Belle paused mid-dial, then set down her phone. If something had Keira fl.u.s.tered, it had to be serious.

As soon as she opened her office door, she caught sight of Zackary.

He stood in front of the reception desk, empty-handed. Dark stains were spread over his khaki pants and grey polo shirt.

"Is that coffee?" Belle winced. It had to have been scalding.

"Yeah." He looked down and frowned, not at his clothes, but at his hands.

They were an angry shade of red, and he held them in front of himself as if afraid to let them touch anything.

"That looks painful."

He grimaced. "I tripped over a rift in the sidewalk. My hands got the worst of it."

"Let's get them under cool water." Keira marched to the small bathroom by the annex and turned on the cold water for Zackary, who followed.

"You need to see a doctor," Keira said as he held his hands below the faucet. "Those burns need treatment."

He shook his head. "I can't."

"Well, you're not working anymore today, if that's what you're thinking, so yes you can." Keira crossed her arms.

"It's not that. I don't have insurance."

Keira frowned. "That doesn't mean you don't need use of your hands."

"It's okay. I'm almost to graduation; I can treat it myself."

"You're studying to be a radiologic technician. I don't know why you think knowing how to take an x-ray will help you treat burns. You'd do yourself more harm than good."

"Well, then I'll" He paused, the picture of befuddled misery as he stood hunched over the sink. "I'll get someone else to do it. But not a doctor. Even an express clinic would cost a fortune without insurance."

A pang of sympathy struck Belle. He was right an uninsured doctor's visit would be a financial black hole for a college student working on campus to sc.r.a.pe by.

"The treatment is simple," he said. "All I need is some ointment and bandages."

Keira exited the bathroom, shaking her head.

"That boy needs help," she said, shooting Belle a serious look. "His burns don't look to be any worse than second degree, though. If he won't go to the doctor, he could probably keep them clean on his own if he's careful."

"I could drive to the drug store on the corner a few blocks from here and pick up what he needs." Belle thought of Zackary tripping while carrying three drinks one of them hers and her hot coffee spilling onto his hands. "I could be back before he's done rinsing his hands."

Guilt hit her. She remembered what it'd been like as a student on a tight budget. Regardless of what Jackson thought, her parents had scrimped and saved for years in order to send their three kids to college. They hadn't been wealthy, and she'd worked part-time in an ice cream parlor to cover her living expenses.

Every dollar had mattered to her in those days, and she'd budgeted her paychecks scrupulously.

Keira nodded. "I have an appointment with a student in ten minutes, but I'll call that college about those transcripts while you're gone."

"Thank you."

Belle went to the nearest drug store and back as quickly as she could, returning in fifteen minutes with ointment and sterile bandages. When she got back to the admissions office, Zackary was sitting in her office chair with his hands resting on his thighs, palms up.

"Keira told me to wait in here, where I wouldn't freak anybody out," he said when she walked in.

"That's fine." She set the drugstore bag down on her desk.

He nodded. "Thanks. I'll pay you back for that stuff."

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it it was my coffee you were getting when you were burnt."

He shrugged. "Not just yours, though."

She applied the ointment and bandages without saying anything. She hadn't spent much, and felt bad that he didn't have insurance and had to rely on her inexpert first aid. Paying for the bandages really wasn't a big deal.

When she was finished applying them though, he kept thanking her as if it were.

"It was no problem. Really." She cast her glance beyond her office door. Had Keira managed to get in touch with the college?

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Keira emerged from her office and approached Belle's. "Good news," she said. "A new transcript is on the way."

Belle breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great. Thank you so much."

Keira nodded, then tipped her head in Zackary's direction. "Time for you to head home."

His jaw dropped. "But I'm supposed to work until three."

"You can't answer phones or type, so unless you can use your feet like hands, I suggest you take the rest of the day off. You can make up the hours later."

Eventually he nodded, peering down at his bandaged hands. "Guess I'll take the bus."

Belle was almost tempted to offer to drive him home. Almost, but not quite. Ever since she'd applied those bandages, he'd been giving her some lingering looks.

Maybe she should've asked Keira to apply the bandages now that it was all said and done, she got the feeling that she'd encouraged whatever ideas he had about winning her over.

Which was almost as awkward for the office as finding their recent "surprise" had been.

"She walked back into the house after that," Jackson said, lying sprawled on Belle's bed, his arms folded over a pillow. "I could see her shut down when I made that comment about not wishing that s.h.i.t on a child."

Belle lay on her side, her head propped on a hand. Her hair was mussed, her chest was flushed pink and she was completely naked just like him. He could still feel the sweat that'd beaded on the back of his neck as he'd f.u.c.ked her.

"You did what you could," she said, her brows drawing together. "I don't think you were wrong to say it."

