Page 7 of Swim To Me

“I-I’m not sure.”

“That’s okay.” Grey smiles, in what I hope is supposed to be a comforting manner. “Lemme me have a quick look.”

With cool fingertips, he gently pushes back my hair to touch the pulsating spot on my temple.

“The area is little red, but there’s no blood. I think you’ll probably just have a small bump for a couple of days. Do you feel any pain anywhere else?”

I swallow down my tiny mouthful of water. “Just on my hip.”

“May I take a look?”

I bob my head in a silent agreement, taking another drink in order to strategically hide my suddenly burning cheeks. This is embarrassment turned up to the max – having an attractive man who can’t be much older than me peer at the cut on my upper thigh with nothing but the priority of first aid written all the way across his face.

Bringing his face a tad bit closer to my hip, I fight against the urge to shift restlessly on the bed, holding my breath as Grey tilts his head one way and then the other.

Only when he pushes himself up to a standing position, do I breathe out again, relaxing my grip on the paper cup I’ve almost crushed.

“I think it’s just a graze,” Grey explains, giving me a view of his back as he opens the door to a cupboard and begins rifling through. “I can’t see anything in it and you’re not bleeding massively, the skin’s just a little bit cut up. So…”

I try to concentrate on the rustling sound of cardboard boxes and plastic packaging as Grey searches for whatever he’s looking for. But my mind… well, it has other ideas.

Taking a quick glance while he has his back to me, I allow my eyes to travel down the entirety of Grey’s body; from his brown hair, shaved neatly above his neck, to the way his shoulders cut a broad line even beneath the cotton material of his polo shirt. His waist and hips are trim and defined, I notice, with a hum.

Probably from working out so much.

As are the lean muscles of his calves, flexing and moving as he shifts from foot to foot…

“Found it!” Grey exclaims, giving me half a split second to rip my gaze away and pretend I’d never been staring at him in the first place, before he turns back around.

He brandishes a tube of… something in his hand. Taking a seat, I watch as he uncaps the tube, squeezing a pea size amount onto the purple gloves he’s snapped on, and comes towards me.

He stops still, his pointer finger inches away from my grazed skin, and peers up at me. “You’re not allergic to latex, are you?”

God, he looks adorable. “No.”

Delilah! What the actual—

“What about—”

“I’m not allergic to anything,” I say. “Except sometimes for pollen in the summer.”

“Okay, good.” Grey smiles again. “So, this,” he wags his finger, “is just some good old-fashioned antiseptic. There doesn’t seem to be anything left in your cut, and the pool water is full of chlorine to kill any germs, so I’m sure it’s pretty clean already, but just to be on the safe side…”

I silently stretch my leg as far as it will go, not very long considering my average five foot four and a half frame, offering the curve of my thigh for Grey to apply the antiseptic.

“It’s probably going to sting a little bit so—”

“Just do it, Grey. Please,” I add as an afterthought, turning my face away so I won’t be caught staring at the top of his head.

My toes curl in my flip flops as the cold texture of the ointment makes contact with my broken skin, followed by a slightzingof pain as the antiseptic works its way into the flesh wound.

Grey’s fingers are firm as they move in small circles, efficiently getting the job done, before he rolls away again on thesmall wheels of his chair to unsnap the gloves, depositing them in the waste bin beneath the desk.

“I’m not going to cover it,” he says, reaching across the desk for a slim, pen-like tool to fidget with, sliding it between finger and thumb with practised ease. “Because I think it best to let oxygen get to it, but if you want, you can apply just a standard plaster on the wound when you get home. It’s up to you.”

“I’ll just leave it alone, then.”

“Just keep an eye on it, okay? Right, now I just need to take your pulse and measure your blood pressure and—”

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