Impulsive

The girls all exchanged knowing looks. They'd heard this story before, love at first sight, till it all fell apart. But none of them would ever say anything to spoil it for her. "That's great," Mel said, sounding like she really meant it, every one of them nodding in agreement.

Suddenly out of nowhere a red hot image of Zane flashed in Karina's head and she let out a sad little sigh while the others all asked the usual question about where they'd met, how old he was, where he was from and all the rest. When Karina didn't join in, Mel glanced over at her and gave her an elbow. "Hey, you okay over there?"

Managing a tepid smile, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm good." After taking a fast look at the menu, Karina said, "So -- nachos, wings, jalapeno poppers -- the usual mix of health food, right?"

All the girls just nodded and kept up the inquisition with Krissy. When the waiter came by, Karina took the liberty of ordering a pitcher of margaritas along with their standard order of munchies. Then she sat back and more or less just listened to the animated chatter going on all around her, still without bothering to join in. For some reason she just wasn't up for it. Finally Mel narrowed her eyes, leaned in close and asked, "What's going on with you? You're not yourself tonight."

Blowing out a breath, she looked at her friend and decided she might as well tell her the truth. "I met a guy."

Mel began to grin, wiggling her eyebrows teasingly. "Do tell."

With a shrug, Karina told her the rest. "And that's about all there is to tell. We met, we instantly clicked, I saw him one more time and that was it, it ended."

Mel looked sympathetic. "Oh, wow, just like that?"

"Pretty much," Karina said, nodding sadly. She wasn't about to tell her about the condom drama, since she knew her friend would tell her she was better off without him, and maybe she was. But then again, she wrinkled her nose, thinking back, maybe she wasn't. What they had, short-lived as it was, had been so damn good, no small wonder she couldn't get him out of her head.

Finally once their drinks came, Karina forced herself to get on board with a night of fun with her friends banishing Zane from her thoughts, otherwise she might as well go home and mope, rather than sitting around doing it with her besties. Mel, a gifted story teller, had the funniest tales from where she worked with a firm of hot young lawyers. Rebecca, still articling with a firm of not so young lawyers, that apparently were no fun at all, appeared totally enthralled by the randy antics of Mel's bunch. And smitten Krissy just grinned and looked at her watch for most of the night, no doubt eager to get back to all that tall, dark handsomeness and show him some lovin'.

Watching her, Karina's shoulders slumped, and she frowned. Too bad she had no one waiting at home, because if it was Zane waiting for her in bed, she'd have been gone hours ago. She shook her head annoyed with herself. Hadn't she just promised herself to forget him? So why was he still front and center in her mind? Good lord, men! No wonder she'd only wanted a fling.

Monday went by in a blur, Karina had so many patients sick with the flu and all that entailed, she barely had time to think, much less gather her thoughts or take a break. Nearing closing time, operating on auto-pilot for that last hour or so, she took a chart from the front of one of the examining room doors and strode in without bothering to even look up at the patient, assuming it was just another case of influenza. Then she heard the slight deep gasp, and glanced up straight into Zane's surprised blue gaze. "Zane?" she finally took a second to read his name on the chart, Zane O'Rourke, then looked back at his surprised expression. "What are you doing here?"

He held up his left hand, wrapped in what looked like an entire roll of paper towel that was now nearly red with blood. "Cut my hand. One of my guys told me to try this place, but I had no idea you worked here."

With a quick nod of her head, she didn't waste any time and began to mechanically unwind the make-shift bandage, trying hard to ignore the fact this was the same hot guy she'd had between her thighs only the week before. She finally looked up into his eyes amazed at the steadiness of her voice as she asked him, "What did you cut it on?"

His gaze never left hers as he explained. "One of the cars had a jagged rusty hole in behind the engine and I pushed my hand right through it trying to loosen a nut."

Examining the gaping wound around the knuckles on his left hand, she nodded decisively. "Then you'll need a tetanus shot as well as stitches."

"So, you're a doctor?" he asked, sounding surprised.

With a quick roll of her eyes, she said, "Yes, I'm a doctor." Then she got to work, turned and opened a drawer and pulled out a packet of sutures as well as a couple of syringes, alcohol and some gauze for cleaning and dressing the wound. Then opening the small fridge by the desk, she got out the medication she'd need and told him, "I'm just going to give you something to numb the pain, before I stitch you up."

Shaking his head, he said, "That's okay; don't really think I'll need it." Somehow she resisted rolling her eyes again. In her experience, so called macho men were often the first to do a header and faint at her feet the minute she started stitching up their skin. Cocking an eyebrow she looked completely unimpressed. And seeing that no nonsense look, he decided it best to just give in and say with a slight grin, "Okay, I'll take the shot, thanks."

