A Nurse To Tame The Er Doc

“Besides, certain staff interactions aren’t encouraged.”

Robert eyed Jack as if he’d grown an extra head, and no wonder. “Never heard of it being discouraged, not here.”

There had been romances pop up between staff. Jack himself had met a few interesting women over the years that he’d enjoyed getting to know. But he didn’t want Robert having the wrong idea about Taylor.

She was off limits.

Next thing you knew, Jack was going to be beating his chest and acting like a fool. Shaking his head, he chuckled. “Okay, Casanova, back off and let me introduce her to Duffy.”

He and Duffy had worked numerous events together and he genuinely liked the fifty-something travel nurse who craved adventure almost as much as Jack.

“Duffy Reynolds is who you need to see if you have questions and I’m not around.”

“Or you could ask me,” Robert volunteered, earning a glare from Jack. “I’d be happy to help with any questions. Or to give a tour of the grounds.”

Glancing toward Jack first, Taylor smiled at Duffy and ignored Robert’s comment. “Nice to meet you.”

Once he’d shown her their “twenty-bed” operation, he asked, “You checked out the stages?”

She shook her head. “When I arrived, I went straight to the main medical tent, registered, then came here.”

“You camping?”

She nodded. “Amy and I had planned to tent together with maybe a trip to her place for showers and refreshing ourselves if the shower lines were too long. I’m camping solo now.”

“Don’t let Robert hear you say that or he’ll offer to share his tent.”

Her gaze lifted. “He was just teasing.”

“Don’t you believe it,” Jack warned. “You so much as give him a smile and he’s going to be all over you in hopes of a festival fling. If that’s not what you want, steer clear.”

“Noted.”

Jack eyed her a moment, waiting for her to elaborate or say something further. “Is that what you want, Taylor?”

“A fling with Robert?” She shook her head. “I came to spend time with my best friend, not to have a fling.”

“That’ll make my job of keeping you safe easier.”

“He’s dangerous?”

Feeling guilty he’d given her that impression, Jack shook his head. “No. Just making sure I keep my promise to Amy to watch out for you. She wouldn’t be happy if I let someone break your heart while you’re here.”

“There is that,” she agreed, studying him. Smiling, Taylor’s eyes narrowed. “Why do I get the feeling you’re way more dangerous than Robert ever thought of being?”

He laughed. Yep, she was onto him.

“Come on, let’s walk around the grounds before it gets too crowded. People will be pouring in over the next twenty-four hours as this party gets started.”

* * *

Taylor had to admit she was impressed at the organization of the event. There were three main stages and several smaller ones. The five-night event offered everything from big-name pop stars to small-time local bands hoping to make it big someday. There were huge rows of food vendors and a shopping village made up of tents offering their wares. There was a comedy tent, a dance party tent, sponsored by a popular music television station, and a dozen more entertainment tents. Some tents were huge commercial numbers with electricity and some having generator-run air-conditioners even. And people. People were everywhere.

“It already looks crowded,” she mused, taking in the multitude checking out their surroundings prior to the first show kicking off. “How many more are expected?”

“They’re expecting about a hundred thousand attendees. By this time tomorrow night this place will be packed.”

Taylor nodded. She’d expected most of the festival-goers to be college-aged kids. Most were, but there was a huge variety of ages represented, even some young parents with two or three kids in tow and some who appeared to be older than Taylor’s parents.

“Most of what we’ll see in the medical tent will be dehydration and intoxication, but there’s always a mix of other things thrown in just to keep things interesting.”

Taylor knew security screened for drugs, but that where there was a will there was a way. Amy had told about some of the patients they’d seen over the years. Unfortunately, there had been a few overdose deaths.

“From what Amy’s told me, boredom shouldn’t be an issue.”

He laughed. “Boredom is what I hope for at these events.”

Taylor glanced his way. “Oh?”

“Boredom means everyone is having fun with no worries.”

“Ah.” Glancing out over the happy, energetic crowd, she nodded. “Then that’s what I’m going to hope for, too. Boredom.”

