And So It Goes (Stevens Book 10)

Chapter 2

Agatha stuck like glue to Merrick, determined to help him with his back because he had sustained his injuries saving her. It took them half an hour to realize that the person who had been hurt the worst was Merrick himself.

"Now, can I look at your back?" Agatha asked in a weary voice.

The rush of adrenaline had taken all of her last bits of energy, and if he said no this time, she wasn't going to fight him about it anymore.

Merrick must have heard something in her voice because he stopped and turned to look at her, taking in her pale and dirty face.

"Fine, but be quick," he insisted as he walked to a curtained bay and sat on a bed, watching Agatha's every move while she gathered the necessary items needed to tend to his back.

"Can you take your shirt off, or do you want me to cut it off?" she asked as she approached him with scissors.

With an impatient sigh, Merrick crossed his arms, lifting his scrub top over his head, and Agatha swallowed hard at the magnificent play of muscle that the simple action took to accomplish.

She knew he was in shape, but she had no clue that he was a sculpted work of art. Telling herself to focus, Agatha looked at the cuts that crisscrossed his back. The blood had dried on most of them, and they were all superficial, but he was going to have some nice bruising.

Agatha took her time cleaning the cuts as best she could while telling him what she was seeing.

Merrick was unusually quiet and still while she worked.

"There you are!" Sherry said as she saw Agatha from the side of the bay. "We knew you were still out there when the blast happened, and we thought for sure you were unconscious somewhere," she said in a rush as she rounded the corner, stopping short when she saw a shirtless Merrick sitting on the gurney in front of Agatha.

It was a very unprofessional move on Sherry's part because it was obvious that Agatha was with a patient, but the moment got even worse when she openly stared at a shirtless Dr. Merrick.

"I'm fine, as you can see, Sherry. Dr. Merrick took the brunt of the blast," Agatha reassured her, hoping she would take the hint and leave.

"Do you need help," Sherry asked in a breathless voice as she pushed her pretty blond ponytail off of her shoulder.

"No, thanks, Sherry. I'm almost done," Agatha said, biting back a harsh retort at Sherry's open stare. As soon as she finished, she turned and reached under a cabinet for another extra-large scrub shirt and handed it to Merrick.

"You want to help, Seaton?" Merrick asked Sherry as he put the scrub top on in one fluid movement while referring to Sherry by her last name. He called every nurse by her last name. Agatha looked away from the muscle play as Merrick dressed.

"Yes, in any way I can," Sherry said in her breathless voice once more.

"Clean this mess up while I check Stevens out." Merrick jumped off the gurney and motioned for Agatha to follow him to another bay at the far end of the room.

"Sit!" he commanded.

"Is it necessary? It will only create more work to clean the bed," she tried to reason as she turned around to face him when he pulled the curtain. "Besides, I told you I was fine."

"I want to make sure you didn't hit your head," he insisted.

"Oh, all right, but I'm not sitting down," Agatha insisted as she turned to face him, bowing her head so he could examine it. She couldn't contain the yawn or the stomach growl that happened simultaneously. "Sorry, I'm tired and hungry. It was a long night."