Page 46 of Wicked Healing

She drew back to look at him. “Is that why you came over here? Because you were jealous?”

Luca shifted a little uncomfortably. “No, Wicked led us here, but we needed to talk. I could tell I was hurting you and that’s not what I meant to do.”

“Hm,” she murmured. “I’ll be honest. I kind of thought there was something there between us, and then you jerked away like I had fleas or something. It hurt and it pissed me off.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Even if we don’t move forward romantically I thought we were at least friends.”

“You are completely right. We need to find a balance. I don’t think I’m a good prospect in the romance department but I can be a fucking phe-nominal friend.”

Erin laughed, just like he wanted her to.

“And in the nature of friendship,” he said, sitting up and turning his hand over for her to see. “Can you help me out? I landed in a cactus.”

Erin hissed in a breath. “Oh, jeez. I thought you’d been here long enough to know to stay away from these,” she said, tugging him to his feet and into the kitchen. She sat him down at the island. “Wait there a minute.”

Turning, she began digging through a junk drawer on the far side of the kitchen. When she returned she had a roll of duct tape in her hand. “Is it hurting like crazy?” she asked.

He nodded, watching her rip a strip from the roll. “I thought I got them all but it’s been burning for the past couple of hours.”

She took his hand in her own and turned the outside up. Laying the strip of duct tape along the blade of his hand she pressed enough to secure it, then ripped it off again, very carefully folding it to the side. “The problem is, you can get the main spines out, but there are usually a bunch of little spines you can’t see. It’s almost like fiberglass,” she told him, applying another strip then ripping it away. Then she caught sight of the scrapes on the inside of his palms. “What the hell did you do, Carmichael?”

The tone and phrasing immediately launched him back into the Navy, to an old lieutenant that asked him the same thing more than once. It took him a moment to be able to respond to her. “My blade caught on a rock when I was hiking the trail.”

Her lips pursed as her golden eyes surveyed him, as if looking for any other scrapes. “The next time you hit a cholla you need to let me know sooner. There are a few deep punctures that are probably going to get infected.” She tugged him to his feet and over to the sink where she very carefully hosed his hand off, then very carefully cleaned the scrapes on his palms. In spite of what he’d literally just told her, Luca loved the attention she was giving him. The concern was genuine, he could see that.

After a couple of minutes under the water she blotted his hands dry, looking up at him. The urge to kiss her as they stood there in front of the sink was damn near overwhelming, but he held himself back. She seemed to sense the danger she was in as well, because she moved away. “Have a seat. I’ll be back in a sec.”

Luca took a deep breath as soon as she moved away, but his eyes lingered on her ass, clad in tiny little silky pajama shorts of some type. Moving to the stool he forced his arousal away. There would be no release for him right now.

* * *

Erin almost changed into clothes.And a bra. Her nipples were hard against the slick fabric of her night shirt, but at least it was a dark blue. Maybe Luca wouldn’t see them in the dimness of the night.

His words danced around in her mind and she didn’t like feeling like she was in trouble, but she was confused. He’d stressed that being friends was important to him, but he was watching her like he’d like to eat her up. Was she just projecting what she was actually feeling? Because after being near him again just a couple of minutes it was very hard to think of anything other than kissing the hell out of him and maybe fucking him until morning.

Erin barked out a laugh. She wasn’t used to feeling this way.

Retrieving the first aid kit from the hallway closet she returned to the kitchen. Luca sat on the island stool, looking a little disheveled but completely delicious, his hands resting on the counter in front of him.

Damn. I have to turn on the light, she realized. Definitely should have put the bra on. No, maybe she could get away with the stove light. That would be enough.

Setting her supplies between them she held out her hands for one of his. Luca gave her his left. Squirting a generous dollop of antibacterial cream on a gauze pad she wrapped the palm of his hand, covering most of the rock scrapes. Then she requested the right. She used two gauze pads on this one, one over the palm and one over the outside of his hand, both smeared liberally with cream. The gauze caught on her rough fingers but she took care not to hurt his injuries.

When she was done he gave her an ironic smile. “Not exactly conducive to good workouts.”

“I think you can take a day or two off and heal.”

Before things had a chance to get awkward between them again she gathered up the trash and threw it away. “Maybe ice cream will make them feel better. Chocolate or vanilla?”

Luca scowled at her mock ferociously. “Chocolate, of course, woman!”

Erin dipped two bowls of ice cream, then added hot fudge sauce and walnuts. They went back out onto the patio and sat at the picnic table. Bait and Switch thought they needed ice cream as well, but Erin had foreseen the issue. She threw a handful of tiny treats out into the yard and the boys lumbered off to find them. The smaller dogs she gave little mini Kongs to work on, and Wicked got a pig ear.

The two of them ate their ice cream, talking about the best places to hike nearby, and when they broke for the night it was companionable rather than tense. Erin made it a point not to linger, waving goodnight airily as she encouraged the dogs inside. Luca seemed to sense what she was doing because he turned and left, the silent Wicked on his heels.

After that night they talked a lot more, which made Erin happy, but there was still this sense of a storm about to break. There was an anticipation in their interactions, like they were waiting for some slip in the other’s control. Erin swore to herself that she would not make a move to change the status quo. If he was happy with the way things were she would be good with it. Besides, he was the one that had decided they needed to step back.

---