A cough. “I’ll … uh … step into the kitchen, give you some privacy.”
Jesse glanced over his shoulder, saw pink in Ellie’s cheeks. He hadn’t thought this would embarrass her. She was a nurse, after all. She probably saw bare butts every day—and more. Why should seeing his ass make her blush?
The answer shot through the fevered haze in his brain.
She’s attracted to you.
Nah. He was probably out of his mind. Fever. Germs.
He would have offered to move this show to his bedroom, but she was already walking away, her back turned toward him. He unzipped his jeans and pushed them just low enough in back to bare the muscle the doctor needed.
The doc rubbed a cold alcohol wipe over the skin high on his right buttock. “Now you’ll feel a stick and some pressure as the penicillin goes in.”
Son of a …!
It hurt more than Jesse had expected.
“Done.”
Jesse tugged up his jeans, zipped his fly. “Thanks.”
“We’ll need to hang around for about fifteen minutes to make sure you don’t have an allergic reaction.” The doc dropped the syringe into a small biohazard container. “Let me know if you start itching or feeling short of breath.”
Jesse glanced around the room, wondering where he’d left his wallet. “How much do I owe you?”
“Owe me?” The doc frowned. “Not a red cent. You helped my daughter, and I’m returning that kindness. We take care of our own in Scarlet.”
Uneasiness and warmth warred with each other for space behind Jesse’s sternum. He wasn’t used to needing help. At the same time, he’d lived as an outsider in this town for most of three years now. It was nice to hear that someone felt he belonged. “Thanks.”
Dizziness forced him to sit, his head throbbing, his body aching with fever. He wished he could lie down again, but his mama had beat good manners into him with a wooden spoon. Besides, it was probably time to stoke the fire. While he was at it, he should carry in more firewood, too.
Ellie turned to face him, still in her self-imposed exile in the kitchen. “Can I make you a cup of tea with honey? It will help your throat.”
He felt embarrassed and gratified at the same time. When was the last time a woman had done something like that for him? “There’s no need to go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble.” She set about making him a cup of tea, opening cupboards till she found what she wanted and putting a mug of water into his microwave.
“While I’m here, I might as well stoke that fire.” The doc got up, walked to the wood stove, and opened the cast iron door. “You could use some firewood, too.”
Ten minutes later, Jesse found himself sipping a cup of hot tea with honey across the table from Ellie and her father, a fire blazing in the wood stove and enough wood piled by the hearth to last until morning.
The doc gave him one last quick check. “You look good to me. Take Tylenol for your fever and your throat, and drink lots of fluids. You’ll feel much better by this time tomorrow.”
“Thank you, sir. Thanks to both of you.”
Ellie reached across the table, gave his hand a squeeze, her cool touch sending a shiver up his arm. “Thankyou.”
He looked into her eyes, felt his fever rise. “What are neighbors for?”
* * *
Jesse pluggedhis iPod into his stereo, started his hard-rock playlist, and cranked the volume. Electric guitar blasted through the cabin. He pulled on latex gloves and stood in his boxer briefs in the center of the living room, surveying the battlefield that was his home. Germs had gotten the better of him. Now they would die.
Operation Annihilate was about to begin.
As far as Jesse was concerned, antibiotics were a fucking miracle drug. Almost exactly 24 hours after Doc Rouse had given him that shot, he’d begun to feel better. He’d woken up this morning planning to make up lost hours by working on his regular day off, but Matt didn’t want him anywhere near the other patrollers until his fever had been gone for a full 24 hours.
“Keep the plague to yourself.”