‘You’re limping.’
‘I think I trod on a bit of a glass. It’s probably out now. I promise not to bleed on your carpet.’
He turned to reply as I joined him under the shelter of the porch. ‘Jesus!’ His fingers caught my chin gently as he tilted my head. ‘What happened? Why didn’t you tell me you were bleeding? We need to get you to a hospital. Get back in the car.’
I wrapped my hand around his wrist. ‘I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know. The window frame hit me on its way to the floor and we’re not going to hospital. I’m fine.’
‘You are not fine! You’re bleeding!’
‘Then could you take a look? You patched yourself up all right when I clobbered you. Honestly, I really just want to sit down right now somewhere warm and quiet.’
The grey eyes were laser focused on me. After a beat, he wrapped an arm around me and unlocked the door. ‘Like I said. Impossible.’
* * *
‘Ned. Stay!’ he said as we entered and a black lab gave a soft whine and tilted his head. ‘Go back to your bed.’ The dog dropped his head and turned around, plodding out of sight as Jesse turned back. ‘Come into the kitchen and I’ll take a look.’ He moved to lift me again but I stood back.
‘Thanks, but I can manage.’ I wasn’t used to people fussing about me and the words had come out sharper than I’d meant. Jesse took a step back. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean?—’
‘It’s fine. Take a seat.’
I did as he asked.
He ran the tap and put a glass of water down in front of me, then reached into a cupboard and brought out a neatly packed caddy of first-aid supplies, and put that beside the glass. The dog watched from his bed, nose resting on his paws.
‘Your dog is very sweet.’
‘Thank you. Right. Head first. Do you mind?’ His hands hovered in mid-air for a moment.
‘No. I’m just sorry to be such an inconvenience.’
‘You’re not. This might sting a bit.’ His touch was gentle as he wiped the blood from my face. ‘I’m going to put a Steri-Strip on it. Shame mine’s come off. We’d be a matching pair.’ He flashed a grin and I felt some of the tension in my shoulders seep out.
‘Thanks for coming up tonight.’
‘Not a problem,’ he said, continuing with his work. ‘Any headache? Blurred vision or nausea?’ I shook my head. ‘Let me know if any of that changes.’ He then turned his attention to my hand. Reaching over, Jesse grabbed a pair of glasses from the counter top, sliding them on to his face. And just like that, a man I thought couldn’t get any more sexy did so. ‘Couple of shards in there. Hold still.’ Deftly, he lifted them out with a pair of tweezers from the well-equipped box and cleaned my hand once again, popping on a large plaster. ‘Now for the feet.’
‘I think it’s just the one. Only one hurts anyway and it’s really not that bad.’
‘Best to check anyway. Allay-oop!’ He lifted my foot and rested it on his knees as he sat on the floor. A brief study resulted in the tweezers being employed again and another waterproof plaster applied.
‘Right. I think that’s it. You were lucky.’ He stood up, taking off the glasses as he did so. ‘From your expression, I can see you don’t agree.’
‘It’s not that.’ I stood, placing my weight unevenly onto my good foot. ‘Well, yes, it is that. I’m not sure I feel all that lucky right now.’
‘It could have been a lot worse. You saw your bed, right?’
‘It’s hard to forget. And yes, you’re right, of course. I’m sure I sound incredibly ungrateful.’
Jesse gave a shrug of his wide shoulders. ‘Probably a bit of shock still lingering there.’
‘No. I’m all right now.’
He folded his arms. ‘It’s OK to admit you’re not OK, you know? No one is going to think any less of you for it. A bloody great tree nearly landed on you. That’s enough to put the wind up anyone.’
Before I could reply, and probably knowing I was about to disagree, Jesse continued. ‘I’ll show you to your room. You all right?’ he asked as I put my hand out to steady myself on the counter top, his hand on my upper arm.
‘Yes. Thanks. Just tired, I expect. All the excitement.’ I returned a wan smile.
