Page 44 of See You There

Luke took a second to assess his own injuries. His dress shirt was probably unsalvageable, and his pants were torn at the knee, but the only discomfort came from his ribs, where Dahlia had landed on him.

“We’re okay. Could you get some napkins and a bottle of water from one of the trucks?” He glanced at the ruined food. “And you’ll need to order another box of tacos.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Edgar said, already walking toward the parking lot.

“Get an extra order of tacos. Ms. Everton lost hers, too.”

Edgar nodded even as Dahlia protested.

“Can you walk?”

Dahlia gave him an ‘are you serious face.’ This time when the light changed, he kept his eyes peeled, leading her to the SUV,ignoring how his ribs burned. He didn’t think they were broken, but he’d be feeling the bruises for a couple of days.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dahlia felta little silly when Luke helped her carefully across the street as if she were ninety years old. If he only knew how many scrapes and bruises she’d gotten growing up. Dahlia wouldn’t say she was a tomboy, necessarily, but there hadn’t been much to do at home, so she and her siblings entertained themselves outside most of the time.

She sat on the back seat, her legs dangling out the open door. When Edgar returned, Luke wet the napkins with the bottled water and began dabbing at the blood on her leg.

Embarrassed, Dahlia reached for the napkin, but Luke evaded her hands. She looked down at the top of his dark, wavy hair where he bent over her leg. He was being so gentle she was having a hard time keeping the butterflies under control. No one ever took care of her, and Luke was acting as if she were something precious. Her heart turned over, even as her brain told her not to be pathetic.

Luke brushed the hem of her skirt up higher on her lap, and a thrum of desire pulsed through her.

What was wrong with her?

“This really isn’t necessary,” she said, hoping to hide how flustered she felt. “It’s not like I’ve never fallen down before.Ow!” she exclaimed when he pressed the wet paper to the scrape on her knee.

“Sorry, I want to be sure it’s clean.” His eyes narrowed as he inspected her superficial injury.

“It’s just a scrape.” Dahlia nodded to where red had seeped through his own sleeve. “You should take care of yourself. I have a first aid kit at home.” Luke angled his arm to inspect the stain and grunted. After he’d cleaned her knee, he wet another napkin and reached for her arm. She shook her head and pulled away from his hand. “Enough. Let’s go before the food gets cold.”

Luke seemed torn, but he finally relinquished the paper, and when Dahlia swung her legs into the car, he closed the door and entered on the other side. She saw his grimace of discomfort when he reached to put his seatbelt on.

“I’m fine,” he assured her when he caught Dahlia’s concerned expression.

Dahlia gave Edgar her address, and as they pulled away from the curb, she was surprised when Luke said, “I’m sorry. I should have looked before just walking across.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I was there, too. I shouldn’t have been distracted by my—” her face paled. “My phone!” she exclaimed.

“I have it,” Edgar said, from the front seat. “It was in the gutter, but I think it’s okay.” He reached behind him, holding her phone out.

“Thank you so much! My entire life is in there!” Dahlia took a quick look at the phone and saw she had several missed calls from Victor. She was sure he wondered why they’d been cut off. She tucked the phone away, uninterested in continuing their argument where Luke and Edgar could overhear.

Dahlia leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She remembered the split second of panic as the car had borne down on them. She had thought for sure they wouldbe hit, and she wondered what would happen to her family if she were killed. If Luke’s reflexes hadn’t been so quick… She shivered.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She opened her eyes to see Luke watching her. She managed a wan smile. “Not every day you almost get run down by a car. I’m not going to lie. I’m looking forward to a nice warm bath tonight.”

“In this heat?” he asked dubiously.

Dahlia adopted a look of mock outrage. “It doesn’t matter how hot it is, a nice bubble bath is always the answer. Add in a good book and a glass of wine—perfection!”

“I’ll have to remember that,” he said quietly.

Luke’s voice was low, and there was such a sudden intensity in his eyes that she knew he was imagining her in a bubble bath, and suddenly so could she. With him. This thing between them was electric… and dangerous.

Her breath hitched as he ran his tongue over his lower lip. The air became thick between them, alone in the car's back seat. She wanted to kiss him. Devour him. Urgent need surged through her. Something must have shown in her face, because his expression changed, and the gray of his eyes darkened to almost black.