A Needful Heart
Authors: J.M. Madden
Tags: #unrequited love, #contemporary romance, #sexy romance, #madden, #nurse romance, #carpenter romance, #abuse survivor, #indie romance
Copyright 2012 J.M. Madden
Published by J.M. Madden
Cover by Viola Estrella
Smashwords Edition
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the
author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author
acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various
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As always, I have to recognize my husband for
being the fantastic man he is and supporting me in everything I
want to do. He is my hero.
I have to thank the girls of KYRW for being
awesome critique partners and sounding boards. You ladies are the
best!
And to my parents, all of them, for being
supportive whether you understand the media or not. I love you
guys.
Matt hoped for, yet dreaded, the possibility
that Gina would brush against him as she strode down the hallway to
the next exam room. The hope nagged at him. The dread, on the other
hand, gnawed out his stomach and almost swamped him. What if she
did brush against him? What if she glanced up at him with that
gut-turning smile she had and said something to him, and expected
some kind of response?
His worries stalled as she bypassed him
completely and went into the small lab room directly across from
where he leaned. He blew the stale air from his lungs and tried to
settle his thudding heart. The peaches and cream scent she wore
wafted to him, teased him with her freshness and sent a fresh jolt
of awareness down his body.
Once a month for the past four years Matt had
brought his neighbor George in for check-ups following a liver
transplant. While George waited to be seen, Matt devoted his time
to watching Gina and storing up images of her in his mind to tide
him over till the next month. The shape of her ass in pink scrubs
as it swayed down the hallway, the way her curly hair blew under
the vent at the far end, the way her smiles came so easily when she
greeted people and the way her ice-blue eyes crinkled at the
corners. Every time they left the doctor’s office, Matt was
frustrated and furious at himself for not talking to Gina about
something other than George’s next appointment or the pills he was
on. But nothing ever came to mind. She’d tried to start
conversations before, and he had totally locked up. She had to
think he was the village idiot. Or the Shelbyville, Indiana,
idiot.
Clenching his fists in frustration, he vowed
to himself he was going to say
something
to her coherent,
even if he had to stay here all day to do it. He needed to talk to
her just to prove to himself that he could. Besides, it wasn’t like
she’d respond. Her pristine little life didn’t have room for a
roughneck like him in it. She’d give him a generic smile and dodge
around him like she always did, and maybe he could get over this
thing he had for her. Determined, planning words in his head, he
stepped into the lab room doorway.
Just as Gina started to exit.
Head down, she was scanning a chart in her
hand, totally oblivious. She plowed into him folder first. Papers
flew and her arms wind-milled as she tried to keep her balance.
Matt reached out to grab her but missed her arm. Horrified, he
could only watch as she crashed to the hard tile. One of her tiny
hands went down first to try to break her fall, and Matt heard the
snap as soon as it hit. Her cry of pain made his stomach
clench.
Oh, fuck! I’ve broken her
.
He was on his knees in an instant, but the
damage was done. Gina’s eyes were awash in tears as she struggled
to sit up. He put a trembling hand behind her back to support her.
“Gina, I am so sorry,” he began. His chest was tight with fear at
what he had done and the urge to throw up was almost more than he
could swallow down.
Her fly-away brown hair shone in the light as
she shook her head and looked up at him with a tight smile. “No,
Matt, it wasn’t your fault. I wasn’t watching where I was
going.”
She moaned as she cradled her right wrist. It
was quite obviously broken. Matt had had enough broken bones in his
life to know the sound. Then the instant nausea, the disbelief.
Man, why hadn’t he just stood against the
wall?
Gina cradled her arm protectively as
footsteps approached. Dr. Hamilton stepped in, saw her on the floor
and dropped to her other side.
“What happened?” he demanded. Gently, he took
her wrist in his hands to examine it.
“I knocked her down,” Matt admitted.
Gina laughed, or tried to. “No, you didn’t,
Matt. You were just standing there.
I
ran into
you
.”
She gasped as the doctor turned her arm over.
“Definitely broken. We’ll get a splint to
bind you up so you can go to the hospital. Any other injuries?” The
older man peered into her eyes over the tops of his bifocals.
Gina turned her head and tested the rest of
her body parts, but everything seemed to work correctly. “I think
just my wrist. I put my hand down to catch myself.”
Madison, one of the other RNs, came in the
door and almost tripped on the group on the floor. “Oh, my God.
What happened?” She knelt down and rested a hand on Gina’s knee.
“What did you do, Gina?”
“I fell and broke my arm. Klutz that I
am.”
Matt rumbled deep in his chest, fists
clenched. Why was she taking the responsibility? It was his fault,
not hers. He must have looked truly alarming, because Gina reached
out and rested her good hand on his arm. “I did it, Matt. Not
you.”
