Holt used his shoulder to widen the opening far enough that he could carry her inside. With his foot, he hooked a chair away from the kitchen table then set her down.
“Cross your leg and prop your foot up,” he told her, then turned away. While his back was turned to close the door they’d used, Caitlin shivered, missing his body heat, and watched him move around the kitchen. His wet clothes clung to him in intriguing— and revealing— ways, confirming the sense she’d gotten in his arms that Holt was more muscular than he might appear.
“Any idea where Mrs. Smith would keep emergency supplies?” Holt started pulling open drawers, stretching his wet shirt across his back and shoulders, the sleeves clinging to the muscles of his arms. She pulled her gaze away. Despite how friendly he’d seemed on the beach, and how heroic rescuing her from the waves and the cut on her foot, getting caught drooling over the man who’d hired her was a good way to lose this job.
Instead, she studied their surroundings. This had to be the cleanest kitchen she’d ever seen. The countertops were clear except for a simple white canister set. The cabinets looked old but well-kept. The window over the sink sparkled. On its sill, a small, framed picture of a young man in uniform was the only personal item Caitlin saw.
“Wait, here’s a first-aid kit. Got it.” He grabbed a dishtowel, wet it, sat across from her and pulled her foot and lower leg onto his thighs.
If cleaning the sand from her cut didn’t hurt so much, Caitlin would have sighed at the feel of his muscle beneath her calf. Instead, she winced.
“Sorry.” Holt found a tube of antiseptic ointment in the kit and smeared some on her cut, then tore open a gauze square and stuck it on top. “It stopped bleeding. All this should keep it from getting infected,” he said, reaching for a tape dispenser.
“Don’t bother to tape it,” Caitlin told him. “I need to get cleaned up and put on some dry clothes, then I’ll bandage it again.”
“I’ll help you.”
In the shower? She bit her lip to keep from blurting out the thought. They’d met only two days ago and spent most of that time arguing. She knew better than to encourage him. Or herself.
“Thanks, but I can manage.” She got up to limp to her room and took a couple of mincing steps on her toes.
“Wait.” Holt scooped her up and, over her continued protests that she could manage for herself, carried her upstairs.
“Hush. I’m rescuing you again. Let me enjoy it.” He paused at the door to her suite and put her down, a pained expression on his face.
“What’s wrong? Did you pull something carrying me up here?” How mortifying would that be?
“No, it’s not that. I…Farrell told me you were using my mother’s old rooms. I’ve never seen them.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” She opened the door. “Sorry, my things are all over but look all you want.”
“I’ll wait until you’re not soaking wet, cold, and injured. Go on. Try to keep your foot dry.”
“In the shower?” Shite, there was an image she should not have put in his head. Of course, it was probably already there. On the other hand, he hadn’t reacted to her sayinglook all you wantthe way most guys would.
Instead, he nudged her forward into the room. “Okay, I’ll re-bandage it when you’re dressed.” Then he pulled the door shut. With him on the outside. Damn.
* * *
Holt let hot water run over his body, showering off the salt and sand from his adventure at the beach with Caitlin. He didn’t need the heat. Holding Caitlin had warmed him entirely too well, though she hadn’t seemed to notice how holding her soft curves had hardened him.
He turned off the hot water and clenched his muscles as a blast of cold hit his chest and belly. It was not quite as cold as the wave that knocked her down and soaked him, but it did the job.
When he hauled her up, he’d been shocked by more than the cold. She fit against him so well. That contact made him hungry for her in a way he knew was trouble. Picking her up, holding her against his chest, feeling her fingers in his hair and her palm cupping the back of his head, her gentle touch on his cheek, he would stand in cold water for hours for the chance to feel that again and to see the way she looked at him in that moment. His face must have given away his desire, but hers did, too.
It was way too soon for them to go there. He would be foolish to think there could be anything more than infatuation between them. Not this fast, and not the way they argued. But touching her reinforced the attraction he’d felt for her the first time he’d seen her pert rear backing out of the cabinet in the office. The attraction that had kept him away from her for the last twenty-four hours. He should have continued to keep his distance instead of joining her on the beach.
Still, Caitlin Paterson fit against him as if she belonged in his arms. And because they were both here for only a short time, there was no danger of the kind of entanglement Helen had woven around him into his business affairs. Helen had made him miserable and put his company at risk. Damn her for spoiling any chance he had at trusting another woman. If she hadn’t gone after his company, he could have moved on from their breakup and put her out of his mind. But her betrayal would stay with him for a long time. He should have expected it. It was just another betrayal in a long list of them, starting with his absent father and moving on to his great-aunt’s treatment of his mother and him. But Helen had caught him by surprise, nonetheless.
He ducked his head under the spray, then shoved his hair back and scrubbed cold drops of water from his face. As near as he could tell, Caitlin was no Helen. And Scotland— where Caitlin was headed as soon as she finished the job she’d come here to do— was comfortably far off. She wasn’t staying. She would not have time to become so enmeshed in his life.
He stepped from the shower, grabbed a towel and paused. They had no future. Maybe he needed to stop wasting his time getting all worked up. If he went into this knowing it had a short shelf-life, maybe they both could enjoy themselves. If she was willing. If she was as interested in him as she seemed to be, maybe they could enjoy a few days or weeks together. Afterward, she’d be out of his life forever.
* * *
After her shower, Caitlin dressed and limped back to the kitchen to re-bandage her foot herself, then sweep up any sand they’d left behind.
Mrs. Smith came in as she pulled on thick socks.
