Two
In the
morning, Allie had no memory of his waking her with the tablets and glass of
water in the early hours of the morning, but since she hadn’t opened her eyes
through the whole procedure, he wasn’t surprised. She did recall the itchiness however, and
what he’d done to help her. It was the
third thought in her mind when she woke, in fact. The first was that her arms felt as if
someone was bashing them with hammers.
The second was that she needed to go to the bathroom. Soon.
It was as she sat up, letting the covers fall around her, that she
noticed she was naked and remembered why, the third thought edging all others
out of her brain. Stricken, she just sat
there for a minute, horrified that she’d asked him…begged him, to touch her
like that, and unaccountably annoyed that he’d left her undressed. Still, it made going to the toilet
easier.
She stood
up unsteadily, balancing the weight of the heavy plaster on her arms, and
walked into the bathroom, pushing the door open with her shoulder. The bath brought back memories too, and she
shut her eyes as she sat down, indulging herself in a few minutes of self-pity. This was so unfair. She was an independent woman who didn’t rely
on anyone for anything. She went her own
way, did her own thing, balanced her chequebook, and controlled her life. For her to be thrown upon the mercy of others
like this was more than just a humiliation; it was a denial of every tenet
she’d lived by for years.
She went to
reach for the toilet paper and sighed.
Loudly. Even if she managed to
trap the paper between her two plaster-covered arms, how was she going to use
it?
“Allie?” Callum
called from her bedroom.
“Yes,” she
replied.
“Good
morning,” he said, sounding far too cheery as far as she was concerned. “I have some breakfast for you.”
“Oh good,”
she said, trying to sound appreciative.
She wasn’t hungry. She wasn’t not
hungry either, she just couldn’t muster up the energy to feel anything except
grumpy. There was silence for a minute
or two.
“Allie, do
you need some help?” he asked, his voice just the other side of the door.
“No, I’ll
be fine,” she said, but she didn’t sound convincing, even to herself. She was sitting naked on a toilet seat,
feeling more vulnerable than she had since that hospital shower.
“Drip-drying
takes too long,” he said, and before she could reply, he’d opened the door and
walked in. His eyes flicked over her,
sympathy on that boyish face as he reached for the toilet paper. He bent down to her, using his free hand to
tip her chin up so she was looking at him.
”We’ll just maintain eye contact,” he said, watching the pink blush flood her
cheeks as he dried her. Then he helped her up, flushed the toilet and held the
door open for her to walk out in front of him, her naked body pale and lovely
in the light that was spilling through the lace curtains that covered her
bedroom windows. It occurred to him that
he could offer to put his t-shirt over her.
Then it occurred to him to just shut up and enjoy the view.
“Now,
clothes or food, which would you prefer first?” he managed to tease. Allie just looked at him as she sat down on
the bed, her breasts taking longer to settle.
“I’m
sorry,” he said, smiling as he reached for the t-shirt he’d taken off her the
night before. He pulled it over her
head. “I wouldn’t like it either, if our
situations were reversed.”
”I would,” Allie muttered as her face came clear of the t-shirt. “I’d like it a lot.” He laughed, then turned away to find some new
panties for her.
“Pretty,”
he commented, holding up a pale pink satin pair. “There’s not much of them, is there?” He pulled them up her legs, then up higher to
cover her as she stood up against him, her breasts swinging against his chest
through the t-shirts they each wore.
Then he helped her get back under the covers, scooted her over a bit and
sat down on the edge of the bed to feed her the toast he’d made.
“You’re
very quiet this morning,” he commented as he brushed some crumbs off the sides
of her mouth.
“It’s hard
to talk around mouthfuls of burnt toast,” she pointed out. He smiled.
“That’s not
what I mean,” he said. “Let me just put
this plate down and I’ll brush your hair for you.” He really was the most considerate man, she
mused, watching as he reached into the drawer of her bedside table for the
brush he’d used on her the day before.
She leaned forward so he could move it through her hair, easing out the
tangles that she’d worked into it through her tossing on the pillow the night
before.
“This needs
a wash,” he commented.
“That feels
so good,” she said, the brush stroking down the back of her head to her
shoulders. He smiled.
“As good as
it felt when I stopped you fro
“No,” she
said softly, her brown eyes swivelling away from his face.
“No?” he
asked. “Allie, look at me.” She forced herself to look back, at the young
face, at the blue eyes that were normally so full of teasing and fun and were
now full of something else…understanding, perhaps?
“Don’t be
embarrassed about it,” he said. “You
were uncomfortable and you needed help.
I helped you. That’s all it
was.” She nodded, turned her head
slightly so the brush could get at more of her head, and so she didn’t have to
look directly at him. She could remember
the feel of his mouth on her and she didn’t want to look at it. But she owed him, and she knew it.
“It could
have been worse,” she admitted. She
glanced back to see he’d raised one eyebrow in question.
“If I’d
been in the hospital, that orderly would have probably done it,” she said. Callum smiled. Then he got up and walked around to the other
side of the bed, stretching out beside
her, exactly as he had the night before, only this time fully dressed and with
a brush in his hand. He applied it to
her hair again.
“I really
do want to know why you got so worked up about a male nurse and an orderly
seeing your body,” he said. “I mean,
those guys see naked women all the time.
It has to be one of the best jobs in the world for that. And the pity is, they get so used to it that
they probably don’t even pay attention.”
”The orderly was paying attention,” Allie said bitterly. “He was paying a lot of attention.” Callum went quiet and stayed quiet. Eventually she turned to look at him. He had a strange expression on his face.
“What are
you thinking?” she asked.
”I’m trying to think of how best to say something,” he admitted. “Without sounding like a complete sleaze.”
”Why worry now?” she retorted, even though he’d been anything but sleazy. She just had to deal with him the way she
normally did in order to get some sense of control back. He grinned appreciatively.
“All right
then. I guess those guys would pay
attention when they see something out of the ordinary. And your body is out of the ordinary,
Allie. It’s beautiful.” He held her gaze, even when the surprise
became evident in her brown eyes. He
pushed a bit more.
“I always
knew you were gorgeous, but I didn’t have a clue what a killer rack you were
hiding under those clothes.”
”Oh, stop it!” Allie interrupted.
“That’s nonsense and you know it!”
”It’s not nonsense,” he assured her honestly.
“I’ve seen my share of nude women, Al, and yours is by far the best body
I’ve ever seen.”
‘You’re
just saying that to make me feel better, so I won’t be as embarrassed when
you…when I…”
”When you’re naked?” he suggested, his eyes dancing. “You know, it occurs to me that you accused
me last night of deliberately embarrassing you as much as possible. And now you’re saying I’m making this up to
minimise your embarrassment. So which is
it? You can’t have it both ways.”
She had no
intention of answering that, so she went on the offensive.
“How old
are you?” she demanded. He blinked in
surprise.
“Tell me in
what way that is relevant to what we were just talking about?” he asked.
