“That’s not true. I’m always serious about caring for my patients.”
“You know what I mean. All the nurses flock to you. I’ve even seen women from different departments come to the floor who have never been there before to see or hopefully be seen by Ty Smith.”
“Hey, you can’t fault me for that.”
He was right, but she wasn’t becoming one of his groupies. “Why don’t you make their day by flirting with them and leave me alone?”
“Because you doth protest too much. You’re far too much fun to tease. I can always count on a pretty blush and a sharp rebuttal. You challenge my mind.”
“Humph.” She started walking toward her car. “So you’ve decided I’m going to be your entertainment while you’re in town. I’m not flattered.”
He fell into step beside her. “The way you say it doesn’t make it sound too nice. Like I’m pulling wings off butterflies. Has it ever occurred to you that I might be attracted to you?”
“No.”
“No.” He voice held total disbelief. “You don’t think I could be attracted to you or, no, you don’t think I’m attracted to you?”
“Both.”
“My, you’re mighty cynical for such a beautiful and intelligent woman.”
She put her hands on her hips and really looked at him. “Ty, I’m no one’s good-time girl. I already have enough worries, without adding you to my list.”
“Don’t you ever just want to have a good time?”
“I don’t have time for a good time.” She clicked the fob to unlock her car then opened the door.
“Hey, you never said what you like about me.”
She slipped under the wheel. “Goodnight, Ty.” And closed the door.
Looking into the rear-view window, she saw him saunter over to where a motorcycle was parked. He had a loose-hipped walk that belied his size. Letting him get into her head wasn’t a good idea.
She stuck her key into the ignition and turned it. A clicking noise was all that happened. She tried it again. The engine refused to start.
The zoom of a motorcycle being turned off made her look into the mirror. Ty was getting off his bike and putting the kickstand down. She opened the car door. “The battery is dead.”
He stepped closer. “You’ve had trouble with it before?”
“Yeah. It was a little slow to start when I headed here. I was going to have it seen to tomorrow.”
“Well, it looks like you’re going to need a ride home.”
She searched for her phone. “I’ll call a taxi.”
“I’ll give you a lift.”
“I don’t think so. I’ll just wait here for a taxi.”
“Be realistic, Michelle. How long do you think it will take for a taxi to show up at this hour? And you’re sure as heck not going to sit in a dark parking lot and wait.”
“I can go inside.”
“Come on. Let me give you a drive home. I’ll ride slowly. No fancy moves.”
Still unsure, she was exhausted and the thought of having to wait another hour or longer to head home wasn’t appealing. She grabbed her purse as she climbed out of the car. “Okay, but no nonsense. I saw one too many motorcycle victims when I was doing my ER rotation.”
“I promise, only one wheelie.”
“What?” She stepped back, planning to refuse to get on.
“Kidding. Just kidding.”
* * *
Ty was pleased he hadn’t had to do a more convincing job of selling Michelle on the idea of riding on his bike. Most women he’d known had seemed to be fascinated by the prospect. It was part of his mystique. For him, it was cheap and easy transportation. Apparently Michelle wasn’t impressed one way or another with his air of mystery. For some reason he wished she was, but was glad she wasn’t. He never dipped below the surface of his emotions and he didn’t want anyone else to do it either.
He unlocked the seat compartment, pulled out a spare helmet and offered it to her. His hand remained suspended in mid-air for a moment before she took it. She made no further movement.
“You do know that you have to put it on to ride? It’s the law.”
She look around as if there might be a state trooper watching.
He shoved his hair back, preparing to slip on his own helmet. Michelle remained rooted to the spot as if she couldn’t make up her mind whether or not this was a good idea. “Are you coming or not?” Again she scanned the parking lot like she was hoping for any other option. Taking a deep breath, she put the helmet on her head. It wouldn’t go into place because of her hair.
“Here, let me help you.” He lifted the helmet off her head and reached around to release her hair. He could feel her breath on his neck.
She bent her torso away from him. “What’re you doing?”
“Trying to get your head into this helmet. Your hair is stopping it from going on.”
“Oh.”
“What did you think I was doing? Making a play for you?”
“No.”
“Yes, you did.” He looked her straight in the eyes, wishing the streetlights were brighter. “If and when I make a play for you, you won’t need to question what I’m doing. It will be perfectly clear.” With great satisfaction he watched her throat bob up and down. “Now I’m tired and I’m hungry. If you would like me to take you home you’re going to have to let me help you with the helmet. Of course, I can also escort you to the lobby so you can wait for a taxi there. Either way, I’d like to get a move on.”
She pulled the rubber band out of her hair and plopped the helmet down on her head.
So the ice queen responded to authority.
“I’m going to fix the chin strap now,” he said in an exaggerated voice, as if speaking to a child.
“Stop making fun of me. I’ve never been on a motorcycle before.”
She gave him such a pointed look of defiance that he wanted to take off the helmet and kiss her.
“I’m still not sure you’re the one I want to take my first ride with.”
He chuckled as he picked up his helmet from the handlebars. “I promise it will be a ride to remember.” After slipping on his helmet, he said, “Hand me your purse. I’ll put it under the seat.”
