Touch And Go - Aiden Bates Page 0,2

at telling jokes? They didn’t note that on your chart.”

He smiled and it was as attractive as the wince. “Hey! I came here for healing, and now you’re hurting my ego.”

A witty comeback was right on the tip of my tongue, but he met my gaze and the intensity of his eyes struck me mute. A tiny smirk fluttered at the corner of his lips. Adorable.

He broke eye contact when a woman groaned in the next bay, and I was able to get my head back in the game.

“Any tingling?” I lingered over the soft skin of his thin fingers, and hoped he’d chalk it up to me being thorough. “Or any other sensations there?”

He wiggled his fingers. “Nah.”

“Is the pain in the wrist sharp or throbbing?” These were the standard questions to determine a break or sprain, while I considered how to best ask about the bruises.

“Uh… both? Worse when I move it like—” He flexed his hand back and a small, almost silent groan filtered between his lips. As a doctor, I didn’t react to the sound. As a man, my body tightened.

“Don’t—” His face scrunched as I reached to stabilize his arm before he did more damage.

“Ah! Fuck.” He winced and held his wrist to his chest. “Guess those pain pills they gave me weren’t too hardcore.”

I chuckled and made notes on his chart. “No, the nurses can’t give out the heavy stuff.”

“Damn…” His eyes met mine and my pulse skyrocketed as I took my hands from where I was holding his elbow and braced myself to ask the questions that gutted me every time.

I softened my voice and stayed close to him. “You want to tell me anything about the bruises on your other arm?”

“Huh?” He cocked his head, then glanced at his arm as though seeing the bruises for the first time. “Oh, shit. Yeah, like I said, just really clumsy. It’s a character flaw. I don’t have many, but being a klutz is a big one.”

I gave him plenty of silence for him to fill with the truth and when he didn’t take the invitation, I nodded and cleared my throat. “I’m going to order some X-rays, but I’m almost certain this is a sprain.”

Sebastian sighed. “That’s a relief. I need both hands for the computer.”

“Oh, yeah? Gamer?” I put his chart down beside him on the bed and wheeled my stool toward the cabinet to grab dressings.

“Hacker.”

I did a double-take. “Oh, yeah?”

“White hat.”

I stopped short and raised my eyebrows, suddenly worried he was talking nonsense. Maybe he needed a neuro consult after all. “Did you hit your head when you fell?”

His laugh was so loud I felt it in my belly and couldn’t help but smile. “Ha! White-hat hacking, doc. It means that I’m one of the good guys.”

“Right… You work with the FBI or something?”

I wheeled back with a bandage and a sling and started to wrap his wrist as gently as I could. The radiologist would remove it, but I wanted it stabilized while Seb waited for his X-ray.

“FBI? Nah, but that’s the dream, I guess. Just graduated from UDC, so I’m working freelance and slinging drinks at a bar downtown until I get a full-time gig.”

I smirked as I fitted a sling around his shoulder. “The only slinging you’ll be doing from now on—”

“Oh, no! Dr. Funny over here. Where’s Patch Adams?” His face lit up brighter than the exam room lighting, his eyes wide as his smile, and I couldn’t help but beam back at him.

“Dr. Carlisle trying to be charming again?” Shae stuck her head into the bay and handed me a fresh ice pack.

I gasped in mock offense. “Trying?”

“He’s doing a pretty good job of it, actually,” Seb said quietly.

“It’s his specialty. Anything else I can get you, doctor?”

“Could you let radiology know that we’ll be sending Seb for an X-ray? And send an orderly?”

“Of course, doctor.” Shae gave me a sassy look before she jerked the curtains closed.

“Thank you, nurse.”

Sebastian’s cheeks were flushed, and I did my best not to look at his face while I finished wrapping his wrist. I adjusted the sling around his shoulders while he pressed the fresh ice pack to the injury. Dressing an injury like this was usually a nurse’s duty, but I had a reputation for spending extra time chatting with patients, and this way at least I could be useful while I did it.

“How’s that?” I slid back and checked the angle of his arm in the sling.

“Feels