“Just tell
me,” she said. He shook his head.
“It’s fun
the way it is, with you two treating me like I’m a kid,” he said. “I’m not spoiling that.”
”Are you more than twenty-five?”
“I might
be,” he said. “And then again, I might
not.”
“Callum
Webster, give me a straight answer!” Allie insisted. Refusal in his eyes and a smile on his lips,
he opened his mouth just as the telephone rang.
“Saved by
the bell,” he said with a total lack of originality, climbing off the bed to
answer it. It was the doctor, and it
became evident, even with only hearing half of the conversation, that he was
coming over soon.
“No, I
won’t give her the painkillers until you’ve been. Okay.
Thanks Richard.”
“Richard?”
Allie repeated. “You call him Richard?” Callum smiled at her.
“Yesterday,
I rang a doctor who isn’t even MY doctor, reminded him that he’d met me once,
told him that you’d had an accident and needed painkillers, and he listened to
me and gave me a prescription without treating me as if I were a drug addict. I’m feeling friendly towards him.”
”You did very well,” she conceded.
“I thought
so,” he agreed. “Now, do you need
anything else? Apart from having your
teeth cleaned, obviously.”
“More
clothes,” she said. He began to grin. “I mean it, Callum,” she said. “Before the doctor gets here. Please?”
He looked confused.
“But…he’s a
doctor, Allie.”
“I know
that, but I want to be fully dressed,” she said. “He’s only going to be looking at my arms.”
”I wouldn’t bet on that,” he said. “They
always seem to have some reason to poke about other bits. But if you really…”
”I do,” she assured him. He shrugged,
opened her wardrobe and bent down to open the bottom drawer. He straightened up with some black leggings
in his hand.
“And a
bra,” she said. He looked at her as if
she’d gone insane.
“Why
would…oh, never mind,” he said, turning back to slide open the top drawer. He dug around for a while. “This looks like it matches those pink
panties,” he said, a bra hooked over one long finger. She nodded.
“You’re
mad, you know that, don’t you?” he said, pulling the covers down off her.
“I’m in
pain, I’m allowed to be unreasonable,” she said, stirring a smile out of
him.
It took him
a while to drag the leggings up, because they were tight and stretchy, but he
got there eventually, bunching them around the tops of her legs until she stood
up for him to pull them the rest of the way.
It took him a while to move the seams around so they were sitting properly
on her, which necessitated him moving his hands over her backside and crotch,
but, uncomfortable though that was, it was nothing compared to how she felt
when he drew the t-shirt over her head.
It didn’t matter that he’d already seen her naked this morning. It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d seen her
twenty times that morning. It was still
insanely awkward.
“Hello there,
girls,” Callum said irreverently, picking up the bra from the bed.
“Stop it,”
she said. He grinned, and wordlessly fed
the straps up over her arms to her shoulders.
She turned around so he could see to do it up, then jumped as his hands
came round and scooped inside the bra cups, lifting her breasts and positioning
them more comfortably.
“Better?”
he asked, grabbing the t-shirt again.
”Yes,” she said flatly. “Thanks.”
”Oh, you don’t mean that,” he teased.
“But I don’t mind. I enjoyed it
anyway.”
………..
The doctor
stayed for some time with them, having a cup of coffee before he even looked at
Allie’s arms. He’d been in the unit
before when he was dating Fiona, another embarrassing moment for Allie to
remember. There was nothing quite like
the sensation of finding out that your flatmate’s new boyfriend was the man
who’d performed your pap test the week before.
Going out to dinner with them and the man she was dating at the time had
been initially uncomfortable, but Richard had proven to be good company and
easy to relax with. He was living up to
that assessment now, too. It was a pity
Fiona had moved on from him, as she always did.
“So, you
came off a bicycle?” he asked her. He
was watching as Callum held the cup of coffee to her lips. She nodded.
She’d been taken straight to the hospital by ambulance and had been in
the care of the doctors there. Richard
hadn’t known about it until Callum told him.
“Do you
have your x-rays?” he asked.
“No. They kept them at the hospital, along with
the prescription for painkillers,” she said.
He shook his head at her, the light glinting off his rimless glasses.
“I’ll get
them,” he said. “I’ve already rung them
once to find out a bit more about the breaks.
Did you really sign yourself out by holding a pen between your teeth?”
“I did,”
she said proudly, making both men laugh.
“You should
have stayed there for at least another week,” he scolded gently. She nodded.
“I told her
that,” Callum said. “She wouldn’t listen
to me. Or to anyone else.”
”I hated it there,” Allie said, just as she had the day before.
“Hospitals
aren’t designed to be nice,” the doctor said.
“If they were, everyone would want to stay. But they’re there for a reason. From what I heard from the doctor there, you’ve
got a very bad couple of breaks in your right arm and you’ve done a good job on
the left arm too. You’re going to need
physiotherapy to get the full movement back in your wrists and fingers.”
”I’ll arrange that,” she said, meeting his grey eyes steadily. She was not going to be bullied or
lectured. He nodded, then relaxed into
the infectious grin that had attracted Fiona.
“Tough
bird,” he said, knowing she’d be flattered by it. “So, no other injuries or scrapes?”
”A few bruises on my knees,” she said.
“But I was very lucky apart from that.”
“You were,”
he said. “Now, let’s have a look at
you. Can I give you this?” He handed his empty coffee cup to Callum, who
picked up the other two and headed for the kitchen. The doctor reached for the bag he’d brought
with him.
Callum had
been right. He did a lot more than just
look at her arms and fingers. He
listened to her heart, took her blood pressure, felt the glands in her neck,
took her temperature and asked hundreds of questions. He
confirmed that her itchiness the night before was a reaction to the tablets
she’d been taking and reassured her that it probably wouldn’t occur again. Then he took a small case out of his bag and
snapped it open.
“I’m going
to give you an injection for the pain instead,” he said. “You’re just hanging on at the moment, aren’t
you?” Allie chewed her lip for an
instant, then nodded. Her lips were dry
and her arms were aching so badly she felt like crying. If he was too sympathetic, she would.
“I’m going
to call your friend back in, so he can see how this is done,” the doctor
said. “Because this is how you’re going
to get your pain medication for the next couple of days.” Allie swallowed. She didn’t like injections any more than the
next person, and the thought of getting them from Callum’s unskilled hands did
not appeal. But it was too much trouble
to argue, and she wanted the pain to go away right now, so she stayed quiet.
“I don’t
know,” Callum was saying as he came back in behind the doctor. He was shaking
his head. “I don’t know anything about
giving needles.”
”It’s easy,” the doctor assured him.
“Just keep this case in the refrigerator, and follow these steps.” He took him through them, snapping things
off, flicking things, holding them up to the light, shooting a small amount of
fluid out of the end of the needle.
“Now, this
is an intra-muscular injection, which means that it’ll last a while in your
system,” he said to Allie. “And it’s
best to give it to you in a fair-sized muscle, so I’m going to put it in your
butt. Can you just roll over a
bit?” Her face screwed up in protest,
she rolled away from them, felt him pull the bedcovers down and tug at her
leggings.
