Lion, who’d jumped up upon my exit off the couch, ran straight for the back door.
I let her out, watched her for a few seconds, then went to start the coffee.
Once that was going, I grabbed Croft’s antibiotic, his pain pill, and some ibuprofen before heading back up the stairs.
It was only as I was entering his bedroom that I realized that I’d never put my pants back on.
I was only in a short tank top and my underwear.
Before I could turn tail and run, Croft cursed again from the bathroom, this time sounding like he was in serious pain, and I forgot that I was supposed to be getting some pants on.
Knocking slightly on the barely cracked bathroom door, I said, “Are you okay?”
There was a long pause and then, “I guess.”
I smiled at his non-answer.
“I have some pain pills. You want that?” I asked, knowing the answer but asking him anyway.
“Yes,” he answered. “I do. Very much so. Can you bring them in here?”
I pushed through the door to find him standing at the counter.
He once again had his sweatpants on, but they hung so low that I could see the crack of his ass.
“Your pants are falling down,” I said as I saw him.
He groaned. “I know. I was putting them on when I tripped and nearly busted my ass. I caught myself with my bad arm, and now it hurts so bad that I’m seeing stars.”
I walked up to him and took his good hand in mine, then dumped his pills into it. “Take those.”
He did, swallowing them dry.
“Thanks,” he grunted as he leaned his hand back on the counter and dropped his head.
“You’re welcome,” I said as I bent down to help with his sweats. His foot was still caught at the bottom. “Point your toes.”
He did, and I got the bottoms over his heel.
He yanked his pants up the rest of the way, then went back to his original position.
“Do you need help with anything else?” I asked him.
“I need help with getting the toothpaste on my toothbrush,” he admitted. “But mainly because I brush my teeth by the kitchen sink every morning after I have coffee. But I don’t want to walk down there and do that just yet.”
I patted him on the good shoulder.
“I’ll go get the coffee and let your dog in,” I told him. “You finish up in here.”
He said something that sounded like an ‘okay’ but I’d left before he could realize I was still in my panties.
Something which I wasn’t sure that he’d noticed but had been in too much pain to say anything about if he had.
I’d just let the dog in, and was starting on the coffee, when I realized that I should’ve put the shorts on first.
Mostly because by the time that I’d gotten his coffee in a cup, I could hear him creaking down the stairs.
I made a mad dash for the couch and yanked my shorts off the floor before doing that weird hopping around thing as I tried to get them on.
I was just pulling them up over my ass when I saw him get to the bottom.
He’d seen me, though, based solely on the smile that was taking over his face.
“Shut up,” I grumbled. “Or I won’t give you any coffee.”
He tried to wipe the smile off of his face, but he didn’t do such a good job.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I grumbled as I walked back to the kitchen.
Lion was standing by her food bowl, looking pitiful.
“You got dog food in here?” I asked.
“In the garage,” he answered. “In a metal trash can right outside the door.”
I nodded and headed that direction, finding the scoop hanging on the wall next to the trash can.
Getting a small scoop for the puppy, I headed back inside and dumped it into her bowl, then went back and hung the scoop up before heading back to the coffee.
Once I had it in hand, I walked it over to the man that was now sitting at the kitchen island with his shoulders hunched.
“The nurse asked me to clean the area and rebandage,” I explained. “Do you want to do that now?”
He grimaced but nodded once before picking up his coffee and taking a hefty swallow.
“You made it right,” he sounded surprised.
Croft was a man who liked his coffee sweet. He didn’t like creamer, just a shit ton of sugar. And I was loath to admit it, but I paid way too much attention to the man.
I’d only seen his coffee made three times before, once by him at his parents’ house for my brother’s and Camryn’s rehearsal dinner, and twice by Raleigh when I was at her house for a birthday or a party of some sort.
I really shouldn’t have paid that much attention, yet I had.
“Not many men like sugar out the ass in their coffee. I remembered when I watched your sister make it for you at your nephew’s first birthday last month,” I lied.
He nodded and took another sip before placing the cup down on the counter in front of him then getting to work on the tape on his shoulder.
When he had it all the way off, he grimaced and left it there for a few long seconds.
“Do you want me to do it?” I questioned.
He nodded pitifully.
“Sure,” he hesitated. “Just do it fast, okay?”
I wouldn’t do it fast.
I didn’t want to accidentally catch a stitch and rip the damn thing out.
But I wouldn’t delay.
I was good with wounds and shit.
I’d always been fascinated by them.
What I was not fascinated by was the man that I had the hots for being the one who was hurting.
That actually sucked quite a bit.
“Okay, let’s do it.” I reached for the edges that he’d freed.
Then, carefully, I pulled it all the way off, being gentle but not stopping until it was free completely.
When I looked at the wound, I grimaced.
It looked
