Page 55 of Spellbound & Speechless
I swallow. “O-okay.”
We sit down on the edge of my bed, and he rummages around until he finds a first-aid kit—a sizable one.
“I guess you came prepared,” I say.
Should I be teasing when his large kit may save my precious finger? Probably not.
He shoots me a withering look. “Ialwayscome prepared. I’m on a dangerous mission. Never thoughtyouwould be the most dangerous thing, but between your driving and your cooking…”
“Hey! My cooking is good—spectacular, even. You won’t get to experience it now that I’m bleeding out, but…” I trail off.
His brows furrow, his lips parted as he cleans me up with a disinfecting potion. Not homemade, the same potion that most people buy at any old pharmacy. It will have to do. It stings, but I sit still through the pain. For the first time in a while, it’s easy to let someone else take care of me, if only for a moment. After this, everything will return to normal. He’ll put me at arm’s length again.
I don’t care. I want to steal these moments and hold them close to my chest—anything to keep him on my side.
He applies pressure to the wound, and it feels an awful lot like he’s avoiding my gaze. “You’re lucky. I don’t think it needs stitches.”
“No?”
He shakes his head. “We just need to keep it clean. You’re doing a good job.”
His words are too close to praise, even though they’restill far away. Praise from Mac. It’s unbelievable. My brain fizzes into nothing.
“Um…” I’ve never had trouble coming up with retorts, usually in more pressure-filled situations than these, but nothing comes to mind now. Mac saying I’mgoodis nothing, but the words go between my legs, and a slight, needy pulse awakens. “Thank you. Where did you learn to do this?”
He snorts. “Anyone can do this.”
“I can’t. Not without magic. Maybe it says more about me than it does you.”
He presses his lips together. “I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger. It’s the same part of me that wanted to save my dad, I think.”
“What?” I blink. “I didn’t know that.”
I can’t imagine Mac as a doctor, but I try. Maybe he would have been a different version of himself. Doctor Mackenzie Roth. It has a ring to it, I suppose.
“That was over a decade ago, at this point.” He shrugs. “I dropped out two years into my biology degree. Realistically, I would have ended up being an EMT, or something like that. I couldn’t afford med school. It was just a… a senseless dream.”
“Dreams are never senseless.” I tilt my head to the side, focusing on his face rather than the sting of my wound. “Why did you drop out?”
“Because I got distracted.” He glances up, finally looking at me. “Chasing corrupt witches and all that.”
“Right. I guess thatwouldtake up most of your time. Would you ever want to go back?”
“Don’t think so. I wouldn’t know how, even if I wanted to.”
“Oh, I think it would be easy.” My eyes sparkle. “You’re good with patients. You have superb bedside manner.”
“Only with you.” He looks down, and his cheeks are darker—just a fraction, but it’s a change, and another thing that sends my pulse racing wildly. “The other patients would hate me, I think.”
“Everyone loves a hot doctor.”
“Shut up,” he mutters. Despite the harsh words, he’s fighting off a smile.
Mac bandages my finger, and I dare to look this time. The bleeding seems to have slowed.
“What are the orders, doc?”
“I’ll change it for you tonight,” he says. “Keep it dry and clean until then. It will heal fast, even without magic.”
