Page 23 of Me and Mr. Just Right

HaydndirectedLiatosit on the sofa while he retrieved the first-aid kit from the bathroom. She’d handled falling in devil’s club like a champ, but he knew there were still thorns in her, and cuts that needed to be cleaned out and disinfected.

When Lia had fallen, all thoughts of nearly kissing her had flown from his mind. Well, maybe not flown, but at least landed in a tree branch somewhere to wait out the crisis at hand. What would have happened if Jules hadn’t walked in right then?

He both wanted to think about it nonstop and never think of it again.

Haydn had rushed to Lia, getting to her just after Jules had hauled her out of the porch and into his arms. Jealousy had writhed in Haydn as Jules carried her off the porch and through the thick patch of thorny weeds before gently setting her down on the rock he and Bennett had been sitting on.

If Haydn hadn’t been avoiding her so intensely, he could have stopped her from falling. Or at least been close enough to be the one to carry her instead of Jules. What was wrong with him? Being around Lia was muddling his brain worse than the lack of oxygen had on Mt. McKinley.

“I remember the first time I fell into a devil’s club patch,” Bennett was saying as Haydn returned from the hall closet with the kit. Lia sat beside Bennett, her legs propped up on the coffee table Haydn had pulled up close for her. Jules put some popcorn in the microwave, which filled the house with a delicious, buttery popcorn scent, and put water in the kettle for more hot chocolate. None of them liked feeling helpless, and seeing Lia hurt was doing exactly that and leading to a general sense of restlessness between them.

Lia was shaking with cold when Haydn knelt in front of her, and goose bumps had risen on her arms and legs. He snagged the plush buffalo-plaid blanket she’d been using earlier and wrapped it snugly around her shoulders. Her fingers brushed his, and they were like ice. It had gotten colder and wetter as they’d walked back to the house, and they’d gone slower to accommodate for the pain in her legs, so her heart rate hadn’t risen high enough to keep her warm.

“Where did you get this blanket?” she asked through chattering teeth as she snuggled into the blanket. The red on the fabric nearly matched the redness on her cheeks and lips. He wanted to hold her face in his hands and warm it up, but he didn’t know if she’d welcome his touch or not—and either reaction made his stomach twist uncomfortably. “It’s the softest blanket ever.”

“At a thrift shop in Wrangell. The label was torn out, so we have no idea what brand it is. Rosie would love to know too. She’s tried to steal it a few times.”

“I don’t blame her.” She rubbed her cheek against it, and a flare of heat shot through Haydn, imagining that cheek rubbing his own. Yeah, he’d definitely want her to welcome his touch.

“I’m going to take a look at your legs,” he said, his voice a little too gruff.

Bennett raised a knowing eyebrow.So, you are attracted to her. As Irish twins that sometimes felt like full twins, Haydn could read Bennett’s looks just as easily as his texts.

Of course I am, loser,he glared in return.Don’t be annoying about it.

Bennett folded his arms loosely in a sort of gloating satisfaction. Yes, Haydn wanted to cheer his brother up this week, but that didn’t mean he wanted Bennett all up in his business to do it.

He ran his hand lightly over her leg to feel for thorns he couldn’t see, and heard Lia catch her breath. “Have you done this before?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m EMT trained, and it comes in handy when I’m out exploring.” He couldn’t call an ambulance out to a mountain peak, so he made sure he had the knowledge to help, and it had been essential and lifesaving more than once.

“Interesting.” She swallowed hard as his hand slid under her knee to the soft skin there, where, thankfully, he felt no evidence of thorns.

Scratches covered the length of Lia’s long legs, most of them superficial, but there were a few deep enough to require butterfly bandages. She had several thick, deep thorns stuck in her calves and ankles, and he used the tweezers to pull them out while Bennett regaled her with stories of fishing trips gone wrong.

“Maybe you need to make a weight minimum for fishers?” she suggested, laughing at yet another story of someone falling overboard while attempting to reel in a fish. She winced as Haydn pulled out another thorn. He’d had to remove ten so far.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “Almost done.”

“It happens to all sizes!” Bennett said, laughing as well. “I’ve had the tiniest customers pulling up fish twice their size, while a former linebacker once got yanked into the ocean.”

Lia settled deeper into the couch as Jules handed her a mug with raspberry hot chocolate. She placed her face over the steaming brim of the cup and inhaled deeply. “That smells like dessert,” she told him. “Thank you. I can’t believe I’m requiring so much care.” She scrunched up her nose as if disappointed in herself.

“Yes, you’re so difficult,” Jules deadpanned.

Lia was caught somewhere between an apologetic smile and a frown.

“He’s joking,” Bennett whispered. If Lia’s fall could have any positive benefit at all, it was that Jules had softened toward her considerably because of it.

Haydn ran the pads of his fingers over her calf and shin to check for any more thorns he might have missed, and her skin was softer than that blanket she was snuggled in. Goose bumps popped up along her skin following his touch, making his heart skip a beat.

“No more thorns here.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s do the other leg.”

He made quick work of finishing his task, forcing his mind focus on the cuts and scrapes and not the woman who these legs belonged to. When that didn’t work, he mentally recited as many species of plant indigenous to Alaska as he could recall.

While Haydn was distracting himself from being distracted by Lia’s legs—see? He was all discombobulated—Jules had handed out bowls of popcorn to everyone. Haydn hopped up, relieved and disappointed when Lia tucked her legs under the blanket.

“Yours is on the counter,” Jules said.

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