“You might
like to forgo the full outfits of clothes for a few days,” he said over his
shoulder to Callum. “She’s going to be
in bed anyway, and it’ll make it easier for you to look after her and give her
the injections. God, what are these
things made of? Steel?” Callum laughed.
“Let me,”
he said, moving past the doctor. “Lift
your hips a bit if you can, Al.” He
hadn’t told the doctor that he’d tried to talk her into not putting all of
these clothes on, so she did it without argument, not even complaining when he
pulled the leggings down well past her bottom, her panties catching on the way
and going with them. She lay on her
side, her entire butt bare, cringing.
“Good,” the
doctor said. “Now, there’s nothing to
it, just do it like this.” Allie braced
herself, but felt nothing but the warmth of his hand on her backside and the
slightest pressure from the needle. Then
her underwear was tugged back up. “And
that’s it,” the doctor said. Allie
rolled back.
“I want you
to get as much rest as you can over the next few days,” he told her. “No trying to use your fingers at all and no
moving out of this room. General
anaesthetic does funny things to your system and painkillers like this make you
tire very easily, so sleep lots.
Understand?” She nodded.
“Thank you
for coming out to see me,” she said. He
smiled again.
“It was
good to get out of the office for a while,” he said. “Come and see me in a week or so. Can you bring her?” he asked Callum.
“She’ll be
there,” Callum assured him. He saw him out,
then came back.
“Still
awake?” he asked as he walked in the door.
“They don’t
work that fast,” she said, although she was feeling drowsy already.
“No?” he
smiled. Richard had told him different on the way
out. “I’ll just take those stretchy torture
instruments off you now and get you comfortable so you can sleep for the rest
of the day.” She didn’t even protest as
he did just that, even when he took her t-shirt off yet again and removed the
bra. The soft cotton of the shirt did
feel comfortable against her bare skin, as did the pillows when she sank into
them.
“Sleep
well, Allie,” he said softly, bending down to kiss her forehead. She smiled sleepily at him, and was out
before he’d left the room.
For that
day, she was completely in his hands.
She ate and drank whatever he put to her lips, including the pill from
the birth control card he’d found in her handbag when she’d remembered it after
she woke up, hot and uncomfortable from the first injection-induced sleep. When she was too tired to walk, he carried
her to the bathroom, and she no longer protested when he changed her clothes,
even that night, when, judging her to be too tired for a bath, he stripped her,
lifted her onto a towel and cleaned her from head to foot with a wet washcloth. At one point she opened her eyes and saw that
clear, blue-eyed gaze running all over her nude body, but was too groggy to
care.
Early the
next morning, well before dawn, she woke up in a sweat, her throat sore, just
as he came racing through the door.
“What is
it?” he said, dropping down to the bed beside her. “Allie, what is it?” Breathing heavily, she tried to collect some
thoughts together. She must have been
calling out.
“A
nightmare,” she said. “A horrible
one. I was in the hospital again and…”
she caught her breath on a sob as Callum stroked her hair, then her face. “And they were making me walk down the
hallways with my arms out and nothing on and everyone was looking at me, and everything
was bouncing on me and they said I couldn’t put any clothes on until I signed
some forms and no-one would give me a pen.
And you were there, but you were talking to the orderly and you wouldn’t
help me, and…” His heartbeat returning
to normal after being woken from a deep sleep by loud yells, Callum smiled in
the darkness and gathered her into his arms.
“It’s all
right now,” he soothed. “You’re not in
the hospital. You’re here, and you’ve
got clothes on and none of you is bouncing and no-one going to make you sign
anything.” Allie sniffed. Then she sniffed again.
”My hair is so dirty,” she said. Callum
frowned. He couldn’t see the connection
between her nightmare and that, but he supposed she was allowed to be
irrational with a double dose of those painkillers in her system. She was down to one dose a day from now on,
which meant she’d be a bit more lively than she had been. Which was good, from his perspective. He felt like he’d spent all day looking after
a beautiful, fully-grown, anatomically correct, rag doll.
“We’ll wash
it,” he promised.
“You said
you’d do it yesterday,” she reminded him.
“Yes, well,
you couldn’t exactly sit up properly for most of the day,” he pointed out. “I’ll do it today.”
”It’s awful,” she said, screwing up her face in distaste. She could feel it against her face. Callum sighed.
“Would you
like me to wash it now?” he asked. She
nodded. He saw the movement in the
darkness.
“Fine,” he
said. “Give me a few minutes to get
things ready.” With any luck, she’d go
back to sleep while he was doing it, he decided. He went back to Fiona’s room and pulled on
some jeans. Then, checking that Allie
was still awake (which unfortunately, she was), he went into the bathroom and
filled the tub, then went in search of a jug.
By the
light from the bathroom, he undressed her on the bed, then lifted her in his
arms and carried her through.
“You’re
very strong,” she commented, still drugged, snuggling into him, one
plastic-covered arm draped over his shoulder.
He smiled and made no comment.
She felt very soft and warm and little against his bare chest. And good.
Damned good, with her head on his shoulder and her breast squashed
against him. He put her into the water.
“No
bubbles,” she commented, her voice still heavy, her eyes still vague.
”No,” he said. “I thought it would be
easier to wash your hair this way. Now
keep your arms over the sides of the tub and close your eyes, Al.” He filled the jug with water and began. He had to stop frequently to wipe her eyes
dry with the towel, but he managed to get her hair clean, following to the
letter the instructions on the shampoo and conditioner he’d found in her
shower. By the time he’d rinsed two lots
of shampoo and two lots of conditioner out, he was exhausted. Even the lovely picture she presented,
sitting there curled up, her knees to her chest, wearing nothing but a sheen of
water, her hair wet and dripping on her shoulders, couldn’t make him wish for
anything but his own bed.
“I’m going
to put some towels on your pillow,” he said.
“And I’ll dry your hair as much as I can and towel you off, but that’s
it for now, Al. I need to get some
sleep.” She smiled up at him, her eyes
staying closed for longer each time she blinked them.
“Go to
bed,” she said. “I can do this.” She reached for the towel with one useless
arm. He sighed, grinned sleepily.
“Of course
you can,” he said. He pulled the plug
out of the bath to let the water drain out, then gathered her up and stood,
feeling her slippery and naked against him.
His back twinged.
“I’m too
old for this,” he said.
”How old are you?” she asked automatically.
Because he was tired and not up to the game, he answered.
“Thirty-two,”
he said. Her brown eyes widened.
“You are
not!” she said sleepily. He grinned
again.
“Aren’t I?”
he asked, carrying her through to the bedroom. He put her down and went back
for the towels.
