Page 37 of One Kind Hand

He’d been wrong.

X-rays could take forever and doctors could be annoyingly thorough when agents called them, threatening lawsuits up the ass if any injury was overlooked.

Thanks, Cody. Austin sighed as he sat on the edge of a bed and waited for a doctor to come tell him he could leave. He was about to sneak out on his own and find Charlie when the door swung open. The doctor strode in, a tablet in his hands.

“We don’t get movie stars in the ER often, Mr. Rayhill.” He extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure. I’m a big fan.”

“Thanks. Nice to meet you too. Am I all set?”

“You are. It appears you were correct. Not a broken bone to be found and damn, we looked for one.” He chuckled. “You must have a steel-reinforced skeletal system or something.”

“I think I got lucky the way the pavement landed. It only banged my head and caught my arm.”

“Yeah, and I’d expect both to be colorfully bruised in the near future.” He tapped on his tablet a few times. “I do want you watched for signs of concussion though, to be safe. Did you have someone escort you here that can stay with you?”

Austin grinned. “I do. She’s out in the waiting room.”

“Great. I’ll go grab her so I can explain what to look for to both of you at once.”

“Excellent.” Austin got a little more comfortable on the bed and summoned up his acting skills to look a little extra exhausted even though he was more charged than tired. The idea that Charlie would have to stay with him—overnight—delighted him in so many ways. Of course, he’d wanted the invitation to stay to be more slickly delivered, but he wasn’t above using today’s emergency to spend the night with her.

A few minutes later, the doctor returned with Charlie. Even with some dust on her sweater and jeans, she was the hottest thing he’d ever seen.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to call Cody or someone else?” she asked.

Okay. She didn’t lead with saying she didn’t want to stay with me. That had to be good. He understood he was putting her on the spot here and the gentleman in him wanted to give her an out if she needed one.

“Only if you don’t want the job as my guardian for the night.”

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she stared at him. Then she looked at the doctor. “Do I get to shake him if he passes out or something?”

“Uhh . . . no.”

“Damn.” The slight upturn of her lips encouraged Austin. “I guess I’ll still take the job.”

“You promise not to shake him, right?” The doctor truly looked concerned and Austin laughed.

“I promise.” Charlie held up her hand as if taking an oath. “Give me the rest of the instructions.”

The doctor filled them both in on symptoms of concussion and then Austin called the hotel to send a car to pick them up. They were dropped off at the filming location and Charlie drove them back to the hotel in her SUV.

They were quiet in the elevator ride up to the penthouse suite, but as soon as the doors opened, Cody descended on them.

“You’re really okay?” his agent asked, giving him a critical once-over.

“I am.” Austin fingered a tear in his cargoes. “I’ll need knew pants for tomorrow though.”

“Tomorrow?” Cody’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. “Dude, you can take some time off.”

“Don’t need it. I mean, maybe no stunt heavy scenes tomorrow, but we could bang out some of the easy ones. No sense in wasting valuable time.” He gestured to his face. “No visible gashes here so we won’t need a ton of makeup to hide anything. A wise person told me to keep my face protected.” He slid a glance toward Charlie who winked at him.

“Well . . . okay . . . if you’re sure.” Cody looked doubtful.

“I’m sure.” He reached back for Charlie’s hand, relieved when she took it without needing coaxing. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Charlie has the important job of making sure I don’t suddenly turn into a vegetable.”

“I could have done that.” Cody actually pouted a little, and Charlie loosened her grip on Austin’s hand as if she were about to agree with Cody.

Not happening.