and the curved arch of my raised eyebrows. But I didn't
move, and I didn't speak.
'There,' Paul said in a low voice. Through the tissue the
warmth of his fingers pressed against my suddenly chiled
skin. 'I can see it. Stay right there, Paige. Let me find
some tweezers.'
I'd placed my hands slightly more than a shoulder width
I'd placed my hands slightly more than a shoulder width
apart and far enough toward the table's center I had to
lean forward just a little. I didn't want to know what I
looked like, my skirt riding up the backs of my bare thighs
and my face flushed.
'It's a big one,' Paul said in a moment. 'Hold stil.'
I pressed my lips down on a squeak trying to escape at the
touch of the cold metal tweezers. Paul's hand curled
around my knee, holding it stil, while he probed and
puled.
I felt the splinter slide free, snagging my flesh, and the
further slow trickle of my blood painting a line down my
leg. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see the blurred
woman in the table, the one with my face looking as I'm
sure lovers had often glimpsed, but I never had.
The soft press of tissue again slid up my leg as Paul wiped
away the blood. I heard the crinkle of paper and his
fingers smoothed something on me. An adhesive bandage.
I could feel it puling the soft hairs I never managed to
shave. Then the stroke of his fingers along the secret place
at the back of my knee, so swift I might have imagined it.
'Al done.'
'Al done.'
I turned. Paul had already stepped away. In one hand, he
held the tweezers. In the other, the shredded paper
wrapper of the bandage.
I didn't strain or stretch to look at his handiwork. 'Thank
you.'
Twin spots of bright color bloomed on his cheeks. 'No
problem.'
Before he could say anything else, I grabbed up the
keyboard and left his office with a nod.
Later, in bed, I would fal asleep thinking of two things.
One was the smooth, expensive card and the beautifuly
written list. I wanted that paper, that pen, whatever it was.
And two, the feeling of Paul's fingers on the back of my
knee.
Chapter 09
My Monday-night gyno appointment went as wel as
could be expected for an event that had my legs in the air
and my ass exposed to the entire world. I weighed less
than I had the last time I'd been to the doctor, which was
