by Tina Beckett
His arm still rested over her. Sheltering her. He was gazing down at her, making sure she was all right. She tried to speak, but it came out as a cough, and it was several moments before she was able to recover.
“That’s it,” he said. “You’ve had a nasty shock. Take some time to let yourself breathe.”
She sat up. He pulled his arm away and leaned back from her. Was it wishful thinking, or did he seem to move his arm slowly, as though he wasn’t ready to let go of her?
As Kat lay on the beach, slowly regaining her breath, she gradually became aware of her bedraggled appearance. She was covered in muddy sand and the water that she’d coughed up, and her hair hung in strings around her face. But she was alive—thanks to the man next to her, whoever he was. His eyes radiated concern, and he patted her back gently as they both waited for her airway to clear fully.
“I’m all right,” she told him, as soon as she was breathing steadily. “All this attention is unnecessary, really. But I do have to thank you for saving my life, Mr.—?”
“Jack Harper,” he said.
“Well, Mr. Harper, thank you,” she said.
“Don’t mention it,” he said. “Just give your body the time it needs to recover.”
Kat sat with her knees bent and her feet flat against the sand. She held her head down, trying to slow her breathing. Keeping her head down also had the added effect of distracting her from the fact that Jack Harper was still sitting quite close to her, his powerfully built body radiating heat, his eyes examining her face with concern.
“I don’t know how you can be so casual,” she said. “I was certain we were both going to die.”
“It was dangerous, but you kept calm and that was half the battle,” he said.
She shuddered, thinking of how close she’d come to being swept out into the ocean. “Maybe I looked calm, but I definitely didn’t feel it. I always thought I was a strong swimmer, but I wasn’t prepared for those currents. I was trying to swim parallel to the shore, but it seemed like no matter what direction I went in the current wanted to pull me somewhere else.”
“You aren’t the first person to be surprised by the strength of a Hawaiian rip current. It’s a shame that your first swim here nearly killed you—especially on your first day. That’s no way to welcome you to the islands.”
“Really? And here I was hoping that almost drowning on my first day here would turn out to be some sort of tradition.” She laughed. And then, before she could stop herself, she said, “Maybe a better way to celebrate arriving in Hawaii and surviving a near-death experience would be to take my rescuer out for dinner sometime.”
She couldn’t believe she’d said that. She wasn’t anywhere near ready to date again. But she wouldn’t mind hearing that rich, deep voice more often. Or feeling those arms around her again. Preferably in a situation where she wasn’t about to drown.
Learning to relax. Step two, her brain piped up. Find an island hottie to help you move on from your devastating breakup.
Stop it, she told herself.
She’d just been jilted at the altar—well, technically there had still been three days until the wedding, but it had been close enough that she felt jilted. The last thing she needed was to get involved with anyone right now. She needed to get her mind off Jack’s voice and arms right away. What was she thinking, offering to buy him dinner?
Kat forced herself to shift her attention away from Jack’s beach-tanned body. This was no time for distractions, she told herself firmly. She’d just come close to getting swept out to sea, and she was still shaken by the thought of what might have happened if Jack hadn’t been there to help her back to shore. She needed to clear her head and get her bearings. She also needed to find a way to turn her attention from Jack Harper’s taut skin and chiseled chest muscles so she could focus on what he was saying.
“I appreciate the offer, but there’s no need to thank me,” said Jack. “It’s part of the job.” He motioned to where an ambulance had arrived, further down the beach.
“Are you a doctor?” she asked.
“Paramedic,” he replied. “And I’m sorry to say that any dinner plans will have to wait—because before you do anything else we need to get you to a hospital to get checked out. We’re not far from Oahu General Hospital—I’ll go with you.”
“Oahu General? Oh, no. I can’t go there.”
Now that Kat no longer feared for her life, she was becoming deeply embarrassed about the commotion her rescue had caused. More than anything, she wanted to avoid being taken to a hospital—especially Oahu General.
She could think of few things more humiliating than showing up to her new hospital as a patient, wearing nothing but a bikini. And she definitely didn’t think it would be a good idea to spend more time in close quarters with Jack. If she wasn’t careful that voice and those eyes would start to have an effect on her. And she had no intention of diving headlong into a fling with the first man she met in Hawaii—no matter how closely his eyes matched the color of the ocean.
“Really, I’m fine,” she said.
“You’re bleeding,” he told her.
“What?” Kat looked down at her leg, surprised. The place where she’d felt that pain in her leg while Jack was towing her to shore had a gash of about an inch that was trickling blood. “Oh, crap. That must have happened when I hurt my leg, back in the water. It doesn’t look serious to me, though.”
Privately, she thought that she might need a few stitches, but she wasn’t about to let Jack know that.
