Challenging the Nurse's Rules

She vaguely recalled hearing something about the event, just hadn’t paid much attention as she knew next to nothing about golf. “Oh.” Then she frowned. “What does a golf tournament have to do with our conversation?”

“It’s a co-ed tournament.” His smile was lethal. “Do you know who my teammates are?” He punched the elevator down button.

She shook her head, waited for the elevator doors to slide open, and stepped inside the car, wishing by some miracle he wouldn’t follow her.

Along with the hospital’s medical director, he named the two women who she’d been told he was dating. The two women she’d just named.

Was he saying he hadn’t dated either? Or that he’d just dated them due to the contact they shared with being teammates for the golf tournament?

“You are the only woman I’ve asked out on a date since I’ve moved to Bean’s Creek.”

Her heart spit and sputtered in her chest.

“You don’t need to tell me any of this,” she began, not quite sure why they were having this conversation or why his response made her want to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him. “For that matter, why are you telling me? What you do outside the hospital is of no consequence to me.”

“See,” he mused, pressing the door closed button and holding it in. His gaze held hers, refused to let her do anything more than stare back into the twinkling blue. “That’s the problem. I want what I do outside the hospital to be of consequence to you.”

CHAPTER TWO

SINCE when had Grant become so desperate that he had to corner a woman in an elevator to try to convince her to go on a date with him? Since when had he had to try to convince a woman to go out with him, period?

Since Joni had said no to him and he’d realized the curvy, auburn-haired beauty wasn’t going to change her mind.

He’d wanted to ask her out the moment he’d arrived in Bean’s Creek and met the always-smiling ICU nurse. Unfortunately, he’d learned a hard lesson about jumping into a relationship too fast. He’d wanted to be sure before he asked anyone out in Bean’s Creek. To make sure he wasn’t dealing with anyone mentally unstable or with addiction problems. He couldn’t deal with another Ashley in his life. He’d had too much unfinished baggage to settle prior to starting a new relationship.

So he’d put his personal life on hold while he established his new practice, resolved the relationship issues he’d left behind the best he could under the circumstances, and now that he was ready to move forward, to embrace his new life, Joni had said no.

Which left him wondering why.

He’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to know that she was interested in him. As interested in him as he was in her. A volatile chemistry sparked between them that threatened combustion on contact. He wasn’t wrong about that. Which left what reason for her to say no?

Not that he was all that, but women didn’t usually turn him down flat. Especially women who looked at him the way Joni looked at him. Had any woman ever looked at him that way? With such yearning in her eyes? He didn’t think so. Which still didn’t resolve the question of why she’d turned him down.

“Have I done something to offend you?” He couldn’t think of anything specific, but maybe he’d inadvertently stepped on a toe or something. Maybe he should offer to rub her feet to make amends. He’d use any excuse to touch her.

She arched a brow, but didn’t quite meet his eyes, more like stared at his ear or maybe a stray strand of hair. “Other than tell me you were hot in bed?”

“That offended you?” She wasn’t a prude. He’d heard her laughing and cutting up with the other nurses and patients. Joni had a great sense of humor, even if she rarely gave him a direct glimpse of it. As a matter of fact, he was the only person she didn’t smile at.

“Obviously, it didn’t bowl me over,” she pointed out, taking a step back and pressing firmly against the elevator handrail.

“Obviously.” Grant regarded her long and hard and made a quick decision. “So tell me what would.”

Her startled gaze shot to meet his head on. “What would what?”

“Bowl you over.”

Her gaze lowered, her long lashes shading the lovely dark green hue of her eyes. “I don’t want to be bowled over.”

“Perhaps not, but humor me. What would it take for a man to win your interest? No, not a man, for me to win your interest and for you to go on a date with me?”

Her cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink, splotching her creamy skin that was otherwise only marked by the spattering of faint freckles across her nose. “Let it go, Grant. I’m not going to date you.”

His brow mimicked her earlier movement. “Because I’m not your type?”

“I do recall mentioning that only minutes ago.” She shot visual daggers at him.

