One Summer in Santa Fe - By Molly Evans Page 0,21
stiffness was in every movement, and she groaned. “Yikes. Guess I’m going to be hurting tonight.” She placed a hand on her hip.
Concerned, Taylor stood, too. “Your back?”
“Yeah.”
Though she tried to hide the frown of pain, he saw it. “Let me see. You fell flat onto your back, didn’t you?” he said, trying to recall the sequence of events when he had released Alex into Piper’s waiting arms. He clenched his jaw as the memory of the day came back to him. He should have done more to protect both of them. It was his fault that they were both hurting, and he had come away with just a few scratches that would be gone by tomorrow.
“I did. I’m sure it’s nothing that some ibuprofen and a hot shower won’t fix.” She tried to wave away his concern.
“Still, let me see.” Determined to examine her back, he turned her round and eased her shirt up. Clenching his teeth against the anger that wanted to surface again, he turned her into the light and pulled her shirt higher. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“It really didn’t start to hurt in earnest until just a little while ago. What is it?” Twisting, she tried to see her back.
“Abrasions, embedded gravel, and you’re going to have a hell of a bruise on your right flank.” All because of him. And he was going to fix it right now.
“Well, no wonder it hurts.” She gave a quick laugh and patted his hand. “It’s okay. I’ll live.”
He dropped her shirt. “I’m going to have to pick out some of that gravel. Why don’t you take a shower here to see if that takes care of some of it, then I’ll remove the rest?” Offering her a shower and cleaning up her back was the least he could do.
“Oh, no, Taylor. I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”
He looked down at her, gave her his best unblinking stare that he usually reserved for stubborn patients who didn’t want to listen to him. “That really wasn’t a request.” He took her by the shoulders and walked her to the door to his private bathroom, knowing she didn’t want to trouble him, but he was insistent. He needed to do this to make amends, despite what she had said. “Take a shower. Help yourself to anything in there.”
“Okay, okay. I’m going.” Piper entered the large bathroom and closed the door. She removed her clothing and looked in the mirror at her back. “Ew.” No wonder he was concerned. It was much worse than she had first thought. Tiny grains of dirt peppered the lower half of her back, and she had abrasions on her shoulder blades. Taylor was right, she was going to have a doozy of a bruise. At the time it hadn’t felt like much, but the adrenaline must have been pumping and had masked the pain. She pulled a large fluffy towel out of the linen closet and started the water. As she entered the glass enclosure, she tried not to think of Taylor standing there naked every day.
She really tried, but thoughts of him leaning with one hand against the tile wall as the water sluiced down over his shoulders and back and lower refused to leave her brain. An image of herself stepping into the shower with him flashed into her mind and the fever of desire hit her hard. She’d never considered herself a really passionate person, more content to stay at home on a Saturday night than hook up with nameless men in nameless bars. Around Taylor, the dormant needs of her body seemed to have shed their husks and were blooming to life.
Turning her face into the blast of water, she closed her eyes and tried to think of other things. The scent of his masculine soap filled her senses with thoughts of Taylor that weren’t going away. And, Lord, the man could kiss. Her body tingling from the memory of his mouth on hers, Piper reached up and cooled the water a bit. She was no lover of icy showers, but something had to take her thoughts off Taylor.
The water stung her skin, but she bore the discomfort in order to cleanse out the wounds. A little sting now was better than a raging infection later. After tolerating the water as long as she could, she dried off and put her shorts on. If she put her shirt on, she’d just add dust and dirt to the scrapes she’d