…………
Allie was
annoyed to wake up naked again, particularly since she initially didn’t even
remember how it had happened this time. And
her pillow was uncomfortable too, it was bulkier and rougher and…she turned her
head. It was covered with damp
towels. A wedge of memory came
back. He’d washed her hair. In the bathtub. She could only remember snippets of it, of
him carrying her, of water running warmly down her back and over her face, of
his fingers on her scalp. And one other
thing. She smiled. That
gave her something to concentrate on instead of the memory of being nude in his
arms.
“Thirty-two?”
she said as soon as he walked through the door.
Callum laughed.
“Yep,” he
admitted.
“You don’t
look anywhere near that,” she accused.
“I’m
sorry,” he said. “I could paint some
wrinkles on, if you like?” Allie was
half sitting up as he approached. The
blankets slipped and she clamped her arms over them instinctively, wincing at
the pain that shot through her wrists as she did.
“Careful,”
he warned, putting the tray he was carrying down. “No sudden movements with those sore paws,
kid.”
“Paws?” she
repeated. “Kid?” He grinned.
That was the nickname she and Fiona usually called him.
“Well, now
you know I’m actually older than you, I can call you that,” he pointed
out. “Let me shift those towels
away. That’s an interesting hairstyle,
Al.”
”I’m sure it looks like a hedgehog that’s had a fit,” she commented, leaning
forward.
“Not quite
as tidy as that,” he said, considering it as she tried again to clamp her arms
over the slipping sheet and blanket.
“Stop worrying about the covers, woman.
I’ve seen it all. Several
times.” She mumbled something under her
breath, but he caught it.
“It IS the
point,” he said. “I’ve seen and touched
every bit of you, Al. I’ve even tasted a
couple of places. And my tolerance for
embarrassment has run out now.”
“Well mine
hasn’t,” she responded heatedly. Brown
eyes locked with blue eyes and held for an instant. One corner of his mouth quirked up.
“It’s
obviously time I stuck another needle in your butt,” he said. “You’re not as much trouble then.”
………………
She was
feeling much better by that afternoon. It was just after lunch. Callum was sitting on the bed beside her,
working on his laptop, and she was reading, the book propped up on her
knees. He turned the page for her
whenever she needed it, although he teased occasionally and refused to look up
from his work until she “asked nicely” as he put it.
“I do hope
that one day you have the experience of being helpless,” she told him, after
he’d made her plead for a while. He
smiled.
“I’ll bet
you do,” he said. “And you want to be
around to see it, don’t you?” She
nodded, engrossed in the book again. The
telephone rang. Callum put the laptop on
the mattress and crawled over her, reaching out with one long arm to pick up
the receiver.
“Hello?” he
said. His face creased into a
smile. “Well hello, Fiona. How’s your mother? Really?
Oh, that’s good. So they can
operate and she should be fine? Well
that’s a weight off your mind.
Allie? Yes, the woman at the hospital
told you the truth. She did indeed discharge herself and come home. Yes, she’s here now. Want to talk to her?” He held the receiver out, intending to put it
to Allie’s ear, but the cord didn’t stretch easily. He compromised by hitting the loudspeaker
button on the telephone.
“Can you
hear me, Fiona?” he asked.
“I can,”
she said. “Are you on the
loudspeaker? You sound like you’re
talking inside a cave.”
”No, just my bedroom,” Allie responded.
“Hi, Fee.”
”Hi yourself!” Fiona’s loud voice bellowed through the loudspeaker. “What on earth did you think you were doing
checking yourself out of hospital, Allie?
And who’s looking after you?”
”Who do you think?” Callum answered.
“You?”
Fiona’s voice rose to a shriek. “You’re
looking after her? Allie, is that true?”
”It is,” Allie assured her, smiling.
Fiona always had the power to make her smile. Just her voice could do it.
“But…can
you use your hands at all?” she demanded.
“Not at
all,” Allie said. “Can’t even turn a
page in a book.”
”So how are you…? Oh, never mind…no, on
second thoughts, mind. How are you showering and getting dressed and all the
other private stuff?” Allie was furious
to find herself blushing. Hearing Fiona
talk about it like that made it all seem a bit more real. Callum cleared his throat loudly.
“Oh no!”
Fiona shrieked again. “You’re doing all
of that, kid? Oh Allie, I’m so sorry I
wasn’t there. How awful for you!” The look on Callum’s face was so priceless
that all Allie could do for an instant was laugh. Then she recovered.
“He’s been
wonderful, Fee,” she finally said. “Not
awful at all. He’s a born nurse.”
”I don’t think so,” Callum said, at the same time as Fiona’s raucous laugh
sounded through the phone.
“He couldn’t
look after a house plant,” she said derisively.
“Allie, I’ll get home the minute I can, but it’s probably going to be at
least another week yet.” Allie sighed
softly and she let her head fall back on the pillow. Then her eyes met Callum’s.
“It’s all
right,” she said. “He really is taking
very good care of me, and with luck, I’ll be able to look after myself by then
anyway.”
“She
won’t,” Callum said. “Richard said the
swelling won’t go down for a while yet.”
“Richard? Doctor Richard, you mean?” Fiona asked. “When did he see her?”
”He came here,” Allie said. “A house
call. And he gave me some painkiller
injections. Callum’s been delivering
them, but he’s not quite as good at it as Richard is.”
“What – in
the butt?” Fiona asked. Even with her
scant nursing training, she had some knowledge of these sorts of things. “
“No, I’ve
been keeping my eyes shut,” Callum responded.
“Just as I’ve been keeping my eyes shut while I’ve been undressing her
and bathing her.” He winced as she
shrieked even louder.
“Oh Allie!”
she said. Allie was laughing by now
despite her embarrassment, and Callum was grinning too.
“He took
time off work to look after me, Fee,” she said.
“Well of
COURSE he did!” Fiona responded. “He
gets to play with your bod and you can’t even fight him off! It’s a young man’s wet dream.”
”You have such a way with words,” Callum said.
“Yeah, well
you’d better have a way with your hands, kid,” Fiona countered quickly. “You just keep them off my friend.”
”Too late,” he fired back.
“He’s not a
kid, Fee,” Allie interrupted quickly. This
had the potential to become extremely humiliating. Callum turned to her, frowning, but she
ignored him. “He’s thirty-two.”
”He’s WHAT?” Fiona roared. “I don’t
believe it!”
“Hang on, I
have my licence here somewhere,” Callum said, reaching into his back
pocket. “Want me to prove it?” He opened his wallet, slid out the
plastic-covered card and held it up close to Allie’s face. She hadn’t thought to ask for proof. She read the birth date.
“He’s
thirty-two, Fee,” she said again.
“He can’t
be,” Fiona persisted.
“He can
be,” he assured her. There was a pause.
“So, I
don’t have to wait for you to grow up any more, huh?” she asked. Callum laughed and left the room so they
could talk in peace – or as peacefully as Fiona ever talked.
………………….
“So, now
she has this vision of me taking wicked advantage of you while you lie nude and
helpless in bed,” he said, coming back in ten minutes later with a cup of
coffee for her. He hung up the phone as
he went past it.