Fine. He wasn’t so egotistical that he thought every woman wanted him. Only he knew Joni did. So why was she being so adamant that she didn’t?

“What is your type?” he questioned, determined that if she wasn’t going to date him he at least wanted to know her reasoning. “No one seems to know.”

Her lips pursed. “Have you been checking up on me?”

He’d asked, put out feelers to make sure she wasn’t involved with someone, to make sure she was free for him to ask out, to make sure no one raised red flags about her as a person. “Yeah, I guess I have, because I did ask around at the hospital.”

She exhaled with an annoyed huff. “Great. Now everyone will know.”

“Will know what?”

“That you asked about me.” Her expression screamed, Duh!

His confidence was ebbing fast, as was his reassurance at her sanity. “Is that a bad thing?”

“It’s not a good thing.” Her gaze shifted to the elevator button, then up at him expectantly.

Was he wrong? Had he imagined how this woman looked at him? How he caught her watching him? He’d bet his Hummer that she wanted him, too. So, why was she playing hard to get? Was there more going on than met the eye?

Grant didn’t like games. Lord only knew, he’d played enough of those over the past few years with Ashley. But he liked Joni in a way that made him want to know more, that made him unwilling to let this go until he understood her rejection.

Which perhaps made him the world’s biggest fool.

Because the right thing to do, what he should do, was lift his finger off the door-closed button, see her to her car, and forget about the pretty little nurse he thought about more often than not.

But that wasn’t what he did.

Instead, he took advantage of how close they stood to each other in the elevator and, keeping one finger on the door closed button, with his free hand he lifted her chin.

“Fine. You don’t want to date me. I’m not your type. Asking our co-workers about you prior to asking you out was a bad thing. But what about this?” he challenged.

She stared up at him with huge eyes. Her generous chest rose and fell in rapid, heavy breaths.

“If I kissed you, Joni, would that be a bad thing, too? Because I really want to kiss you and have wanted to for weeks. If that’s not what you want, if you don’t want me to kiss you, tell me to stop now.”

Her pulse hammered at her throat. Her breath warmed his skin in fast little pants. She swallowed hard. Her lips parted as if she was going to speak, but not a word came out of her mouth. Instead, her eyelids closed, and a thousand emotions flashed across her lovely face all at once.

Ever so slightly her chin relaxed against his fingertips. Her lips parted another fraction. Her eyes remained tightly closed. Her breathing deepened.

She wasn’t saying no. Her body language screamed, Yes. Oh, yes. He hadn’t been wrong.

She wanted him to kiss her.

Which meant what? That she was playing hard to get? That she was stringing him along? Toying with him as Ashley had done?

He started to pull away, to cut his losses and put Joni out of his mind, or at least try since he hadn’t had much luck up to that point. But her eyes opened and there was such vulnerability in their sea of green that he tumbled in.

Tumbled in and covered her mouth with his, not one bit surprised at the immediate explosion of sensation weakening his knees.

The moment Grant’s lips touched hers, Joni was lost.

Lost in wonder and excitement and awe.

His mouth brushed over hers with a feathery touch that was soft yet masterful. Gentle yet demanding. Hungry yet restrained. All Grant.

She didn’t understand his interest in her, not really, but his kiss was so sweet, so tender, so hot that she couldn’t pull away. Couldn’t do anything except embrace the emotions flooding through her at the simple joy of his mouth conquering hers.

Of their own accord her fingers found their way into the golden brown waves of his hair, pulling his head closer to deepen the kiss. Her hand flattened against his cheek, loving the smoothness that was broken only by the hint of late evening stubble. Loving how his long, lean body pressed against her, so strong, so capable, so absolutely delicious.

And the way he smelled. Oh, my!

She inhaled deeply, dragging in his masculine scent the way she’d wanted to when she’d bumped into him earlier. Never had a man smelled better. Or tasted better. Never.

She wanted to fill her senses with him, to let his intoxicating presence drug her to all reality.

Which had her taking a dazed step back. Only there was no where to go because she already pushed into the hand railing. Panic clogged her throat, widened her eyes, stiffened her body.

