Page 19 of Bound By Her Baby Revelation (Hot Winter Escapes)

‘I don’t need you stumbling to the front door and doing more damage to your ankle.’

‘My ankle is just fine.’

‘I’ll give you my verdict once I’ve checked it over.’

‘You arethemost arrogant guy I’ve ever met in my entire life!’

‘I know. Is that a bad thing?’

Kaya shivered, every bit of her body tingling in response to his proximity and to the husky teasing in his voice.

They were in the house, which was blessedly warm, and she gave up the fight and subsided into him as he headed to the sitting room and deposited her on the sofa, as gently as if she were a piece of priceless china.

Her instinct had been to repel the act of kindness. It was something she wasn’t used to. She was tall, strong and accustomed to looking out for herself.

His sudden tenderness was disconcerting, as was his gentleness as he eased off her boot, followed by her thick, insulated socks. He was kneeling at her feet and she was absorbed in the moment as she watched his dark head. She had to resist the temptation to sift her fingers through his hair.

‘Tell me if this hurts.’

‘It hurts!’

‘Sprain. Nothing serious. Is there a first-aid kit in the kitchen? Bathroom? You just need it to be contained with a compress and keep the weight off it for a day or two.’

‘Suddenly you’re a doctor? There’s a first-aid kit in the kitchen. It’s in the cupboard next to the sink.’

‘I’m a man of many talents.’ He glanced up at her, and their eyes met and remained locked long enough for Kaya to lick her lips as nervous tension ratcheted up a couple of notches.

She suddenly found that considerate and gentle Leo was a lot more difficult to handle than arrogant and infuriating Leo.

‘Don’t move a muscle. I’ll be back in a minute.’

Move a muscle? Kaya felt as weak as a kitten as she watched him vanish. Her eyes drifted to the coat he’d dumped on one of the chairs in the sitting room and her mind drifted to the look in his eyes in the car, the huskiness of his voice when he’d told her that looking at her was no hardship...

She was doing a balancing act on uneven ground and...wow...quicksand had never felt so good.

She tensed when he re-entered the room less than a minute later, and her breath hitched in her throat as he began to wind the compress around her ankle. She’d never thought that big hands could be so delicate.

‘Where did you learn how to do that?’ she asked gruffly, to break the stifling silence.

There was a smile when he replied.

‘Foster care wasn’t all bad. There was a rota when you got to a certain age—first-aid cover. We had some basic training over a two-day period. Plenty of opportunity for kids of eleven to fool around with medical equipment and ask stupid questions. I can’t imagine what the guy who came in to instruct us would have thought of all the horseplay—maybe he expected it. At any rate, he did a good job...and I can tell you that if you suddenly choke on a fish bone tonight, I should be able to see you through.’

‘I can’t picture you as a kid.’

Leo rested back on his haunches to look at her with a crooked smile. ‘Sometimes, neither can I. You need to have a bath. I’m going to carry you upstairs and run a bath for you.’

‘No, I’m fine!’

‘Nonsense. You wouldn’t make it up the stairs without a lot of discomfort. I’ve already broken the ice by bringing you into the house...’

Kaya nodded jerkily. Did she mind him carrying her up the stairs? No. She wanted him to. She wanted a repeat performance of her body melting surreptitiously against his while her mind took off in all sorts of forbidden directions.

She wanted to have time out from being careful.

There was no danger when it came to this guy because he wasn’t her type. She might be madly attracted to him, but she could never really fall for someone who had a commitment-phobia, someone who probably enjoyed relationships that lasted five minutes and then disappeared. She was just too serious when it came to the heavy stuff.

But this wasn’t heavy. This was superficial, illicit enjoyment, the sort of stuff her teenage self might have got up to if that teenage girl hadn’t been so busy taking care of the person who should have been taking care of her.

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