Page 28 of Dr. Bad Boy

The nurse doesn’t care that I’m curious as fuck. She’s finished cleaning the wound and starts talking over me. “Okay, that looks pretty good. The resident will be here shortly to do the sutures, unless you’d like to, Dr. Donovan?”

I shake my head. “I’m out of practice on hands that large.”

Violet gapes at me as the nurse laughs. “Are you calling me Shrek?”

“Hardly,” I murmur, bringing my mouth to her ear. “My patients are usually three feet tall and they need to hang on to a stuffed animal or a parent’s hand when they get stitched up.”

“Right. Of course.” She hesitates again, and her voice softens. “I heard you earlier. With a patient. I was sitting in the waiting room and you were just inside the door.”

“Ah.” I make a mental note to remind the ER clerk that door should stay shut, but that’s not Violet’s problem.

“You were very good.”

“I try.”

“And you’re being…very good now.”

“Are you trying to compliment my bedside manner?”

“Maybe. Don’t read too much into it.”

Too late. I dig my thumbs into the knotted muscles at the top of her spine. “Relax.”

“My hand is wide open. I can see bone.”

“Don’t look at it.” I move my fingers down her back, kneading along her spine, gently at first, then harder as I settle my hands on her hips. They’ll be just out of sight of the resident when they come in to do the sutures.

“I can’t help myself.”

“And if I order you not to look?”

She freezes. She’s still breathing, but they’re shallow little pants. That won’t do at all.

“Deep breathes, kitten.”

“Max, we can’t—”

“Exceptional circumstances.” My voice is low enough nobody else can hear me. “I promise I won’t fuck you right here in front of all these people, as much as the idea of taking you in front of a crowd does appeal. But not this one. Another, more anonymous gathering. Everyone in masks, maybe. I like that idea a lot. But right now, I’m just using the only tool at my disposal to calm you down. Think of me as a stress ball or something.”

“But I’m the one being squeezed.”

“And that’s how you like it.”

A long pause, then her head jerks reluctantly in a sharp nod.

“Until the sutures are done, you must not look at your hand. I know you can do that. You have the most beautiful self-restraint I’ve ever seen. Deep breaths. Show me how good you can be, Violet.” As the resident walks in, I pinch her, hard, and she lifts her head.

“Ready to go?” the resident asks, and Violet nods.

I give her another pinch on the same spot, then smooth over it with my thumb. How I want that to be bare skin I’m rubbing, feeling the warmth of my mark for myself.

It doesn’t take long. The resident is good, and Violet doesn’t move a muscle. The whole time, I’m holding her, and when we’re alone again, she sags back against me.

Fuck.

She doesn’t say anything as she quietly climbs off the gurney. I move the other way, and before I can figure out what to say, the nurse is back with Violet’s discharge orders.

Wait, I want to command her. Wait and let me explain what the hell that was all about. But we both know.

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