What was she doing? She started to ask herself a thousand questions, but Grant’s fingertip covered her lips. The gentle touch sent just as many shockwaves throughout her body as the taste of his lips had, as the feel of his strong body pressed against hers had, as the masculine musk of his scent had.

She wanted him. Right here, right now, in this elevator, she wanted him. That terrified her, made her feel out of control, something she’d sworn she’d never be again.

“Shh, don’t.”

Don’t? her mind screamed. Wasn’t it a little late for don’t? They had.

Now she knew what she really needed not to know.

That he was everything that cocky smile promised.

That where Grant was concerned, she was going to have to up her guard or she was going to fall for him whether she wanted to or not.

That she might have thought he was like Mark, but she’d been wrong. Grant made Mark look like kid’s play and the doctor she’d considered her future had tattered her heart and her whole life, almost pushed her into a well of despair that drowned her.

“Don’t over-think what just happened. Just enjoy the moment.” He flashed that lethal smile. The one that said he knew exactly what she was thinking, feeling, wanting, all of which involved him touching and kissing her a whole lot more. Enjoy the moment? Who was he kidding?

She geared up to blast him for having kissed her but before she made a single sound, she stopped.

How could she blast him? He hadn’t forced her. No, he’d given her opportunity to stop him, and she hadn’t. Instead, she’d closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her.

Why hadn’t she stopped him?

He ran his thumb along her jaw, leaving a tingly trail of awareness, reminding her exactly why she hadn’t stopped him. Not that she’d known he had magic fingers, exactly, but chemistry had gotten the better of her.

“If not before, I’ll see you Friday night.”

She blinked, confusion adding to the mix of swirling emotions. “I’m not going out with you.” At his fading smile, she rushed on, “I’m sorry if I misled you by not telling you not to kiss me. I should have, but I …” What could she say? That she’d been curious? Full of desire for him? That she had a mile-long masochistic streak and after five years of celibacy he made her want to throw caution to the wind with a single kiss? “But nothing’s changed.” Everything had changed. His kiss had turned her world upside down and inside out. She’d never look at him again without recalling how he’d curled her toes with his kiss. “I don’t want to have a relationship with you outside our professional one at the hospital.”

She really didn’t want to have that one either. Too dangerous. She needed to stay far away from him. But unless she transferred out of the ICU, she’d have to deal with him on a regular basis. She loved working in ICU. She’d lost one job she loved because of a man, she wouldn’t lose another.

“I know.” But his eyes said otherwise, that her rejection confused him as much as he confused her. Probably just that he wondered how someone who was such a plain Jane would have the audacity to turn someone like him down. “I meant that I would see you at Hearts for Health on a non-date outing where we will both just happen to be,” he pointed out, all apparent innocence.

“Oh.” She searched his face for sarcasm, but only saw the ever-present twinkle in his eyes. The one that said he read minds and liked what she was thinking. He probably knew exactly the effect his kiss had had on her. Great.

He grinned and tweaked her nose. “Look, I’m sorry if I pushed more than I should have with the kiss, but I couldn’t help myself. You have that effect on me.” Another flash of the sexiest smile she’d ever seen. “I’ll behave Friday night. Just give me a chance to get you past whatever makes you think you shouldn’t go out with me. I promise I can change your mind.”

He couldn’t help himself? She had that effect on him? Hello, it wasn’t as if she was the kind of woman to inspire men to lose all control. If she had been interested in dating, she’d be thrilled at the interest he was showing.

Who was she trying to kid? Deep down, she was thrilled at his interest. She was also terrified. A lot of years had passed since she’d been interested in a man, since she’d been touched, since she’d felt anything for the opposite sex.

Maybe too many years.

She had forgotten how good a man’s touch felt.

Maybe she’d never known.

Had it felt that good when Mark had kissed her? Perhaps. She’d blocked the memories of her only lover for so long that she really couldn’t recall how she’d felt the first time he’d touched her, kissed her. There was too much pain tied up in those memories to let them flood in now, so she shoved them back wherever they’d been hidden away.