As he leaned in closer she caught his scent: a masculine blend of sunblock, salt water and sand. He smelled like the ocean, like the hint of salt in the air that had filled her with such excitement and called her to the beach the moment she’d stepped off the plane. She definitely needed to stay as far away from him as possible if she wanted to avoid making a fool of herself.
“It doesn’t even hurt that much,” she said, though she was gritting her teeth through the stinging pain that was now beginning to make itself felt.
“I’m sure it doesn’t, but that’s the point,” said Jack. “You’ve just had a near-death experience, and adrenaline is coursing through your system. Right now you probably feel like you can do anything—but that’s just the adrenaline. It can mask a lot of problems, including pain. You might think you’re fine, but humor me—it’s best for you to get to the hospital so we can get you stitched up.”
“There’s really no need,” said Kat briskly.
But she could see that Jack wasn’t going to give up easily, so she decided to try appealing to him as a medical professional.
“Look, to tell you the truth I’m a doctor, and I can take care of this myself. I’m starting my first day working at Oahu General on Monday, and I really don’t want their first impression of me to be...this.” Kat motioned to her string bikini.
Was it her imagination, or had his expression seemed to change when she’d revealed she was a doctor? For a split second it had seemed as though a shadow had passed over his face. Most people seemed to be more at ease with her when she revealed her profession, but if anything Jack almost seemed...disappointed?
But then he sighed and said, “Doctors always make the worst patients.”
Oh. He had a valid point. As a doctor, she’d always had a difficult time allowing herself to be in the patient role, and she knew many colleagues who felt the same way. It was hard to sit back and let someone else follow procedure when she could feel her own natural tendency to take charge of the situation rising within her. Also, she hated being the center of attention.
As she took in Jack’s piercing blue eyes she knew she shouldn’t want to be the center of his attention. Her knees were still shaking, and she had a feeling that it wasn’t just the onset of hypothermia.
She hoped he wouldn’t notice. But of course he did. He was clearly a skilled paramedic, and K
at suspected that he didn’t miss much.
“Your knees are shaking,” he said. “You should know better than anyone that the biggest risk after a near-drowning in water of any temperature is hypothermia. You shouldn’t be going anywhere until we can make sure your core body temperature hasn’t dropped too low.”
Kat groaned inwardly. Her irritation was all the worse because she knew that Jack was right. She shouldn’t take care of the cut on her leg by herself—especially with the risk of hypothermia. His stubbornness was a wall she wouldn’t get past, and he clearly wasn’t going to be intimidated by her medical credentials.
She couldn’t decide whether his determination to take care of her was incredibly annoying or attractive. A little of both, she thought.
And it didn’t help that the small, rebellious voice in the back of her mind was wholly in agreement with Jack, and was shouting that spending some time in the close quarters of an ambulance with him wouldn’t be an entirely unwelcome experience.
Just get in! the voice screamed. He can be your next impulsive decision!
Enough of that, she told herself.
Jack Harper was certainly attractive; there was no question of that. Those blue-green eyes of his seemed to change shade every minute, as though their color changed with his mood.
But Kat had felt herself getting swept away by the ocean, just moments ago. That had been scary enough. The last thing she needed now was to let herself get swept away by someone she’d just met.
Although she had to admit that Jack’s air of authority was rather refreshing. She could see that no matter how much she argued he was taking her to the hospital—even if she went kicking and screaming.
As a respected internal medicine physician, Kat wasn’t used to having anyone disagree with her. Her decisions were almost never questioned by her team. To have someone insist on taking care of her for once, in spite of all her protestations, was an utterly new experience.
It was almost a little bit sexy.
But sexy was the last thing Kat was looking for.
Not now.
Not three weeks after Christopher. Not after the disaster of their almost-wedding.
“Is it really necessary?” she asked, knowing her appeal was doomed.
“You know it is,” he said.
His voice was that of a determined man who would not be denied.
Definitely a little bit sexy, the rebellious voice in her head noted.
She didn’t want this kind of complication right now. She didn’t want to be attracted to anyone. Three weeks ago she hadn’t thought she was even capable of feeling interested in anyone else, because she’d been about to marry the love of her life. She should be returning from her honeymoon now—not standing on a tropical beach arguing with a frustratingly attractive paramedic who didn’t understand when to quit.
Kat saw the stubborn set of Jack’s jaw and realized that she really was going to arrive at her new place of work borderline hypothermic, muddy, and wearing a string bikini—in the company of one of the most attractive men she’d ever seen.
This, she thought, was the opposite of learning how to relax.
Copyright © 2020 by Alexis Silas
ISBN: 9781488066450
One Hot Night with Dr. Cardoza
Copyright © 2020 by Tina Beckett
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book, please contact us at [email protected].
Harlequin Enterprises ULC
22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada
www.Harlequin.com
