by Cara Colter
“But?” she prompted, her eyes focusing on a bead of sweat she’d swear was forming on his brow.
He took a deep breath, as if he was about to embark on a dangerous quest he really didn’t want to go on but had little choice. “If you’ll go with me, I could probably tolerate it this once. When I didn’t RSVP, the hospital administrator came by.” Dirk sighed, looking almost as uncomfortable as he had when he’d been playing Santa. “He said it wouldn’t look good for the newest member on the medical staff to not show for the hospital’s biggest employee social event of the year.”
Not the most enthusiastic invitation she’d ever received, but happiness spread through Abby.
Dirk had just asked her on a date to the hospital Christmas party.
Not that he really wanted to go, but he’d asked her to accompany him. On a date.
“I’d love to go to the Christmas party with you.” There wasn’t a man alive she’d rather attend with. Being at Dirk’s side would make the party all the more special, made everything all the more special.
Would he please turn around a moment so she could happy-dance around the kitchen?
Dirk had asked her to the Christmas party! Their morning hadn’t been a one-night stand after all. Er…a one-morning stand after all.
“Okay. Great.” He sounded relieved at her answer.
Had he thought she’d say no or was it the Christmas party itself stressing him? Either way, Dirk had just asked her to go on a date.
Thinking this just might be the best Christmas ever, she bubbled with good cheer and found herself wanting to tease a smile out of him. “Do I need to have my father’s Santa suit dry-cleaned or will you be providing your own wardrobe for the evening?”
He snorted, his mouth creeping up at the corners as she’d hoped. “You worry about what you’re going to wear, Li’l Miss Christmas Spirit. I’ll take care of my suit.”
“So long as it’s not green with pointy toes, Mr. Grinchy.”
He laughed. “Deal.”
They stared at each other long moments, so long Abby couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking, couldn’t help but wonder what had prompted his invitation. Was it possible that she wasn’t the only one with visions of more than sugar plums dancing through her dreams? Could he at this very moment want to whisk her off her feet and carry her back to her bed and have a repeat? Why bother going to the bedroom? Kitchens were always good for cooking up something hot.
He cleared his throat, coughed, shook his head a little. “See you tomorrow night at the hospital. Thanks again for the fudge.”
With that, he took his goodies and left.
Abby wrapped her arms around her apron-covered waist and danced around the kitchen while singing along with one of her favorite Christmas tunes.
She was going to the hospital Christmas party with the most amazing, sexy, wonderful man she’d ever met.
God, she loved Christmastime and if she wasn’t careful, she just might end up loving Dirk, too.
“Bay one has a probable UTI,” Abby told Dirk when he stepped out of the exam area where he’d just been seeing a patient in. “White blood cell count is twelve thousand, with neutrophils slightly elevated. There’s a trace of blood and plus four bacteria in the urine. The patient reports tenderness in the abdomen and in the mid-low back.”
Dirk nodded, without glancing directly at her.
Abby sighed. He’d seemed a bit distant tonight. She’d been dreaming of dashing through the snow like lovers with him ever since he’d issued his invitation to the Christmas party. Okay, before then. Way before then. She’d been dreaming of Dirk since the morning they’d ended up in bed together. Hadn’t she known not to get her hopes up after the way he’d dashed out of her house after they’d made love? But she just couldn’t seem to help herself where Dirk was concerned.
Reminding herself that she was a registered nurse, a professional, and on the job, she followed Dirk into the bay, telling herself to keep her mind—and eyes!—off the man in front of her, even if he did look fab-u-lous in his hospital-issue scrubs.
Obviously, he didn’t spend his days inside, baking. Not with the taut definition in his upper arms, the strength in his neck and shoulders, the taper of his waist, the…Abby gulped. Focus! He is not a Christmas package waiting for you to unwrap him. He’s a highly respected emergency physician.
But she’d really like to unwrap Dirk.
Focus! Focus! Focus!
“Hello, Mrs. Youngblood,” he greeted the thin lady with streaky brown-blond hair and pinched facial features. “The nurse was just telling me about your lab results. It appears you have a serious urinary-tract infection. Tell me what’s been going on.”
