Tamsyn held her hands up in surrender. “You got it. Sorry.”

He cleaned her hands with the wipes, being as gentle as he could be. Every time she winced or moved; he froze.

“I’m fine, really. You don’t have to keep stopping.”

“I don’t like hurting you.”

To his surprise, she stiffened. As though his words had shocked her.

But when he looked up at her, she was staring over his shoulder, a small smile on her face.

He must have imagined that. Reading body language wasn’t exactly his forte. And he often took people literally when they were joking or being sarcastic.

So he continued to clean her hands and then placed some bandages on them. He had the strange urge to kiss her scrapes better.

But that would be going a step too far.

Right?

Yes, it would be. Besides, his kisses weren’t actually magical.

And since when did he go around wanting to kiss people?

Never.

“Thanks,” she told him. “That’s the best anyone has ever patched me up.”

Okay.

He didn’t like that either.

“Tamsyn?” he queried as he put the first aid kit and roller skates into her backpack.

“Yes?”

“Are you in some sort of trouble?”

“Why would you ask me that?” She stood with a smile and took the backpack from him, placing it over one shoulder.

She was significantly shorter now that she no longer had the roller skates on. At five foot eleven, he was fairly average in height and the top of her head barely reached his chin. Which had to make her around five feet tall.

So tiny.

It roused his protective instincts even more.

“I’m just worried about you,” he said.

“Rome, you can’t spend your time worrying about other people so much. Especially not a stranger. I’m all good. I promise.”

How did he know whether her promises were worth anything, though?

He sighed. There wasn’t anything he could do to make her tell him what was going on. And she didn’t appear to be bruised or harmed. Although he was well aware that not all hurt had to be physical.

“Will you let me give you my phone number?” he asked.

Tamsyn blinked at him. “I, uh, sure.”

“I just thought that perhaps you might want to meet up for tea or coffee but if that’s . . . wait, you said yes?”