The door swung open and a man emerged, clipboard in hand. He wrote down something and Loch got to his feet. The man looked up and put his pen in his white coat. “You the boyfriend?”
Loch should have lied. Taylor would probably be upset with him, but he didn’t care. “I am.”
“They said you carried her in. You need to be careful with head wounds. Should have called an ambulance. If she’d been concussed, you could have aggravated the situation.” He gave Loch a chiding look.
Loch raked a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to get her to a doctor.” The man’s words sunk in and he looked up. “So she’s not concussed?”
“She took a hard smack on the head, but she’ll be fine in a few days. Six stitches at the hairline, a sprained ankle from where she fell, and a bruised rib from hitting something on the way down. Maybe a chair, if the place was as crowded as you said.” The doctor shifted on his feet and then gave Loch a stern look. “She said she lives alone but I want someone to watch her for the next few days, just in case her head wound is more serious than we think.”
“Of course.” The man didn’t even have to ask. Loch was already planning on bringing Taylor to his hotel and pampering her for the next while. “I’ll stay with her constantly until she’s better.”
“The young lady has quite a chart,” the doctor said, raising an eyebrow. “She’s a bit accident prone. Been in the emergency room several times in the last few years.”
Loch rubbed his mouth. Poor Taylor. “She gets distracted.”
“Try and keep her off her feet so she doesn’t re-injure herself, then?”
Loch nodded. “Can I see her?”
The doctor gestured at the door. “Someone will be by shortly to finish her paperwork and then she can go home. I’ll give her a prescription for some Tylenol-3, but other than that, just give it time and rest.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” He shook the man’s hand and then raced toward Taylor’s room.
Inside the hospital room, there was a bed, a blue shower-curtain thing pulled off to one side, and some beeping equipment. He didn’t care about any of that. What he did care about was the small, fragile-looking woman lying on her back, her hair spread on the pillow, her eyes closed. There was a large bandage on her head and one of her feet stuck out from the blankets, wrapped in what looked like an inflated plastic boot.
“Taylor?” He moved toward her bed, keeping his voice low so as not to bother her if she was sleeping.
Her eyes flicked open and she looked over at him. “You’re still here, Thor?”
“Still here.” He pulled a chair next to the side of the bed and took her hand in his. Her black T-shirt had DID YOU TRY TURNING IT OFF AND ON? In bold yellow lettering across the breasts, and his gaze slid there before moving back to her face. “How are you feeling?”
“Like an idiot?”
“You tripped and fell. That’s all. Happens to everyone.”
“Happens to me a lot,” she whispered ruefully, then winced. “My head is killing me.”
“That’s because you tried to remove it from your body.” Her small hand was soft in his, and he stroked his fingers over the back of it, over and over again.
She giggled, and then hissed, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. “That hurt.”
“No laughing.”
Taylor nodded, and then gave his hand a little shake. “You didn’t have to stay. I’m sure this isn’t the Saturday night you had planned.”
“Of course I stayed.” All of her other friends had clutched at their computers, unsure what to do, and had given him grateful looks when he left with her. He suspected they’d probably just gone right back to playing their games. “The doctor says you need to have someone with you for the next few days to watch over you.”
She made a face. “I’ll be fine.”
“Even if you were, I’ve already decided that you’re going to come back with me to my hotel.”
Her eyes squinted open. “What?”
“I have your laptop here with me.” He patted the bag hanging from his side. “My hotel has extra robes and we’ll order room service. There’s also a jacuzzi tub and I’ll get you a massage tomorrow to help your aching muscles. In short, you’re staying with me for the next week.”
She pulled her hand weakly from his. “Loch, really, you don’t—”
“I know I don’t, but I’m going to. You’re my friend, Taylor, and friends look after one another.” Maybe she didn’t realize that because all of her so-called friends had gone right back to gaming even as he’d carried her into a taxi. “Unless you have someone else in the city you want to call on and stay with?”
She thought for a moment. “My parents are in Colorado.”
“Bit of a drive.”
“A bit, yeah.” Her mouth twitched. “I could call Gretchen.”
“You could, but she’s no doubt busy, and I, on the other hand, have nothing but free time.”
Taylor slowly sat up in bed. “I’m going to feel like a huge burden if you take care of me. This is not how one-night stands work, Thor.”
“You let me worry about that.”
She nodded, and then touched her side, wincing. “I feel like crap.”
“You look like crap, too, if it helps.” Her face was entirely too pale for his liking.
Another giggle escaped her, followed by a wince. “Thanks for the flattery.”