Dirk examined the patient while the lady told him of her symptoms, when they’d started and how they’d gotten much worse during the night to the point she’d decided she couldn’t wait until morning to check in with her primary care provider.
“No history of kidney stones?”
Mrs. Youngblood shook her head, her expression easing very little. “My husband has them, but I never have. Are they contagious?”
“No. You can’t catch kidney stones from another person.” Dirk pressed on her thin abdomen, attempting to palpate organs. “Any vaginal symptoms?”
“I don’t think so,” she denied, her hand guarding her belly as Dirk examined her. “It just really burns when I urinate. And feels like my bladder is going to turn inside out when I go, too.”
“Have the medications given since you’ve arrived helped?”
“Yes.” Although you sure couldn’t tell it by the woman’s grimace. “When I first got here I was miserable. The pain hasn’t completely eased, but I’m a lot better.”
Dirk washed his hands then turned to his patient. “I’m going to write a prescription for some antibiotics. You’ll need to follow up with your primary care provider within the next couple of days.” He began writing out orders. “Do you need a note for work?”
The woman shook her head. “I work from home as a medical billing clerk.”
“Great.” Dirk turned to Abby, meeting her eyes for the first time since they’d entered the room, and he smiled.
A real smile that reached those gorgeous blue eyes and pierced right into her heart.
Relief flooded Abby. Did he have any idea as to the lethalness of his smile? Probably. She soaked up every drop of his potency, letting the intensity of her emotions flow through her veins.
“Mrs. Youngblood,” he said, his gaze flicking back to his patient. “The nurse will get you ready for discharge. If you have any additional problems or get worse before morning, I’d suggest you return to the emergency department for a recheck.”
An hour later, the emergency department was in full swing. Every bay was full. Both physicians and the nurse practitioner on duty were at full stretch.
Abby adjusted a breathing mask over an asthma patient’s mouth and nose, preparing to administer a beta-agonist medication via a nebulizer to rapidly open up the restricted airways.
“You may feel a little shaky and jittery after the medication starts working,” she warned her patient. “The process that causes the bronchial tubes to dilate also speeds up the heart rate. Don’t let the reaction alarm you as that’s a natural and expected response to the medicine.”
She turned on the nebulizer and waited to make sure the patient’s wheezing slowed before she stepped out of the bay to check on her next patient.
Dirk was with him—a morbidly obese man who’d woken up with a sharp tightness in his chest that took his breath. They’d started him on meds immediately on arrival, done tests, including an EKG that showed left ventricular hypertrophy and a possible blockage. They’d stabilized him while awaiting the results of his cardiac enzyme tests.
“I read your chest X-ray, Mr. Lytle. Your heart is enlarged, showing signs of your high blood pressure and congestive heart failure, but that shouldn’t have caused you to wake up with chest pain. I don’t see anything acute
on the films, but your troponin level is slightly elevated. That’s a myocardial muscle isoenzyme that elevates when the heart isn’t getting enough oxygen. I’m going to admit you to the cardiac-care unit for close observation. The cardiologist on call has been notified you’re here and will be by soon. He’ll schedule you for a cardiac catheterization, likely for in the morning. That way, if there are any blockages, he can repair them immediately.”
Abby began to prepare to have the patient transferred to the cardiac-care unit while Dirk answered the questions of the patient and his wife.
The rest of the night passed quickly. The E.R. was still bustling come shift change. An hour past time for her to have left, Abby clocked out, exhausted and feeling a little woozy.
Dirk had still been with an abdominal pain patient who’d come in minutes before shift change. Abby had offered to stay, but the day-shift nurse had taken over and had things under control.
She’d felt relieved at the reprieve, and surprised at how tired she was. The night had been busy, but no more so than dozens of others she’d worked, but she just wanted to go home, crawl into bed and pass out.
She rarely got sick, but definitely her stomach churned at the thought of breakfast. Maybe she’d just skip her usual light meal before going to bed. Hopefully, she’d feel better once she got some sleep.
