I perched at the side of his bed and settled my textbook on my lap. Gabe was watching me carefully, all his attention trained on me like a spotlight on the star of the show. 

I looked down and noticed my hand was crumpling the page. I hurriedly swiped at it to flatten the crumpled corners, and Gabe’s eyes followed the motion. 

He was making me jittery and nervous and I had no idea why. 

Yes I did.

Was he remembering that night? In these past few weeks, I’d pushed it so far back in my brain that it seemed to circle back around to the forefront. The way he was looking at me right now, I almost believed he was remembering. 

He flicked his tongue out, wetting his lips. I held my breath, waiting for the revelation that he’d known all along. 

“You know everything in that book?” he asked, a little glint of mischief in his eyes.

I blinked at the unexpected question but quickly recovered. “Of course,” I said, a touch more indignantly than I wanted. “My boards are in two days. I know it backwards and forwards.”

His hand shot out a lot faster than I was expecting and the next thing I knew he was reading aloud. “A patient diagnosed with ulcerative colitis is admitted to the medical unit. When assessing the patient, which of these findings would be of the most concern?” He cleared his throat. “Rebound tenderness, Oral temperature of ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit,” he raised an eyebrow, “which is thirty-seven degrees Celsius but of course you knew that.”

“Of course.” I nodded. 

“Let’s see…oh, jeez, I don’t even know how to say that so I hope it’s not the answer or...” he wrinkled his nose theatrically. “Or bloody diarrhea?”

I grinned in triumph. “Rebound tenderness,” I said promptly.

He closed the book with an emphatic thud. “I disagree.”

“You disagree with the NCLEX?”

“Bloody diarrhea is always a concern,” he said, looking thoroughly grossed out.

“I had no idea you’d be such a priss, Gabe King. I guess that’s why I’m the nurse and you’re not.” I reached over and tugged my precious study materials from his hand.

He relinquished them easily. “I’m thinking this gig you have right now is a lot easier than what you’d normally have to deal with, huh?”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “The gig itself is a cakewalk. It’s the patient that’s difficult.”

“Aw, whaddya mean? I’m super easy.” His eyes fell to my lips in a way that didn’t seem at all accidental. “Haven’t even asked you for a sponge bath yet.” 

My heart stilled a moment. I raised the other eyebrow at him.

His smile was completely innocent. Too innocent when he said, “To be honest, since I fell, I haven’t exactly felt safe in the bathroom.”

I stared at him. That was certainly a valid concern, especially with the weakness in his ankles. But why did it seem like his eyes were gleaming? “Do you have a fever?” I blurted. 

“I’m definitely feeling warm,” he said. Again with the innocent smile. 

I pressed my hand to his forehead. He closed his eyes. “You look flushed,” I said, noting the heat rising from his skin. I swallowed. “Have you taken your ibuprofen?”

He opened his eyes. “You look a little flushed too, Everly.”

“I’m fine.” I was decidedly not fine. Because helping him bathe was definitely on my list of tasks I was expected to do. Unbidden my mind forced me to relive the moments of seeing him sprawled naked on the ground. His...his... I blushed furiously and turned away. “I’ll run you a bath.”

I practically fled from his room. Once in the bathroom, I ran the tap for a second, then splashed the cold water on my face. I was cracking up. The pressure of the boards. I had only kissed Gabe that night because he was Jonah’s brother. It was the closest I could get to the man I’d been yearning for half my life. And when he hadn’t remembered, hadn’t said anything, I thought I was safe. Just a bad decision chalked up to one too many rum and Cokes. Wasn’t that something all normal girls had in their past? A rum-and-Coke fueled mistake? I’d kissed the wrong guy at a bar and then disappeared. Surely that wasn’t a crime? No one was hurt. It should just be something I put behind me. 

So why was I thinking about doing it again?

It wasn’t because I’d seen him naked. No. I wasn’t that type of girl. I didn’t go to pieces at the thought of a hot guy.

I stared at myself in the mirror, wide-eyed. Since when had I ever thought of Gabe as hot?

I turned and purposefully cranked the faucet in the bathtub. Then I closed my eyes and tried not to remember the way he had looked. I wasn’t remembering those muscles and scars and tattoos and, oh, god, did he want me to wash him? Why did this feel like something I shouldn’t be asked to do? Why did this feel like something I really wanted to do?

When the tub was near to full, I turned it off and tested the temperature with my elbow. I would assist him in getting into the tub. And then...and then I’d supervise. He’d regained enough mobility in his arm to wash himself. There was no need for me to run a cloth over his naked torso or let the cloth dip lower and...

