A Carolina Valentine

by Michelle Major

  Praise for Michelle Major

  “A dynamic start to a series with a refreshingly original premise.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “A sweet start to a promising series, perfect for fans of Debbie Macomber.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “The Magnolia Sisters is sheer delight, filled with humor, warmth and heart.... I loved everything about it.”

  —New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne

  A Carolina Valentine

  Michelle Major

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  PAUL THORPE WATCHED the woman approach, but even when she met his gaze and offered a tentative smile, he couldn’t believe she was headed toward him.

  He glanced over his shoulder although he knew there was no one sitting behind him in the almost empty hospital cafeteria. Nine o’clock on a Saturday night wasn’t exactly a high traffic hour.

  “Hey, Dr. Thorpe.” Aimee Baker balanced her food tray in one hand and gave him a tiny wave with the other. “Mind if I join you?”

  He stared at the pretty nurse for several long moments, mesmerized as always by her beauty. Aimee’s blond curls framed her face like a bright aura, and her almond-shaped, sky blue eyes and luminous skin made her seem like a throwback beauty from the age of classic movies.

  Yet Paul knew she was thoroughly modern. Her manner with patients and coworkers deftly straddled the line between command and comfort. She regularly made people in the hospital laugh, putting her adorable dimples on display. She never joked around with Paul, much to his chagrin. Obviously she took his silence as a repudiation. She glanced at the laptop open in front of him, her smile faltering.

  “Or maybe you’re busy,” she said on a rush of breath, color flooding her already rosy cheeks. “Sorry. I won’t bother—”

  “You’re not a bother,” he said, then cleared his throat and pushed back from the table to stand, snapping his laptop closed. “Please sit down. And call me Paul. You know you can call me Paul, right? I mean we’ve...”

  His voice trailed off at the alarmed look she gave him.

  “Worked together for over a year,” he finished quickly. She nodded with what looked like relief.

  Did she really think he’d mention anything else and embarrass them both? His heart stammered at the memory from a few weeks earlier. The stroke of midnight on the roof of Magnolia Community Hospital and an innocent New Year’s kiss between two overworked, exhausted colleagues that had quickly turned into something more. A spark of desire had flamed into a brush fire of need and longing and rocked him to his core.

  It ended before things got out of hand, or so he told himself. His heart and his body might disagree with his rational brain.

  “Right.” She sat her tray on the Formica tabletop and slid into the chair across from him. “Slow night.” She picked up a fry, then pushed the plate toward him. “Want one?”

  “No carbs,” he answered with a shake of his head.

  Her gaze rolled toward the ceiling. “I should have known. I bet you do CrossFit, too.”

  “Occasionally. What’s wrong with CrossFit?”

  “Nothing. It just explains why you look the way you do.” She pointed a fry at him. “I’m more a body by pasta type of person.”

  His mouth went dry because her body was perfect as far as he could tell. Not that he’d ever seen her in clothes other than scrubs or had any business fantasizing about what she might look like out of the shapeless uniform. “I don’t have anything against pasta,” he told her. “It’s not my thing.”

  “What about cake?” she asked, one delicate brow lifting.

  He leaned forward like he was about to reveal some universal secret. “I might have a thing for cake.”

  She bit down on her lower lip as she tried to hide her smile. His body tightened in response. Holy hell, he needed to get out more. How could talking carbs in a hospital cafeteria make him this hot and bothered?

  But he knew the answer. It wasn’t the conversation. It was Aimee. He’d noticed her immediately when she came to work at the hospital a year ago, but he had a strict policy against dating coworkers. In truth, he hadn’t dated anyone since his former fiancée had winged her engagement ring at him over two years prior. The look of pain in Kimberly’s eyes—and knowing he’d been the one to put it there—had been enough to convince him he wasn’t cut out for love.

  “Then I’ll bake you a cake,” Aimee said, leaning back and pressing two fingers to her chest like she might be having the same trouble catching her breath as he was. “If you agree to a date.”

  Paul felt his mouth drop open, but she continued before he could answer. “With the highest bidder at my bachelor auction.”

  He blinked. “You’re auctioning off bachelors? Is that some new side hustle?”

  She laughed, a husky rumble of sound that made him think of evening thunderstorms on a hot summer night. “It’s part of the hospital’s fundraising gala at the end of the month. We’re partnering with local restaurants. Attendees will bid on eligible bachelors from Magnolia. They’ll get an evening with their date of choice, and all the money raised will go to funding the mobile health-care clinic.”

  “That’s a worthwhile initiative,” Paul said. As head of emergency room medicine at the hospital, he was involved in planning for and staffing the facility’s newest offering. “The mobile clinic has the potential to make a big impact in a community like ours.”

  “Exactly.” Aimee sipped at her water. “If we can raise enough money, the clinic should be able to start making rounds by early spring.”

  “I didn’t realize you were so engaged in the project.”

  “I grew up in a rural community on the Tennessee border. If my town had a mobile health-care van, people would have had access to better medical care and early detection for cancer and other diseases.”

