Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

thank you. Don’t touch it.”
    “Don’t be such a baby. Let me see.”
    He held a hand up to ward her off. “Really. Don’t worry about it.”
    “I promise not to hurt you, Derrick. I won’t even touch it.” She put her hands on her hips. “I am a nurse, you know.”
    She almost withdrew the offer. But then he glared at her before moving to one of the oversized chairs, sitting sideways so she could see his back. The space across his shoulders was already starting to purple with a bruise, and it looked like something had caught the skin and ripped it. He had a gash about three inches long diagonally across his right shoulder. “Ouch, Derrick. Sorry about that.”
    Over his left shoulder, just shy of the bruise, was a tattoo of a dragon, done in brilliant colors – turquoise, fuchsia, purple, bright green. She was surprised it was there; intrigued even. He had done everything to get rid of his past and she wondered why he kept the tattoo. Before she realized it, her fingers hovered above it, about to touch it.
    He eyed her over his shoulder and glared at her. She bit her lip and redirected her fingers to gingerly touch the bruise. “You’ll want to put some ice on it and you should let me clean and dress the cut.”
    She turned to leave. “What are you doing?” he asked.
    She was halfway down the hallway before she answered him. “I’ll be right back.” Moving quickly, she went to the master bathroom and pulled open the medicine cabinet, finding the supplies she needed. She slipped the roll of tape and the package of bandages into her scrubs pocket, then pulled a washcloth out of the linen closet and dampened it beneath the faucet.
    When she returned to the front room, he stared suspiciously at the brown bottle in her hand. “What’s that?”
    “Hydrogen peroxide.”
    “Uh huh. And what do you think you’re going to do with it?”
    With a sigh, she poured some on the cloth and stepped closer. “I’m going to clean the cut.”
    “What happened to you not touching it?” He hissed the breath between his teeth and cringed away as the cloth came in contact with his skin. “Ouch. That hurts.”
    “Good Lord, Derrick, quit being such a baby.”
    He clenched his teeth and swallowed a retort. Then he felt her warm breath gently blowing on the wound. He imagined her puckered lips as her breath caressed his fevered skin.
    “There. Is that better?”
    “It’s great. Thank you.”
    He heard her moving behind him, heard the sound of the cap going back on the bottle. He felt her fingers graze his skin as she placed a bandage over the cut and taped it to his skin. He tried, desperately, not to react to her touch in any way, to pretend she was some platonic stranger tending his wound. “You need to ice it. I’ll go get some.”
    While she was gone, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, seeking some inner steadiness. Why was she here? She quickly returned and gently set a plastic bag filled with ice across his shoulders, then perched herself on the couch that angled with the chair so that she faced him.
    “You never answered my question,” he said, staring at her with those brown eyes that always made her feel uncomfortable. “What are you doing here?”
    “They’re painting my brownstone today and tomorrow. My furniture is under sheets in the middle of the rooms. Robin didn’t mention you were going to be here.” She looked down at her shoes. “I’m really sorry, Derrick.”
    “I guess I forgot to tell her where I was staying. I thought Tony might’ve let her know.” He reached behind him and shifted the bag of ice. “Didn’t you see my car? You’d have had to park next to it in the parking garage.”
    “I walked.”
    His eyes narrowed. “From where?”
    She gestured at her pastel pink pants, the matching top, and the white jacket with the pastel slashes of color. “Hello? From the hospital.”
    “Are you out of your mind?” She opened her mouth to argue with him, but he cut her off.