But glancing toward the man walking beside her, who was telling her about the different tents and upcoming acts as they made their way over to the main medical tent, Taylor suspected boredom was the last word she’d be using to describe the next few days.

CHAPTER TWO

TAYLOR FROWNED AT the pile of poles and canvas, then went back to studying the instructions. She was a highly skilled ICU nurse. She could put together a tent. No problem.

Well, okay, some problem.

Mainly, that every time she put one pole end in the designated loop it would pop out when she tried to put in the other end. What she needed was—

“You need help with that?”

Taylor jumped, then looked up at Jack. She started to tell him she had it, because she would figure it out and hadn’t she made great strides in not depending on a man for anything?

But common sense won out, so she smiled and said, “Um...yeah, I do. I’ve got a tarp down for a moisture barrier, got my tent all spread out like these say...” she waved the instructions “...but that end doesn’t want to stay in that loop thingy when I put in the other side.”

Jack’s lips twitched. “The loop thingy?”

Before she could say more, he bent down, threaded the pole back into the end loop just as she had. But when he bowed the pole and hooked the other side, the pole behaved and didn’t slip out on the other end.

“Well,” she mused, putting her hands on her hips, “you made that look easy.”

“It’s all in how you handle the pole.”

Taylor’s cheeks heated and she ordered her mind to get out of the gutter.

“Um...yeah...well...” She hemmed and hawed, then brushed her palms down her shorts. “Thank you for your help.”

“Anytime.”

His grin was cocky as all get-out. “Anything else I can help with?”

“I feel guilty you had to help with that,” she admitted. A strong independent woman should have been able to figure out how to put up a tent, right?

“Wasn’t any trouble. I was on my way to my tent to grab a drink.”

“Your tent?”

He gestured to the tent next to hers.

Next to hers. Seriously? The medical staff parking/camping area located behind the main medical tent wasn’t that big. What were the odds?

He was offering help, but that hard-won independent streak refused to be silent. “Grab that drink and check on me in a few minutes, if that’s okay.”

“Be glad to.” His eyes danced with what she could only describe as happiness. How could any one man radiate so much positivity?

Trying to ignore the fact that Jack was a tent away, that if she coughed, sneezed, or made any other weird noises, he’d hear, Taylor pulled the air mattress from its box and placed it inside the tent. She hit the battery-operated control button and was relieved when the unit blew up perfectly. Within minutes she had her bed made and her bag to one side. The tent was large enough that both she and Amy could have set up their air mattresses, so with just the one she had floor space.

“Everything going okay?” Jack asked when she climbed out of the tent.

“So far,” she told the man sitting in a fold-up chair facing in her direction.

He held a refillable drink container and a protein bar. “You know it’s killing me not helping, right?”

“White knight syndrome?”

He shrugged. “Momma taught me to be useful syndrome.”

Taylor laughed. “Fine. You can help.”

Immediately he rose, set his water bottle down on his much sturdier appearing table than the one she’d just pulled out of the back of her car.

“I take directions well.”

Taylor arched her brow. “A man who takes directions well? I thought those were the things of unicorns and fairies.”

He winked. “Try me and see.”

Taylor gulped back the thoughts that ran through her mind. “Well, I’ve got to set up the canopy tent. Amy said to be sure to put it as close as possible so it would help shade my sleeping tent.”

“Yep, otherwise your tent will be hot as Hades in the daytime.”

She pulled out the canopy tent her friend had left in her living room along with the other camping items for Taylor to pick up on her way to the festival. “Let’s see if we can figure this out.”

The canopy tent was easier to set up, and not just because Jack was helping.

Well, maybe because he was helping. Certainly, it was more fun and had gone faster.

“What’s next, ma’am?”

“The table?”

He lifted the folding table from where she’d propped it against her car and set it up beneath the canopy tent, which had been scooted partially over the entrance of the smaller tent she’d be sleeping in.

Holding up a lightweight tarp she’d pulled from a duffle bag that contained at least one more, Taylor said, “I found the tarp with the tent and used it as a moisture barrier per Amy’s instructions, but was I supposed to do something with these?”

“Amy usually attaches them to the sides of the canopy to create shade and keeps one to put over her tent if the weather doesn’t co-operate and it decides to flood.”

