Corinne came with two Styrofoam boxes and the bill. “You want me to package it for you?”
“No thanks,” Shelly said, taking the boxes from her. “We’ll be fine.”
“Ooo-kayyy. So, Dex, when are you going to take me out to—”
“Corinne, I’m having dinner with Doctor Newman.”
“Sorry,” Corinne muttered, seeming to finally get the hint, and walked off.
“Sorry,” Dex said.
Shelly shrugged as she transferred fries into her container. “No problem.” But she was happy Dex hadn’t set up a date while she sat across the table from him.
“No, it’s not no problem,” he said. “I went to school with her dad.” He shook his head. “It’s a little creepy.”
Shelly chuckled and popped a fry in her mouth. “You’re a local celeb. All the hot little things are going to want to get in your pants. The tragic, wounded hero who needs to be saved.” She winked.
Dex laughed and shook his head. “That’s just sick.”
“When you’re her age and live in a little town like this, believe me, fantasies are all you’ve got.”
“Sounds like you speak from experience.” He ate a couple fries off his plate then reached for the ketchup.
“Yep. Grew up in a town almost identical to this one—minus the hospital—in Iowa.” She set the take-out container down and picked up her knife and fork to cut a piece of her steak sandwich. “Trust me when I say I had some major hero worship going on with a few of our hometown soldiers who came back from Desert Storm.”
“But you were…”
“About Corinne’s age, give or take a year or two.” She made a face. “Stop trying to guess my age; that’s rude.”
Dex grinned. “You’re about my age, I’d guess. Pushing forty.”
Shelly gasped in mock horror. “I will never be forty, thank you very much.”
He chuckled and cut a piece of his steak. “Yeah, sure. And I didn’t see a couple gray hairs at your temple last week before you colored and covered it up.”
“Oh, my God, Pete Dexler! You are an ass.”
He outright laughed then, and popped a bite of steak into his mouth. “Guilty. Never said I wasn’t. I like your hair. It’s very pretty.”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop smiling. Even the backhanded compliment made her feel a little too warm inside. She forked a bite of her salad, dipped it in the dressing, and ate it while reminding herself he was her patient.
“So, are you going to tell me how you wound up in Cooper Valley?” he asked after he finished his beer.
“Not a real exciting story,” she said when she’d swallowed her food. “I went to college in Chicago, did my residency in Milwaukee, and then went back to Chicago and worked at a sports medicine clinic.” She speared the tender steak with her fork and cut another piece. “I hated the big city and searched the Internet constantly for a job in a smaller place. When I found the ad for a physical therapist here, it was perfect. And, best of all, I’m only about a six-hour drive from my parents in Cedar Falls.” She put the meat in her mouth.
“And your reason for going into physical therapy?” he asked between bites.
“An almost zero percent mortality rate.” Then she narrowed her eyes on him and grinned. “Unless I kill them on purpose.”
Dex snickered.
“Seriously though. I did my rotations during my residency. Surgery, internal medicine, emergency medicine…” Shaking her head, she reached for her ice water. “Too much death. I just couldn’t hack it. I went into medicine to help people, and some people can’t be helped. So after I passed the medical boards, I changed course and went into PT. At least in therapy they’re more likely to get better, and I haven’t yet lost a patient due to death from an injury I couldn’t fix.”
“Just death by strangulation when they piss you off too much, right?”
She grinned. “Not yet, but there’s this one guy who’s come close.”
“I promise, from tomorrow forward, I’ll let you help me.”
She grinned at him. “’Bout time.”
He laughed.
They finished their meal without too much talking other than laughing over the fact they’d actually been starving and had both cleaned their plates. Dex paid the bill, and Shelly helped him into her truck, stowed the wheelchair, then started the car to warm it up before she went out to brush off the two more inches of snow that had fallen while they were inside the pub. The snow fell heavier now, and she was glad she wouldn’t be out in it much longer.
At his house, she helped push him up the snowy driveway in his chair.
“Thank you,” he said as he dug in his jacket pocket and pulled out his keys. “I’ll see you Friday.”
“If you’re not hurting, okay?” she said. Now that she was here, she was loath to end the evening. It was the first time she’d been out with anyone but Celeste and Celeste’s husband since she’d moved to Cooper Valley three years ago. And Pete Dexler was actually a great guy when he wasn’t fighting with his therapist.
“Yes, Doc,” he said with a grin. “If I’m not hurting.”
“Thank you for dinner. I had… I had a really good time, all considering.”
He looked up at her. “I did too. Would you like to come in? I don’t think I have any chamomile tea but I’m sure—”
She shook her head. She was a doctor, and he was her patient. Having dinner alone with him was probably pushing the boundaries. “Thanks. But I need to get home. I’ll see you Friday—maybe.”
He nodded and reached for the doorknob with the key. She wanted to touch his shoulder, kiss his cheek… Something. Instead, she turned and walked back down the driveway, her boots crunching the snow. After she climbed into the truck, she looked back at the modest two-story house. He was still sitting on the porch in the falling snow. He raised his hand and waved. She started her car and pulled away. It was one thing to fantasize about her patient, and another to spend time alone with him outside of the hospital. She knew better. She should have refused his invitation, tried to explain that this town was too small to make any motions that could cost her the job she loved—most of the time.
