Sunrise at Sunset by Jaz Primo

brought Greg,” he fumed.
    “Just nevermind that. Let’s get you cleaned up,” she interrupted gently as she steered him to the bathroom.
    He found Katrina’s sudden attention to him unusually forceful, but somehow welcome. He partially grasped the idea of her seeming very protective towards him, but his mind was also still racing from the emotional exchange with Melanie.
    The scent of Caleb’s blood acted fully upon Katrina’s sense of smell, and she felt her mouth water slightly in anticipation. She repressed the strong desire to kiss -- no, lick his head wound, and instead grabbed a washcloth hanging on the towel rack in his bathroom. The blood was starting to run again from the small gash in his forehead, and her jaw tightened with the resolve not to do anything foolish that would either disturb or terrify him.
    “Really, I can take care of this,” he insisted. “Don’t trouble yourself.”
    She regarded him with an arched eyebrow for a moment that seemed to register in his mind as a mild challenge. He got the idea that she was asserting herself with him, although not in a particularly threatening way. Instead, it made him feel safe. He swallowed hard as he gazed into her beautiful green eyes and decided he was perfectly content to let her look after him for the moment.
    “Or I could just be very grateful you’re here,” he conceded softly as he released the washcloth to her grasp.
    Katrina smiled. She rinsed the washcloth in cold water and asked, “Antiseptic?”
    He pointed to the split mirror in front of him that was also a dual-sided medicine cabinet. She removed a still-sealed bottle of first aid antiseptic and held the washcloth to his head wound. It was superficial, but would likely leave a nasty bruise, unless...
    “Press this over the cut for a moment,” she instructed him as he held the washcloth over his forehead, partially blocking his vision.
    She darted into his kitchen, retrieved a couple of paper towels, and gathered saliva in her mouth. She walked back to the bathroom, opened the antiseptic, and held the bottle up near the paper towel as she quickly applied her saliva instead. Taking the washcloth from him, she held the moistened area of the paper towel to his wound.
    He noticed immediately that the small gash in his head began to feel numb, and was quite happy with the effect. She smiled happily at him as he regarded her with appreciation. Something jogged in his memory for just a split second. It was as if he had felt the sensation sometime in the past, but he couldn’t recall when or where exactly.
    “It wasn’t as bad as it looked initially,” she offered as she quickly removed the paper towel, leaving only the appearance of a nearly sealed line of scar.
    “Yeah, I guess not,” he muttered as the numbing sensation continued.
    “It shouldn’t even bruise too badly,” she ventured as she put the lid back on the antiseptic. “And there shouldn’t be any permanent scarring, either.”
    “Wow, that’s some powerful stuff,” he commented as he glanced down at the bottle before she replaced it in his medicine cabinet.
    “Yep, good thing you had some handy,” she replied with a satisfied smile.
    “Hey, how did you know where I live?” Caleb asked as the subject suddenly occurred to him. He was surprised to see Katrina at his apartment door that evening, though not at all disappointed. Yet he didn’t recall exchanging addresses with her.
    Katrina returned her best casual expression and replied, “You’d be amazed what you can find on the Internet today. And besides, I wanted to surprise you with some Darjeeling tea that you liked from the other night.”
    He followed the direction of her pointed finger to see the Starbucks bag sitting on his end table and smiled appreciatively in return. She was suddenly very happy for the distraction the tea provided. Since he didn’t pay property taxes against the apartment, it had been harder than she had expected to track down his home