Roberts, Sarah - Action Hero Junkie [Movieland] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Read Online Free Page A

arm, but she didn’t see any seepage. That’s a good thing, at least. She gently laid down his arm and smoothed the bedclothes up over his broad chest. Somehow, touching him that way—to make him more comfortable—made her feel a little tender toward him.
    Mia turned off the bathroom light and returned to the living room, leaving the bedroom door open so that she could hear him if he wakened. She’d sleep on the sofa and get up again in an hour or so to check on her crazy-good-looking but nutty patient.
    Lying down on the lumpy sofa, she punched one of the cushions into an indented pillow for her head. She pulled a woolly afghan over herself and wriggled around until she was more or less comfortable. She knew she wouldn’t get much sleep, so she would be tired when she went back in to work. She told herself it wouldn’t bother her too much. She was used to long hours. What she didn’t want to think about was what she might have to do if her patient got really, really worse.
    He got worse. He was hot and restless.
    Mia popped a thermometer into his mouth, one of the instant LED kinds, and read it. His temperature wasn’t that bad, but she still didn’t like how restless he was. I can’t just go in to work and leave him.
    She decided to call in sick. She was never sick, so she had a lot of sick leave saved up. Mia didn’t think she was very convincing, but her supervisor bought it.
    Her patient slept for a long time. When he woke up, it was like instant on. His eyes just popped open, and he was looking up at her. Actually, he was frowning at her. Mia smiled back. It was important to project a positive attitude. “How do you feel?”
    He moved around, gingerly flexing his body and stretching his legs back and forth under the covers. Mia watched with interest. His voice sounded gravelly. “I’m okay. What time is it?”
    “It’s way past second watch. You slept for hours.” Mia was feeling really cheerful. He looked a lot better. She offered a glass of water to him, and he sat up to drink. The bedclothes fell down to his waist, leaving his naked torso exposed. She looked at his bodacious chest and felt a tingling in parts south. She didn’t feel at all platonic toward him like she had a few hours before.
    He gave the emptied glass back. Mia set it down on the bedside table. When she looked back at him, she saw that he had narrowed his eyes, and he was staring coldly at her. “You should have woken me up.” He clenched his jaw like he was biting back some more words, only not the polite kind.
    Mia realized he was angry. That surprised her. Then she realized he was still feeling the weakening effects of the wound and resultant illness. For someone like him, an almost perfect human specimen, it must be worrisome that he felt so unlike himself. She spoke soothingly to him, just like any good nurse would. “Look, you lost a lot of blood. You were dehydrated, and you probably started suffering from hypothermia after being out like that all night in the cold. You needed the rest.”
    He looked like he was going to pop off at her, so she popped the thermometer into his mouth. He looked like he might bite it in two, but she shook her head at him. “Be good.” Mia took hold of his wrist, and they tussled a little bit before he would let her take his pulse. All the while, his electric-blue eyes were blazing at her. When she was done with his pulse, she took out the thermometer. His pulse was steady, and his temperature was falling back to normal. Mia was pleased, and she smiled at him. He narrowed his eyes again.
    Her cell phone rang. She plucked it out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID. She flipped open the phone. “Hi, Marti.”
    “Are you okay?”
    Her hunk sat up and reached for the frou-frou beach towel. Mia whipped it away out of his reach. He glared at her. “Oh, sure. Just a touch of food poisoning, I think. Must have been the shellfish.”
    “Mia, you don’t eat shellfish.”
    He got an evil grin