Outside The Lines Read Free Page B

before we start?” He snapped a pair of gloves into place, a tiny yet definite smile of satisfaction threatening beneath his light brown stubble. It lasted for just a split second, but it was reminder enough that if Blake Fisher wanted something, he did whatever he needed to get it.
    Oh, God, she had to get out of here. Not even the security blanket of Serenity’s presence was worth drawing this out.
    “No. If I know Serenity, she’s trying to single-handedly run dinner shift right now through the video chat on her iPhone. And since neither of you is going to let me out of here without an exam, you might as well go for it, I guess.”
    Blake reached for Jules’s wrist, his hand hitching just before contact, and her cheeks tightened with the heat of another rampant blush. Of course he probably didn’t want to touch her. Not that she could blame him, but it wasn’t meant to turn out like this. He was supposed to have moved on from the poor northie who bussed tables in the Brentsville University cafeteria four nights a week just to pay the electric bill. He was supposed to become a successful surgeon in the city and marry some perfectly acceptable Ivy League blond. Hell, he was supposed to have some ridiculously cushy car, two-point-four kids and a summer cottage in the Hamptons.
    He was definitely not supposed to be back in Brentsville, cradling her pan-fried arm like it was made of blown glass and looking exponentially sexier than he had eight years ago.
    “Frequently with burns, the skin is delicate enough to stick to the compress. I’m going to s oak it in a cool sterile water bath to remove the dressing with as little damage to the blisters as possible. Then we’ll know what we’re dealing with and I can treat you from there.” He shifted the basin flush against the side of the gurney, lowering her arm into the water. But in spite of his careful movements, sparks of pain still flared hard under Jules’s skin.
    “Ugh.” The sound broke free from her chest before she could stuff it down, and she forced her expression to blankness as she counted the triangles on the curtain over Blake’s shoulder.
    “ Sorry.” Something behind his stare flickered, dark and green and unyielding. “Can you rate your pain on a scale of one to ten?”
    Jules bit down on the irony of the question, even though she deserved every bit of the sting. “It’s fine, really.”
    He didn’t let go of her wrist. “ A number, Jules.”
    “Four,” she said, until he guided the corner of the compress from her skin . The angry, scraped-thin throb left in its place made her tack on, “And a half.”
    As if Blake sensed her two-point bend in the truth, he said, “I’ll give you something to manage the pain as soon as we’re done.” His tone was so businesslike that for a second, Jules thought she might make it through the exam. But damn it, that flicker made another pass over his eyes as he studied the vicious three-inch strip of blisters that had been hiding beneath the compress, and her words rushed out like a verbal landslide.
    “I’m sorry . I’m so sorry I left you a note, Blake. I shouldn’t have…” Been such a coward. Left when you were already hurting.
    Believed your mother instead of you.
    “But you did.” His gaze, now back to normal, was pinned firmly to his task, the soft trickle of water a complete juxtaposition to the uncompromising line of his jaw. He lifted her arm from the basin, resting it on the fresh towel he’d draped over the pillows at her side, his face calm and cool and absolutely devoid of emotion.
    And as much as Jules hated it, he was right. God, she shouldn’t have said anything. It wasn’t like she could come out with the truth, no matter what was going on behind that dark green stare of his.
    It was better to just shut up and get out of here. The faster, the better.
    “Anyway.” Blake cleared his throat, gesturing to her injury like he’d seen a thousand like it this morning alone. “This