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But Callum was already poking around in her kitchen, opening her freezer, helping himself to its contents.
‘Here, we’ll use this,’ Callum said, brandishing a bag of frozen veg. ‘Tom, can you grab those cushions off the other lounges?’ he asked as he knelt down and moulded the freezing cold bag to the contours of her ankle.
Hailey opened her mouth to protest but his fingers felt gentle against her throbbing joint and she knew it needed ice. She winced as the cold enveloped her inflamed joint. Tom helped Callum lift her foot and settle it on top of a pile of cushions.
‘R.I.C.E.,’ Callum said, satisfied. ‘Rest, ice, compression and elevation. I’ll leave that on for about ten minutes and then strap it for you. Do you have some paracetamol?’
He was looking at her and his hand was on her shin, shooting heat right up to her thigh. In her mind’s eye she could see him running it up higher, under the hem of her dress. Higher.
Leave now.
‘That’s really not necessary,’ she said. ‘You’ve done more than enough and—’
‘Hailey!’ Callum interrupted. What was it with women these days? Why didn’t they want a man to take care of them? Annie had been like that. ‘I’m a doctor. I’m not leaving here until your ankle’s strapped and I’ve got you something to dull the pain. It’s the least I can do. So just tell me where the damn painkillers are.’
Hailey blinked at Callum’s exasperated tone. She looked at Tom. Tom looked at Hailey. ‘Bathroom cupboard,’ she sighed.
‘Boy,’ Tom said in awe. ‘You made my daddy really cranky.’
‘Doesn’t he get cranky usually?’
Tom thought about it. ‘Only with Grandma sometimes.’
‘Oh?’
‘She doesn’t think I should do stuff like climb trees.’
‘Oh, I see,’ Hailey said, not really seeing at all.
Callum strode back into the lounge room, a glass of water and a packet of pills in his hand. ‘Take these.’
His voice brooked no argument and Hailey swallowed two, knowing that the less it hurt, the more she’d be able to gently exercise it, the quicker it would recover.
‘Bandage?’ he asked.
Hailey didn’t bother with protesting. The sooner he did what he felt was his professional duty, the sooner he could leave. ‘First-aid box under the sink.’
She returned her gaze to Tom, who gave her a grin. ‘You like television?’ she asked. ‘I have cable.’
Tom nodded enthusiastically and she got him to pass her the remote control and she surfed until she found a suitable kids’ show.
Callum returned and knelt by her foot again. He lifted the frozen veg away and inspected the swelling. ‘It doesn’t look too serious,’ he mused, prodding gently, and proceeded to wrap it firmly.
The feel of her cool skin beneath his fingers was stupidly sensual. He blinked. ‘Nice place you have here.’ Not that he’d noticed a damn thing about it as having her body pressed against his on the way in had totally removed all his cognitive powers.
‘Er, yes,’ she said, gathering her wits. The light slide of his fingers as he wound the bandage around her ankle feathered her skin with goose-bumps. ‘It’s Rilla’s. My sister. She bought it after her separation from Luca but now they’re back together again and I needed to be on my own and Beth, my other sister, suggested I rent it so it worked out quite well really.’
Callum’s fingers stilled. She’d needed to be on her own? Intriguing. He’d known something wasn’t right with her.
‘There’s a great view of the river and it’s so close to everything.’
Of course, he would know that, given that he lived here as well. Shut up, damn it! She was babbling. But, honestly, how could something as asexual as applying a bandage to a disgustingly puffy ankle be so erotic?
Callum nodded absently, searching for a topic that would distract him from the insane urge to bend his head to her injury and a drop a kiss against it. He’d been a dad for too long. Hell, he’d been single too long.
‘I’m glad I got a chance to see you again today, actually. I wanted to check if you were OK this afternoon but you’d already left.’
The touch of his hand was terribly distracting and she frowned at him, trying to make sense of what he’d said. ‘OK?’
‘The thing with Henry…’ he prompted.
‘Hmm? Oh, right. Sure, sure.’ She nodded her head for proper emphasis and pointed to the discarded shopping bags. ‘Retail therapy. Works every time. You?’ she asked.
He lifted his gaze to her face and shrugged. ‘Tom is a pretty good antidote to most things.’
