by Katy Paige
“Who’s Joe?” asked Katrin, feeling herself surrender to Ingrid’s plan as she swiped at her runny nose with her sleeve.
“Joe Martin. Dr. Joe. We were together in Germany for the first year of my tour. He’s an amazing doctor. I was really lucky to work with him. That’s something else. You’ll learn a lot too. I guarantee it.”
“Why do they need a clinic?” Her resistance was crumbling. It might be far, but as much as she’d miss home, when she remembered Wade’s behavior on Friday night, she knew far was a smart idea. And like it or lump it, she simply didn’t have many options.
Ingrid shrugged, taking a sip of coffee. “Town wants one. You know how it is once you go north; towns are farther apart. The nearest hospital’s in Kalispell, and that’s a hard drive if you’re bleeding out, or in labor. Remember those art galleries I mentioned? Well, it’s a wealthy little town. They can afford to build something closer, and Joe specializes in starting up small, local clinics.”
Her brother squeezed her hand. “C’mon, Kat. It’s a good fit for you. And you don’t have to interview or anything. Job’s yours if you want it.”
“Okay,” she exhaled and then took a deep, bracing breath as she wiped away the last of her tears and sat up straighter. “I’ll do it. I’ll go. Lay it out for me. I’m listening.”
Kristian smiled at Ingrid, looking relieved.
“You’ll go today, before they let Wade out. Draw the shades at your apartment; leave your car in the garage. We’ll call the hospital and say you won’t be back to work, that you’ve moved without a forwarding address. You can stop by the police station to get the forms for the restraining order on your way out of town. The important thing is for you to go. Just go.”
“Why can't I take my car?” She’d need transportation once she got there, wouldn’t she?
Ingrid shrugged. “It’s a small, walkable town, so you won’t really need your car. Plus, it’ll throw off Wade if your car’s still in the garage.
“He’s going to be riled when he catches on, but by then you’ll be far away. Hopefully once you’ve been gone for a few weeks, Wade will give up on you. Stop going by your place. Maybe he’ll get help, maybe he won’t. But, you won’t be here, so he’ll have to direct his anger elsewhere.
“And then you stay up in Skidoo for a while. Dr. Joe’s an amazing man to work for. I know you’re going to learn a lot.
“There’s a two-bedroom apartment over the clinic and Joe already had it tidied up for you and another nurse to share, so you even have a place to stay. It’s all done, Kat. I was on the phone with Joe this morning, and he’s looking forward to seeing you. It’s all arranged. All you have to do is go.”
“Thank you, Ing,” Kat whispered, overcome with gratitude for her strong, capable sister-in-law who had somehow managed to plan an entire escape. She hated the idea of running away from her home, but she had to get away from Wade, and a part of her—the part that had been scared for weeks—gave a long, grateful sigh of relief. She rubbed her forehead with her palm, nodding. “I’ll go. I’ll do it. But, one thing…does it have to be today? I mean, Wade’s probably going to be held for another day, at least, so couldn’t we—”
Katrin was interrupted by her brother’s dog, Pilot, barking an alert at the front door.
She sat up straight and craned her neck to get a look at the German Shepherd, then faced her brother. “Who’s here? Are you expecting someone?”
“We needed to get you out of here as fast as possible. With someone safe,” said Kristian, putting his hands on the table to stand up.
Katrin turned to Ingrid. “Who’s here, Ing?”
Ingrid took a deep breath and fixed a reassuring smile on her face. “Erik Lindstrom. Sam’s brother-in-law. Also, um…your ride.”
“My…ride?”
“Rip off the Band-Aid,” advised Ingrid, hurrying out of the kitchen with her husband to greet their guest.
Katrin looked down at her clothes with a horrified grimace. Swiping her sweaty hands on the front of her tattered gray yoga pants, she tried to smooth out the creases in her grimy, covered-with-pancake-batter sweatshirt.