“Not far
from the truth,” Allie commented, watching the advance of the coffee with real
pleasure.
“Oh
really?” Callum stopped, raised the coffee cup to his own lips. Allie’s eyes widened. He relented and grinned. “You don’t deserve this,” he said, but he
gave it to her anyway.
“I don’t
deserve you,” she said sincerely, surprising both of them. Callum smiled.
“Yes you
do,” he said. “Besides, I’m paid
well. I’ve been wanting to see you naked
ever since I moved in here.” Almost
positive that he was just teasing, Allie did not dignify that comment with a
response.
“By the
way, I called a physiotherapist client of mine this morning,” he said, sitting
down on the bed and holding the cup for her.
“He specialises in sports injuries, but he said he can help you, and
he’s going to send over some proper covers for your plaster, so you can have
showers once they arrive.”
”That sounds nice,” she said. “I think I
could almost hold the soap in my hand, too.”
She held up her left hand, plastered into a claw shape. “See?
I can almost move my thumb.” Callum
did his best to look impressed.
“I don’t
think you’re going to be on your own in there for a while, kid,” he said. “And speaking of which, do you want to have
your bath now? That way you can watch a
movie with me tonight and just go to sleep straight afterwards.”
“I don’t
really need a bath,” she said, despite the fact that the pain had made her
sweaty and uncomfortable. She always
tried this. It didn’t matter how many
times it happened, she was never going to be reconciled to the idea of being undressed
in front of him. His quick grin showed
that he knew it, too. She sighed.
“All
right,” she said. “After I’ve finished
my coffee.”
“Of
course,” he said. “Everything is easier
after coffee.” He settled cross-legged
on the bed.
“So, what
is it with the modesty, Al? I mean,
you’ve had lovers – I’ve met some of them.
It’s not as if you haven’t been naked with men before.” Allie shifted in the bed. This was not a comfortable topic of
conversation.
“Almost
always in the dark,” she said quietly.
“In the
dark?” he repeated, stunned. “You have
got to be kidding me, Allie. You’ve got
a body like that and those guys didn’t take the chance to have a good look at
you? Fools! I mean, I knew I didn’t like them, but now I
know why. They’re an affront to all
red-blooded heterosexual males.” He
sounded disgusted. Allie laughed before
she leaned forward to sip from the cup again.
“They were
considerate,” she corrected. “I’m…well,
as you’ve noticed, I’m a bit shy about nudity.”
”Which brings me back to my original question,” he said. “Why?”
He looked so familiar, so friendly, so genuinely interested, so much the
kid brother she’d grown used to treating him as, that Allie was answering
before she knew it.
“My mother
was in her mid-forties when I was born and my father was over fifty,” she
said. “They were very conservative, very
respectable. Very loving, too,” she added
quickly, in case she was giving the wrong impression. He nodded.
“Go on,” he
said.
“Well, they
were particularly staid about dressing standards,” she said. “I was never allowed to wear a bikini or
short skirts or anything like that, and they were very strict about closed
doors when people were getting dressed.
I didn’t ever see either of them less than fully clothed. Even if I went in to their bedroom early in
the mornings, they would put their dressing-gowns on before I was allowed to
climb in with them.”
”They slept naked?” he asked. Allie
laughed at the mere thought.
“No, they
put the gowns on over their pyjamas,” she said.
“Anyway, when I was about six, I remember running out of the bathroom
with a towel on, terribly excited about a bird I’d seen through the
window. As I tore past the living room,
where my father was sitting, the towel fell off, and he yelled out to my mother
“Allison is naked, Maureen!” and my mother came flying out of the kitchen, caught
me, turned me around and smacked my bottom.
I got the biggest lecture about modesty and behaving appropriately. I can still remember it.”
For a
little while, Callum said nothing.
“You do
know that was a bit weird, don’t you?” he finally said. “I mean, by most people’s standards?” She nodded.
“Yes, but
they were just like that – very respectable.
I don’t imagine that they ever saw each other naked, either. That’s probably why they took so long to
produce me – too embarrassed to actually do anything.” She waited for his grin, but it didn’t
come.
“So now you
make love in the dark, just like they probably did,” he said. She stilled.
Then she distracted herself with the coffee cup he was still holding
close to her mouth. He realised that she
wasn’t going to answer.
“I promise
not to smack you if you run around naked,” he said solemnly, stirring a soft
laugh from her. He grinned. “In fact, why don’t I just refuse to put
clothes on you after your bath, so you can get used to wandering around like
that?” he suggested.
“You
wouldn’t,” she said.
“I might,”
he countered, his blue eyes bright. He
held her gaze until she wavered, just slightly unsure. “Naaah, you’re right. I wouldn’t,” he conceded, grinning again.
She
finished the coffee and went to get up, but he poured her a glass of water
first.
”Little yellow pill to swallow,” he reminded her, getting the metallic card of
contraceptive pills out of her drawer and popping the tablet through its
backing. He looked at the card for a few
seconds.
“Another
two weeks until your period,” he commented.
He put the pill between her lips and held the glass out. “Good timing.
You might even have the use of your hands by then.” Allie didn’t even want to think about what it
would be like if she didn’t.
“And Fiona
should be home by then, too,” he said.
“If not…I’ll help you. No big
deal.”
‘I beg to
differ,” she said, having swallowed it.
“That would certainly be a big deal.” He shrugged.
“I had a
girlfriend who…no, on second thoughts, never mind.”
”Who what?” she prompted as he pulled back the covers. He paused.
“Who liked
me to put them in for her,” he said. Allie
looked at him in shock.
“Ewwww!”
she grimaced. “Yuck!’ He laughed.
“Not
everyone is as repressed as you, Al,” he said.
“Come on, up you get.”
“Tell me
that this sort of thing wasn’t happening upstairs in your apartment?” she
begged, walking towards the bathroom, sparking more laughter from him.
“Lots of
things have happened in that apartment that would curl your hair, Miss Allie,”
he assured her. “You and Fiona thought
you had me pegged as the young, boring accountant, didn’t you?”
”No,” she lied. Well, they didn’t think
he was totally boring, and they’d always known that he had girlfriends, but he
was very quiet and certainly neither of them had considered him to be a ladies
man, despite his looks. He’d helped get
Fiona out of scrapes on so many occasions they tended to see him as a rescuer
rather than a wild man. But then again,
they’d both thought he was at least seven years younger than he was!
“You did
so,” he said, pulling her t-shirt over her head. “And if you only knew what went on at those
seminars I go to. I mean, that last
“Accrual Accounting” weekend went down in the annals, I can tell you. There was an awful lot to enter on the profit
and loss statement the morning after that one.”
She knew he was making that up.
At least she thought she was. He
was talking to distract her from the fact that he was undressing her again,
which was nice of him.
‘You
haven’t run the bath yet,” she said. His
fingers hooked in her panties, he looked over at the bath.
