mall while holding her pregnant stomach). “Anyway, I’m with dragons,” he said as he rubbed his hand.
“Oh, just like Emma’s mom was; that’s so nice. No wonder you two are friends. By the way, is your hand okay?” Olivia’s perpetual smile disappeared for a moment as she glanced at Curtis’s hand, which was looking red and swollen from where his laser had backfired on him.
“Oh, this?” Curtis gave it a dismissive wave. “It’s fine.”
“Well, you should really get it checked out. You don’t want it to get infected,” Olivia persisted, and Emma looked at Curtis in annoyance. Why hadn’t he said that his hand was injured? It wasn’t like she wouldn’t have bandaged it for him. She wasn’t a monster. “In fact, I used to be a nurse. If you like, I could look at it now—”
“Actually, Olivia, we’d better get going. I’ll make sure Curtis gets his hand checked,” Emma interrupted as she tried to keep the impatience out of her voice.
“Oh, right.” Olivia flushed as she glanced around. “Of course. I hope I didn’t blow your cover. Anyway, I’d better go pick up the dry cleaning. I need it for Serena’s wedding, and I meant to do it yesterday but forgot. I swear these baby hormones are turning me into a crazy person. Oh, but Emma, speaking of the wedding, I know Serena would love to have you there if you wanted to change your mind. I asked your dad to book you a ticket on our flight. Just in case.”
“Well, I sort of have a lot of stuff going on. But I’ll think about it.” Emma plastered a smile onto her face.
“Please do, because my whole family is dying to see you again.” Olivia held up both hands to show her fingers were crossed before giving Emma and Curtis one final sunny smile and heading off. “And happy slaying.”
Emma rolled her eyes as Curtis turned and said, “Your stepmom seems pretty cool. It’s nice that she wants you to feel like you’re part of her family.”
“Yeah. It’s just great,” Emma mumbled as she dropped her kit onto the nearby bench and pulled out some cream. Then she nodded for Curtis to sit down.
“You don’t like her?” Curtis lifted an eyebrow in surprise as she reached out for his hand and inspected the wound while she tried to ignore how smooth the unburned part of his skin was. Did he moisturize?
“She’s okay, I guess,” Emma relented as she started to treat the burn just like she’d learned in all the first-aid courses she’d taken at Burtonwood. “Though she smiles way too much, and every time I go home for the weekend, she’s always trying to help me polish my sword or patch up my clothes.”
“I had no idea things were so tough for you,” Curtis said, with a hint of sarcasm. He winced as Emma put some cream on his hand and it sank into the wound.
“Look, it’s complicated,” Emma was stung into replying as she carefully put some light gauze around the burn and avoided looking at him, since there was something about his deep brown eyes that she found unnerving.
“Why, because she and your dad are having a baby together and you think he’s forgotten about your mom?” he said with more sarcasm.
“So what, now you’re a dragon slayer and Dr. Phil?” Emma growled, finally looking up at him. However, instead of seeing an arrogant expression on his tanned, perfect face, her words seemed to sting him more than the cream, and she watched in surprise as two bright red spots of color blazed on his cheeks.
Okay, so she hadn’t expected that.
“Hey, Jones. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. She just seemed nice, that’s all. But you’re right. It’s none of my business,” he said in an apologetic voice. “It’s easy to judge when you’re standing on the outside and can’t see what’s really going on. But the truth is that even the most regularlooking families can be screwed up.”
For a moment Emma blinked at him in surprise. She really hadn’t taken Curtis for the sensitive, considerate type. And since when did he know about complicated families? “Yeah, something like that,” she mumbled as she found herself returning his gaze, focusing on the smooth curve of his mouth as it swung up at the corners. It was a nice mouth. Why had she never noticed before? And suddenly Loni’s words came back to haunt her. Perhaps she had been too hard on Curtis? After all,