For the first time, Gina got a good look at
Matt’s face under the bill of his cap, and it worried her. He was
pale, a tic in his jaw was pounding overtime and every one of his
impressive muscles were clenched. The expression in his eyes made
her think of a wild horse. Spooked. Shaken. “Matt, look at me.” She
waited until he did. “You did not do this. I did. Just like the
five other times I’ve broken a bone. It was all me.”
Something must have gotten through to him,
because he eased back a bit on his haunches. Some of the fierceness
left his bold face. He looked down where her hand rested on his
tattooed arm, and Gina couldn’t tell if he was surprised to see her
touch him or what, but the expression on his face broke her heart.
If the adrenalin wasn’t beginning to wear off, and her arm wasn’t
beginning to throb, she would have probably taken more time to
explore it.
“We need to get you to the hospital, Gina,”
Dr. Hamilton manipulated her arm into a soft splint as he spoke,
and Gina gasped at the pain. Her eyes welled with tears as he
gently strapped it on. He checked the circulation in her fingertips
and guided her to hold her hand up, across her chest.
“Ok, it seems good. Let me get one of the
nurses to run you over to the hospital.”
“I can walk over. It’s not that far.” It was
only actually a quarter of a mile, but Gina dreaded every step even
as she made the offer.
“I’ll take her.”
Matt’s voice brought all eyes to him. His
skin took on a ruddy cast at the attention, but his eyes stayed
determined. “George still has to be seen. I’ll take her over and
come back for George.”
Dr. Hamilton hesitated, his kind eyes
shifting between Gina and the big man. “I don’t know…”
“I’ll take her,” he repeated, and Gina could
hear the determination in his voice.
Dr. Hamilton reached out to clap him on the
back but changed his mind at the last second. “Ok. Thank you,
Matt.”
Before she knew what happened, Gina was
gently lifted her to her feet and guided down the hallway. Madison
retrieved her purse from the break room, promised to check on her
later, and out the door they went. Matt made her wait at a bench
out front and jogged to get his truck, a big black dually. He
bumped the curb and pulled it right up to the bench. Gina laughed
at his total disregard for propriety, but she appreciated not
having to walk any further than necessary because every step caused
a ripple of pain to slide up her arm. He was so very gentle as he
handed her up into the truck. Gina knew if she faltered, he would
catch her in a heartbeat.
“You don’t have to do this, Matt,” she told
him faintly. The pain was really beginning to get to her.
“I’m already doing it.”
In less than a minute, he had pulled up in
front of the emergency room doors. Gina tried to juggle her purse
and grab the door handle with her left hand, but all she managed to
do was drop the bag upside down on the ground. Contents scattered
everywhere. Her lip gloss and mascara rolled away under the truck,
and her credit cards fanned across the concrete.
“Damn it!” Frustrated tears filled her
eyes.
Matt appeared in front of her as she prepared
to drop to the ground to retrieve her things.
“Just hold on a minute,” he grumbled. Leaning
down, he snatched up all the items and shoved them in her purse,
then zipped it closed when he was done. Gina was dismayed to see
her cell phone in his big hands, in several pieces. “This didn’t
survive. I’m sorry.”
The new, shiny, red phone had been an
extravagance, and it made her sad to see it broken. Great, just
great.
Slinging the purse strap over her shoulder,
she left the pieces lying on the seat. She had other things to
worry about right now.
Matt held onto her good arm as she slid down
out of the cab, and Gina appreciated the help. It was bad enough
having to go to the emergency room like this. Sprawling on the
concrete was not something she wanted to do in front of so many
people she knew. Delores Jones manned the front desk, as she had
every day for twenty years, and Gina sagged into her arms
gratefully as she came through the doors. Concern darkened the
older woman’s eyes.
“Oh, girl, what did you do to yourself?”
“Tumbleweed strikes again,” Gina mumbled,
cradling her arm. “I fell.”
“We’ll get you fixed right up, honey.”
As Delores hustled her into the emergency,
Gina turned to thank Matt for bringing her, but he was already
gone.
***
Though everybody tried to be gentle in their
care, Gina was frazzled and in pain three hours later when she
tried to sign her release paperwork with her left hand. Delores was
still at the front desk. Her smile creased her kind face until she
saw the bulky blue cast on Gina’s right arm and the sling that
looped around her neck.
“Oh, dear. You poor thing. And look how
whipped you are.”
Gina forced a smile at her concern, though it
took more energy than she cared to expend. She was so tired.
“Delores, can I get you to call me a cab?
I’ll have to get my car later.”
“Oh, no, dear. No cab. Your lumberjack
chauffer is here. ” She waved a hand at the farthest, darkest
corner of the waiting room.