“Idiot,” he
said to himself. He walked past her and
put the plug in and turned the taps on.
“We’ll just talk amongst ourselves for a while,” he said, turning back
to her.
“Could you
put my top back on?” Allie asked, bringing her left arm up. The plaster made it impossible for her to
cover both breasts completely, and one nipple peeked out above her elbow.
“It’s just
going to come off again,” Callum said.
“Relax, Al.” She fixed the proble
“You’re quite a surprise,” he commented. She
looked back at him, over her right shoulder, keeping herself covered.
“What do
you mean?” she asked. His gaze skimmed
down from her bare shoulder to her arm.
“A good
girl masquerading as a woman of experience,” he said. Allie’s back stiffened. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt insulted.
“I am a
woman of experience,” she said. He
grinned.
“A woman of
experience doesn’t walk out of a hospital because she doesn’t feel comfortable
having a male nurse and orderly see her naked,” he said. “I’m glad I found out in time, though.”
Allie waited
for almost a minute.
“All right,
I’ll bite,” she sighed. “Why?”
“Because
I’d been planning on making a move on you sometime myself,” Callum said
blithely. “And I’d have played it all
wrong, because I’d have been angling for Mata Hari instead of Pollyanna.”
”I am NOT a Pollyanna!” She was definitely insulted now. Then she realised the rest of what he’d
said. “And you were not planning on
making a move on me, Callum Webster.”
”How do you know that, Allison Halston?” he responded in kind.
“I just
do,” she said. “I know you.” He leaned over and turned the taps off with
his customary thud.
“Come
here,” he said. “We can continue this
argument once you’re in the tub.” It was
annoying to have to turn around for him then, even more so when it was for him
to remove her panties. She went to climb
in herself, but he took the option away from her by swinging her up in his arms
as he always did.
“I could
get in by myself,” she pointed out.
”Probably,” he nodded. “But what if you
slipped? It’s safer this way.” He put her down in the bathtub, then perched
on the edge of it.
“So, you
were saying that you know me,” he prompted.
“What makes you think so?”
”We’ve been friends for more than two years,” she pointed out. “Can I have some bubble bath in here?”
”No,” he replied without even considering it, smiling as her eyes widened in
annoyance. “It smells.”
”It’s scented,” she corrected.
“That’s
what I said,” he agreed. “So, because
you’ve known me for two years, you think you know everything there is to know
about me? Even though you didn’t know
how old I am, or that I’ve been planning to seduce you some time?”
“You have not,”
she said again. She noted that he’d
forgotten to put the plastic bags over her plaster again, leaving her with no
option but to prop her arms along the sides of the bathtub. And the water was far too clear, and not deep
enough to even cover her breasts. She
glanced down, then up, catching his eyes focused down as well. He looked up slowly and smiled slowly.
“How do you
know?” he challenged. He glanced down
again.
“Stop
looking down!” she hissed, making him grin.
The outer edges of his eyes crinkled when he was amused like that, she
noticed. “And I…Callum, stop it!” He looked up again. He was only teasing, but she’d had enough of
it.
“It’s hard
to argue when you’re at a psychological disadvantage!” she pointed out,
clutching at straws. “When you’re
undressed and the other person is dressed.”
He grinned wider.
“It’s
true!” she protested. “If you took your
clothes off right now, I would win this argument.”
That was
too much for Callum. He laughed for some
time.
“Sure you
would,” he said when he’d stopped.
“I can
prove it,” Allie said. He put his head
on one side.
“How are
you going to do that?” he asked.
“Well first,
you’re going to have to take your clothes off,” she said sweetly. His grin flashed again.
“Oh, am I?”
he asked. She nodded.
”Unless you’re chicken,” she dared blatantly.
Grin still in place, he grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it over his head,
standing up as he did so. Allie found
that there was a lump in her throat all of a sudden.
“I’ve
killed men for less than that insult,” he drawled. The fake accent he’d assumed was wasted on Allie,
because she was distracted by his chest.
She’d seen it before, but only quick glimpses on the nights he’d come in
to bring her painkillers or to make her more comfortable, and on one occasion when
he’d helped paint their living room ceiling.
She’d been rushing out the door and had only seen him in passing, but it
had been then that Fiona had started talking about trapping him when he grew
up. Now that Allie had a ringside seat,
she could definitely see why. He had
nice muscles and smooth skin, and he looked strong and limber.
He moved
his hands to the waistband of his jeans.
“Do I get
to share the bathtub?” he asked.
“Because if I don’t, I’ll still be higher than you, which will still
present a distinct psychological advantage, I’m sure. And I don’t want to cheat.” The button was undone, and the zip, and Allie
found herself watching the descent of his jeans over his long legs with real
interest. Black briefs were all that
stood between Callum and nudity. And, to
her chagrin, he looked completely at ease.
He was looking straight at her face, one eyebrow raised. She wasn’t at all sure how she felt about his
request - which was actually a challenge - which she obviously wasn’t going to
ignore, being a woman of experience.
“Yes, you
can share the bath,” she answered, pulling her knees up to create some
room. “But you watch where your feet go,
mister.”
”Oh, I’ll watch all right,” he smiled, pulling the briefs down and straightening
up to step into the bath. Allie’s eyes
widened as he straddled the edge of the tub.
“Good grief,”
she murmured. Callum laughed and glanced
down.
“Please
don’t tell me this is the first one you’ve actually seen,” he said. She shook her head.
“But not
quite like that,” she said. “Not quite
so… dear heaven, Callum! If Fiona knew
about that, she’d have jumped you years ago.”
He lowered himself into the long bathtub still laughing, sliding his
legs up the outside of hers, his feet fitting just under her armpits. She kept her knees up a little, not wanting
to stretch her legs out for fear she’d come into contact with parts of him she
was still having trouble believing she’d seen.
“Bring your
feet down,” he said, catching her ankles in his hands and tugging. “They can rest on my legs. Come on.
Give.” Since she now knew that he
was strong enough to force the issue anyway, she gave in gracefully, letting
him drape her feet over his hard, muscular thighs. She clenched her own thighs together.
”So…I think
it was your turn in the argument,” he pointed out. “Since we’re having an experiment here. What was your next point?”
Allie
looked down between her feet, where she could see part of him floating up to
the surface. She blinked.
”I forget,” she said. Callum put his
head back against the rim of the bathtub and laughed.
…………..
It was
amazing how relaxed she felt after a while.
”This must be what nude hot-tubbing is like,” she said, resting her head. She felt him chuckle. His thighs shook under her feet.
”Without the bubbles and the groping hands,” he said.
”Groping hands?” she asked, not bothering to look up.
“Yep,” he
said. “Not that I’ve had a great deal of
experience with it, but there has always seemed to be someone groping me or
trying to climb into my lap when I’ve done it.”
”I’ve never done it,” she commented, abandoning her “woman of experience”
persona. “I’ve never even shared a bath
with someone before.”
