But when she arrived back at the hospital, looking as beaten and broken as it was possible for a person to look, he ignored the sensible pep-talks he’d given himself. She needed him.
“Come on, let’s get you in the shower.” He put an arm around her trembling shoulders. “Claudia is doing well, I fixed her ankle.”
Her chin wobbled. “I can’t face her. Please, Lucas, don’t make me see her.”
“It’s okay, you’ll feel better when you’re cleaned up and you’ve had a good meal.” Not that he knew where she’d get a good meal from, a plate of something warm and passably edible would have to do.
She shook her head but didn’t say anything. He led her to the shower room where he’d earlier taken a clean towel, another pair of his boxers, and some clean scrubs. Though, looking at her distress and the silent tears that ran down her cheeks, maybe she wouldn’t want the hospital clothes.
He intended to leave her at the door of the shower, but her pleading eyes and his long-buried male chivalry wouldn’t allow him to. Lucas pulled the top of her dirty, ripped scrubs over her head. He grimaced at the criss-crosses of scratches and abrasions that covered her back, some of which were bleeding.
“I need to wash your back, make sure none of these wounds are deep. You okay with me doing that now?”
She shrugged, new tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m beyond caring, Lucas, do what you have to do.”
Kicking off her bottoms, she got into the shower wearing only her underwear. Lucas swallowed. He remembered what water did to those pants. Silently, he berated himself, she was practically a patient right now. He needed to focus on her and not what she had underneath her underwear.
He wet a clean washcloth and while she stood under the water, began carefully cleaning her abraded skin. Turning her round, he washed her stomach. No more. Lucas held out the washcloth to her.
“You’re getting wet.” She didn’t take the offered cloth.
Lucas looked down at himself, the splashes of water had made dark stains on his pale blue scrubs. He wanted to drop the cloth and get as far away from her as he could, while he still could. But the hurt in her eyes and the silent pleading undid him. Kicking off his own scrubs, he joined her in the shower.
“I’m pretty sure this is against some kind of regulation.”
“Better make sure we don’t get caught, then.” She whispered, so close to his ear he could feel her breath tickling his skin.
Her mouth moved, then, to his. The kiss was full of every emotion she’d spent the day keeping below the surface. There was no softness, no tentative touching of lips. He fastened his arms around her, hauling her along the length of his body while their mouths got to know each other.
The tip of her tongue touched his, she ground her pelvis against his and crushed her breasts against his chest. Lucas splayed a hand at the base of her back, the other buried deep in her hair as he anchored her head in place while he took back some control. He backed her up against the wall of the shower, his mouth not leaving hers.
She reached between their bodies and rubbed a hand along the length of him. Lucas shuddered, trying to keep hold of his control, but it was like trying to keep a car still on a hill with the hand brake taken off. He was hurtling along, but with Frankie in his arms, the usually overpowering desire to not lose his cool was vanishing.
He dipped his head, kissing the length of her neck and nibbling the sensitive skin along her collar bone. Her hands slipped inside his boxer shorts, freeing his erection. Shoving her bra aside, he fastened his mouth around a nipple. As one of her hands folded around him and moved it slowly up and down, Lucas knew he was lost.
Right now, it didn’t matter who he was and who she was. All that mattered was the sensations they were creating in each other and the need they both had, at that moment, to enjoy each other’s bodies.
Her other hand came up and rubbed over the stubble on his jaw, across his chin and up his cheek. He froze as her fingers encountered the scars on his face. Frankie’s hand stilled and he didn’t need to open his eyes to know she would be staring at him with wide eyed horror. It wasn’t the first time someone had forgotten, touched his face and been revolted.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I got carried away.”
“I think we both got carried away.” Lucas battled to keep the hurt from his voice.
He dropped a kiss onto her mouth, not able to resist one last brief caress.
“I should explain.”
“There’s really no need.” He could handle walking away from her now, but he couldn’t listen to her stuttered apologies, her excuses. “I really need to go check on Claudia.”
“Lucas, please.” Looking at her was a mistake, he’d already failed to ignore the pleading in her eyes once. “I’ve only just got out of a difficult relationship. I can’t start another one up. Not when…”