by Doyle, Jen
Rather than answer his question, every person in the group—including the EMTs and trainer—turned to Karen, who was crouched down on the floor, murmuring reassurances into Justin’s ear even though he was out cold. Not one of them seemed to even think twice about turning to her before answering Tuck’s question.
He was also, he had to admit, surprised when she straightened up and held her hand out to take the phone. She glanced down at it briefly, switched off the mute button, and then began talking. “Hi. I’m Dr. Karen Carmichael and I’m here with the EMTs right now. Justin took a hard hit to the head and although his vitals are strong and we’re hopeful it’s a simple concussion, he’s been unconscious for a few minutes so we’re going to transport him to Ames Medical.”
“She’s a school nurse,” Tuck said even as Karen spoke, just so that she’d know where Teresa’s head would be.
Considering how Karen reacted to him pretty much every time he was around her, that night in Denver being the one exception, he was struck anew at the warmth and compassion in her voice even as she immediately shifted to a more technical description of what was happening and what they knew.
“...assessing his brain and spinal cord function and have seen some spontaneous extremity movement. As soon as they finish the c-spine immobilization, we’ll be heading out. Unless you’re within a minute or two of the high school, the best thing for you to do would be to follow the ambulance or meet us there.”
Even in his sleepy small town, Tuck had seen too much death to be comfortable with someone lying that still. But from what Karen had said of their initial exam, Justin’s reflexes were good, which sounded like a definite positive.
“Oh, you’re in Ames right now?” A smile came over Karen’s face as she looked directly at Tuck. “That’s good. Because it wouldn’t be good to be pulled over for driving while crying. So take a few minutes to cry it out. Then meet us at the ER, okay? I’ll make sure they take care of you. ... Sure. He’s right here.”
She said goodbye, her fingers brushing against Tuck’s as she handed the phone back, and, hell, he still wanted to grab on to her, maybe even more so now. It was an entirely inappropriate thought in these particular circumstances, and yet it was the first thing that came to mind.
“Hey, Teresa, what else do you need?”
Five minutes later, after he’d talked Teresa through their moving Justin onto the stretcher, he let her hear the thundering applause and the sound of all the teams huddling up together and shouting, “Go Hale!” as the EMTs wheeled him off the court. Then he signed off himself and followed after them.
Coach had stayed behind with the team, but the trainer, Tim, was there, as were Karen and Ryan. Tuck came outside as they were loading Justin into the ambulance.
“You have this,” Karen was saying to the EMTs as Tuck came up to them. “You don’t need me.”
“It would make us feel a hell of a lot better,” the head EMT replied.
“But—”
“You should ride with Justin,” Ryan said, cutting her off. “I’ll follow in Tim’s car. He can drive you back to get Bruiser when you’re done.”
No way in hell was Tuck letting Tim drive Karen back, but this wasn’t the time to mention it. He did, however, say, “Please, Karen,” even though there was no way in hell she’d listen to him over Ryan. “Just... He’s seventeen years old. Please.”
She stared at him for a few seconds. Bit her lip. Then she nodded and climbed in.
Chapter Six
Karen kept an eye on Justin’s vitals, even though the EMT who was riding in the back was perfectly capably doing the same. After calling ahead to make sure someone would meet Justin’s mother when she arrived, Karen glanced over at Tim and was glad to see he was keeping himself out of the way. She didn’t often deal directly with coaches and trainers, especially at the high school level, but in those few situations, it had not been a great experience. They thought their kids were as invulnerable as the kids themselves did. It was not a good combination.
When they got to the hospital Karen hung back, letting the EMTs do their job as they updated the team greeting the ambulance and headed straight to CT. She was about to tell Tim she could arrange to get back to Inspiration on her own—she had no problem convincing Ryan to pick up his own car and then drive her back to hers. But Tim seemed a little too shaken for her to leave him quite yet, despite his being so professional. She brought him out to the waiting room.
She stopped short when she saw Tuck sitting there, his knees practically touching those of the woman in front of him as he held her hands.
He got a glimpse of her just then, turned back to the woman and smiled gently. “That’s her.”
The woman jumped up, closed the distance between her and Karen in three strides, and wrapped her arms around Karen so tightly Karen may have actually squeaked. “You must be Teresa.”
Nodding, Teresa laughed through her tears. “And you must be Dr. C. They told me you may have saved his life. I don’t even know what to say.”
Saved his life? “That’s an exaggeration.” His mobility, maybe. He’d fallen on her side of court, too far away from the coaches and EMTs for the adults to get to him before the kids did. Karen had seen one kid go to shake him awake and had practically tackled the boy. The EMTs had gotten there two seconds later.
“He was in good hands from the beginning.” Karen pulled away and nodded her head toward Tim. “You all have some amazing people taking care of those kids. Come on. Why don’t I take you back to where he is? I’m sure you want to see him.”