As far as Grant changing her mind, well, that was what worried her. Based on her reaction to his kiss, he could change her mind all too easily, and then what? She’d be left with the fallout, left to pick up the pieces of her broken life. No, thank you. She was in charge of her destiny, not her libido.

“I probably won’t even see you,” she admitted slowly, not looking at him, not wanting him to see the fear coursing through her veins. Predators sensed fear and used it to their advantage, right? Yet thinking of him as a predator didn’t quite fit. He had told her to tell him to stop if she didn’t want his kiss. She had wanted him to kiss her. That was the problem. “I’m working the cake walk.”

He grinned that smile that said he knew all and liked the power that came with it. She really should censor her thoughts around him—just in case.

“The cake walk? Imagine that. So am I.” His eyes sparkling with mischief, he kissed the tip of her nose. “Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?”

“How did you—?”

The elevator door slid open, interrupting her question.

Joni hadn’t even realized he’d removed his finger from the button, hadn’t even realized she was moving downward.

Had his kiss dazed her that much? Apparently.

She let him walk her to her car, let him open the door after she’d punched the unlock button on the key fob, let him close the door and watch her leave. All without another word.

All without admitting to herself that she hadn’t “let” Grant do a darned thing. He was a man who took what he wanted one way or another. For some crazy reason he wanted her.

Holy water, garlic, and crucifixes warded off vampires, but what did one use when needing to ward off the devil himself? Especially when he kissed as sinfully deliciously as Grant?

Joni held her patient’s hand while Grant pulled the tube free from the sixteen-year-old’s chest. Casts on his left arm and leg, both in traction, the young man grunted with his pain. He gritted his teeth, wanting to look tough in front of his parents, doctor, and nurse.

The boy had been in a car accident that had resulted in multiple fractures, crush injuries, and a collapsed lung. A surgeon had repaired a few internal bleeds and removed his spleen. An orthopedic surgeon had pinned his broken bones back together. Grant had been following the young man’s pulmonary status from the point he’d been admitted to the ICU. If his lung didn’t collapse again, he’d be transferred to the medical floor and sent home within a couple of days.

“You did great, Dale,” Grant assured the boy, closing the wound as Joni handed Grant a pair of suture scissors. He ran through listening to the boy’s lungs and assured himself there were breath sounds in all lung fields.

“Yes,” the boy’s mother praised, worry and fatigue from the past week’s events obvious in her expression and body. “You’re so brave.”

“Right.” Dale rolled his eyes, obviously embarrassed by her compliment.

Laughing, Grant patted the boy on the shoulder. “You are the man, Dale. Have your nurse page me if you get short of breath or have any negative change with your breathing.”

He spoke with the boy for a few more minutes, then left the hospital room. The boy’s parents followed him out, no doubt to corner him with questions.

Joni ran through another set of vital checks and made sure all the telemetry was still connected correctly. She reminded him what symptoms to watch for regarding his breathing, fractures, and other injuries, then left the room.

She wasn’t surprised to find Grant in the hallway.

Distracted by the boy’s parents, he seemed oblivious that she’d stepped out of the room. His navy scrubs hung loosely on his frame and he’d obviously raked his fingers through his hair a few times. Although barely seven a.m., he’d already been at the hospital for several hours, having gotten called in to the emergency room when a patient had gone into respiratory distress just prior to daybreak. No doubt he had an office full of patients waiting on him, too. Yet he answered each of the boy’s parents’ questions with admirable patience and a genuine smile.

He was a good doctor, gorgeous, kind, self-assured.

He’d kissed her.

She’d been fighting the thought from the moment she’d arrived at the hospital and learned he was already there.

No, truth was, she’d thought of nothing else the whole night. Even attending AA with her mother hadn’t distracted her. When she’d finally drifted into sleep, she’d dreamed of him. Dreamed of his lips tasting hers, conquering, taking, mastering. When she’d wakened, she hadn’t felt rested at all. She’d only felt restless, on edge, as if she’d been waiting for him, as if his kiss had awakened her and shot her to the precipice of the rest of her life.

Which was crazy.