Michelle did so, after only a moment of hesitation. Storing the purse and closing the seat, he then threw a leg over the bike, pushed the kickstand up and revved the engine. The bike roared to life. He looked back over his shoulder. “By the definition of ride, you have to get on first.”
She lifted a leg over the seat. He had the sense that she was making every effort not to touch him. When she tottered, a hand gripped his shoulder then was gone, only to return just as quickly. He’d watched those long, delicate fingers do meticulous surgery. Now he felt their strength. What would it be like to have her want to touch him all over?
She pulled her hands away again as she settled on the bike.
“You need to move up close and hang on or you’ll fall off the back.”
Michelle shifted closer but acted as if she was making sure her legs didn’t touch his. She held a fistful of shirt in each hand, instead of wrapping her hands around his waist.
“Ready?”
She nodded.
“Okay. Here we go.” He clicked the bike into gear, let off the hand clutch and the bike moved across the lot. Less than five seconds later Michelle’s arms had his waist in a death grip. Her thighs squeezed his where they met, and her face and chest were plastered to his back.
His manhood rose in response. He sucked in a breath. This had been such a bad idea on so many levels. The woman was terrified and he was turned on.
He took his hand off the handlebars long enough to pat her knee. “You’re doing great.”
As he turned right out of the parking lot, he realized he had no idea where she lived. He’d spent so much time trying to convince her to get on the bike that he’d forgotten to ask for directions. “Which way is your house?” he called over his shoulder.
There
was no answer.
“Point in the direction I need to go.”
Again he heard nothing.
“Michelle, we can’t just drive around all night. You have to tell me where you live.”
She lifted one finger against his stomach and pointed ahead.
“I’m going the right way?”
She nodded against his back.
It was far too late for word games. He needed directions and she seemed incapable of giving them. Just up the street was the bright sign of an all-night diner. He was hungry and because they had done surgery tonight they wouldn’t be required to be at the hospital until the day after tomorrow. They had time to stop.
He pulled into the parking lot and under the glaring lights. As he eased the bike to a stop, Michelle’s grip on him slackened. He missed her warm, soft breasts pressed tightly against him. As if she realized she was still holding onto him, her arms fell away and she pushed back on the seat.
“What’re we doing here?”
“Getting some breakfast.”
“I want to go home.”
“In that case, you’re going to have to tell me how to get there. Which you couldn’t do on the bike. So while you give me directions, I’m going to get some eggs and bacon. Care to join me?”
Once again she looked unsure. It always caught him by surprise because she was so formidable in the OR. Maybe the overconfident woman wasn’t so self-assured after all.
“I am kind of hungry.”
She put one foot on the ground and grabbed his shoulder as she brought the other over. He climbed off. Michelle was already in the process of removing her helmet. When she got it off he took it from her and laid it beside his on the seat.
The diner looked like it had been around forever. It was a fifties-type place with silver siding, orange bench seats, and Formica tabletops. He loved the place already.
He held the door open for Michelle. Her hair was mussed and she still wore green scrubs but that didn’t detract from her stately walk or good looks. She could have been a conquering queen by the way she held herself. What made her even more eye-catching was that it was a natural part of who she was, nothing conceited about it.
There were only a handful of people in the place but all eyes turned to her. She ignored them and scooted into the first booth she came to. Ty moved in across from her.
“I thought you might like to sit where you can see your bike.”
“Good plan.”
“How long have you been riding?” she asked as she picked up a plastic-covered menu.
“Since I was about sixteen.”
“That young?” Her eyes widened.
“Yeah. I had to have a way to get to and from school.”
She looked up over the menu. “Your parents let you have a motorcycle at that age?”
“No, my grandfather did.” Whoa, she’d already gotten more personal information out of him than most people did. Usually he steered the conversation away from himself but Michelle wasn’t giving him a chance to as she shot off another question.
“How did your parents feel about that?”
“They didn’t care.”
She looked down at the double-sided card in her hand and mumbled, “I sure would have.”
“They weren’t around to care.” Bitterness filled his voice but, then, it always did when he spoke about his parents. Which he rarely did.
Thankfully the server approached their table. She was in her mid-forties, slightly overweight and had her thin hair tied back in a ponytail. “What you have?”
“Hi, there. I’ll have the breakfast platter. Eggs over easy.”
When the woman looked at her, Michelle said, “And I’d like the mile-high pancakes.”
Ty smiled up at the server. “And a large pot of fresh coffee.”
The woman smiled. “Coming up.”
“You’re amazing. That woman looked so sour when she came over to take our order and she leaves smiling because she has spoken to you.”
“Why, thank you. Nothing but the power of Ty.”
“The power of Ty, uh? Ty is a nickname, isn’t it? I’d guess your full name is Tyrone.”
Michelle was being unusually chatty. Maybe it was the late hour, maybe she was hungry or maybe it was the fact she was stuck with him. Normally he would have complained about all the personal questions but he found he didn’t want to give her a reason to stop. It was good and bad. He liked her attention too much and she was uncovering his secrets.
