‘Why?’
He kept rubbing and felt her soften beneath his hands. ‘Just trust me, okay?’
‘Close your eyes,’ she said.
He grinned. ‘Bit late, since I’ve already seen you naked.’
‘It’s not the same,’ she said tartly, sinking to the floor in a move that was as graceful as it was discreet and quick. ‘Damn, these tiles are cold.’
Luke averted his eyes as she rearranged the jersey again, covering up and lifting her bottom so that she sat on the jersey and not directly on the tiles. When she’d settled down, he deliberately looked towards the window and cocked his head. Her interest caught, she followed his gaze—and he swiftly poured the peroxide into the cut and winced at her piercing, pain-saturated shriek.
He could hear curses in her screams and the occasional moan interspersing her sobs. Steeling himself, he tipped the bottle over the wound again and grabbed her hands when she attempted to wipe the peroxide away.
‘You sneaky son of a—’ she hissed when she found her breath, tears rolling freely down her face.
Taking a swab from the box, he doused it with peroxide and swiped it over the abrasion on her other leg. Grabbing the hand that flew out to hit him, he flipped it over and ran the swab over that graze. Her towel fell off her head and her toes curled in pain. Feeling like an absolute toad, he steeled himself against her weeping and asked her for her other hand, which she’d tucked behind her back. Jess used the top of her cleaned hand to wipe away tears and violently shook her head.
‘Last one, darling, and we’re done.’
Jess just sobbed.
‘I know it’s sore, but you need to give me your hand,’ Luke told her, sighing when she held out her hand and tipped her head back to look at the ceiling. Luke added more peroxide to the swab and cleaned the wound. ‘And your chin.’
Jess lifted up her chin and he dabbed it with another swab. ‘Done, sweetheart.’ Luke blew on her chin, dropped the swab and cupped her face in both of his hands before dropping a kiss on her nose. ‘Brave girl. You okay?’
‘No,’ Jess muttered through her snuffles.
Taking the towel that had fallen off her head, he used the corner to mop her tears up before dropping another kiss on her forehead.
Luke sat back and pulled her foot towards him. Starting in the middle, he pinched the skin together and started taping the wound together. Working swiftly, he spared a glance at Jess’s white face and told her to hold on. He wrapped a bandage over the clips and, leaving the swabs and rubbish on the bathroom floor, stood up and helped Jess to her feet. Steadying her with a hand on her shoulder, he waited until he was sure her dizziness had passed and then asked her to put her weight on the injured leg.
‘Can you feel the tapes pulling?’
Jess shook her head. ‘It feels tight, but okay.’
Luke lifted her up and manoeuvred his way through the dressing-room passage and lowered her onto his bed. Scrabbling in the bedside drawer, he pulled out a bottle of painkillers, handed her two and nodded to the glass of water on top of the table.
Jess looked at the pills in her hand. ‘I hate pills, but I’ll make an exception tonight.’ Jess tossed the pills into her mouth, taking the glass of water he held out.
Luke sat on the side of the bed next to her and brushed her hair away from her eyes. ‘So, what do you think we should do for the rest of the evening? Watch TV? Play chess? Have wild monkey sex?’
Jess managed a small grin at his joke. Then she yawned. ‘I’m feeling so tired.’
‘The adrenalin is wearing off. Take a nap,’ Luke suggested as he stood up. ‘Call me if you need anything.’
‘Thanks.’ He was nearly at the door when he heard Jess’s soft voice calling him back. He walked to the bed and looked down at her, soft and small and sad.
‘I can’t let you go without saying sorry. I was selfish and inconsiderate...I’m so sorry. It was so wrong of me.’
Luke shoved his hand into his hair. ‘And I said a lot of things I shouldn’t have. Around you, stuff seems to float to the surface.’
Jess dropped her eyes. ‘Sorry. Again. I’m just really sad that you regret meeting me again. I never meant to turn your world upside down.’
Luke placed his hands on either side of her and caged her in. ‘Yes, you did. It’s what you do—who you are. And you know that was the one thing I didn’t mean—the one statement that was totally untrue. I don’t for one minute regret anything to do with you.’
Jess looked up at him with enormous eyes. ‘So are we friends again?’