shampoo guy at the salon two weeks ago even more than usual because he massaged my scalp longer.”

Noah felt like an idiot. Maybe she wasn’t talking about past boyfriends at all. Noah would pretend she was just discussing the salon and not potential foreplay with other men.

“Hang on, I’ll grab something to rinse it with.”

He came to his feet and shook off the suds into the tub. Beneath the vanity he found a small, plastic pitcher his cleaning lady always used to rinse the shower and tub when she cleaned. He squatted back down and dipped it into the water and began rinsing her hair. Time and time again he dipped and poured. He’d run his hand through her hair to see if he still saw suds, but even when they were long gone, he kept rinsing and running his hand through her long, crimson strands.

The way they splayed across her damp, bare back was sexy. The way she moaned the entire freaking time he washed her hair was sexy. And the fact she sat inches away from him totally naked was beyond sexy. Torturous was more the word. He’d never imagined if he ever got the chance to see Callie naked she’d be broken and battered and vulnerable. And in this tub alone.

“Um, Noah?” she peered over her shoulder at him. Water droplets clung to the edge of her thick, dark lashes. “It’s rinsed by now, isn’t it?”

He squeezed the pitcher in his hand, surprised it didn’t pop out and shoot across the room.

“Yeah,” he replied, his voice huskier than he would’ve liked. “It’s clean.”

Her eyes darted to his mouth, and she might as well have touched him below the belt with her bare hand because the effect was the same. He was hard in a second.

“Thanks,” she told him, her eyes locked onto his. “I can take it from here. But if you could get me a dry towel…”

A droplet of water slid down her forehead and Noah reached out and thumbed it away. But he didn’t remove his hand. He cupped her cheek and stroked her soft, dewy skin.

“It’s not often someone takes my breath away,” he whispered. “Hardly ever, actually.”

“Noah—”

He eased forward slowly, giving her ample time to stop him. “I can’t ignore this,” he told her. “I can’t pretend you don’t stir something in me, Callie. And I sure as hell can’t pass this opportunity up.”

Her mouth opened beneath his as he caressed her uninjured cheek. Keeping his touch light, he coaxed her mouth open and slid his tongue in to meet hers.

Another of those soft moans escaped her and Noah found it damn hard to resist the urge to haul her out of that tub and find the nearest flat surface.

Callie pulled back and brought her hand to her lips. “Noah, we can’t do that.”

“Pretty sure we can and did.”

“No, I mean, we can’t do this.” She waved her good hand between them. “You don’t need this complication on top of caring for me, and I can’t afford to be sidetracked by you and your charms and those kisses. You make me all muddled and I can’t think when you touch me.”

He couldn’t help but grin. At least she wasn’t crying or angry over the accident. Apparently he’d found just the thing to distract her. But at what price? Now he was more tortured than ever. But sacrificing himself for her was a no-brainer. He’d do anything to make her smile again, make her whole again.

“Glad I could take your mind off your problems for a moment,” he told her.

Callie eased back into the tub. “Did you kiss me because—”

“No.” He held up a hand. “Kissing you had nothing to do with this accident. I kissed you before and I plan on kissing you again. One has nothing to do with the other. I like kissing you, Callie. And if it helps, I can barely think when your mouth is on mine, so this sexual attraction goes both ways.”

She closed her eyes. “But I just don’t think this is right, Noah. I don’t want you to feel because we’re thrown together like this it means that we should be intimate.”

Noah came to his feet, pointing down to his bulging zipper. “You think this didn’t happen before you came here? I assure you, many times at work I’d have to go to the restroom or my office and close the door and recite the Gettysburg Address to get my mind off you.”

Callie raised her brows as her gaze darted from his erection to his face. “You did not recite the Gettysburg Address— Are you admitting that you’ve wanted me for a while?”

“Yes, I did and yes, I am.”

Callie adjusted her wet towel. “Well, um, that’s… I can’t think right now, Noah. You caught me at a weak moment and I’m on drugs. Is this how you get women into your bed?” she joked.

The band of guilt around Noah’s chest tightened. He turned toward the linen closet and grabbed another towel and sat it on the edge of the garden tub.

“Get dressed and we’ll see about dinner.”

And before he could get too wrapped up in his past or his present, Noah fled the room like a child who was scared of the boogeyman. Because, let’s face it, that boogeyman that kept chasing him was himself. No one else was to blame for the death of Malinda.