“I was named after Tyrone, Georgia.”
“Why after a town?’
“Because my parents were passing through it when my mother went into labor. You sure are full of questions.”
“It’s interesting. I’ve never known anyone named after a town. So you were born in Tyrone.”
Ty hesitated a moment before he said more. He’d told maybe three other people about his birth. “No, I was born in a stand of trees beside a cotton field.”
“What?”
“My parents didn’t believe in going to the hospital.” He put his fingers in the air to make quotation marks. “Birth is a natural process. You don’t need a hospital for that.”
“In this day and age I can’t imagine that happening.”
For Joey no doctor and no hospital, going all natural, had been a death sentence. Ty had seen to it that he was no longer associated with those ideas. “Well, it didn’t just happen yesterday. I am thirty-four years old.” Okay, now he’d said enough. For someone who had a difficult time building relationships at work, Michelle sure had him spilling his guts.
“You know what I mean. Medicine has advanced so far. We know so much more than we used to.”
“Yeah, science has come a long way but not everyone embraces it, neither does it have all the answers.” That statement made it sound like he was defending his parents, which he certainly was not.
Michelle’s eyes went dark and a sheen of moisture covered them before she blinked. What had she been thinking about to bring that on?
Her eyes rose to meet his. They held a stricken look for a second before her gaze focused downward. Had he stumbled on a secret? He didn’t want to look into anyone’s dark closet.
To his great relief, the server returned to place Michelle’s plate down in front of her then his in front of him. Now he’d make an effort to turn the conversation to something less personal and certainly more pleasant.
“Whoo, comfort food. I might think you’re feeding your emotions.”
“I like pancakes. Nothing special there.”
He was beginning to think there were a number of things special about Michelle.
“Still an amazing amount of food for such a shapely woman.”
“Shapely?”
“Don’t try to act like you don’t know you’re a fine-looking woman.”
“Thank you,” she said in a humble-sounding voice.
“How do you stay in such good shape?”
“I swim laps three times a week and I have good genes. My mother…”
She put a bit of pancake in her mouth but he had the feeling she had purposely decided not to say more.
“Interesting. I took you for a gym rat. But on second thoughts that would be far too sociable for you.”
‘That didn’t sound like a compliment. More like an insult. You don’t think I can be sociable?”
“I had no intention of insulting you.” This subject was more like it. Less about him and superficial. “I was just stating fact from what I’ve seen. And, no, I don’t think you are particularly sociable.”
Her eyes drifted away to watch the server pour coffee. Michelle looked up at him again. “So how do you stay in shape?”
“So you think I look good?”
“That isn’t what I said. My arms were around your body just a few minutes ago. I have some idea of your physical fitness.”
He knew all too well how close she’d been. How much he’d enjoyed it. His body had taken far too long to recover from the co
ntact. The ice queen was thawing. Nicely.
“I enjoy rock climbing, wind surfing when I’m stationed close enough to the ocean, and I try to pick up a game of basketball in the local park when I can.”
“Sounds like you stay busy.”
“I try to. Moving from town to town can be lonely so I try to get out where people are.” He forked eggs into his mouth.
She gave him a long look he couldn’t quite read.
“So how did you like your first bike ride?”
“I found it exhilarating.”
His lowered his chin and pierced her with a look. “I thought by the King Kong grip you had on my waist that you might be terrified.”
“I was but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t enjoying it.”
He nodded his head in fascination. “You’re an intriguing woman, Dr. Ross.”
“You never call me Dr. Ross.”
“Yes, I do. In front of patients.”
Michelle huffed. Which she did often, but he found that he liked it. “Why do you insist on calling me Michelle when you know I’d rather you didn’t?”
“At first it was to aggravate you, then it was because ‘Dr. Ross’ sounds so stuffy in the OR and now it’s because I like the feel of it crossing my lips.”
Ty didn’t miss her shiver or the fact that her fork came to rest a little too noisily against her plate. He’d pierced that armor she hid behind. The opposite of cold was hot. Maybe beneath that snowcap attitude was a boiling volcano of emotion ready to erupt. It would be exciting to be there when it did.
“I’d take that as praise but for the fact that the hospital Casanova said it.”
“I’m no Casanova. I just consider myself a friendly person.” He took a sip of his coffee.
“With all the women.”
“Are you just a little jealous, Michelle?”
He made her name sound particularly sexy on purpose. Maybe he could light some fire under that snow. Her eyelids fluttered down and up again. Oh, yes, he was getting to her. But why did he want to? There were plenty of woman at the hospital who had made it clear on a number of occasions that they were more than charmed. But who did he find intriguing? Michelle.
That revelation made him sit back in his seat. He watched Michelle for a moment. She was certainly attractive enough but her standoffish ways were perturbing. He wanted to have fun and nothing about this woman said fun. That wasn’t entirely true, he was having a good time right now. Still, Michelle was definitely the wrong person to be interested in. She cried permanence and that wasn’t in his plans in any form.
The Rebel Doc Who Stole Her Heart Page 4
