Chapter 201

With only 4 days left until I leave, I have to divvy up my time carefully. The brothers have taken over for most of my nanny time, dividing Mia’s schedule among three of them. Neil, unfortunately cannot help, as, even with the treatment to his silver poison, it’s still dangerous for him and Mia to be together too long.

While I deeply appreciated the brothers taking over my duties, I still missed seeing Mia as much as I used to. With so few days left, I resolved to spend as much time with her as I could.

Which is how I found myself standing outside of Steven’s door early in the morning. He’s the one assigned to watch Mia today. I can hear her giggling inside.

I knock on the door.

“Come in,” Steven calls.

I push the door open and go inside. Steven is standing at his desk, looking down through a microscope. He looks up as I come into the room.

Mia is a few feet behind him, playing in her playpen. She’s chewing on her stuffed rabbit’s ear.

“I missed Mia,” I say to Steven. He nods as I walk past him and go to Mia. She looks up at me right away and discards her toy. Instead, she holds her hands up to me. She makes grabbing motions with her fingers, like she wants me to lift her.

I know I shouldn’t bend down. With the state of my ribs, I’m sure I’ll only hurt myself. But her eyes are so bright and innocent, and when I start to shake my head no, those same eyes go impossibly bigger and get glassy.

Oh, Gods, I’d rather break all of my ribs again myself than see her cry, so I immediately lean down. I brace myself for the pain, but oddly, it never seems to arrive. At least, not as badly as I expect. I feel more a dull burn than any sharp splintering pain.

I grip Mia around the middle and then pull myself upright. I hold her carefully in both arms, and she looks up at me and laughs. It barely hurt while I moved, but I feel next to nothing now.

How strange. Guess ribs don’t take as long to heal as some doctors believe. I could laugh about it. In fact, I’m smiling as I turn back toward Steven.

He’s staring at me, eyes wide behind his glasses.

My smile fades a little. “What is it?”

Steven comes closer to me. He looks down at where he knows my broken ribs are. “You… aren’t in pain?”

“I feel okay,” I say.

“How is that possible?” he asks.

“Maybe I’m getting better,” I suggest.

“This quickly?” He’s not convinced. He rubs his hand along his jaw as his brow lowers with contemplation.

“It can’t be that rare,” I say. There is absolutely zero things special about me. This really doesn’t feel like one of them. “Maybe my ribs weren’t as bad as everyone thought.”

“I’ve personally seen the x-rays,” Steven says. “Can I inspect you?”

“Um. Okay.” I want to make sure nothing is wrong.

I return Mia to the playpen. When I lower her down, I feel that dull ache again, but it doesn’t last when I stand back up.

I return to Steven, who is clearing off some paperwork from a granite topped table. He pats his hand on the table and I take that as a sign to sit on top of it, with my legs dangling over the edge.

I look at him expectantly, and he coughs into his fist. His cheeks start turning red.

“I… uh… For the examination to continue, you will have to remove your shirt,” he says. He quickly adds, “It is for medical purposes only, I assure you.”

“It’s okay,” I say and start to remove my shirt. “I trust you.” I’m not a prude. Being naked in front of someone else isn’t really all that big of a deal. Though, admittedly, it does seem a bit more intimate like this, with Steven looking so flustered and nervous.

But, an examination is an examination, and it’s not like I hate the thought of a good-looking guy like Steven looking at my body one way or another. So I lift my top over my head and set it beside me on the table.

Steven doesn’t look at me right away. His gaze is on the ceiling.

I check on Mia quickly, and see she is down, her closed for a nap. At least Steven’s embarrassment won’t be witnessed by a second pair of eyes, even if the person behind those eyes won’t remember it.

“I’ve removed my shirt,” I say to Steven, because he still isn’t looking.

“Right,” he says. Finally, his eyes come down. He jumps straight over my face and breasts and focuses fully on my bandaged ribs. “I’m going to remove this,” he says, and starts to gently unwind the bandages. I lift my arms to allow him room.

With my legs spread, he steps closer, into the space between them to get better access. When the bandage is fully removed, he sets that aside and then leans down to inspect closer.

He doesn’t seem to notice how close his face is now to my bra, or the… intimate position of him standing between my open legs. At least I’m wearing jeans. So maybe that will hide how my body is reacting to his closeness.

“How strange,” he says. He reaches out a hand and touches my side with gentle fingertips. I slam my eyes closed and bite my bottom lip. The barest brush of his skin to mine makes me want to jump from the table.

Control yourself, I scold inside my brain.

While Steven has shown interest in my body before, his disinterest in pursuing anything more has been made clear by his typical reaction of running away. I’m not about to press the issue. But I can’t exactly help my body’s reaction at having him so close, and touching me like this…

Suddenly, Steven’s entire body stills. He glances up at me from where he’s leaning, which means he has to look at me overtop one of my breasts. His gaze quickly veers down to it. Then back up to my face.

He hasn’t pulled away yet, oddly. As he starts to right himself, he doesn’t move away either.

His face is close to mine now. All either of us would have to do to kiss, is lean forward an inch or two and…

Steven stills again. His eyes go wide.

“I… uh…” His face is turning redder by the second.

In a flash, he steps backwards, adding space between us. I instantly mourn the loss of his touch. He stuffs his hands into his pockets.

Whatever moment we almost shared is entirely lost now.

“I’m sorry, I…”

“It’s fine,” I tell him. It really, truly is. He has nothing to be embarrassed about.

He looks at me, looks down at my chest, and then spins away so that he is facing the wall. “You can put your shirt back on now, please.”

“Okay.” I want him to feel better so I quickly obey and pull on my shirt.

While his back is to me, Steven takes a few strong breaths.

“Done,” I tell him.

He waits another moment, then, slowly, he turns back around. He’s still blushing but it’s not as bad. He seems more in control of himself now.

“What did you find out with the examination?” I ask, hoping to help bring him fully back to himself.

“Oh, yes. Very curious.” He pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “I think we should have the medical staff look at you to be certain. But what I can tell, you are healing very quickly.”

I’m confused. “That’s good right?” Why does he seem so unsure about it?

“It is, but… It doesn’t make sense. Your rate of healing is so much faster than it should be for someone without a wolf.”