Page 31 of Second Chance Summer
‘Otherwise, itwillkeep bleeding and make a mess in your lovely new reception area.’
‘So youdothink it’s lovely, then?’
With an eye roll, she stood up. ‘That’s your first-aid kit on the bar?’
He put his mug down. ‘Yes. I’ll get it.’
‘Sam, would you do something for me?’
He raised an eyebrow and winced.
‘Stay there and let me deal with this?’
‘I’ll be as good as gold.’
He gazed up at her, a hint of mischief in his eyes that made her stomach flip. Now she’d offered to dress hiswound, although it gave her something to focus on, it meant she’d have to touch his skin, the same skin she’d seen so much of when she’d walked into the bar.
She had, she’d admit, thought about his body quite a few times over the past twelve hours. And having seen it in all its strong, toned magnificence, wasn’t going to help her think about it any less.
Opening the lid of the kit, she tried to remember what the course had recommended for minor cuts. She picked out a cotton pad and a bottle.
‘Keep still,’ she instructed. ‘This might sting.’
She dabbed at the cut with the cotton pad soaked in alcohol.
‘Ouch,’ said Sam, with a grin.
Lily shook her head. ‘There’s no need to act all macho.’
‘Macho?’ he scoffed. ‘Me?’
Her cheeks warmed up. She put more alcohol on the pad and pressed it firmly to the graze.
He flinched. ‘Ow! That did hurt!’
Lily shrugged. ‘I’m no nurse, as you’ve probably worked out.’
‘And I’m no hotelier. You’ve probably worked that out too.’
‘Hmm …’
After cleaning the wound, she stuck a small sterile dressing over it. ‘That should stem the blood. I don’t think it needs stitches but, like I said, I’m not a medic.’
‘Thanks for the help and apologies for finding me – like you did – earlier.’
The ironic twist of his mouth made her stomach do a double back flip.
‘Given we both narrowly escaped death, seeing you without your shirt is probably the least of my worries,’ she said, trying to inject some humour into the situation.
Sam nodded. ‘Actually, I’d rushed out of the shower because I heard a radio message come through.’
Her pulse jumped for a different reason. She didn’t want news of the accident getting back to her family and Richie. ‘You didn’t tell anyone about this?’
‘No, because you asked me not to. It was the heliport calling about your flight out of here. They might have a space tomorrow.’
‘My flight …’ She’d forgotten about it. ‘Thank you.’
‘There’s a slim possibility you could leave on an earlier flightifsomeone can be persuaded to cancel. I won’t know until later or even first thing. I bet you can’t wait to get out of here as fast as you can now. I don’t blame you. This has been even more of a disaster than I’d imagined in even my worst nightmares.’