Taylor wrinkled her nose. “If it decides to flood, I’ll be sleeping in my car.”

Jack laughed. “You wouldn’t be the first person to do so. Just set an alarm so you don’t overheat after the sun comes up. It gets too hot fast inside a vehicle.” He took one of the tarps and began attaching it to the canopy. “With Amy canceling, I’m surprised you decided to camp rather than stay at her place.”

Trying to mimic how he was hanging the tarp, Taylor began attaching a second tarp to another side. “She insisted that rather than go back to her place I stay here and enjoy my first music festival.”

“Really?” He looked incredulous. “This is your first music festival?”

“Hard to believe I’ve been missing out on this all these years.” Giving him a wry look, she spread her arms to indicate the festival just beyond the main medical area.

Together they worked to attach the third tarp, leaving the fourth side open. “Since this is your first music festival experience, I’ll make sure it’s a good one so you’ll want to come back.”

Butterflies danced in Taylor’s belly. “Oh?”

“Since neither of us are on duty tonight, you want to watch the shows with me?”

Ha. Was this a trick question or what? Wander around by herself or sit next to a charismatic man who had awakened her dormant hormones? Hmm...hard decision.

It should have been a harder decision given his profession.

Still, she was smiling when she said, “I’d love to.”

* * *

Taylor could get into music festivals. Or maybe it was the man beside her she was into. Glancing over at him, she couldn’t help but think how fortunate she was to have him there this week since Amy hadn’t been able to attend. Otherwise she might really have packed up and gone to Amy’s.

Amy had texted earlier to make sure she’d arrived, and everything was okay. She’d not mentioned her unexpected reaction to Jack but had said everything was great.

Maybe if Jack were anything other than a doctor, she’d give in to the heat, let herself have a free pass life experience.

She wrapped her arms around her knees and looked back toward the stage where a band with a current chart-topping song had kicked off the festival an hour before and was still jamming out.

Around them others on blankets were watching the show and others danced along to the tunes, some dressed similar to Taylor’s shorts and T-shirt, some in costumes, some in not much of anything at all.

“Having fun?”

She smiled at Jack and nodded.

“The band is awesome, isn’t it?”

Again, she nodded. She didn’t really follow any particular band, but did enjoy singing along with the radio from time to time. The band playing really was good.

When the group on the main stage finished, Jack turned to her. “You want to stay here until the next band, move to a different stage, or go find something to eat?”

Her stomach growled. “Eat?”

He packed up the blanket they’d been sitting on into a backpack that he slung over his right shoulder. “What are you hungry for?”

“What are my options?”

“Anything from burgers to a meat and three. There seems to be vendors who offer just about anything you can think of. Why don’t we walk around for a while and see if anything catches your eye?”

“Or my nose,” she added, taking a sniff of the air. Something sure smelled good.

He laughed. “Or that.”

They ended up getting bowls of jambalaya from a Cajun food booth and standing at one of the chest-high tables set up near the row of vendors.

“This is good,” she enthused, hoping she didn’t have food on her face or between her teeth.

He’d already finished his. “Yep.”

Feeling self-conscious under his watchful eye, she asked, “Are there any particular bands you’re hoping to catch tonight?”

He named one she’d heard of but couldn’t recall the names of any of their songs. Sadly, she felt as if she’d been living under a rock since graduation. Before that, even.

She had been. She’d gone from toeing the line for her strict parents to toeing the line for Neil. She’d spent the last year learning to make decisions for herself, learning she didn’t need to have anyone’s directions or approval for the choices she made. If she messed up, so what? It was her life to live.

“That okay with you?”

She nodded. “Sounds good.”

“If there are any particular shows you want to see, speak up and we’ll go. I’m game for whatever.”

“Duly noted.” Game for whatever. He had no clue as to what ran through her mind at his innocent comment.

Or maybe, with the way his eyes danced, his comment hadn’t been so innocent.

“How is it you’ve never been to a music festival?” He leaned across the table to stare into her eyes and, again, she wondered if perhaps he’d read her mind and knew more than she thought.