She’d seen Erik Lindstrom and his brothers at Sam and Jenny’s wedding the summer before last—it was utterly impossible to miss that much masculine beauty in one room—but she hadn’t visited with them very much. She’d been with Wade at the time, preoccupied with the idea of her boyfriend in the same room as an open bar.
Still pushing greasy, stray hairs back into her bun, she headed into the living room.
There, taking up the entire front doorway, stood Erik Lindstrom.
Kat suppressed a sigh.
Over six feet tall, muscular and broad chested, with a shock of almost-white blond hair cut in a neat, military-style crew cut, he was the very definition of a modern Viking. Wearing jeans and a button-down light blue shirt with the cuffs rolled up, her gaze landed on the smattering of springy blond hair covering his freckled forearm. His left arm was pinker than his right. He must have had his arm out the window as he drove. I do that too.
He looked up at her, a polite grin softening the censorious flick of his eyes over her grubby appearance. “Katrin, right?”
He stuck out his hand and Katrin lifted her gaze from his lips to his eyes, slamming into them and instantly mesmerized by their color: light blue like a summer sky. They’d be icy when he was angry, but right now they were warm, his skin crinkled with smile lines at the corners.
“Erik. Hi.”
As she took his hand, a current passed between them; maybe some static electricity from the carpet, or from Katrin rubbing her hands together; whatever caused it was irrelevant but they both felt the zap as they clasped hands.
“Oh!”
“Whoa.”
He looked surprised, then grinned. Neither recoiled or let go. If anything, they gripped a little tighter, palms flush, almost fused to one another. She stared at his face, at his Arctic blue eyes that were, in fact, locked purposefully and thoughtfully with hers.
She smiled back at him and after all the recent ugliness with Wade, realized it was the first real smile she had given to anyone in a long time.
And just like that, the strangest sensation started in her chest, like the valves of her heart were zapped with the electricity of their touch, jolted awake with the recovery of her smile, flexing slowly at first, but gaining momentum with each passing second until her heart was pumping at full speed.
Her eyes widened and she wondered if he could feel it too, this sudden, rapid force of life prompted by their touch. She swallowed and looked down at their hands, unable to feel where her skin ended and his began. When she looked back up, he wasn’t smiling anymore, just staring at her intently, focused.
She swallowed again, clearing her throat. “Can I have my hand back?” she croaked.
Erik jerked his head like he was waking up from a dream and dropped her hand like it was on fire. “Sorry.”
She wanted to look cool and unaffected, but she was affected, so she looked away from him and reached up to adjust her glasses nervously. “It’s okay.”
“When’s the last time we ran into each—”
“Sam and Jenny’s wedding.” She met his eyes, her hand still warm, protesting the absence of his.
“Yeah, of course. But I barely…” He stared at her, running his index finger back and forth across his chin as his voice trailed off.
“You don’t remember me?”
His eyes searched hers and she thought, You don’t know me, but you feel like you should. Why? And why do I feel the same? She felt—unaccountably, ridiculously—like it was impossible that she had somehow arrived at twenty-two years old without intimately knowing Erik Lindstrom. It made no sense at all.
His eyes narrowed. “I remember you, but…you were with, um—?”
“Wade,” she finished for him, her shoulders slumping.
“Wade,” he repeated, his voice hardening appreciably as those light eyes narrowed into shards of i
ce. It sent a shiver down Katrin’s spine. She sure wouldn’t like to be on Erik Lindstrom’s bad side.
“Thanks for giving Kat a ride today, Erik,” Ingrid interjected, ending their awkward hello. “We all appreciate it.”
“Yes, thanks,” added Katrin.
“Glad to help get you somewhere safe,” said Erik, still staring at her thoughtfully. His gaze flicked to her lips quickly, then returned to her eyes.
She didn’t sense that the gesture was deliberate, but it made her cheeks feel hot.
Lord, but Erik Lindstrom was handsome. It had been a long time since she’d met a man to whom she’d felt so instantly attracted. She looked away from him, catching her reflection in the mirror across the room and suppressing a groan: rumpled sweats, askew glasses, crimson cheeks and greasy hair. She cringed with embarrassment, wondering if she could squeeze in a quick shower before they left for Skidoo. She wasn’t a supermodel, but she could certainly look better than this. She wanted to look better than this. For the first time in months, it actually mattered to her what she looked like.
