And then she’d thrown him out of her house.
Some hostess she’d been. She was clearly conflicted. It was a wonder he wanted anything to do with her after that night.
But he had shown up at the adoption event at the clinic. And he’d come to her parents’ house for dinner. He’d been friendly with her at both events. And he had asked her to run with him today, so maybe things between them were back to normal again.
She was going to have to be more careful. She wasn’t practiced around men. She’d had exactly one long-term relationship in her life, a long time ago, and she sure hadn’t been in charge of herself in that one. She’d given up complete control of her life, her education, her sense of self . . .
This wasn’t helping reduce her tension, and she’d vowed never to think about him ever again. It was much better to sink back a little and focus on Luke’s fine form as he ran a few feet ahead of her. He was in prime physical shape, his long legs eating up the trail as he jogged with ease. Boomer stayed in perfect stride alongside him. It was easy to see why Luke and his dog were such great partners.
Daisy, of course, did the same, running devotedly right beside her, but Emma’s focus was on Luke’s very fine ass. So, of course Emma missed the curve in the road and the uneven pavement, her toe got stuck, and she took a very unflattering dive, skidding across the road. She threw her hands out to protect herself, feeling the stinging burn as her skin rubbed along the asphalt.
“Emma. Are you all right?” Luke was right there, crouching down next to her.
So was Daisy, licking her face in sympathy.
“Ow,” was all she could manage, trying to blink back the tears as the initial shock wore off and the pain intensified.
“What happened?”
“I tripped over . . . something.” She started to push up, but he placed a firm hand on her shoulder.
“Stay there and let me check you over.”
“I’m fine, really.” Except for her entire body trembling from shock and the oh my God excruciating pain.
“You’re not fine. You’re bleeding.” He looked down at her knees, which were raw and bloody.
“That’s not . . . too bad.”
He lifted his gaze to hers, and she knew as well as he did that, while the fall was definitely not life-threatening, she was a mess. Fortunately, she’d thrown her forearms down and not her hands, so while her jacket was torn up and she could feel some tenderness on her arms, she’d at least saved her hands. She used those at work and she needed them.
“How are your arms?”
“Throbbing. I don’t think anything’s broken.”
“Let me look.” He eased her jacket off and checked out both of her arms.
“See, I told you.”
“You’re right. You have a few scratches and your jacket is toast. You’re going to be bruised.”
“I’ve been bruised before. I’m pretty tough.”
He swept her hair out of her face. “I’m sure you are, Doc. Now let’s stand you up.”
He slipped an arm around her and lifted her. Her knees were throbbing, the pain like sharp needles pricking her skin. She bit her lip and focused on taking a few steps.
“Feel okay?”
“I’m fine.” It was agonizing.
He helped her walk to the nearest bench, then sat her down. “You stay here with Daisy. Boomer and I are gonna run up and get my truck.”
She thought about arguing and toughing it out, but they’d run a fair distance and she didn’t much feel like legging it out with her knees hurting so badly. Plus, blood was trickling down her shin. She nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”
“I’ll be fast. Don’t move.”
She laughed. “I’m hardly going to run away.”
He smiled at her. “You’re right. I’ll be back in a hurry. Come on, Boom.”
She watched as he hustled away at a fast clip. She settled back against the back of the bench and tried to focus on anything but the constant burning and throbbing of her knees.
Stupid. If she hadn’t been looking at his butt, this wouldn’t have happened. Nothing good ever came out of focusing on a man. Lesson learned—again.
It didn’t take long for Luke to come back with his truck. He must have really run fast. He was sweating as he came around from the driver’s side to help her stand.
“I’m not dying, you know. You didn’t have to kill yourself running.”
“It’s good exercise.” He swept his arm under her legs and lifted her.
“Luke. This isn’t necessary.”
“Yeah, well, I say it is. So indulge me. Come on, Daisy.”
Daisy dutifully followed and climbed into the backseat of the truck. He set Emma down on the passenger seat and helped put her seat belt on, then climbed in and headed out of the park.
“I don’t think you need an ER visit since nothing’s broken. You have a good first aid kit at your house?”
“Of course.”
“Then we’ll go there.”
“What about my truck?”
He shot her a look. “I’m not letting you drive all banged up like that. I’ll get your truck back to you.”
She pursed her lips. “Fine . . . officer.”
His lips curved as he headed out onto the main road and toward her place. She might not like it, but he was right. If she was alone, she could have made it, but she was shaky and in no shape to drive, especially if there was someone else to take her home.
He pulled into her driveway and held out his hand. “Can I have your keys?”
She handed him her house keys and he hustled the dogs out first, got them into the house, then came back for her.
“I already got Annie out of her carrier. All the dogs are out back.”
“Thanks.”
“Now let’s get you taken care of.”
She hobbled inside and he took her right into her kitchen. “Okay, where’s the first aid kit?”
“My bathroom, under the sink. But you don’t have to do this, Luke. I’m perfectly capable of performing my own first aid.”
He was already heading down the hall toward the bedrooms, ignoring her. He came back a few minutes later with the kit in his hand, then crouched down in front of her. “This is a good refresher course for me. I need some clean cloths you don’t mind getting bloody.”
“Any of the ones in there.” She pointed to the bottom drawer next to the sink and Luke pulled out a couple of clean cloths, ran them under hot water and squeezed out the liquid, then reached into the kit and put on the sterile gloves.
“I have to clean these wounds first. This is going to sting.”
She nodded. “This isn’t my first rodeo. I can handle it.”
She sucked in a breath as he scraped away the bits of gravel and dirt that clung to the wounds. It hurt—really badly. She looked up at the ceiling, over his shoulder, at his shoulder, anything but at the bloody, ragged mess she knew were her knees.
“That looks better.”
Emma took a peek. The wounds weren’t as dirty now, just clean, raw, and still horrible.
“Yeah, they look great.”
He laid his hand on her leg. “You tore them up pretty good.”
“Well, I hate to do anything half-assed.”
He laughed. “Now this part will really hurt.”
“I love your bedside manner. So soothing.”
“Hey, you’re the one who was looking at the clouds or something and took a knee slide on the asphalt.”
“Yeah. Or something.” Like his most excellent behind.
He lifted his gaze to hers. “What were you looking at?”
“I don’t remember. Probably keeping an eye on the dogs.”
He smiled at her, that devastating half-smile that curled her toes. For a moment she forgot all about the pain. Until he hit one of her knees with the hydrogen peroxide.