  “That sounds personal.”

  “My mom died when I was in high school,” she said quietly, her eyes darkening. “Stage four breast cancer. By the time she went to the doctor for treatment, it had metastasized.”

  “I’m sorry, Aimee.” Her fingers tightened on the plastic cup, and he had the strange longing to reach for her. He didn’t, of course. It wasn’t his place to offer her comfort as much as he might want to.

  “So you’ll do it?” she asked.

  “No.”

  Her features went slack. “But we need you, Dr. Th—Paul.”

  “I’m not a good candidate for a bachelor auction.”

  “The women of Magnolia might disagree.” She held up a small hand and ticked off a list of attributes. “Single, check. Good hair, check. Nice teeth, check. Popular with the ladies, ch—”

  “Uncheck,” he interrupted, resisting the urge to run a hand through his brown hair. Did he have good hair? He’d never considered it an asset. “I don’t date. I haven’t been on a date in years. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”

  “You know what you’re doing,” she whispered, her gaze intent on the plate of fries on her tray.

  Was that a reference to the kiss they’d shared? It had to be, and the thought sent pleasure snaking along his skin.

  “Are you planning to bid?” he asked before he thought better of it.

  She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before raising her gaze to his. “No.”

  Well, then. Th
at was definitive. She might remember the kiss but didn’t want to revisit it. Good to know.

  “I’ve had requests,” she continued, looking as uncomfortable saying the words as he felt hearing them. “For you. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that you seem to be almost aggressively single. Apparently, there are several women who think the bachelor auction might be their chance to change that.”

  “It won’t change,” he told her.

  “It’s one date,” she countered. “I’ll bake you a cake. Whatever flavor you want. It’s for a good cause.”

  He felt one side of his mouth curve up at that. There were a lot of things he wanted from Aimee, but cake wasn’t on the list.

  His cell phone, which sat on the table next to his laptop, pinged with an incoming text. He read the short missive from his brother and inwardly groaned.

  “Do you have plans for Valentine’s Day, Aimee?” he asked suddenly. “Cupid’s favorite day of the year is almost upon us.”

  She shook her head. “It’s a fake holiday. I don’t celebrate fake holidays.”

  “A true romantic,” he said with a chuckle. “I like that. Unfortunately, I do have plans. My brother’s wedding is this coming weekend outside of Asheville.”

  “Congratulations to him,” she murmured.

  “Come with me.”

  She let out a small gasp, which wasn’t the worst reaction he could have imagined. “You’re joking. You just told me you don’t date.”

  “Right,” he agreed. “And you don’t believe in romance. I don’t want to deal with the event on my own. It’s complicated, but the arrangement I’m proposing is simple. Go with me to the wedding and I’ll be your bachelor.”

  “That’s extortion,” she muttered, her eyes narrowing.

  “Maybe, but that’s my proposal. I’ll make it worth your while, I promise.”

  “Excuse me?” she stammered.

  “The auction,” he clarified. “The fundraiser is in two weeks, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll turn on the charm, and you can let everyone know how much I’m looking forward to being a part of it. How I’m ready to be leg shackled and all that jazz.”

  “You make it sound so appealing.” She rolled her eyes.

  “It could be.”

  “Have you ever been married, Paul?”

  “No.” He thought about explaining exactly why he wanted a date for his brother’s wedding but didn’t want to freak her out more than he already had with his proposition. “Close, but no. You?”

  She took another drink and he thought he might have pushed her too far. “Five years,” she said. “Turns out, it wasn’t for me.”

  That surprised him. Aimee seemed like the type of woman any man in his right mind would want as a life partner. “We’ll raise a lot of money if you say yes.” He flashed what he hoped was a charming and not desperate smile. “Word on the street is I’m quite the catch.”

  “What street?”

  He drew in a breath. “I don’t actually know. You’re the one who thinks that.”

  “Not me.” She wiped her fingers on a napkin. “Other women. I’m not much of a fisherman so I’m not looking to catch anyone.”

  Too bad. He clamped his lips together before the words popped out.

  She studied him for a few long seconds, then pushed back from the table. “Okay, Paul. I’ll go to your wedding, but you better live up to your end of the bargain. The mobile clinic is important. I expect you to do your part to get it funded.”

  He nodded, unable to read her expression but relieved and strangely excited that she’d agreed. He’d been dreading next weekend since Peter had called him about the wedding date. Suddenly the prospect of spending the weekend with his family—including his ex-fiancée, who’d married his father only months after they’d called off the engagement—didn’t bother Paul quite so much.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “YOU’RE CRAZY. What if he’s some kind of creep?”

  Aimee paused in the act of packing her compact roller bag early Saturday morning and turned to her roommate. Megan sat on the recliner in the corner of Aimee’s bedroom, a silky black cat perched in her lap. “You work with Paul Thorpe, too. Do you think he’s a creep?”

