Daniel glanced up at Mrs. P. “Let’s get some fresh towels to clean this off.” He looked at Annika. “Can you stand?”

She paused before nodding. Her stomach was settling, and there was no light-headedness. He held her injured hand gingerly and wrapped his other arm around her waist. With no apparent effort on his part, he lifted her to standing. If her hand hadn’t been throbbing with pain, she might have actually enjoyed his proximity. Who was she kidding? She was totally enjoying his proximity, pain or not.

His face was inches from hers as he scanned her face. “Steady?”

He was so close she was unable to speak, so she nodded again and allowed him to lead her to the sink as Mrs. P. went to the back to grab towels.

“How’s she doing?” Phil asked as he returned to the bar.

Daniel wrapped her hand with a clean towel, before finally settling his gaze on Annika.

“Well, she needs stitches.” He turned to her. “Let’s go.”

“Go? Go where?”

“The ER.” He hesitated, then looked her in the eye. “I can do them for you.”

Annika shot a look at Nilay. He set his lips in a straight line. “You have to go,” her brother said.

“Can’t you just do them here?” She knew she sounded like a little girl, but she couldn’t face the ER. Especially not right after seeing Steven.

“No.” Daniel grinned at her. “They frown on us taking lidocaine home.”

“Young lady.” Mrs. P. came close and spoke. “Anni, you do what this young man says. I know it’s hard going back there...” Mrs. P.’s blue eyes met hers with understanding.

Annika’s hand throbbed. Her heart began to race, and she started to sweat, her breaths shallow. “I don’t like the ER.”

Bobby had already started righting tables and Phil was sweeping. The few customers slowly went back to their conversations now that the excitement was over.

“No one does.” Daniel leaned in and spoke quietly, gently, and Annika tried not to concentrate on how sexy he sounded when all he was doing was trying to take care of her. “I’ll do them myself. You won’t feel a thing.”

“Don’t you have a bag with all that stuff in it?” Annika bit her bottom lip. “Actually, I’ll be fine.” She looked at Nilay. “Maybe Sajan could do it.”

Nilay shook his head like she was an idiot. “You’d still have to go to the hospital.”

“Who’s Sajan?” Was it her imagination, or did Daniel tense up and seem irritated?

“No one. A friend.” She instantly regretted bringing up Sajan’s name. What was wrong with her? Why did it matter?

Daniel studied her for a moment and seemed to relax some. “Okay. We’ll go elsewhere.”

“Not the ER?”