“No?” he
asked. She shook her head, still not
looking at him. “What about a shower?”
“Once,” she
said. “With Bill the banker.” Callum snorted.
“I don’t
know why you ever bothered with that dropkick,” he said. “And I’m surprised he knew which part of the
shower the water came out of.”
“He did,”
she said. “And he hogged all of the
water. I eventually got out and left him
to it.”
”What, you just used him and abandoned him straight after?” he asked. She lifted her head to look at him, confused.
“After
what?” she asked. He groaned.
”You’re telling me Bill the Banker didn’t bonk you in the shower?” he asked,
incredulous.
“Of course
not!” Allie responded. “It was dark and
slippery and someone could have got hurt.”
He started laughing, so she dug her big toe into his hip.
“And
besides,” she said, wanting to demonstrate her woman of experience-ness. “I read in Cosmo that water isn’t the best
place to make love. It interferes with natural
lubricants and all sorts of things.
Apparently, it’s not very nice at all.”
Callum looked her straight in the eye and smiled lazily.
“I’d just
love to show you how wrong that is,” he said, his voice sending a strange
little tingle right through her belly.
His shoulders rolled as he shifted his arms down from the rim of the
bathtub, his hands closing over her ankles.
“If you’d like to open these lovely legs up and I’ll just scoot you down
here a bit…” Allie could see from the
look in his eyes that he was teasing, but she wasn’t going to play along.
“No!” she
protested.
“No?” he
responded, managing to sound almost convincing in his disappointment. “Well, okay, Pollyanna.” He grinned as she poked her tongue out at
him.
“My plaster
would get wet,” she said. He looked over
at her arms.
“Shit, I
forgot the plastic again,” he said. “All
right, I promise not to make mad, splashing love to you this time.” He grinned
before he put his head back down on the rim of the tub. “But all bets are off next time we share a
tub.” As soon as he let go of her ankles, she moved her feet off his legs, only
to realise that there was really nowhere else to put them. If she bent her knees too much, she’d be
showing more than she wanted to, and if she just put her legs together and
straight out in front of her, she’d have her feet up against some rather
personal parts of him. Mildly annoyed, she
slid her feet back onto his thighs, wincing as she did so.
“What’s
wrong?” he asked, lifting his head again.
“I just
realised how prickly my legs are,” she admitted. “I normally get them waxed and my appointment
was for the day after I had the accident.
They’re awful, and I can’t even shave them.” She was shifting in the bath to get a better
look at them, thereby giving Callum a better look at everything else. “Good grief, they’re overgrown,” she
complained. “They’re…oh, my armpits will
be worse!” She lifted one arm cautiously
and looked under, putting it down fast and moaning. Callum laughed.
“It’s just
hair,” he pointed out. He rubbed his
hand up her shin. “I get more stubble
than that on my face every morning.”
“That’s
different,” Allie said. “Stubble can
look good on men. On women, it just
looks dreadful. And hairy legs and
armpits are not something I’ve ever wanted.
It’s not an attractive look on a female.” Callum snorted and she looked at him,
eyebrows raised.
“I had a
French girlfriend once,” he said. “She
never shaved or waxed or any of that, and she was a fine-looking woman.”
”Really?” Allie still didn’t like the thought.
“Well, each to their own. It’s
just not a look I’ve ever wanted. I’ve
been a regular at the waxing salon for years.”
”I noticed your bikini line had been done at some time,” he said
conversationally. He grinned when she
glared at him. “Well, I did!” he
responded. “That must hurt like
hell.” Allie was not going to discuss it
with him.
“I could
shave your legs and armpits for you if you want me to,” he offered. “I’m not volunteering to do the wax thing,
although I suppose I could deliver you to the salon if you’d prefer that.” Allie spared a thought for that, imagined
herself showing up at Gina’s salon, where all the stick-thin attendants looked
as if they’d just stepped off a Parisian catwalk. And herself, with her arms in plaster, her
hair not blow-dried, dressed in whatever clothes Callum had put her in…
”No, I
wouldn’t prefer that,” she admitted.
“So do you
want me to go get my shaving razor out of Fiona’s bathroom?” he asked. He saw the hesitation in her eyes. “Come on, Al.
It’ll be a lot easier than most of the indignities you’ve suffered at my
hands already. And I promise not to cut
you. I’m quite handy with a razor.” She continued to think about it for a
minute. Well, it was just her legs and
her underarms, after all.
“Yes,” she
agreed. “Thank you. I would appreciate it.”
She would
have appreciated it more if he’d wrapped a towel around her and sat her on the
edge of the bathtub, but, as he pointed out reasonably, there was only a thin
rim on the bathtub, and a very real chance that she’d tip over while he was
lifting each leg up to shave it. So
instead of that, she found herself reclining naked in the tub while Callum,
towel wrapped securely around his hips, raised one of her feet up high, soaped
up her leg from the knee down and began shaving. Allie edged the other thigh closer to the one
he was holding up. She did it
surreptitiously, in the hope he wouldn’t notice. No such luck.
He grinned down into her face.
“Would it
make you more comfortable if I said I wouldn’t look between your legs?” he
asked. Blushing, and hating herself for
it, Allie nodded her head.
“Yes, it
would,” she admitted.
“Even if I
was lying?” he went on. She tried to
pull her foot out of his hand at that, but he kept hold of it.
“I’m only
teasing, Al,” he said. “I can’t promise
that I won’t catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, but I do promise I
won’t stare openly. All right?”
“All
right,” she said quietly.
He helped
her out of the bath after he’d finished her legs, which she was pleased about
because she didn’t want to keep sitting there with shaved hair floating in the
soapy water around her.
“Now the
underarms,” he said. “Can you lift that
plaster up over your head?”
”Can you put a towel around me first?” she asked plaintively. Callum looked into her eyes.
“And get
soap and water all over the towel?” he asked.
“You can tell you’re not doing the laundry around here, woman! No, this won’t take long, Allie. Then you can have the towel and your
clothes. Now just lift it up. That’s it, good. And WHY are you bringing your other arm
across like that where the plaster might get wet?’
“To cover myself,”
she said between gritted teeth, trying to fold her arm to conceal both
nipples.
“To cover
yourself,” Callum repeated. He looked up
at the ceiling and sighed. “Just move
your arm away for a second. No, don’t
fight me. Just move it out and away and…yes,
just as I suspected!”
”What?” she asked, trying to put her ar
“Exactly
the same pair of breasts I’ve been looking at, washing and drying and handling
for the last couple of days,” he said.
“Breasts I could draw from memory, if I could draw. Breasts I could identify in a line-up. In fact…” A smile lit up his face. “That’s not a bad idea. Let’s call a few of your friends over and get
a topless line-up going so I can prove it to you.” Allie was half-way between embarrassment and
laughter.
“You’ve
made your point,” she said. “Do the
shaving thing.”
