Wedding Night Rehearsal

For the next three days, Callie juggled between work and caring for Elias, who reluctantly agreed to stay in the ward at her insistence. Her meticulous attention helped speed up his recovery. ‘Time for a check-up.’ Callie entered the room, snapping on her gloves and reaching for the buttons on his hospital gown. Her touch sent a shiver down Elias’s spine. As her gloved fingers brushed against his warm body, his temperature rose even higher. Elias’s eyes fixated on Callie, whose head was bent close to his chest. ‘Callie.’ ‘What?’ ‘Do you always undress your patients like this? Even men?’ Elias’s question had a dangerous edge to it. ‘No.’ Callie didn’t see the look on his face. ‘I don’t usually check on my patients this way. My work is in the operating theatre. Post-operative care is mostly done by the nurses.’ That answer elicited a sigh of relief from Elias. ‘But sometimes it’s unavoidable,’ Callie continued. ‘When I make my morning and afternoon rounds, I’d occasionally need to undres