“Ice. I need to get you ice.”
“Don’t rush,” she laughed. “I want to savor your sister’s hot chocolate recipe. If it tastes as good as it smells, I won’t need ibuprofen.”
“Ice and ibuprofen. I’ll be right back.”
He handed her the mug of chocolate before leaving for the kitchen, relieved at Carys’ diagnosis. When he got back to the living room, she was cuddled up in the corner of his couch with her legs tucked up beneath her. He could see her thigh and delicate garter belt connections that seductively ended under the hem of her red dress.
Lord have mercy.
As he got closer, he could see that she was shivering. He set down what he was holding, then grabbed the quilt that his grandmother had made, pulling it off the back of the couch and covered her legs with it.
“That feels glorious. I was getting cold, then the thought of ice on my arm was just making me shiver even more. I left my coat back at the wig shop and God knows I’m not going back for it.”
Ezio plucked up the glass of water and pills and handed them to her. “Take these. They’ll help.”
She smiled up at him. “Good thing I trust you.” She put the tablets in her mouth and chased them down with the water. He took the glass from her, then sat beside her.
“Give me your wrist. I have a compression bandage I want to put on, then we’ll use this gel ice pack.”
“Seems like you’re set up for this kind of injury.” Her eyes were twinkling. “Do you treat a lot of gamblers here at your house, or is it a common occurrence in your line of work?”
“Definitely beautiful blonde gamblers. I’m so boring you could call me an accountant,” he teased as he put on the bandage.
She had the best laugh. Even when what he was doing was painful, she was still laughing. What a trooper.
“Did you like Lucia’s version of hot chocolate?” he asked after he got the bandage applied.
“Definitely. She’s a woman after my own heart.” She ended the sentence on a yawn. Ezio looked at his watch and realized it was four-thirty in the morning. Holy shit, he needed to get her to bed.
“Let’s get you upstairs and into the guest room. After you’re settled, we’ll elevate your wrist and put some ice on it.”
“Ezio, I have to take a shower before I go to bed. And wash my hair. I smell like the inside of an ashtray. Plus, I’m pretty sure someone spilled gin on me.”
She was right. With the stockings, shoes, and hair he mostly didn’t notice it, but occasionally when her hair got in his face, he definitely was taken aback. But still…
“You’re too tired for a shower. Why don’t you worry about that in the morning?”
“Ezio Stark. Are there clean sheets on your guest bed?”
“Well sure.”
“Then I need to be clean to sleep there. I need shampoo and a shower, where can I find that?”
Ezio thought fast. He didn’t think she’d appreciate his brand of products, but Lucia and Evalina had both stayed here and left shit that he then moved to under the guest bathroom sink. “Come with me.”
Samantha covered her mouth as she yawned again and pushed off the quilt. She took the hand that he offered and followed him up the stairs to the hallway bathroom. “The master bathroom is bigger, but this has all the girly stuff in here that my sisters have left. We can bring it in—”
“This is perfect,” she cut him off as she started to open drawers and cupboards. “Thank God, a blow dryer! I even see clean towels on the rack. I’m covered. If you can give me something to sleep in?”
“You got it. I’ll bring it now before you start your shower. Then I’m going to get cleaned up too. The guest room is across the hall. I’ll meet you there so I can get the ice on your wrist. You do realize the sun will likely be up by the time we hit the sack, don’t you?”
“Thank God it’s the weekend,” she grinned.
“How do you do that, Samantha?”
“What?”
“Stay so starry-eyed and optimistic. Tonight was a shitshow, you’re injured, and God knows what could have happened, but you’re smiling and seeing the good things. How do you do that?”
“It’s my nature?”
He stepped closer to her and put his fingers under her chin so that they were looking eye to eye. “Maybe nature, maybe nurture, who the hell knows, but I think there’s a whole hell of a lot of willpower in there that has you choosing to look on the bright side of things.”
“Well sure,” she whispered up at him. “Who’d want to look at the negative?”
He shook his head. “That’s what I mean. For you it’s a choice. I like that. I like that a lot.” He bent his head toward hers.
“Oh no,” she stepped back. “No kissing until I’m clean and sweet-smelling. I don’t care how many pretty words you spout.” And she stepped back up to him and cupped his cheek. “And that had to be the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me.”
13
“Good morning, Beautiful. Are you okay? I’ve been knocking for a couple of minutes, but you didn’t answer.”
Samantha wiped the sleep from her eyes and slowly focused on Ezio filling the doorframe. It took her a moment to establish where she was and what had happened.