Now I was fleeing the bathroom too. At least I was getting my cardio in today. 

When I returned to his bedroom, I saw that he was sitting up on his own.

Clad only in his boxers.

The long scar on the left side of his ribcage still made me wince to see it, but it was completely closed now, a deep purple river winding its way around his chest. For a single moment, I could envision how it would feel under my lips, the knotted skin warm and alive as I traced it with my tongue. It was so clear and detailed that I startled back from him before I realized I hadn’t moved at all. 

“You all right there, Nurse?”

“You need to be wearing your boots,” I barked.

He grinned as if my hardass-nurse routine didn’t fool him at all. “Kristyn said I can have them off as much as I can stand these days.” This time his eyes lingered on my lips for much longer than a heartbeat. “And if you’re there to make sure I don’t fall then I think I’m okay.”

Slowly he stood up. When he winced, I caught my breath, but then he smiled again. “I’m okay.” He stretched out his arm to me. “Gonna need you right here though.”

If it was obvious how quickly I moved to his side, he at least had the good grace not to say anything about it. His arm settled as a heavy, pleasant weight over my shoulders. Without thinking, I inhaled deeply. “I wouldn’t do that,” he chuckled.

“You smell good,” I said automatically, then paused when I realized what I’d said. With his arm across my shoulder, I was supposed to be supporting him, but I felt very much like he was in control. Like he was the one who was holding on to me.

“Okay,” he said. “Here we go.” 

He stepped slowly and carefully, not rushing or overdoing it for once. But we still reached the bathroom far too soon. When his arm was off me I sighed a little. 

“Hope the water’s nice and hot,” he said. 

“I mean, it was. It’s probably cooled down by now.” There was something about being so close to him in this tiny space that was making my breath come faster. 

“Can you heat things up for me?” 

I blinked when I realized I was staring at how green his eyes looked instead of answering his question. “What?” Then I realized what his question actually was. “What?” I repeated, a little more loudly now. 

He ran his tongue along his top teeth, making his smile look almost predatory. “I mean, I can’t bend over and turn on the hot water. I’m afraid I’ll lose my balance.” He paused. “So can you heat it up for me?”

“Oh.” I hoped the steam was a good enough excuse for why I was flushed. 

“What did you think I meant?” he prodded.

“Nothing.” I bent over, let some of the now-cooled water out, and ran the hot water again. As I was bent over, I was acutely aware of the position I was in, how the two of us were aligned. I scooted all the way against the wall and straightened back up again. I stepped behind him without looking him in the eye. Doing so felt very dangerous. 

“Thanks,” he said. 

And then he pulled down his boxers. 

Goddamn this man and his complete nonchalance about nudity. I looked away from him and then, remembering that this was my job and nothing more, I forced myself to stare straight ahead. But even with my eyes trained at a point on the wall, I still caught a glimpse of his smooth, muscled back and the strong, round heft of his ass. I’d never been one to ogle men’s butts but I was suddenly a devout ass-woman.  

“Kettlebell,” Gabe said out of nowhere.  

“Huh?” I continued staring straight ahead. 

“You’re wondering how to get an ass like mine, I can tell. I’ll tell you the secret. A big mean guy named Carlos yelled at me until I could do squats with a kettlebell.”

“I wasn’t wondering anything of the sort.”

“Why else were you staring at my ass, Nurse?”

“Checking your balance,” I said, sounding almost convincing. “His name is Carlos, huh? And he was mean to you?”

“Not as mean as you, but close.”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed aloud. The biggest, freest laugh I had laughed all day long. Gabe grinned at me as I shook my head.

“You think I’m mean, huh?”

“Nah. I think you’re pretty sweet, actually.”

I swallowed. A sharp retort sprang to my lips and then died there unsaid. No one had ever called me sweet before. No one had ever called me cute, or adorable, but Gabe sure acted like I was both. And I looked forward to it. I looked forward to the way he looked at me without getting distracted by anything else. It felt heady, almost addicting. I wanted his attention on me. Even though the rain had been pouring down for weeks, when I was with Gabe I felt like the sun was shining full on my face. 

“Here,” I said, kneeling down and unstrapping his boot. “You need to get these off.” As I knelt I could feel the heat off his leg. I was very close to him. Very very close to his nakedness. I tugged at the Velcro. “Just step out of them now, I’ve got you,” I said as I straightened up. “Lean on me now, I’ve got you.”

“I know you do,” he murmured, barely audible. I wasn’t sure I was even supposed to hear it, but I had, and it made something strange and new swell in my chest.