Page 36 of Faking Forever
When he removed his hand she nearly cried out in protest at the loss of his touch. But he didn’t go too far. Instead he efficiently unlaced her sneaker and then closed a palm around her bare calf to support her leg while he used his other hand to tug the shoe from her foot with the utmost care.
She was unable to prevent the moan from slipping out when he freed her foot. The shoe had been acting as support by keeping the digit in place. Without it, she could feel just how badly her toe was injured.
She screwed her eyes shut, against both the pain and the impulse to look. For a doctor, she was pretty squeamish about personal injuries.
“How does it look?”
“Not great.” His succinct reply didn’t tell her much and she knew she was going to have to take a peek to gauge the extent of the damage herself.
She sat for a moment, eyes still closed, belatedly realizing that Smith had one hand gently cupped around her bare heel and the other rested just above her knee. The fingers of the latter hand were gently—almost absently—stroking over her goose-fleshed skin.
She gnawed at her top lip, steeling herself, and opened her eyes. Her gaze immediately collided with Smith’s. He’d been staring at her, an inscrutable expression on his face. He quickly averted his gaze, and as if he’d only now become aware of the fact that he was caressing her, snatched his hand away from her knee.
“What do you think?” he asked, his focus now on the foot still resting on his hard thigh. There was an odd rasp in his voice.
Kenny forced herself to look, then swallowed down a surge of nausea at the sight of her clearly broken toe. It was swollen to twice its original size and badly bruised.
“I think it’s going to need to be x-rayed. It looks like a bad break.”
“Pain? One to ten?”
“About seven.” She paused for a second before adding, “And a half.”
His lifted his eyes to meet hers again, his gaze piercing and perceptive.
“So an eleven, then?”
Her chin wobbled as she gulped down some air before nodding.
“Yes.”
“I have no idea how you managed to walk on this,” he said, sounding a little shaken as he looked down at her foot again.
“Honestly? Neither do I. Adrenaline, probably.”
They sat in silence for a few moments longer before he exhaled gustily and lifted her legs off his lap. He got up, dragging a cushion over to elevate her feet.
“Do not move. I’ll get you some ibuprofen. Then we’re going to the emergency room.”
“No,” she protested. “It’s late. We can do that tomorrow. Nothing’s going to change between now and then. It won’t get worse if I stay off it. I just need to ice it and keep it elevated.”
“They’ll have stronger painkillers.”
“I can cope.”
“Yeah, we’ve established what a trooper you are, Kenna,” he snapped, acid in his voice. “You can cope with anything, can’t you?”
Noteverything. Not his blatant hatred and hostility.
She remained mute as she held his gaze and felt a brief flicker of satisfaction when he was the first one to break eye contact. He muttered something under his breath and strode from the room to the open-plan kitchen without a word.
He returned a minute later with a glass of water and a couple of pills.
Kenny took them with a grateful smile.
“When last did you eat?” he asked, looming above her with his hands thrust into the pockets of his jeans.
The question made her aware she was starving.