She was no Sleeping Beauty and Grant was no Prince Charming. He had nothing to do with the rest of her life.

Once upon a time she’d believed in happily-ever-after. She’d been a wide-eyed innocent who’d believed the lies of a powerful man almost twice her age. Lies that had stolen her belief in fairy-tales, her self-respect, and had almost destroyed her life and career.

“Joni?”

She met Grant’s gaze, saw the question in his eyes. She shook her head, sent a quick smile to the boys’ parents, and went to check on another patient. A twenty-two-year-old who’d been in an MVA two nights before and had yet to regain consciousness.

“You okay?”

Not having realized that he’d followed her into the patient’s room, she spun, startled.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” His fingers brushed over her arm, eliciting thousands of goose-bumps.

Why was he always touching her?

“You don’t scare me.”

His lips twisted. “Actually, I think I do.”

“Oh, get over yourself. Not every woman wants you.” Clamping her lips closed, she cast a quick glance at her unconscious patient. She wanted the boy to wake up, to give her a reason to move away from Grant. A reason that he couldn’t mistake as fear.

“True,” he admitted. “But we’re not talking about every woman, are we? We’re talking about you.”

She glared, not liking him.

“Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, you do want me, Joni.” He smiled that smile that was really starting to get on her nerves. “And for reasons I don’t understand yet, I definitely scare you.”

CHAPTER THREE

“SO WHAT’S up with you and Dr. Take My Breath Away?”

Joni pretended not to hear Samantha’s question, just set down the box of cakes she’d made for the cake walk on the long table in the community room.

“Hello.” Samantha snapped her fingers in front of Joni’s face. “The man asked me all kinds of questions about you right down to where I thought he was going to have me sign an affidavit stating I was telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. I’ve seen how you two look at each other and thought there was something there, but you never said anything so I thought maybe you just didn’t realize yet. Then he walked you to your car the other night and you’ve been tighter than a clam ever since. Best friend here.” She thumped her chest. “I want details. Lotsa details.”

Taking a red velvet cake out of the box, Joni found an empty spot on the table, then turned to her friend. “What makes you think there are lotsa details?”

“The fact that you’re being so evasive and blushing like the entire football team just saw you in your undies.”

“Well, it is a little warm in here.” She made a pretense of fanning her face.

“Right.” Samantha shivered and glanced around the mostly vacant community room. “I expect to see a group of penguins and a few polar bears go strolling by any moment there’s such a heat wave in this place. Brrrr.”

Okay, so her friend had a point. Due to expecting such a crowd, the thermostat had been set low to cool the building off prior to hundreds of warm bodies heating up the place.

Joni finished emptying the box and stooped to slide the box beneath the table. “You going to help me set up the cake walk?”

“I thought that was my job.”

Grant!

Samantha gave her a “you are so going to tell me everything later” look. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is. Besides, I’m needed at the ticket table. A lot of work setting that up, you know.”

“You need us to help you?” Grant offered, carefully putting the box he held on an empty spot on the table.

“I’ve got it covered.” Samantha shook her head, made eye contact with Joni and did an “I’m watching you” finger motion before leaving the community room to head towards the front of the building where tickets would be sold.

“This doesn’t start for almost an hour, you know,” Joni pointed out as she watched her friend bail on her for the second time that week. Some best friend.

“I know. I came to help with set-up.” He pulled out several home-made cakes that had Joni’s mouth watering. Wow. How many little old ladies had he hit up for that stash?

She eyed him suspiciously. “Did you know I was helping with set-up?”

Not looking one bit ashamed, he grinned. “Would you believe a little birdie told me?”

“Ha. I’d believe a big birdie told you.” Her gaze went toward where Samantha had just disappeared through the double doors.

He laughed. “I can’t let Samantha take the blame for this one. Brooke in Admissions told me.”

“Brooke?” Joni shook her head. Just how many of her friends had he talked to? “Do I have no friends?”

“Oh, you have lots of friends. They all think you are a great nurse, a great person, although a bit of a control freak. You like your privacy and have no romantic life that any of them are aware of.”