”Yes, ma’am,” he said, saluting with the razor. It wasn’t easy standing there while he
soaped up her armpits and wiped the razor gently over her skin, her breasts
jiggling and quivering right beside his hand, right under his eyes, but she did
it, and at the end, pronounced herself satisfied with the results.
“So,”
Callum said. “Armpits and legs to the
knees. Would madam like her bikini line
done too? All part of the service.”
”Thank you, I’ll pass,” Allie said, ignoring the grin that lit up his
face. “But I’d love a towel, thank
you.”
“Coming
right up,” he said, reaching for it.
……..
The phone
rang just as Allie sat down on the bed, dried, but still only wearing a
towel. Callum turned away from her to
answer it.
“Yes, this
is Allison Halston’s residence,” he said.
“Umm…no, I can’t really pass the phone to her, but I can put it on loud
speaker. Can I tell her who’s
calling?
“No?” the
telephone conversation was continuing.
“No, it’s no trouble at all, I assure you, and I’m sure she’d like to
talk… Oh. Well, yes, that would be
good.” He glanced at the bedside clock,
ignoring Allie’s frantic mouthing of “what?
what?”
“Yes,
“What?”
Allie demanded. He turned back to
her.
“He’s
coming to visit you this afternoon,” he said.
“So I’d better start tidying up in a hurry, hadn’t I?”
“He’s
coming HERE?” Allie shrieked. Callum
made a show of covering his ears.
“Callum, he’s the owner of the business!” She didn’t talk a lot about work at home,
none of them did, really. Even Fiona,
who skipped from job to job on a six-monthly basis, did little more than
mention the occasional good-looking co-worker.
Nevertheless, Callum did know where she worked.
”Well yes, I had assumed that,” he responded.
“Given the “Carter” surname.
Settle down, Al. He’s just coming
over to make sure you’re all right. It’s
the polite thing to do, after all. It’s
not a big deal.”
”It is!” she insisted. “We don’t see
much of Mr Carter at work. His office is
on another floor, and although he wanders through occasionally, he leaves
almost all of the running to the managers.
He’s royalty, Callum.” Callum
shook his head and reached for her t-shirt.
“Yes,”
Allie said, shuffling along the bed to get closer so he could put the t-shirt
on quickly. “Once I’m dressed, I’ll come
out to the living room so I can help tidy up.”
Callum, the t-shirt rolled up in his hands, raised one eyebrow.
”How exactly do you plan to help?” he asked.
“I’ll…I’ll
direct proceedings,” she said. He
snorted.
“Exactly
what I was afraid of,” he said. “And if
you remember, the doctor said you were not to leave this room for several
days.” Allie looked at him in utter
disbelief.
“Mr Carter
can’t come in here to see me,” she pointed out.
“Of course
he can,” Callum responded. “He’s
undoubtedly seen bedrooms before. Presumably
the man sleeps.” Allie ignored that.
“I can’t
stay here,” she said. “Please, just put
some clothes on me so I can come outside too.”
Callum
looked steadily at her for a few seconds, noting the impatience in her dark
eyes, the colour in her cheeks. No. The doctor had definitely said she was to
stay in bed for several days, and as far as Callum was concerned, that was all
there was to it. He put the t-shirt back
in her cupboard.
“What are
you doing?” Allie asked. “That t-shirt
was fine, Callum. Well, I’ll need a bra
under it, of course, but it was… what are you doing?”
“I’m going
to get dressed and then I’m going to tidy up,” he said, reaching for the towel
wrapped round her. “And you are going to
lie down.” He untucked the towel and
pulled it off her, tugging it out from under her even as she protested and
kicked at him. She was not happy.
“Put that
back!” she insisted. “Or put some
clothes on me, Callum.” He grinned.
“You want
covers, you’re going to have to lie down on the bed,” he said. “Because they are the only ones you’re going
to get. Now, if you want to come outside
and direct proceedings while naked, that’s up to you. I’ll certainly enjoy the view.”
”What, you’re not going to tie me to the bed to make me stay here?” she asked
sarcastically, bitterly. His grin
broadened.
“Tempting,”
he said. “Particularly since I’d only have to tie one of your feet. But no.
I can’t see you coming out like that, Allie.” He couldn’t resist teasing a bit more. He patted her on the head in a blatantly
patronising gesture. “Good girl,” he
said. She glared, which just inspired
him to greater heights...or depths. He reached
down and lightly fluffed her dark pubic hair with the knuckles on one hand,
laughing when she squealed in fury and wriggled away, making the bed
bounce. And parts of herself, as
well.
Eyes
dancing, Callum walked to the door. She
wasn’t going to just quietly lie down and let him pull the covers over her,
that much was clear, but she was trapped nevertheless. He looked back over his shoulder at the
smooth, pale length of her back (resolutely turned towards him), her dark hair
tumbling messily over her shoulders, the roundness of her bare bottom. The soft curves of her body, even fro
………………….
He was
right. She was furious. She was furious with the driver who’d hit her
fro
“Are you
still there?” Callum asked from the door.
He was back in jeans and a t-shirt, looking casual and comfortable.
“No, I knotted
the sheets together and escaped out the window,” she replied through tight
lips. He laughed.
“Lie down
so I can pull the covers over you, you goose,” he said, walking round to
her. The flare in her eyes as soon as he
neared her warned him to keep his distance.
“Or not,” he said, backing off, amusement in his eyes.
“I want to
come out to the living room,” she said.
“I’m not
stopping you,” he said, although he knew he was. “In fact, the only thing stopping you at the
moment is your misplaced modesty.” And
since she was sitting naked in front of him, he had a point. Allie shifted her arms to cover more of
herself.
“So, did
you just come in here to gloat?” she demanded, certainly not prepared to
forgive him.
“No,
actually,” Callum replied. “Although it
was definitely an added benefit.” He
grinned as she frowned. “No, I came to
tell you that I’ve finished tidying up and I’m going upstairs to get a
file. It’ll take me some time to find
it, I expect, and I didn’t want you thinking that I’d deserted you. I’ll leave the door open so if you yell
loudly enough, I’ll probably still hear you.”
”Fine,” she said tersely.
“Fine,” he
responded, matching her tone. Then he
gave in and laughed. Allie’s expression
went from annoyed to explosive in less than a second, and without thinking, she
kicked out at him, bare-footed.
Fortunately for him, Callum moved fast and caught her foot. And then he made the situation even worse by
taking the time to run his hand up her leg to her knee, while she squirmed and
kicked and abused him. He ignored her
protests and grinned at her.
“My, that’s
smooth,” he said. Then he let her foot
go and left, a torrent of very un-ladylike words following him.
He’d been
gone ten minutes before Allie decided that she was not going to be beaten on
this. She tried to roll herself in the
comforter at the foot of the bed, but couldn’t make it stay up, so resolved
that she was going to just have to deal with her modesty. Callum was not going to win. She stood up and walked over to the door of
her room and then out, into the hallway.
It was time to show him that she might be helpless physically, but she
was not beaten in spirit.