“Well, should we get going?” he asked. “You have your stuff together?”
“We only told her the plan this morning,” said Ingrid, casting a sheepish look at her sister-in-law. “Can you take Kat home to put a bag together? And maybe stop by the police station and file a restraining order before you head north?”
Erik gave Ingrid a look that read, I thought I was just giving her a ride, and it made Katrin’s stomach flutter with embarrassment. This veritable god was driving her dumpy butt to safety. She couldn’t bear to inconvenience him any more than she already had.
“I don’t need to file the restraining order,” she blurted out. For a moment she was relieved her cheeks were already blazing so no one would see the lying flush spread over her face. “I, um…I already did it.”
Kristian’s eyes whipped to find hers. “I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell us?”
Katrin shrugged, looking down. “Slipped my mind.”
“Well, good. As soon as it’s processed, we’ll have more leverage if he bothers you. I’m so relieved you did that. I’m sure they’ll serve him while they’re holding him, and you’ll probably have a temporary order by the end of this week.”
She tried not to feel terrible for deceiving her worried brother. She was leaving, wasn’t she? Fleeing to safety? And the police had issued an Emergency Protective Order when they hauled Wade away on Friday night. Between that and leaving, it was enough. Or she hoped so, anyway.
Ingrid gave Katrin a bright smile. “Well then, all you have to do is pack a bag and go. Email and tell me whatever you want me to ship up there and I’ll arrange it.”
Katrin nodded at Ingrid, feeling overwhelmed and grateful at the same time. Her eyes filled with tears and Ingrid reached out, pulling her sister-in-law in her arms. Kristian mumbled something about the men waiting outside as the women said their goodbyes.
“I’m so glad you’re getting away. It was pure luck that you and Erik are both going north to start new jobs tomorrow. Or grace. Or fate,” said Ingrid.
Fate. Erik and fate. Katrin’s heart galloped as she hugged Ingrid back, but she tried to reason with herself. She was escaping an unhinged ex-fiancé, not embarking on a new romance. She had no business putting Erik Lindstrom and the word fate in the same sentence, despite the fact that she sort of liked the way they sounded together.
Ingrid drew away to look into Katrin’s eyes.
“Just so you know, Kat…I’d trust Erik Lindstrom with my life. You can trust him with yours. That’s partially why I want him involved. I wanted you to have someone up there who you could turn to if you ever felt threatened.” She paused, leaning back and crossing her arms. “But, one thing about Erik? He’s a player. So if you’re looking for romance—”
“Ingrid!” Kat put her hands up, shaking her head as her cheeks colored again. It was like Ingrid could see all the insta-fantasies that had started playing out in Katrin’s head the minute she’d touched Erik’s hand. “I’m not looking for anything like that. Definitely not.”
“Oh, sure! I know.” Ingrid rushed to smooth over the awkwardness of their chat. “I just felt like I should say something, you know, since you don’t know him very well and he has sort of a reputation…”
“I get it.”
“Good. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt after everything you’ve been through.”
“No worries,” she told her sister-in-law, offering her a confident, reassuring smile. “Nothing’s going to happen between me and Erik Lindstrom, so don’t worry.”
As Ingrid put her arm around Katrin’s waist and they walked through the front door, Katrin tried to convince herself that it was only the sadness of saying goodbye, not disappointment over Erik, that made her heart feel so heavy.
Chapter 2
The drive to Katrin’s apartment was quiet and Erik was grateful.
Get a hold of yourself.
Now.
Right now.
But, man, he was incredibly distracted by his introduction to Katrin Svenson.
When Jenny had shared Katrin’s story, in his mind he had pictured someone used up and beaten down by life’s hard times. Some pathetic, battered girl that a man could risk losing. Someone from whom a man could easily walk away and abuse in the process.
