José gestured to the right.
“The workers start tomorrow. This dismal area will be our waiting room, and back behind there, see the two doors? One will be an examination room. The other leads to a hallway with two more examination rooms, a small office, and a lunch room which is covered with all manner of leftover office supplies, garbage, and debris. I suspect it might have also served as a kitchen at one point, but I haven’t been able to clear it out enough to see if there’s a sink and pipes back there. The building hasn’t been in use for a good ten years.”
Katrin heard the Texas twang in his voice as he clapped his hands, rubbing them together with enthusiasm. “But, many hands make light work, and we’ll have workers here this week. And then there’s me and you, of course.” His voice softened. “And Gabrielle.”
“She your wife?” Erik asked, his voice low and dry.
José scoffed, giving Erik a half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Oh, I’m not married, Erik. Not yet.” He turned to Katrin. “Gabrielle is our other nurse. She’s a veteran too, like me. We served together for a while, and I recruited her all the way from New York.” He gestured to the stairs. “After you.”
***
The apartment was sparse, but clean and filled with light, and reminded Katrin of the college dorm suites where she had visited friends when she was at nursing school. A small sitting room had a mismatched couch and chair, and the bright, clean kitchen area had a table for three, a small stove, fridge, and sink. Two bedrooms were simply furnished with a twin bed in each, nightstand, bureau and, Katrin noticed with pleasure, a rocking chair.
“A rocking chair!” she said, settling into it, and smiling up at Erik. “Don’t you just love a rocking chair?”
“More than life itself,” he mumbled. He placed her duffel bag on the bed and rolled the suitcase to the closet on the other side of the bed.
José stood in the doorway, looking casually elegant, leaning against the doorframe with his bronzed arms crossed in stark contrast to the bright white of his t-shirt. He looked a little like a young and straight Ricky Martin, extremely cute and sexy, with his laughing eyes and ready smile. As if to prove her point, he smiled at Katrin, and she noticed that the laugh lines around his eyes were deep and many.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Okay for a few months?”
“More than okay!” She nodded at him, rocking. “It’s great.”
“The town really wanted this clinic. Kalispell’s about thirty-five minutes away on a good day, much longer if the weather’s bad. That’s a long way if you need stitches or you’re going into anaphylaxis…or labor. It’ll be good to have somewhere closer.”
“I haven’t bagged anyone in a while,” she admitted. “I was mostly working in maternity, not ER, so you take the anaphylaxis, and I’ll handle the labor.”
“Deal. But you know what? It’ll all come back to you in a pinch. We can do some practice runs too, if you like.” He raised his eyebrows teasingly. “I’ll let you bag me.”
Erik, who had crossed to the window and had his back to them, snorted then muttered something low under his breath. Katrin ignored Erik and chuckled at José, blushing. “Not necessary. As you say, I’m sure it’ll come back.”
“Denied!” José put his hand over his heart, as if wounded, then sighed dramatically, smiling at her. “Okay. Well, why don’t you settle in? I’ll be downstairs. Maybe we’ll head out for a welcome-to-Skidoo Bay supper in a bit. Gabrielle should be back from her run any minute now.” He saluted Katrin once, then turned and headed down the stairs.
Once he was gone, Katrin felt—felt—the energy in the room shift, and Erik turned around to face her, intense, icy eyes cold and narrow. “I’ll let you bag me? Welcome-to-Skidoo Bay supper? Is that guy for real? Doctor Martinez. More like Doctor Smarm-tinez. He’s a tool.”
“Oh, please!” Katrin said, wondering if he was jealous and then telling herself to stop being an idiot. Erik wasn’t interested in her, or any other woman, for that matter—he’d made that clear. “He was just being silly. Friendly.”
“Yeah, right. A little too friendly.”
She opened the duffel and took out a picture of herself with Anna, which she placed on her bureau. “That wasn’t very nice. What you said.”
“He didn’t hear me.”
“I did.” Katrin met his eyes, trying to figure out what was going on. Was he really upset about José? It didn’t make any sense.
Erik backed up against the windowsill, stuffing his hands into his pockets, eyes down.
Katrin continued. “He’s not a tool.”
“A little bit, he is.”
He looked up and it was his sheepish grin under lowered lashes that was her undoing. She grinned back at him, even though she didn’t agree with him. God, you’re adorable. She turned her back to her bag and busied herself taking things out and laying them out on the bed.
She didn’t hear him move, but she suddenly felt him behind her. Close. Maybe his warmth or his breathing tipped her off, but when she turned around, he was so close to her that her breasts brushed his chest and he inhaled sharply, looking down at her breasts, then back up to capture her eyes with his. Katrin stared, mesmerized by blue eyes lighter and cooler than her own, but she didn’t back up or look away. She didn’t move at all. Her heart raced and even though she wholly respected Erik’s declared boundary of a friends-only rapport with her, curiosity and attraction