She hoped she wasn’t coming down with something, especially so close to Christmas.
Regardless, no way would she let a little nausea and fatigue get her down when she had a date with Dirk for the Christmas party on Saturday evening.
Chapter Four
“DON’T tell me you unwrapped a Christmas present early and found Dr. Kelley inside, because if that’s the case, I’m changing what I put on my wish list for this year.” Medical floor nurse Danielle Booker draped her arm around Abby’s shoulder on Saturday night at the hospital Christmas party being held in the ballroom of a nearby hotel.
Abby glanced away from where she watched Dirk talk with a couple of other physicians. When the conversation had turned to golf, she’d excused herself. She’d needed a few moments to breathe. Dirk had been the perfect attentive date, but the tension between them was so palpable it threatened to cut off her windpipe. Between that and his obvious discomfort at being at the party, Abby was wound tighter than a spool of ribbon.
“I’m waiting.” Danielle tapped her slinky black high heels against the ballroom floor. “Were you such a good girl this year that Santa arranged for Dr. Kelley to be in your stocking?”
“Now isn’t the time for details about my relationship with Dirk.” Not to mention that she didn’t know how to define their relationship.
“You’re admitting you have a relationship with Dirk?” Her friend put emphasis on the use of his given name rather than his title of Dr. Kelley.
He’d been Dirk from the moment she’d glanced into his eyes and felt as if she were drowning in a blue sea of Christmas ribbon. With all her volunteering with the community outreach program, she hadn’t found the time to call her best friend and they’d been on different shifts at the hospital. She hadn’t told anyone about the morning she’d spent with Dirk. Perhaps if their relationship hadn’t ended almost as fast as they’d started…And if they’d ended, what was tonight about? And why did she fluctuate between giddy and the need to protect her heart?
“I’m not admitting anything. Not here.” Abby’s gaze shifted to him again. Just looking at him made her feel as if she was all tangled up and would never be able to free herself. “But I like him, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“You like him? Girl, that isn’t ‘like’ I see in your eyes,” Danielle teased, her grin growing bigger in direct proportion to Abby’s face growing hotter. “You are so telling me everything soon.”
“Everything,” Abby agreed. Which was what? Dirk hadn’t called or even talked to her at the hospital other than about patients and to confirm what time to pick her up. After his Santa debut and him asking her out for tonight, she’d jumped every time her phone had rung, hoping he’d call. She’d been disappointed every time. Disappointed that he hadn’t made any effort to talk to her outside the parameters of work.
Until tonight.
Tonight, he’d been a considerate date, if quiet, taking her white faux-fur wrap and gloves to the designated coat room, ensuring she had everything she wanted to drink and eat, even making the comment that her goodies tasted better than the ones supplied by the party’s caterer.
Yet that ever-present awkwardness, awareness, kept her slightly on edge, not letting her completely relax, making her stomach stay slightly knotted with tension. That’s why she’d needed a breather. Being so close to Dirk, his hand occasionally resting possessively on her back, she’d been on the verge of swooning from lack of air.
On the verge of grabbing his hand and dragging him to a room and kissing him like crazy in hopes of abating whatever this burn inside her was.
Abby covered her mouth with her hand, biting back a slight smile at what Dirk would do, say, if she marched over to him and did just that. Bet that wouldn’t do a thing to ease the edginess she’d sensed about him all evening. Because of her? Or the Christmas party?
Danielle eyed her a moment, taking note of exactly what Abby wasn’t sure, just that her friend’s smile faded. “You okay? You look flushed.”
Any flush on her face was from her thoughts, not from not feeling okay. Actually, the bug that had been bothering her earlier in the week was sticking around. But, fortunately, by the time Dirk had arrived she’d been fine. When he’d looked at her as if she was more mouthwatering than any piece of peppermint candy, had told her she was beautiful, well, she’d been over the moon.
If she’d stop trying to label whatever was happening between them and could just enjoy the fact that something was happening, everything would be wonderful.