His first impression of Katrin Svenson, however, was that any man who actually wanted to be tied down would be crazy to let her go.
She was a little thing: no more than five-foot-four. Petite, like a gymnast or ballerina, her spare build was emphasized by a shapeless sweatshirt on top, though clingy yoga leggings hugged her pert little ass like a glove. Her bright blue eyes were magnified, instead of hidden, behind her unfashionable glasses, and her blonde hair severely slicked back into a prim bun at the base of her neck, only enhanced its long, graceful lines.
She might have been grubby, but she was neither used up nor beaten down. She held herself with a quiet dignity that belied everything she had endured at the hands of Wade Doyle, and it made Erik’s breath catch with admiration for her courage. If he felt vaguely protective before meeting Katrin, his natural instincts had amplified considerably after being introduced to her. He felt downright defensive now, like it’d be a tremendous pleasure to smash his fist through Wade Doyle’s face.
He glanced over at her as she gestured to him to turn right. Her eyes were clear and blue, and she seemed bright. Whether that was due to actual smarts, he wouldn’t know until he got to know her better. He frowned at the dark circles underneath her eyes—he could see the exhaustion and wariness behind them.
Gazing back at the road, he dissected their meeting. Her eyes had distracted him initially, but Erik had still been respectfully in control of his actions until he took her hand in his. There was that brief zap before the heat of her skin melted into his, followed by the almost-otherworldly feeling that a life force was exchanged between them.
He had never felt anything so intense upon meeting another person in his entire life. She must have noticed it too—the sudden and fierce connection between them. His heart had started thumping like he’d never touched a girl before.
Erik was so surprised by his reaction to her, so utterly stunned by the sudden intensity of it, he had stared back at her mutely until she had politely asked for her squished hand back. He had no context or explanation for what had happened between them. But, his head was completely turned around, and for a man who was accustomed to being in absolute control of himself, it made him incredibly uncomfortable.
To make matters worse, her smile caught him totally off guard, making him almost dizzy as her face was transformed by two crater-sized dimples that caved in both cheeks, giving her previously dignified demeanor an unexpectedly impish, playful quality, a glimpse of how she would look when she was teasing. And he liked it. A lot. A lot more than he should.
For whatever reason—likely owing to the well-established fact that most men are latent Neanderthals�
�as he held her hand, bewildered by her eyes and undone by her smile, he had a quick mental fantasy of her leaping into his arms. She was so small, he could easily hold her, and she would wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Erik would press his lips to hers, claiming her, so that no man would ever try to hurt her or take her away from him or—
Whoa, Erik!
He glanced over at her again, almost worried that she could hear the thoughts ricocheting around in his brain, but she stared out the windshield impassively. The brief image was so real and so developed, he could almost feel the imprint of her legs around his waist, and his cheeks flushed.
You only have one job to do, Erik. Drive her to Skidoo Bay. Don’t get distracted by a pair of dimples, goddamnit.
She told him to turn left and his body warmed up further from the lilting tone of her voice, soft and gentle, almost musical. He pulled into the driveway she pointed to and cut the engine of his car.
“This is it,” she said with a small, polite smile, and it bugged him that it was nothing like the unguarded one she’d given him at Ingrid’s. He wanted to see that one again. “Do you want to come up for a few minutes?”
He looked at the two-car garage in front of him that had a staircase along the right side, presumably leading to her apartment. “Sure.”
She preceded him up the stairs and when her sweatshirt rode up a little, he got another peek at her perfect, adorable backside in tight yoga pants, briefly wondering again if Wade Doyle was the stupidest man who’d ever lived.
***
Katrin winced at the cardboard and silver duct tape that Kristian had used to cover the gaping hole in the door. It brought back such strong memories of Friday night, Katrin’s stomach flipped over and she paused at the door, placing her hand over her belly and trying to take a deep breath as the keys rattled in her trembling fingers.
She didn’t expect to feel Erik’s warm hand on her shoulder, but it comforted and grounded her for a second before her stomach flipped over again for an entirely different reason.