Tempt Me

“You don’t need to be sorry. Come here.” He helped her up, lifting her beneath her elbow and walking her over to the sink. “Let me see.” He gently turned her hand over but blood covered it, obscuring the cut.

“I can’t believe I was so clumsy,” she muttered.

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about the glass. But we do have to see how deep the cut is.” He turned on the faucet, sticking his finger underneath the running water to make certain it was cool. “Okay, this may hurt but let’s see what we’re dealing with. Ready?”

She drew a deep breath and nodded, letting him control things as they moved her hand beneath the spray. It was easy to see that the cut looked deep, and for all she knew, there were smaller shards of glass in the open wound.

“I think this is going to need stitches,” he said, reading her mind.

As soon as she took her palm away from the water, blood began to pool again.

“Let’s head over to the emergency walk-in clinic,” Austin said. “I think it’ll be faster than dealing with the emergency room at the hospital.”

She nodded.

He grabbed a clean hand towel from the drawer and pressed it against her hand. “Hold that there. I just need to put on shoes and grab my keys.”

“You don’t need to—”

He placed a hand beneath her chin and forced her to look at him. “Do not say I don’t need to take you.”

“Okay, but first call the Slaters and ask Tina if she can bring Bailey home with Robin for a playdate,” Mia said of the next-door neighbor, who had a daughter one year younger than Mia. The girls often played together and they did each other favors when needed. “I have to pick her up in an hour and we won’t make it in time. If Tina can’t do it, I really can go alone.” Not that she wanted to.

Austin’s kind, caring demeanor calmed her nerves. She hated to admit it but she was glad he wanted to come with her. Taking an Uber by herself for stitches wasn’t something she’d have looked forward to. She didn’t do well with hospitals, needles, or blood.

He stared at her for so long she grew uncomfortable.

“What?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

He blinked, still gaping at her. “You thought of Bailey first,” he said, looking at her with what looked like awed admiration.

“Of course I did.”

“Right.” He shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts. “It’s just… after the day I had, you took me by surprise.”

She wondered what he meant but she didn’t have time to ask. “Austin? I need a fresh towel.” Blood had soaked through the one she was using.

Hours and five stitches later, they returned home and Mia was forced to admit she’d needed Austin by her side. She was surrounded by unpleasant memories in the sterile, bland-colored hospital rooms to begin with. And she really didn’t do well with pain.

He’d held her good hand, and when the doctor had injected around the cut to numb her skin, she’d tucked her head against his strong chest when the burning sensation became too much. She appreciated his strength and caring. He could have sent her in alone, not jumped up the minute she hesitated after they’d called her name.

He’d stopped to pick up dinner on the way home so she wouldn’t have to worry about putting something together with one hand, which she would definitely have attempted to do, he’d cleaned up the broken glass mess in the kitchen, and he’d given Bailey her bath.

Although he’d instructed her to rest for the remainder of the night, she still wanted to help where she could. She changed into comfortable sweats and a tee shirt, and although the numbness had worn off, she was managing the throbbing sensation without too much trouble.

She walked upstairs to check and see if father or daughter needed anything before she turned in for the night. Voices sounded from Bailey’s room and she paused outside the doorway.

“Daddy, you don’t sound like a unicorn!” Bailey said, giggling.

“No? What do unicorns sound like?” Austin asked.

“Girls! Unicorns are girls.”

The next sound was uncontrollable six-year-old giggling, obviously from being tickled. Just how did he think Bailey would relax enough to fall asleep if he worked her up right before bedtime? Tickles were tantamount to giving the little girl a sugar rush, Mia thought. She was about to walk into the room and tell him so when the voice of reason in her head stopped her.

It’s not your place.

She wasn’t Bailey’s mother and Austin had given her the night off. Who was she to walk in and tell him how to handle his own child? Sure, she might mention it in passing when they talked tomorrow, but for tonight she’d leave him and his daughter alone.