Different hospitals had different approaches to that kind of thing, but it had always been important to Karen to bring families in from the beginning. They were a huge part of the recovery process, no matter how big or small the issue was. One of the reasons she’d chosen Ames Med, in fact, was that they had an incredibly holistic view of what patient care meant, which was somewhat unusual in her experience with smaller hospitals. Yes, sometimes it backfired. But it also meant that there was a lot more support among the other doctors and nurses in situations like this.
So she brought Teresa back to the viewing room, stayed with the woman and talked her through the head and neck CT and then explained what would happen from there. She stayed long enough for the initial test results to come back, showing no skull fracture, no intracranial bleeding or increased pressure, and no spinal cord injury, all of which was fantastic news—and it meant they wouldn’t need a surgeon at all. Since Teresa’s husband got there just as they were transferring Justin to his bed in the ER, it made it that much easier to go.
It probably wasn’t a good thing that not only was she not surprised to see Tuck standing at the nurses’ station with Ryan, she actually expected it. “Are you that touchy-feely with every woman from your town?”
He wasn’t put off by her question. If anything, he seemed amused. “I’m going to take it as a positive step that you didn’t accuse me of sleeping with her right off the bat.”
Karen glared when the nurses sitting behind him giggled. She loved these ladies, but they didn’t need to egg him on. Or stare at him with quite as much intensity as they were, although she did understand the impulse.
“It’s just that you’re very—” she hesitated, “—charming. And so quickly after meeting someone, too.”
Why she was taunting him, she didn’t know, especially when she was the one who had approached him that first night in the first place. And, um, the second time, although that was the one he’d shut down.
She cleared her throat. Maybe she should fire up the online profile again; give herself enough time to thoroughly check someone out. Tuck was the only man Karen had ever slept with without knowing who he was. Sometimes she even required fingerprints and ran a background check. To this day she had no explanation for why she’d been so taken that night in Denver.
&nbs
p; Maybe it had been some latent instinct. If she had known he was a cop she probably wouldn’t have approached him. But she’d noticed the way he was tracking her, staying off to the side, yet keeping an eye out. The only other time anyone had ever really looked out for her in that way was when the men from her father’s squad would come around after he was killed, taking her out for ice cream or to the park or even Christmas shopping. Doing all the things her mother couldn’t rouse herself to do. One of them had even waited up for her the night of her prom, staring sternly at her date and scaring the shit out of him. Other teenage girls might have been furious, but it was times like those that Karen savored. The times she’d actually felt loved.
All of which was to say that it was probably just some weird crush carried over from her childhood. That had to be the only reason she reacted to him the way she did.
Tuck crossed his arms in front of his chest, again ignoring that Ryan and the other nurses were right there, not even pretending to be paying attention elsewhere. “Karen, if this is how you respond when you think I’m charming, we have some work to do.” He cocked his head and grinned. “Then again, I’m happy to remind you of how much better it could be. But you keep saying no to me when I ask you out to dinner.”
“You said no to me first,” she reminded him.
“True. But you said no to me most recently.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Could one of you just say yes and get on with it?”
This time Karen glared at Ryan before turning back to Tuck. “Having dinner would be a very bad idea.”
Tuck’s eyebrow arched. “I disagree entirely.”
Ryan clasped Tuck on the shoulder. “Well, you’ll have plenty of time to argue about it.” He leaned over and gave Karen a quick hug. “Tuck’s your ride back to Inspiration. I’m going to hang out here and make sure Tim’s okay.”
That made Karen tear her attention away from Tuck. “Tim? Really?” Her gaydar had seriously failed her on that one.
Ryan smiled. “You might not want to get friendly with the townsfolk, but I have absolutely no problem with it.”
Damn. If it weren’t her beloved Bruiser, she would have just hired somebody to drive the GMC back to Ames. But it was her baby, and they’d been through a lot together, and it was worth spending twenty minutes in a car with Tuck to get it back. So she turned to head out to the parking lot.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like Tuck, it was that she did. And she didn’t know what to do with that, even beyond the fact that they’d had sex. In fact the sex part was the thing she was most comfortable with.
“The problem,” she said, as if they were in the middle of having a discussion even though they’d walked in silence the entire way, “is that you keep asking me out to dinner. I would be more than happy to just have sex again.”
And now it was his turn to stop short. He ran his hand through his hair and looked at her, clearly unsure of how to respond to that. He figured it out. “Well, just for the record, I’m not at all opposed to the sex part, but it would be nice to get to know you a little better first.”
Fine. “I’m a surgeon. And an only child. I love what I do and I worked my ass off to get where I am. I have no interest in a relationship, especially with a cop, and I have no time to date. I did, however, like having sex with you, and although it goes against every one of my rules, I wouldn’t mind having it with you again.”
She knew it was a long shot. In fact, he struck her as the type who didn’t sleep with anyone he wasn’t fully in love with; he might even straight-out disapprove. Now that she knew him even this much she was honestly a bit shocked he’d left the bar with her that night in Denver.
