some headaches for a little while, but if your head hurts a great deal, or if it hurts for an extended time, I want you to tell me about it, okay?”
She nodded, but he waited for her to answer verbally. “Okay.”
“But I want you to get plenty of rest so that hopefully we won't have to worry about your head hurting too much.” Ellie came back with a syringe, and put the medicine in Kara's IV. “Is there anything I can get for you, Kara?”
“No, I'm good. Thanks.”
“I'm going to leave, too,” Nick said after Ellie left, “so you can take a nap. I can tell you're tired.”
“Will you come back later?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes.” She was laying back against her pillow with her eyes closed and didn't see the smile her simple answer brought to Nick's face.
“Okay. I'll be back later this evening then. You sleep now and let that foot heal.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. He was happy to see her smile when he did.
Nick had to work the next day, but he released her that evening, after checking with the nurses as to her progress during the day. He told her if she let a nurse help her dress and get ready to go he'd take her home and get her settled in. She readily agreed, and he checked in on another patient of his while she dressed.
She directed him to her apartment, and he soon had her resting comfortably on her couch with her foot resting on a pillow on the coffee table, while he went to a drug store to get her medications. He also brought back dinner for them, which they ate in the living room.
After they ate Nick picked up their dishes and the empty containers and headed for the kitchen, telling her in no uncertain terms to rest. She noted how bossy he sounded, or very authoritative, as she liked to think of it, but again, she knew he was looking out for her, and instead of being upset by it she got a warm feeling from it.
He came back in and sat down at the end of the couch and gently pulled her up against him, so her back was leaning against his chest. “Now you can put your foot up on the couch to elevate it,” he told her, more as a statement than a suggestion.
For some reason, when she heard that tone she seemed to automatically do what he said. She didn't think about it first or question it; she just did it. She wondered about her response to his stern voice, as she'd begun to call it in her mind, because she wasn't normally that amenable to taking orders. But for some reason when he used that voice she always equated it with him looking out for her, and that made her feel secure. This time was no exception, and as soon as her foot was elevated on the couch he pulled her a little closer to him with his arms wrapped around her waist, and he leaned down close to her ear. “That's my girl,” he whispered, and kissed the top of her head. She snuggled in against him.
They turned the television on, but didn't watch much of it. They were talking, and growing closer than either thought was possible this quickly. After leaning against him for about an hour she chuckled.
“What's so funny?” he asked.
“It just occurred to me, my co-workers set me up on a blind date for tonight. I forgot all about it until now. I will assume when I called and told them I'd been in an accident and wouldn't be in, they canceled that for me. I'm good with it being canceled. I really didn't want to go, but I didn't want to hurt their feelings. I'd been trying to find some way of getting out of it. I guess I succeeded.”
He chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders. “Kind of an extreme move just to get out of a blind date, don't you think?”
“Maybe, but look what I got,” she said casually. “I'd much rather be here with you than anywhere else with someone I don't know.”
“You didn't know me until Wednesday,” he pointed out. “Maybe you would have really liked this blind date.”
“Maybe. But this is the fourth time they've set me up and I haven't liked any of them yet,” she said.
He sat up straighter at her words, and was quiet for a couple of minutes. “I don't want you to do that any more,” he said.
She considered his words, which was a very blunt statement, and his reasoning. “Why?”
“I hate the thought of you going somewhere with a man you don't know. That's not safe.”
Her shoulders slumped a little. She'd hoped he meant she didn't need to go out with anyone else now because they were dating. However, it still showed he was thinking of her safety. While she was trying to decide how she felt, he continued. “Kara, the more I get to know you the more I want to know you even better, and I feel like you have similar thoughts. Am I wrong about that?”
“No, you're not,” she readily admitted.
“So I think we owe it to ourselves to see what becomes of this relationship.”
“I’m good with that.”
He paused several moments. “We haven't known each other long, but just in the time we've spent together, I feel like you're a friend – I mean, a true friend, and I care about you more than I ever thought I could care about someone in this short a time. I think that's because we have a natural attraction for each other. I hope things work out with us, but even if they don't, I don't want you going on blind dates any more.”
“But if we —”
“Look,” he said, “I know we're not officially together as a couple, at least not yet, and I may not have a right to tell you who you can or can't see, but I care about you.” He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “I care about you a great deal, and going out with men you don't know isn't safe. I'd rather you be with me, but if that doesn't happen I want to be sure you're with someone safe. So I don't want you going on any more blind dates with these men.”
“But Nick, my friends set us up. The guys have to be all right or they wouldn't have set us up.”
“You said you haven't cared much for the others. Be honest with yourself, Kara; did you feel safe with them?”
“I knew at least one of my co-workers knew each one of them. They wouldn't hook me up with someone they couldn't trust.”
“That didn't answer my question. Did you feel safe with all of them?” She dropped her head and didn't answer right away. “That's what I thought. Kara, you don't know how your co-workers knew these men. They could be a friend of a friend of a friend. Please tell me you won't go out with men you don't know any more. You need to have at least met them, talked with them a while before you go anywhere with them.”
“So I have to have a date with them and get to know them before I can go on a date with them?”
Nick sighed and shook his head slowly. “You're a smart lady, Kara. That's one thing that's drawn me to you. You know what I'm saying, but I will not argue with you about it now.” He leaned down and kissed her neck. “I honestly think it's a moot point, because I think we've been brought together by fate, and we're meant to be together. I've never felt this way about a woman before, and I'm serious about that. I have an unexplainable need to protect you.”
“You do?”
“Obviously,