He tore his gaze from Belle for just a second and let it settle on the heap of dark clothing lying on the floor beside the bed his uniform. She'd taken it off him and he'd reveled in every second of that and what had followed, but now the day came crashing back down on him.

"She was talking to me before that. Making up bulls.h.i.t excuses, but she was talking. It was over as soon as I said that."

"Maybe it struck a chord. Maybe she'll think about it."

He shrugged, trying to shed his discomfort, as if it were an itch.

"Whatever her husband tells her obviously holds more weight with her than anything I have to say."

"Maybe that will change, eventually." Belle frowned. "Meanwhile, you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. Until she's willing to press charges, your hands are tied."

"I know." It was true, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He could at least shut up about it, though. Complaining to Belle wasn't going to change anything, although it did feel good to get it off his chest.

"How was your work today?" he asked. "No more surprises, right?"

She started to shake her head, then paused. "Well, our student worker tripped and spilled hot coffee all over himself. Burnt his hands, and I had to play nurse. Apparently, he doesn't have any insurance. I guess you could call all that a surprise."

"Sounds like you deserve a raise."

She shrugged. "Technically, patching up clumsy people isn't part of my job description. I felt bad for him, though. He was on a coffee run for the office when it happened."

"At least he got something out of it."

She arched a brow. "What's that?"

"Your undivided attention. I'm sure that was a silver lining."

She snorted, her gaze shifting down to the sheets. "I seriously doubt my attempt at first aid made the burns worth it."

"You obviously have no idea what men would go through to get the attention of a woman like you."

She looked back up, smiling. "It's funny that you should say that, when I'm not exactly known for making guys jump through hoops."

He tried to look offended. "All these years, I've been telling myself I was special that you just couldn't resist me. Don't tell me that wasn't the case."

Her smile widened into a grin. "Actually, that's pretty accurate."

He didn't have to fake an expression of pride. "I knew it."

"I only ever went on a few dates in college, and they were pretty lame. Dated a couple guys afterward, and they were even lamer."

"So what you're saying" he reached out to stroke the delicate line of her jaw "is that I'm the best you've ever had."

"Well..." She tipped her head to the side, so that her cheekbone grazed his knuckles. "Yes, if I'm being honest."

CHAPTER 14.

Jackson couldn't help the big, stupid grin that spread across his face.

"Of course, like I said, the other guys I dated were pretty lame, so"

"Uh-uh," he said. "You can't take that back. Don't even try."

She laughed. "I wasn't trying to take it back. I was just saying"

"What's it going to take to stop you from finishing that sentence?" He rolled over, putting his face close enough to hers that he could feel the heat of her breath.

"Come on, Jackson let me sc.r.a.pe up a little of my dignity here. You're not supposed to admit something like that to someone you just started dating."

"Too bad. I'm not gonna forget it." He stroked her jaw again. "Now, what's it going to take?"

She arched a brow. "Well, I can think of a couple ways I might be silenced."

"Oh yeah?" He slipped a hand into her hair and drew her in close for a kiss.

The heat of her lips against his slipped into his veins and rekindled the longing he'd just slaked. That combined with her saying he was the best she'd ever had had him hard again. She could joke about it all she wanted he'd seen the way she'd blushed.

It was good to know he'd been doing something right. If he could pull off being good for her out of bed, too, he just might be able to hold onto her.

When they finally broke apart, her breath was coming in heavier drafts than it had been before.

"Okay," she said, meeting his eyes, "that was nice while it lasted. But now would be a great time for you to admit something personal and embarra.s.sing so I don't feel so pathetic."

"Okay." He bit back a grin. Why she was still blushing was beyond him, but she seemed to be waiting for him to say something. "How's this: a couple years ago, I went to work hungover. Got real sick about an hour into my shift and had to pull over at a convenience store and run into the bathroom. What I didn't realize was that the b.u.t.ton on my radio was pressing against something on my duty belt. I puked my guts out with an open mic, and everyone heard."

Belle snorted.

"Then," he said, "when I finally got out of the bathroom, I realized that I'd scared the h.e.l.l out of everyone running into the store like that. People saw a cop running and figured something was going on. The store manager was hyperventilating and it took me a good ten minutes to calm him down. Everyone heard that, too."

She laughed, pressing her face into a pillow. "Okay, that's pretty embarra.s.sing."

"I hope you realize I wouldn't have told just any woman that. You're special."

"Oh, I definitely feel special. Why were you so hungover that day special occasion the night before?"

"My roommate and I are pretty tight, and it was his birthday. Some of the other guys from our platoon came over, and some of us went overboard." Unfortunately, he'd been the only one to puke all his bad decisions back up over the radio the next morning.

He'd felt like the king of all idiots for a solid month after that.

"Your roommate is a cop too, right? You said something about going through the academy together."

"Yeah, we did. We belong to the same platoon now, too."

"I guess if you're going to have a roommate, it's nice to have one who understands you."