But he had.
He was a friend of Zachary’s, so although he predated her whole safety check rigamarole, she wasn’t worried about him being some serial killer whose specialization was blondes with whom he’d previously had sex. And as long as she was coming up with as many ways possible to justify breaking her cardinal one-guy-every-six-months rule, this time without the excuse of being overly emotional after an awful day, she was also happy to ignore the cop factor as long as he was willing to go along with her this-leads-to-nothing approach.
So, well. “Is that enough for you?”
He didn’t say anything at first. He just stared down at her, his gaze so intense she was afraid her skin might be getting a little burned. Then he took a step back. Turned on his heel and unlocked his car—a much newer GMC, incidentally, all shiny and sireny and screaming horsepower like you wouldn’t believe. Then he smiled as he opened the passenger side door for her and held out his hand. “Nope.”
Chapter Seven
Tuck couldn’t help the smile that came to his face as he held his hand out to her. She was stubborn, that was for sure, staring at his outstretched hand for longer than he liked. But he could be patient when required, and this was certainly one of those situations. He chuckled a little when she practically stomped her foot and glared at him as she came forward.
“I can get in without your help,” she snapped.
Damn stubborn. He didn’t drop his hand. “I know.”
He made sure to not so much as breathe in when she finally took it, even though her touch sent another one of those lightning bolts running through him. Unlike earlier, he fully absorbed this one. There was no need to be concerned about anything other than her and him and this moment. They’d both done their jobs and left their charges in the best possible hands.
Well, almost the best. Tuck had a feeling that hers truly were the best. But since Justin didn’t seem to need surgery, and both of his parents were by his side, Tuck and Karen could both leave knowing they’d done what they could.
He forced himself to let go of her hand, close the door gently, and go around to get into the driver’s side door. She looked at him for a minute before turning her head away again. “You don’t need to do this. I can find a ride. I’m sure Zach would have no problem coming out to get me.”
Hell, no. She wasn’t getting rid of him that easily. “I’m good.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes, which didn’t bother Tuck at all but seemed to make Karen fidgety. She shifted a few times before making a show of looking into the back. “Looks comfy,” she said.
He laughed. “I’m not having sex with you in the back of my squad car.”
“Just making an observation,” she said. She sat on her hands. “What kind of car do you drive when you’re not being Officer Tuck?”
She was persistent, if nothing else. “A Chevy pick-up.”
“King cab?”
He nodded.
“Plenty of room in the back of that, too.”
There was. However... “If we have sex again, it will be in a bed. Four actual walls.”
He glanced over just in time to see her grin before she hid it. “If, not when?”
Oh, he was definitely hoping for it to be “when,” but he wasn’t about to concede. “So what is it about you and cars?”
She took a few seconds to respond. “What do you mean?”
“Do you only have sex in cars, or is that something unique to me?”
There were a few seconds of silence before she finally said, “I suppose you’re unique in that way.”
Which wasn’t the answer he expected. “Really.” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
Having no issue reading his tone, she snorted. “It’s not exactly something I like to shout to the rooftops either.”
“You don’t seem to hold anything back from Ryan.” There clearly wasn’t anything romantic between them but, yeah, he was a little jealous. She obviously told the man everything, and yet it seemed as if it was painful for her to give Tuck so much as the time of day.
She waved her hand in dismissal. “They take great pleasure
in the details of my sex life.”
They? “Not just Ryan?”
This time she just shrugged. “They’re sweethearts and they care about me. Plus they find it inherently amusing that I can perform an awake craniotomy like no one’s business, but I’m a total mess in my personal life.”
Tuck wasn’t going to comment on the craniotomy part, awake or not—he actually had no idea what that was. And he found it fascinating she’d come right out and admit to anything that could come close to being seen as a weakness. He also had a hard time believing the words “total mess” were accurate, however. She was far too sharp for that.
“Does it bother you?” she asked.
“The craniotomy part?” It actually didn’t bother him, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. He didn’t like doctors; he avoided them as much as possible. But watching her in action, whether with Taylor and Gabe or with Justin and then Teresa, was giving him an entirely new perspective.
That wasn’t what she was talking about, however. She frowned. “That Ryan and the others know we’ve had sex.”
Oh.
And now it was his turn to take a few minutes to respond.
He didn’t volunteer much about his two years in Denver, and no one really asked. If pushed, he’d say he hadn’t liked how impersonal it was. People had been incredibly friendly and welcoming to him, but when you worked along the edges as he had, it was impossible to ignore how many people were cast aside. Nothing unusual as far as big cities were concerned but a little too close of a reminder of the first fourteen years of his life. Of the way he and his brothers had fallen through the cracks as their father had worked his fingers to the bone. Inspiration wasn’t perfect, but Tuck knew its problems and its people like the back of his hand. And they were blessed to have the support of someone like Nate Hawkins, not to mention the foundation Nate had helped found; all that money definitely made a difference in being able to truly give help where it was needed.
