The man had turned at the sound of Erik’s footsteps, his eyes widening before he looked down quickly.
“Now those are pretty,” said Erik, amicably. “Who’re they for?”
“Uh…the nurse…the nurses,” the man had muttered, keeping his head down. The brief glimpse Erik had of his face indicated he was several years younger than Erik, shorter, and well-built under his jeans and hoodie sweatshirt. Maybe a local high school quarterback. One thing was for certain; he was feeling shy about dropping off flowers for a pretty nurse.
“Grateful patient or…?”
“Umm, yeah.”
Erik grinned at the younger man’s nerves. Offering flowers to a pretty girl could knock a guy sideways, just about. Erik wondered if they were intended for Katrin or Gabrielle or both. Hmm, he mused smiling to himself, I wonder how often someone makes a pass at my girl?
He reached in front of the man to twist the doorknob and pushed the door partway open.
“Well, you were here first…”
The man turned and thrust the bouquet of white roses at Erik.
“You give ‘em,” he mumbled, turning to hurry down the steps.
Erik watched in surprise as the young man quickly crossed the street to his car and peeled off, tires screeching as he sped away.
Still cradling the bouquet of white roses in his arms, Erik turned back to the clinic door to find a young black woman approaching him from a back room of the clinic.
“I guess he doesn’t need a check-up, after all!” Gabrielle put her hand out in greeting, offering Erik a warm smile. “You must be Erik, and these pretty flowers must be for Katrin! I’ll be right back!”
She had taken them from him and hurried up the stairs before Erik could explain that they were actually from the bizarre character who had just sped away.
José came out of the back room as she disappeared upstairs. “Erik.”
“José.”
“Glad you could make it tonight.”
“That right?”
“Sure.” José’s eyes were cool and he crossed his arms. “The more the merrier.”
Gabrielle came back down the stairs a moment later, smiling up and down at Erik and then turning to José. “You wearin’ a proper suit tonight?”
José smiled at her and Erik couldn’t help but notice the warmth in his smile, the way he moved to stand beside her as she joined them. They didn’t stand in an equilateral triangle. José planted his shoulder slightly in front of Gabrielle’s, standing directly beside her, subtly placing himself between her and Erik.
Erik couldn’t be sure, but maybe his fears about José holding a torch for Katrin had been wrong; his body language said he was interested in Gabrielle.
Erik nodded and smiled politely at Gabrielle as she showed him the almost-finished waiting room where patients would wait, and where she and Katrin would each work shifts welcoming new patients and taking their vitals before they were admitted to see the doctor.
“So, dumplin’ and me, we be here, and then—” She stopped speaking, and her face tilted to the side tenderly as she broke into a beaming smile directed at the stairs behind Erik. “Dumplin’!”
Erik twisted his neck to see Katrin coming down the stairs.
Erik had been fortunate enough to see a lot of stunning things in his life, but they hadn’t robbed him of speech, hadn’t knocked the wind out of his lungs, making him feel edgy and lost. This was different. In his life, this was singular. He had no frame of reference for how he felt seeing Katrin Svenson dressed to the nines.
Prettiest thing I ever seen.
“Come wit me, José…things to do…” Gabrielle pulled on José’s shirt, leading him to the back room, leaving Erik and Katrin alone. “See you there, dumplin’.”
Katrin paused on the stairs. “Hey.”
“Heya,” he managed, but the simple word felt thick in his throat, and he cleared it awkwardly. “You look…”
“Yeah. It’s been a long time since I—you know, dressed up a little.”
“You didn’t forget how.”
She looked surprised and laughed lightly, walking over to him, all bright blue eyes and dimpled sweetness. “Thank you.”
“You make it hard on me, Ӓlskling.” She was so close to him he could smell her. Some kind of fresh shampoo or light perfume.
“Make what hard?”
His eyes widened as he tilted his head to the side, looking at her with barely suppressed laughter. “I’m not going to answer that.”
She gasped in understanding and clapped a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t mean! Oh, my gosh, you know I didn’t mean—”
He chuckled at her and nodded, cutting her a break and grateful to her for inadvertently breaking the tension between them. “I know.”
Katrin shook her head in embarrassment, her cheeks flushed with rosy color.
“You look really beautiful.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. He pressed his lips on the dimple closest to him, as he had wanted to do that first afternoon in the car as she slept. She leaned her neck to the side, which gave him access to the pulse point in her neck that had teased and tortured him on the same ride. He brushed his lips from her cheek to her neck, finally resting his lips on the soft, warm skin of her pulse, feeling the wild beating under his lips. Putting his hands on her hips, he pulled her closer to him. He wanted to kiss her—really kiss her—but she was so pretty, he didn’t want to mess her up. When he finally leaned back, she grinned at him.
“Ready to go?” he asked. He took her wrap from her arm, carefully placing it around her shoulders, and then he took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, leading her out the door.
Chapter 11
She noticed with particular pleasure that he played “Ashokan Farewell” again, which she was quickly considering “their” song, and she wondered if he was too.
