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It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that a woman like her couldn’t possibly worry me, but now wasn’t the right time to be prideful.
I shut my trap and extended my arm her way. She maneuvered the roll of film with surgical precision, managing to wrap the affected area and hydrogel pad without touching my skin with hers.
A foreign sensation exploded from my hand, shotgunning to my gut.
Pain?
Something I hadn’t felt in so long that I almost didn’t recognize it.
I didn’t know whether I liked or hated that I felt pain when she was around.
Her deft fingers worked another layer of film over my skin. “Was this a hot date?”
I scowled, leaning against the sink. “Are you trying to be punny?”
“Succeeding,” she corrected. “A hot date. Get it? Because you got yourselfburned.”
“Funny people don’t have to explain their jokes, and it wasn’t a date.”
“Thank God. You were really cold and unapproachable. I would’ve bailed at hello. And that house tour? Dude, you are not the President. No one cares about the decorative driftwood in your master bedroom.”
I pinned her with a warning glare.
She ignored me. “If it wasn’t a date, what was it?”
“A possible business arrangement.”
For absolutely no logical reason, it felt deeply wrong to talk to her about Eileen.
“Does Natalie know?” The corner of Farrow’s mouth coiled into a smart-ass smirk. “She kind of has a thing for you.”
“I have a thing for her, too.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Boredom.”
“Poor Natalie.” She shook her head, applying a third layer of the film around my skin. She nodded to the wrap. “Can I pin it with my finger? I’ll have to touch you.”
She would have to touch me through three layers of polyethylene. I’d survive.
Despite all efforts to fight it, a hint of heat crept up to my cheeks. “It’s fine.”
Her thumb dug into the wrap at my pulse. I watched in awe as her nimble fingers worked the clear sheet.
It still felt uncomfortable to be touched, but I didn’t mind it so much through a barrier.
She collected the Advil bottle from the counter, gathered two pills, and discarded them into my healthy hand. “Swallow those while I secure the film.”
I popped them in my mouth and gulped them dry, glaring at her.
Why did Farrow tending to my burn wounds excite me more than eating triple-yolked mooncakes with my immaculate bride-to-be?
This made no sense at all. And sense was the one thing I could always count on.
I slanted my head, watching the film ripple as her breath fanned across it. “What I don’t understand is, how can you be so poor when you don’t have to pay rent and utilities, co-own a relatively successful small business, and have a side hustle as a fencing coach?”
The answer had landed in my lap during a deep dive into her life, but I figured I should establish some sort of discourse between us before I broached the subject of fucking her.
