Page 3 of The Debt Collector


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There was no point in trying to get him to change his mind. His words sounded as if he was used to discomfort. She got the feeling that his words had a deeper meaning and he wasn’t talking just about physical pain.

Tessa never liked to see a patient in pain if it could be helped, but in this case, she knew instinctively that arguing would lead to nothing and to administer anything without his consent would make him react badly.

So, she decided she needed to work quickly. Stitching had always been easy for her. Often her teachers told her that she should consider surgery with her talent for such delicate work, but once she had a taste of the emergency room, there was no going back for her. She liked the high-adrenaline environment, the way decisions had to be made quickly, and how she could help people as soon as they arrived. Stress wasn’t a problem for her. It was as if her mind floated separate from her body, making her efficient and detached. However, when the emergency was over, her heart was immediately touched by the human underneath the tragedy. From the bottom of her heart, she hoped she was a good doctor.

She didn’t need to turn her head to know the sea-green eyes alternated between her face and hands, watching at everything she did, with a hint of distrust.

When she started working on the second gash, he finally relaxed. Hormones were working as his body battled the pain. His arm extended, he moved a little, so his hand hovered over her tray. From the corner of her eye, she saw him play with her tools. No, not play, rearrange was more appropriate. He realigned her tools and gathered all the bloody gauze in a neat pile. Once he was done, he relaxed even more.

Curious, Tessa took another square of gauze and dabbed the little trickle of blood on his side before throwing it on her tray again, making sure she disturbed the neat arrangement.

Returning to the task at hand, it took less than a minute before she saw his fingers twitch again as he put the tray in order once more.

Tessa felt amused by his OCD and repeated her actions two more times. And both times, the stranger fixed the tray. She was about to do it one last time, when a low growl came from him, and she looked up.

The man glared at her, but there was definitely amusement mingling in his stare. “Aren’t we playful, Doctor.” And once more, he twirled a stray hair, before putting it back in place, this time, his finger traced the shell of her ear.

Tessa bit her lip before succumbing to a smile, her heart speeding up. “Aren’t we a little obsessed, Mr.Morrow?”

The smile he gave her was wry, but before he could answer, a nurse arrived, ready to escort him to his MRI.

Pushing the tray aside, Tessa removed her gloves and put them in the bin. “We’ll continue this interesting conversation when you return from the scan, Mr.Morrow. I’ve stitched you up and applied surgical glue, so no need for bandages. In a couple of days, you should be good as new.”

She saw him open his mouth when a loud ruckus came from the emergency room.

Tessa’s heart sank a little as she was enjoying flirting with him, even if he was her patient. But again, work reminded her that the life she had chosen took precedence over her raging hormones.

However, when she finally had time off, she would lose herself in the memory of the sea-colored eyes of the fascinating stranger.