Better let Ethan and me patch you up. We have finished two weeks of our eighteen months of paramedic training, after all.”
Kat laughed as she grabbed a handful of tissues to wipe away the blood. “Hmm, maybe I better talk to Tony.”
But she didn’t get the chance. Ethan took one look at her arm, sat her down at the kitchen table and fussed over her little scrape as if she’d severed a limb. Meanwhile, Priscilla and Tony made themselves scarce. Ethan washed the minor injury and put antibiotic ointment on it, touching her with professional detachment.
With every stroke of his fingers on her arm, she had to stifle a small gasp of pleasure. No pain now.
“I don’t know if I have a bandage big enough,” he said. “But if I don’t, maybe Tony has something next door.”
“Ethan, you’ve done enough, really. This isn’t your problem.”
The look on his face grew fierce. “Kat. Maybe we’re not a couple anymore. But I can’t automatically stop caring about you. Deal with it.”
* * *
“YOU GOTTA FIND another woman,” Tony insisted. They were on duty hosing down the engine—for once, they hadn’t been assigned to clean the bathroom.
Priscilla was also out in the front drive. She had a gas can and a lawn mower, and she was trying her best to figure out where the gas went. Captain Campeon had gotten tired of making Priscilla mop, since she did it so cheerfully no matter how bad she was at it. So he’d told her she had to mow the grass.
True to form, she wasn’t complaining, nor was she asking for help. But it was clear she’d never been within ten feet of a lawn mower.
“Tony, you leave Ethan alone,” she said as she stared at the lawn mower, scratching her head. She tipped it over to see if anything on the bottom looked promising. “He’s in love. Women aren’t interchangeable, like cars.”
“Who says?” Tony shot back.
Ethan focused on a spot of dirt, scrubbing it and then polishing it until he’d about polished a hole. He couldn’t join in the good-natured chatter. It hurt too much to talk about Kat, or even think about other women.
She’d been living in his house a week, and she’d been the ultimate thoughtful roommate. She’d paid her rent, contributed grocery money and done more than her share of the cleaning and cooking. She was quiet, and she made sure Samantha understood how to respect her new housemate’s belongings.
“But why torture yourself when you could move on?” Tony argued. “There’s a woman at Brady’s who’s dying for you to notice her.”
“Uh, no, thanks.” Ethan shivered at the thought. He knew the woman Tony was talking about. She had more tattoos than a sailor.
“He doesn’t need to move on,” said Priscilla. “He just has to wait her out. Kat thinks going platonic is the responsible thing to do. But she’ll regret it. She’ll change her mind.”
“How do you know that?” Ethan asked, pathetically eager for any scrap of hope.
“Because she’s in love with you. Any idiot can see that.”
Ethan’s chest tightened. “You think? Really?” Could that possibly be true? She sure didn’t act like it.
“It’s the way she looks at you when you’re not looking.” Priscilla finally settled on the oil cap and unscrewed it.
“No!” Tony and Ethan said together.
“What?”
“That’s where the oil goes,” Tony said. “Here’s the gas cap.” He unscrewed it for her.
“Oh, that thing?”
Funny, but Ethan had felt no compulsion at all to rescue Priscilla when she was having trouble. She just seemed so capable, so in control.
But Kat was one of the strongest, most capable women he’d ever known. Why, then, did he always want to take care of her? Yes, she’d been going through tough times since the fire, but she’d proved, over and over, that she could solve her own problems. If a lawn mower had baffled her, she’d have found the instruction manual or called a hardware store to get advice. She and Priscilla were alike in some ways—neither of them could bear the slightest hint that they were weaker or not as smart as a man.
But there was something so vulnerable about Kat. If someone hurt Priscilla, she had a rich family and a team of lawyers she could fall back on. If someone hurt Kat, she had no one—except him.
He was her knight in shining armor. And he liked it that way. It wasn’t going to change.
“I just want to make her happy,” Ethan said, almost to himself, returning to his task