With a quick nod, she gently placed his hand on his thigh. And after filling the syringe, she carefully stuck him with the needle, administering the pain killer, followed right after by a tetanus shot and some antibiotics. Then she pulled a movable light over her shoulder and began to carefully work on cleaning the gaping wound and stitching it back up.

Watching her work so intensely on his hand, Zane had the urge to brush back the few strands of lose hair from her eyes. Although she had it tied back, a few lose wisps of long silky blonde hair must have escaped over the course of what he guessed had been a very long day, judging by the number of people he'd noticed still in her waiting room. Finally, he quietly said, "Sorry."

Turning her head, she looked up at his face, confused, and asked, "What, for cutting yourself?"

Shaking his head, he said, "No, for being such an ass the other night. You had every right to want protection, whether I'm clean or not. I don't know why I acted like that."

Letting out a sigh, she went right back to stitching him up, deciding it might be best not to comment and let it go. As far as she was concerned they were done.

And then he said, "Have dinner with me."

She looked up at him again, not so sure she wanted to pick up right where they'd left off. Especially since the way they'd parted still stung.

Sensing her reluctance, he said, "Just dinner, I promise. And if you'd be up for it, I'd kind of like to get to know you."

A little grin played at her mouth as she held his hand. "I'd say you already know me pretty well."

He chuckled. He might know her intimately, but he didn't know a damn thing about her other than she liked to scream her pretty head off when she came. "Please?" he asked again, forcing a smile from her. To hear such a big tough looking guy saying please like that was almost cute.

"Well, seeing as you've asked so nicely." She smiled up into his eyes. "Let me finish with your hand and then we'll talk, okay?"

Finally, he reached out and brushed back the few lose strands of hair, tucking them behind her ear and said, "Sure, Doc." Smiling, she kept right on working on his hand. He'd pegged her as a lawyer, but had to admit he was impressed with the practice she ran. From what he could tell her patients were mostly basic working class people and a lot of them new to the country, probably just starting out. And he had a feeling she wasn't exactly getting rich off their backs. As little as he knew her, he realized that wasn't who she was.

And damn, seeing this side of her really stoked his interest. Since she'd walked out on him the other night, she was already all he could of. Probably why he'd been so careless and wrecked his hand. He'd been working on the old Buick and remembering how sweet, she'd not only looked, but also tasted, with that sexy body of hers up on the hood... Thinking about her on that car again made him grin, and his cock twitch -- hard. But nice as that was, he really did want to get to know her better, and not just for sex -- but maybe something even more. He couldn't exactly say why, but already there was something about her he liked, and seeing her in this environment, as pretty as she was, only made her more attractive.

Karina tried to keep her focus on the task at hand, but holding his hand, and staring at the intricate golden carp tat on his wrist, had her wondering what he'd looked like naked and up close. She'd barely gotten a glimpse of him in all his naked glory the other night in the dimly lit garage before the big condom debacle started, or rather, ended everything for them. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to maintain her focus. She told herself he was just a patient, like any other. But her body was tingling with the knowledge that he had the power to turn her world upside down with the way he'd kissed her and course the magic of his hands and mouth, never mind his um... Glancing up, she caught him staring. It was so not helping to know he was watching while she pondered what their next tryst might be like -- already sure it would be off the charts. So, she knew she'd be seeing him again, and probably having sex. But she began to wonder what more there was to him, imagining with an interesting guy like him, there had to be so much more. And she was starting to wonder if maybe she wouldn't like to give him a chance, and actually get to know him.

Impulsively, once she was done, and his hand was carefully bandaged, she pressed a light kiss to his fingers. Looking up she smiled at the surprised look in his eyes, and said, "Thought it wouldn't hurt to kiss and make it better, figured you're a little big for a lollypop for being so brave."

He chuckled, smiling into her eyes. "Bet your good with kids, huh?"

Zane noticed a warm little gleam light up her pretty green eyes as she admitted, "Yeah, they're fun. And Dr. K does give lollypops to the best behaved -- and of course even the ones that cry."

Hopping off the table, he took her by the chin and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "Thanks for patching me up, Dr. K. So, what do I owe you?"

She waved a dismissive hand at the door, never comfortable discussing her fees. "You can ask my receptionist, she takes care of all that. But normally it's just pay what you can." Now he could understand why she'd been so upset when he'd implied that she was out of his league. Clearly, she was good people and he had acted like an ass, assuming otherwise. But he was going to make it up to her. They'd have dinner, and would get to know each other -- at least before anything else happened between them.

He started to smile. And after that, who knows where that might lead...