  Megan shook her head, dark eyes going wide. “Well, no. I think he’s hotter than sin and, quite frankly, I’m jealous. I wish I’d been the one he’d made the bargain with. Valentine’s Day at a fancy resort with a smokin’ doctor. Where do I sign up?”

  “Stop.” Aimee tried to will away the heat rising in her throat and inwardly cursed her fair complexion. Her tendency to blush made it difficult to hide her emotions, something she’d definitely need to manage spending so much time with Dr. Thorpe.

  Paul. She had to start thinking of him as Paul, even though she’d relegated him to a more formal distance after the New Year’s kiss they’d shared. It had been a mistake, stupid and impulsive—two things Aimee rarely let herself be anymore.

  She hadn’t told anyone about the kiss, not even Megan, a pediatric nurse at the hospital and Aimee’s roommate since she’d moved to Magnolia a year earlier. Secrets were hard to keep in a small town, and she understood that the hospital gossips would go crazy if they thought she was making a play for everyone’s favorite doctor crush.

  In fact, Megan had been the one to insist that Aimee convince Paul to take part in the bachelor auction. She wasn’t the only nurse interested in bidding on the ER doctor, just the most determined. Given the way Megan cycled through men, Aimee had no doubt that her friend would pursue him aggressively if given the chance.

  Aimee didn’t care who won the date with him. Not one bit.

  “It’s not like that,” she insisted, unsure if she was trying to convince herself or her friend.

  “Are you packing lingerie?”

  Aimee shut her suitcase and zipped it. “I don’t own actual lingerie. Unless cotton bras count.”

  “Lord, girl, no.” Megan stood, dumping the sleek cat onto the floor. Mo trotted over to Aimee and rubbed up against her leg. She’d adopted the cat from a local rescue, Furever Friends, right after moving to Magnolia. Reeling from her divorce and the understanding that she’d never have the life she dreamed of for herself, she’d needed something to love. After the rescue’s owner explained that black cats were often ignored by potential adopters, Aimee had chosen the inkiest kitten in the group. “Do you want to borrow a negligee?”

  Aimee sputtered out a laugh, not just at the general thought of wearing lingerie but also because her well-meaning roommate was two inches taller than Aimee and a good fifteen pounds lighter. “No, thank you. I’d look like a stuffed sausage in anything of yours.”

  “Men like curves.”

  “It isn’t like that,” Aimee repeated, then checked her watch. “I need to go. I told Avery Keller I’d drop off flyers for the auction this afternoon.”

  “Why isn’t he picking you up here?”

  “I don’t know. It seemed easier to meet at the hospital.” Aimee bent down to scratch between the cat’s ears. “Don’t forget to feed Mo.”

  “Got it.” Megan saluted her. “Text me if you get lucky. I know I would if given the opportunity.”

  Exactly the reason Aimee hadn’t wanted Paul to come to the house. What if Megan started flirting and he decided to switch his impulsive invitation from Aimee to her outgoing roommate? Megan made no secret of her feelings for Paul, although her interest was purely physical, which worried Aimee even more. According to Megan, he’d so far ignored her subtle suggestions about getting together. Yet something had made him desperate enough to want a date for this wedding. Aimee shouldn’t be looking forward to it, but she was.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Aimee said, then left the house.

  She took a quick detour through downtown and parked at the curb outside town hall, which housed the she
riff’s department, the county’s health and human services division as well as the offices for local government. She knocked on the open door to Avery Keller’s office and smiled as the polished blonde gestured her inside.

  “Let me finish this email,” Avery told her, “and I’ll be right with you. Have a seat.”

  Holding the envelope of flyers in front of her, Aimee lowered herself into the leather chair across from the desk. The office was small but welcoming, with botanical prints on the wall that looked nothing like the paintings of Niall Reed, the famous artist who’d been Avery’s biological father.

  Aimee didn’t know Avery or her history well, although she appreciated the other woman’s attention to detail and willingness to help promote the hospital fundraiser. Avery had arrived in town at the end of last summer after Niall, who’d been Magnolia’s most famous resident, named her in his will. From what Avery had told her during their brief meetings, she hadn’t been planning to stay in town long-term, but she’d fallen for the community and for a local firefighter, Grayson Atwell.

  Magnolia had been struggling before Avery’s arrival, but she and her sisters—one of whom was the woman who’d helped Aimee adopt Mo—had quickly turned things around. Aimee was grateful because new residents and visitors meant more potential support for the hospital, and specifically for the mobile clinic.

  “Done.” Avery turned from the monitor toward Aimee. “Thanks for dropping the flyers to me. I don’t usually work on weekends but took yesterday off for a field trip with my soon-to-be stepdaughter. I’ll distribute them to local businesses when I finish here. How are plans for the event going?”

  “Good,” Aimee said with a nod. “I got another bachelor for the auction.” That portion of the event had actually been Avery’s idea, inspired by something she and her fiancé’s daughter had watched on a TV movie.

  “Is he cute?”

  “Yes.” Aimee cleared her throat when the word came out as a croak. “He’s a doctor.”

  “I can tell he must be very handsome by the way you’re blushing.”