if he was coming down the hill behind her, how could he have not seen the bear? The animal was huge, and she had been talking to it—and she hadn’t been using her inside voice.
She glanced up at Liam again, and decided to figure it out later. Right now, she wanted to savor these precious seconds in his arms. She might never get the chance to be this close to him again, so she decided to enjoy it while it lasted.
She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
Liam looked down at Elle, and when he saw that her eyes were closed, alarm raced through him. He knew head wounds bled a lot, but he also knew that you weren’t supposed to fall asleep after one, and the fact that her eyes were closed sent a wave of fear coursing through him.
He hadn’t thought the rock had hit her that hard.
“Hey,” he said, gently shaking her. “No sleeping.”
“I’m not sleeping,” she smiled. “I’m resting.”
“No resting either,” he barked. “Hold onto the bowl, it’s slipping.”
That had been a lie, but he needed her to remain alert, and if claiming risk to her precious cookie dough was the way to do it, then he had no shame.
Sure enough, she raised her head and tightened her grip on the bowl. The woman was passionate about her baking, which he admired, but she was also crazy about her baking…which he also admired.
Damn it!
A lifetime of saving bowls of dough and who knew what else flashed before him, and though that probably made him crazy, too, he wasn’t really upset about it. Another man, a saner man, would have left that bowl in the woods, forcing her to return for it later, but he obviously wasn’t that man.
At least he had that going for him.
When the main building came into view, he picked up the pace, and raced through the parking lot. Lael pulled into the area in front of him, jumped out of the golf cart, and swung open the backdoor.
“What the hell happened?” Lael barked.
“She fell and a rock hit her in the head. Get the first aid kit, and meet me in the kitchen.”
Lael nodded and raced past them, and Liam stormed to the kitchen. Lacey was at the sink, washing dishes, but she turned off the water and started drying her hands when they burst through the door.
“What happened?” Lacey asked.
“She fell and hit her head on a rock,” Liam barked. “Take that bowl from her and put it in the fridge.”
“Liam,” Elle said. “I’m okay. You can put me down now.”
“Sit her on the island,” Lacey said. “It will be easier to check her head and clean the wounds.”
“I’m dirty,” Elle said. “I’m getting dirt everywhere.”
He didn’t care about a little dirt, and neither did his siblings, but he knew Elle was still cautious about her relationship with his family.
“I’ll clean it up later,” he growled, trying to ease her concern. He wasn’t sure his tone was comforting, but it was the best he could do right now.
“Here’s the first aid kit,” Lael said.
“And a washcloth,” Lacy added. “We’ll go help Levi.”
Both of his siblings left the room, and he started gently wiping the blood away from the wound on her head. The cut was small, just like he had originally thought, and a lot of the blood had already started to clot, forming a sort of blood-barrier over the area. Once he wiped the dried blood away, a fresh wave tried to escape, and he wiped that way, too, before applying some antibiotic cream and a bandage. A small bruise near the cut was barely visible, but he knew that it would grow darker over the next few days.
Next, he moved to her hands, wiping the blood away from the scrapes that coated her palms. The intimacy of taking care of her made his heart swell, and for the first time in years, he was filled with hope as he remembered his brother’s words from the day before. He hadn’t talked to Elle yet, mostly because he hadn’t known exactly what to say, but also because they had returned home late the night before.
Home.
That’s exactly what his cabin felt like with her in it.
In the past, the place had been his sanctuary, a place he could hide from the world and be his true self without any witnesses, but it had never truly felt like a home. He had never wanted to share it with anyone, never