She worked slowly and carefully, cleaning each place where his skin was torn or scraped and following with antibiotic cream afterward. Finally, she slowly wrapped a bandage around his left hand and tucked it in place.
“Do you need a break before we do the other one?” she whispered.
He just shook his head and gave her his other hand, so she repeated the process.
She knew he could handle the pain this time. But thatonly made it strange torture to touch him, noticing every intake of breath, and the way his throat moved when he swallowed.
His eyes were on her now, she could feel them searching her face, even as she kept her focus firmly on his hand.
Heat seemed to pour off him, and she found herself wondering what it would be like to slide into his warm arms, nuzzle in his neck and drink down that enticing scent.
Stop it, Ella, please…
She forced herself to finish up quickly, until at last she was securing the bandage around his right hand.
She moved to let go and step back, but he grasped her wrist with his other bandaged hand, holding her where she was, and she stumbled a little, falling forward until he caught her by her elbow with his other hand and held her suspended, her lips a trembling inch from his.
“Ella,” he murmured, his voice a low growl.
His cerulean eyes were filled with desire, and something darker too. She would have pulled away if she hadn’t been so desperate to understand the mystery element in his gaze.
“Kids?”her mother’s voice called from out in the barn.“Is everything okay?”
Ella pulled back hard, and Dalton released her.
She stood frozen for a moment, her heartbeat thundering, wondering what had just happened.
“Back here, Mary,” Dalton called out.
Embarrassed and confused, Ella quickly gathered upthe first aid kit items, hoping her mother wouldn’t notice her heated cheeks in the dim room.
“Kids,”Dalton chuckled softly to himself, rising from the stool to help Ella, seemingly unaffected by what had happened, or almost happened, between them.
But when Ella turned back to him with the kit in her hands, his eyes swung to hers like magnets, and she could see the hunger in them that he was trying to hide away again.
And just like before, there was a flicker of something else too.
8
DALTON
Dalton tossed and turned in his bed that night, desperately trying to think about anything but Ella.
But every time he closed his eyes, he was right back in the barn, his hand cradled in hers, nothing but the sound of their breathing as she worked to help him. Her small hands felt so soft and warm as they danced over his skin, and her voice was a gentle murmur when she spoke.
Her attention made him feel cared for in a way he hadn’t in years. That alone would have had him staring at the ceiling tonight, his heart aching.
But this was much, much worse.
He was wildly attracted to her. He couldn’t help it. The more time he spent with her, the more desperately he wanted to make her his girl.
But each day, he managed to control himself by remembering that she would never feel the same. He wasn’t good enough for her. And Ella had lost too muchto be aware of him in that way. So he’d managed to keep his mouth shut all this time.
But tonight, he’d caught her eyes drifting to his too often, and seen her pulse thrumming in her throat.
His heart had been thundering and he’d been clenching his jaw to stop himself from speaking when she finished the second bandage and moved to pull away from him.
He had no idea what had caused him to hold on for that extra second.