She shrugged. “Just not that lucky, I guess.”

“I’m glad you’re at this one.”

“Me, too.”

His grin shined brighter than the sparkly dance ball a few hundred yards away and Taylor really was glad she’d agreed to work the festival, that she’d gotten away from Louisville, and that she’d met Jack.

Because she was in charge of her life now, was making changes, reaching for new adventures, taking chances, had given herself permission to make mistakes as long as they were mistakes she’d chosen to make.

Her gaze connected with Jack’s, her heart speeding up as she wondered if she’d choose Jack as her next new adventure. If she could give herself permission to take a chance that he’d be her next mistake.

Because becoming involved with a man, any man, would be a mistake.

Becoming involved with Jack would be a big one. Colossal.

* * *

Taylor didn’t sleep well that night. Not that her bed wasn’t semi-comfortable. It had been. The night air wasn’t nearly as sticky and hot as she’d expected either. The temperature had almost been cool.

What had kept her awake had been the noises around the festival. Obviously, she and Jack had been the only people in the entire place who had wanted to sleep. Then again, there weren’t that many inside the event grounds who would be getting up at four a.m. to go to “work” either.

Donning a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, then slipped out of her tent.

Her gaze immediately went to Jack’s tent. In the dim moonlight and lights coming from the festival, she could see he was up. He gave a little wave.

Taylor’s stomach grumbled. Whatever Jack had going on his portable stove smelled a lot more mouth-watering than the breakfast bar with which she had planned to start her day.

“I made extra,” he told her in a low whisper.

Although there was noise coming from beyond the other side of the main medical tent, the medical staff camping area itself was relatively quiet other than crickets chirping and the early morning crew slowly making their way out of their tents.

“Thanks,” she mouthed, taking the plate. “Hey, this is good.”

He grinned. “Did you think it would taste bad?”

She shook her head. “Smelled too good for that. Just wasn’t expecting it to be amazing.”

They finished up, cleaned up their mess, then headed to the main medical tent. When they got inside, they checked in, were given that day’s mandatory medical staff T-shirt and would change each day. Guys changed T-shirts in the main area. Taylor fought—and lost—to keep her eyes from soaking up the rippling of Jack’s muscles. As he pulled his T-shirt down over his six-pack, his gaze met hers and he grinned, as if he knew she’d been watching him and had liked what she’d seen.

“I, uh, need to put this on,” she mumbled, turning to go to one of several enclosed areas in the tent where any private examinations would take place inside the main medical tent. She quickly stripped off her T-shirt and replaced it with the designated one.

She crammed her removed shirt into the backpack she’d brought with her and returned to where the others were waiting for a staff member to drive them to the medical tent.

When they arrived, Jack reached up to take Taylor’s hand to assist her off the golf cart. It might have been before the crack of dawn, but that didn’t stop the zings that shot up Taylor’s arm at holding his hand. Zings shot and her heart kaboomed.

“Thank you,” she murmured, cramming her fingers in her pocket the moment he let go. How was it possible to go from completely dead inside to so very aware? Had her body just saved years’ worth of sexual nothingness and was unleashing it all at once?

And why, why, why, why couldn’t he have been anything other than a doctor? To give in to Jack’s smile would mean ignoring not only her man aversion but also her decision that never ever would she get involved with another doctor.

At the medical tent they switched with the night shift and took over the few cases currently being treated. Taylor reviewed a case of possible food poisoning and an intoxication patient. As the sun came up and the hours passed, the temperature soared. A steady trickle of people came in with various complaints.

Two young girls came into the tent. One asked for a bandage for her leg as she’d tripped and skinned her knee.

Taylor started to register the girl and do minor wound care, but Duffy waved her off. “I’ve got this one.”

While Duffy was cleaning the girl’s grazed leg, another two young women came in. One was almost completely supporting the other.

“She started passing out but never completely did, but she’s talking out of her head, like she did something, you know, but she didn’t do anything,” the patient’s friend gushed, not pausing for breath as Taylor helped them over to a vacant cot.

“I was flipping out,” the woman continued. “I wasn’t sure she was going to make it here and then what was I going to do?”

