She checked her cell phone for the six-hundredth time. Nothing. No calls from the clinic needing extra help. No calls from her family or friends, and certainly no calls from Zan.
It was the latter that twisted her up inside. As her mate he shouldn’t be able to stay away from her. Yet since she didn’t want him for a mate she should be thrilled.
Right?
Then again, as his doctor, she really should check on him. That had to be what this strange urge was to see him. To make sure he was healing properly and not hurting. It was simply the correct and professional thing to do.
Only, she didn’t know where he was or how to reach him. Which circled back around to, why wasn’t he getting in touch with her? Was he okay? Did something else happen last night? Could he even now be lying in the middle of the forest, bleeding out from another gunshot wound?
Yep. Definitely hair pulling time.
She jumped a foot when the phone in her hand rang. The number on the screen wasn’t listed and her heart began a fast thudding in her chest at the possible implication.
“Doctor Chavez.” She grimaced at the husky tone. So not professional.
“Hey, doc. You okay?”
At Zan’s definitely alive and deep voice, a shiver of heat scorched through her veins. Shaking from the unexpected rush of lust, Jackie sank down on her couch. “I’m good. How are you?” Smart, doc. Real smart. “I mean, how are your ribs feeling? Your side? Have you changed the bandages?”
“That’s actually why I’m calling.”
One brow arched in irritation. He wasn’t calling to woo her, he was calling for medical reasons? Really, how rude was that?
Okay. Maybe it was time she seek her own doctor. One that dealt with mental malfunctions.
She rubbed her forehead. “What’s wrong?”
“I think one of my wounds is infected.”
Doctor Jackie straightened. “Infected? Which one? Explain?”
A pause. “The one on my back is healed and the one on my...it’s the one on my hip. I noticed the edges were really red when I took a shower, but I put that stuff on you gave me and re-bandaged it, but it’s starting to ache. And well.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “It’s starting to smell funny.”
Suspicious, Jackie frowned. One, while shifters were not immune from infections, they were rare, and two, if any of Zan’s wounds were to become infected, it would have been the deep bullet wound, not the gash on his hip. “Uh, huh.”
“I hate to bother you on your day off,” Jackie nearly snorted at that, “but I was hoping you might be available to check it out. Make sure it’s healing right. After all, you’re the doctor. You would know best.”
Playing to her profession. Not an original tactic but of course it worked. Regardless of her feelings for Zan, she was a doctor and he was her patient. Of course she would go. In a totally professional capacity. “Are you staying with Kaylie and Dean?”
“No. Dean put us in the old Kolter home.”
“Us?”
“Yeah. Joe and Scott have decided to stick around for a couple of days and Dean thought we’d feel more comfortable here verses the hotel.”
At least she wouldn’t be alone with Zan. Then again. Men being men, his friends may disappear on the off chance their buddy might get lucky. Creeps.
Her eyes squeezed shut. God! What was wrong with her? She wasn’t a mean person. She just felt so...so...horny. Despite everything she was told by family, friends, and patients alike, she never expected the mating heat to be this intrusive.
“So, Doc. Can you come by or do you already have plans?” Beneath the casual question was an undercurrent of steel, as if Zan expected her to drop any plans she might have and come tend to his needs. His tone made her want to snarl back that yes, she already had plans and he’d need to go to the clinic and get checked out.
Just as quickly she vetoed the idea. Jackie needed to sever whatever ideas Zan had about them and the sooner the better. Explaining so in person while she tended to him was the best course of action. It had nothing to do with this aching need to see him again. To touch him. To breath in his scent. Nope. Nothing at all.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes or so.”
“Great. I’ll see you when you get here.” Zan hung up.
Female Jackie galvanized into action. She brushed her teeth, applied powder, blush, and some light eyeliner. When she realized what she’d done, she grimaced at her reflection.
Brushed her teeth? Seriously? Was she expecting him to kiss her? Just the idea of his lips pressed to her in a hot open-mouthed kiss sent a burst of anticipation through her.
Agh. No kissing. No mating, no encouraging of any kind. You have a clinical objective, both medical and personal. Not a romantic one. Of any kind.