She visually sought out where he still stood with the group of golfing physicians. He wasn’t saying much, just listening to the others. Dirk didn’t have to say much. The man would stand out in any crowd. Not just because of his height or his good looks or even his quick intelligence. No, he’d stand out because of the confident way he held himself, the pure aura of testosterone that clung to him and demanded women take notice, even though he seemed oblivious to the fact he was gorgeous.
Abby noticed. From his thick black hair to the tailored lines of his dinner jacket and trousers to the pointed toes of his Italian shoes, she noticed. And liked. She definitely liked.
“How could I not be okay?” she practically sighed, wondering if Danielle would scoop her up if she melted into an Abby puddle. Dirk liquefied her insides. Any moment she might slosh to the floor.
“Right,” Danielle replied, her gaze following Abby’s. “Got to admit, that man is fine. A little quiet and brooding for my taste, but he is easy on the eye.”
Very easy on the eye. She’d seen more than one envious look her way when they entered the hotel ballroom.
“Just because he doesn’t like Christmas doesn’t mean he’s brooding,” Abby defended. “Plus, he isn’t quiet once you get to know him. He has a great sense of humor.”
Just recalling how he’d teased her made her insides toasty warm.
“I didn’t know Dr. Dreamboat doesn’t like Christmas and I still think he’s brooding,” Danielle pointed out.
Okay, so maybe a little brooding.
“The man keeps to himself, doesn’t socialize, rarely talks to anyone outside anything to do with a patient or work. That’s okay, mind you. He’s probably just a private person, but that’s not my style. Although…” she glanced toward where Dirk stood “…in his case, I could be convinced to make an exception.” Danielle gave a little shake of her head. “Seriously, he doesn’t like Christmas? Talk about your opposites attracting. Does he know you’re the Queen of Holiday Cheer?”
“He knows.” Recalling their conversation about the holidays, Abby tried not to wince. She’d just focus on the positive. “He likes my peanut-butt
er fudge.”
“I’ll just bet he does.” Danielle snickered.
Abby rolled her eyes, but couldn’t keep her smile from her face. “He stepped in and played Santa the other day at the community center, too.”
See, there was another positive. Dirk had been there when she’d needed him. How many people could she say that of throughout her life so far?
“You’re kidding! Dr. Kelley was Santa?” Danielle’s mouth dropped open. “Now I know I’m changing my Christmas wish list. You should have told me. I could have come and sat in his lap.”
Um, no. If any grown-up had been going to sit in Dirk’s lap, Abby had dibs.
“My Santa canceled very last minute and I couldn’t find a replacement. He saved me from canceling the event. Plus, he did a good job.” Abby laughed at her friend’s amazed expression. “Seriously, he did.”
Mostly. He hadn’t seemed to enjoy himself, but he had stayed until every kid in line had gotten their time with Santa. Not every busy doctor would have given up so much of his free time.
Okay, so he professed not to like Christmas. He was here at the Christmas party. He’d played Santa. Next thing you knew she’d have him out caroling or ringing bells for charity donations. Hey, it could happen. She was here with him, wasn’t she? He was taking her home, wasn’t he?
As if sensing her gaze, Dirk looked up. Laser-blue fire flew from across the room, flooding her belly with the sensation of a curly Christmas ribbon having been stretched out and released.
Wow, but the man packed a wallop.
First saying something to the men he stood with, he headed toward her. Tall, handsome in his dark suit, his eyes solely trained on her, as if she were the only person in the room, the only person who mattered. His hand touched her elbow and her world shifted off its axis.
“Hi, Dr. Kelley. Great party, huh?” Danielle smiled at Dirk, taking a sip of her wine.
“I suppose.” Dirk’s gaze briefly touched on Danielle, but immediately returned to Abby. His eyes had the same look in them that he’d had at the “Pictures with Santa,” a rescue me, please one. He held her gaze, his thumb stroking over her bare arm. Did he realize he was doing that? Would he please stop? The more he touched, the more she wanted him to touch. Not good. Her bosses were all here!