“I’m just really hot,” the barely coherent patient said, her hand on her temple. “And my head hurts.”

“Name?”

“Cindy Frazier,” the friend answered. “We’re nineteen. I’m Lori. We’re from Maine.”

Maine? That was a long way to travel for a music festival, Taylor thought as she got Cindy registered.

Taylor ran a thermometer over her forehead.

Eek. One hundred and five degrees Fahrenheit.

She glanced around to see who was free and could grab an ice pack. Everyone was with someone except Jack.

“Dr. Morgan?”

Odd to call him that when in her head he was Jack. He glanced up from his clipboard, his blue gaze meeting hers.

“I have a hyperthermia case. Temp is one-oh-five. Can you grab an ice pack and ice water, please, while I finish checking vitals?” She supposed she should have offered to get them and let him take over with the patient, but Jack didn’t balk, just rushed to get the needed supplies.

Cindy moaned and clutched at her stomach.

“Are you feeling nauseous?”

Eyes squished closed, she nodded. “I may throw up.”

Jack stepped up, handed Taylor the items she’d requested. “I’ll get an emesis pan and anti-emetic.”

Taylor wrapped the ice pack collar around the girl’s neck.

“That’s cold!” she complained, shivering.

“We have to cool you down. You got too hot and you’re dehydrated, that’s why you’re feeling so bad.”

Jack was back, and handed the plastic pan to the girl. He bent to shine a penlight into Cindy’s eyes, then her nose and mouth. He listened to her heart and lung sounds.

“She’s tachycardic.”

Taylor opened the bottle top then handed the girl the iced water. “I want you to get as much fluid in you as you can.”

“I’ll throw it up.”

“Maybe not, but if you do, use the pan if you can. Just drink.” She glanced at Jack. “You okay with me starting the cold IV fluid and putting the anti-emetic in?”

“You took the words out of my mouth.”

She checked the girl’s veins and frowned. Dehydrated, Cindy’s veins were poor at best. Still, Taylor had always prided herself on being good at accessing veins and hopefully would hit her mark the first try, despite not having much to work with.

Gathering her supplies, Taylor then cleaned her IV site with an alcohol pad while Jack finished examining Cindy, including rechecking her temperature.

“Still one-oh-five.”

“Is that bad?” Lori asked, wringing her hands as she watched them work on her friend.

“It hasn’t gone up, so that’s a good thing,” Taylor assured her, breathing a sigh of relief when the IV catheter slid into Cindy’s vein perfectly. “Once we get these cold fluids in, her temp should drop.”

If not, they’d put her in the ice tub.

“I feel like I can’t breathe,” Cindy gasped, putting her hand to her chest.

“It’s going to be okay, Cindy.” Jack sounded calm as he continued to assess the girl, watching her closely. “Just take slow, deep breaths.”

Cindy visibly took a deep breath.

As Taylor taped the IV line to Cindy’s left hand, she fought breathing deeply herself as Jack’s voice was so hypnotic.

“Your temperature will start dropping any minute,” Jack assured their patient. “Once that happens, you’ll slowly start feeling better.”

Jack’s soothing voice made Taylor feel better as she grabbed the anti-emetic to go into the IV. Lots better. How could he be so calm when the girl’s situation really could turn dire if what they were doing didn’t work?

“I’m scared,” Cindy admitted, bursting into tears, which caused her friend to also burst into tears.

“Look at me, Cindy.”

The young woman lifted her tearful gaze to Jack’s. He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay. You’re okay. We’re doing all the right things to get your temperature down and we’ll keep you here until you’re feeling okay. You’re going to be fine.”

“Phew,” Lori sighed in relief, sniffling as she plopped down onto an empty cot next to Cindy’s. “She’s not the only one who’s scared. I’ve heard about people dying at music events but never thought about it possibly happening to someone I knew. She had me terrified when she started blacking out.”

Taylor leaned forward to inject the medication, but before she could administer it, Cindy’s body tensed. Taylor grabbed for the emesis pan, but lightning fast Jack had it to the woman’s mouth, making it just in time.