She smiled softly, the tension in her shoulders easing. “It’s been sofun talking with him about all his ideas. Let me show you some of the fabric samples I got for him.”
She came out from behind the counter, and my heart pounded as panic worked its way up my body because she waslimping.
“Did you hurt yourself?” I choked out.
She glanced down at her ankle, lifting her floral pants enough for me to see the edge of a white bandage. “Oh yeah. It’s just a sprain. I, um, went camping this weekend and ended up getting caught in that storm and twisted my ankle in some mud.”
The storm this weekend had been one of the worst I’d experienced in the area. The torrential rain had started overnight and hadn’t let up all Saturday. Lucy had beencampingduring it? If my knee wasn’t messed up, I would pick her up right now and carry her around in my arms until her ankle was healed. I would go with her on her next camping trip and make sure she was safe. I would…well, pretty much follow her around like a lovesick puppy.
“You need to sit down.”
She waved off my concern. “It’s fine.”
But I was already slinging my arm around her waist. My chest warmed with intense satisfaction at how perfectly she fit against my side. The top of her head brushed my chin, her soft, curvy body molded to the ridges of mine. Her scent bloomed, strong enough to overwhelm even my beta senses.
“You have to be careful,” I said sternly. I kept my grip on her as the two of us awkwardly hobbled over to a table. We almost knocked each other over twice covering the short distance, and Lucy was giggling by the time she sat down.
Her eyes twinkled. “She is beauty, she is grace.”
I inclined my head. “Thank you for the compliment.”
She laughed, slowly shaking her head.
“You need to elevate your ankle.” My brow furrowed as I got a better look at the ankle wrap. “Who wrapped that? It’s not done correctly.”
Lucy bit her lip. “That would be me. Guess I should have paidmore attention to the YouTube video.” She let out a self-deprecating laugh and I wanted to kick myself. I thought she’d gone to the local clinic and the doctor there had done a shit job, which was unacceptable.
It was also unacceptable for my omega to have to wrap her own fucking ankle, even if she wasn’t mine.
“It can be hard to do if you’re not used to it. You haven’t gone to the doctor?”
“No, but someone looked at it.” At my confused expression, she clarified. “The fire chief. He said it was sprained and wrapped it for me.”
Wilder Everett was the fire chief. I’d met him a couple of times at Ocean Rescue trainings since he was the head of Mountain Rescue. He was a man of few words. Literally. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him actually speak beyond the occasional grunt. But he had advanced training as an EMT, and I begrudgingly had to admit he probably knew what he was doing. “If it doesn’t improve over the next few days, you should definitely go to the clinic. For now, will you let me redo the wrap?” Abrilliantidea hit me. “I can do it every morning for you.”
Her lips parted as she looked up at me, and my cock twitched at my deeply inappropriate thoughts. “It won’t be inconvenient?”
Inconvenient?To spend my mornings with her? Trydream come true. “Nah, of course not. It’s not like I have to go far to track you down.”
“That would probably be helpful, if you don’t mind. I can send you the video I watched this morning. Although, maybe it wasn’t very good.”
I chuckled. “I’m an EMT. It was part of the required training for Ocean Rescue.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “I guess you don’t need a video, then. But you do need a chair.” Before I could say anything, she pulled out a second chair from the table, tipping it forward to dump the large box of bubble wrap off the seat and onto the floor. “For you.” She waved her hand in front of it in a dramatic gesture. Damn, she was cute.
I sat down and leaned my cane against the table. She glanced at it but didn’t say anything. I wished I could read her mind.
I patted my good leg. “Put your foot up here.”
She did what I asked and I froze. I didnotthink this through. Her foot was inches from my crotch. Warning alarms blared in my brain.Don’t pop a boner. She’s going to think you have a foot fetish.
A shiver ran through me when I gently touched her foot.Get ahold of yourself. This is just another day as an EMT.
“Did you hurt your leg?” Lucy asked.
My fingers faltered and my heart sank. Here it was. Time to face the music.
“Sort of.”
