George took her hand in his and held it to his chest. She turned to face him and was almost nose to nose with him. Angie stopped. “I’m okay Angie. Just stiff. If it bothers you that I’m nude, I’ll cover up more. It doesn’t bother me,” he said quietly. He didn’t move off of the blankets.
Angie blinked, then swallowed trying to find the words spinning through her brain. “Okay,” she said at last.
“Sit down next to me and tell me all that’s happened. How long have I been out and who started to make those repairs?” he asked pointing to the ceiling. Angie snuggled in close to him as he moved to sit up. George wrapped his left arm around her.
“Well, once you fell, I called Luc who called Jeff. Luc and Meg arrived just before Jeff and his wife Martha. Jeff fixed you up. A big nail drove in under your ribs and tore muscles and your diaphragm. Jeff did sort of field surgery on you to fix you up and he gave you a shot that knocked you out for most of the day,” she said ticking things off on her fingers. “It’s been about twenty-eight hours since you fell through the floor. It’s about 5am right now. Cal and Peter came over and put a chunk of plywood over the hole until they can fix it. I’ve been cuddled up to you most of the time unless I’ve gotten something to eat. And, I was trying to read my book and must have fallen asleep on the love seat,” she finally finished.
“I can tell you were snuggled up to me,” he said. “I can smell you on the blankets.”
“Well, at first if I tried to leave, even to go to the bathroom you whined,” Angie said.
“I hurt, and wanted someone near me. Someone I like and trust,” said George softly. With that, he slowly wrapped his right arm around Angie and pulled her close. Angie looked up at George. “I’d hoped that we might have a lovely evening and end up sort of like this if all went well,” he said. “I didn’t expect to end up naked in your basement because I fell through the floor.”
Angie smiled. She had wrapped her arms around George’s chest as best she could. “I agree. It wasn’t the most romantic way to get a man naked and in my embrace,” she said.
That made George laugh. He stopped after a second and put his hand to the injury on his right side. “Oh, laughing hurts,” he gasped. “Damn.”
Angie pulled out of his embrace to check his injury. Jeff had put several stitches in to close the wound. With the bandage off, she could see them. “Hold still,” she said.
George did his best to hold still while she clambered over his lap to look at his side. He tried to look at it. He stopped quickly as it hurt to twist.
“You’re okay. All the stitches are still in place. He was afraid that when you shifted that they would be too loose. I’m suppose to call him too,” she said and started to stand up.
“Wait Angie. I want to get off of this floor. Is there a bed or couch big enough for me to lay on down here?” he asked pointing to the general area of the basement.
“Not really. I don’t think he wanted you going up the stairs until he checked you out,” she said. “Why don’t you sit down on the love seat and I’ll go call him.”
“Okay, I will. And a bathroom?” he asked.
“Just through that door,” said Angie as she pointed to a door about fifteen feet away. “I’d help you up, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“Oh.. oh don’t make me laugh,” said George. “You? Help me up? Oh…. ouch…” he gasped. He started to stand up slowly and then stopped for a moment.
“If you’re nervous about seeing me naked, you might want to close your eyes. I’m not body shy,” he said.
“Um… I just… just didn’t know,” said Angie. “Never did turn down a chance to see a naked man though.” The blush was creeping up her neck in spite of her words.
“Good,” said George who let the blanket fall as he stood up. He braced against the wall with his left hand as he stood. Stretching carefully, he stood for a moment before walking to the bathroom.
“I’ll put the blanket on the love seat,” she said as she watched his ass all the way to the bathroom. Once that was done, she looked around for a moment. “I’m going upstairs to call Jeff,” she called as she headed upstairs.
*
Jeff arrived an hour later. He knocked on the door, but when there was no answer, he let himself in. As he headed towards the basement he could hear conversation and smell coffee. He smiled. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he found George sitting up drinking coffee and Angie nibbling toast.
“Glad to see that everyone survived,” he teased.
“Yes, we did. I hear that I didn’t even try to bite you this time,” said George.
“That’s due to Angie holding that head of yours for me,” said Jeff. “Now let me see this wound.” Jeff put his bag down, and began to poke and prod at the stitches and surrounding area. George winced a time or two and almost growled at one point.
“George,” said Angie softly as she put a hand on his left one. George looked at her and stopped growling.
“You know, if you’re this good with all shifters, I may hire you away from Luc,” said Jeff.
That made Angie giggle. “Oh, I don’t think so,” she said rather embarrassed.
“I’m not joking. You have a good touch. If you ever change your mind, I could use the help,” said Jeff. “George, you’ll be just fine in a couple of days. Just take it easy. If it hurts, stop.”
“Okay Jeff. No one told Ginny did they?” George asked as Jeff stood up.
“No, we all decided that wasn’t a good thing to do,” Jeff answered. He smiled to himself thinking about Ginny concussing herself up in the mountains. “You can tell her all about it when she gets home at the end of the week.”