But damn, it had felt so nice to sit across a table from a man and talk, laugh, tease. She sighed as she pulled into her driveway and hit the button to open the garage. At least now she had a hope of actually helping him get better.
Pulling in, she hit the button again and shut the door behind her. Time for that bath and book. And she knew the hero in whatever novel she picked up would have gorgeous blue eyes and a short, military haircut. A strong jaw with a tiny hint of a cleft. Broad shoulders, strong arms, rippling abs, and soft lips that made her tingle all over when they touched hers.
“Shit,” she muttered as she grabbed her purse off the passenger seat. She probably just needed to get laid. It had been forever since she’d been with a man.
Mr. Vibro was going to have a nice workout tonight after her bath.
Chapter Four
“I heard that you did some tough love on a patient the other day,” Celeste said just before she took a bite of her hospital cafeteria burger. Since the snow hadn’t stopped in two full days, Shelly and Celeste stayed in for lunch instead of fighting the weather.
Shelly shrugged and moved her spoon around her soup, wondering exactly what the mystery vegetables were. They didn’t look like anything she’d ever eaten in her life. “Small town, even smaller hospital.” She frowned and lifted a spoonful of broth to her lips.
Celeste chuckled. “We could film our own soap opera here. So what happened? The truth, not what the rumor mill produced.”
She couldn’t bring herself to try the soup, so she set her spoon back in the bowl and picked up her yogurt instead. With a shrug, she said, “The Marine, Pete Dexler. That chip on his shoulder just kept getting bigger and bigger, so I hauled him upstairs and introduced him to the kids.”
Celeste pulled a face. “Ouch. You’re mean.”
Shelly flashed her teeth in a grin. “You are so not the first person to say that.”
They laughed together, and Shelly ate a few bites of her yogurt. “Seriously though, I got through to him. He even took me to The Ranch House for dinner as an apology.”
Celeste’s eyebrows went up. “Really?”
She nodded. “He’s actually a pretty nice, normal guy when he’s not cussing me out and calling me names.”
Her friend chuckled. “Men are the worst patients. I can’t stand to be in the same house as Paul when he’s got the sniffles.”
“Oh, paa-leeze! Don’t lie to me. You can’t get enough of that man no matter what’s wrong with him!”
Celeste’s cheeks turned pink. “Okay, you’re right. But he does turn into a big whiner when he doesn’t feel well. Worse than my kids ever were.”
Shelly didn’t bother to hide her jealousy of Celeste and Paul’s marriage. They doted on each other and spent every spare moment together. He usually came to the hospital to have lunch with Celeste, which meant she’d chosen to eat with Shelly instead of her hubby today.
“We need to find you a man,” Celeste said around a bite of lettuce.
Shelly almost choked on her yogurt. “What?”
Celeste laughed. “Don’t sound so horrified. You need a man of your own so you’ll stop lusting after mine.”
“I… That’s not—”
Celeste burst out laughing. “Calm down, Shell. I know, I know. I trust both you and Paul implicitly. But I also know how it feels to be on the outside looking in, wishing…” Her smile faded. “I know what it’s like to be lonely, and honey, you look lonely a lot.”
“That obvious, huh?” Shelly set her empty yogurt container on her tray. “It’s such a small town, and there’s so few…you know. Good men. There’re the regulars at The Ranch House, but I’m not going to pick someone up at the bar, because that’s where they spend most of their time. It’s not like Cooper Valley has any singles’ activities going on.”
“There’re a couple young, good looking cops Paul could introduce you to.”
Shelly scrunched her nose in distaste. “I’m not ready for the big blind date setup. Besides, how young is young? I’m pushing forty, as I was rather rudely reminded by my patient.”
A sly, Cheshire cat grin spread over Celeste’s lips. “Young can be really fun.”
Shelly rolled her eyes. “Yes, but young can also be very immature. You got lucky.”
“Yeah, I did.” She grinned again. “Real lucky. What about one of the guys from the firehouse? They’re not all young, and a lot of them are trained EMTs. At least you’d have something to talk about.”
“Celee, stop. When the right guy happens, he’ll happen. That’s what I’ve always believed.”
“He can’t happen if you never leave the hospital.”
Pete Dexler flashed through her mind, but she shoved the thought away. He was a patient. “I go out,” she said defensively. To The Ranch House, where she refused to pick up men. God, the truth could be cruel. “Besides, you didn’t have to leave the house to find Paul.”
Celeste snickered. “You don’t share a house with a guy.”
“I share a backyard with a sixty-five-year-old biker. Maybe I should go older instead of younger.”
“Zach Plummer? Ewww. He smokes like a chimney and is so hairy….” She shuddered, which made Shelly laugh. “He’s in the ER twice a year with pneumonia because his lungs are so shot from his three-pack-a-day habit. He’ll be lucky to reach seventy.”
“Shame on you talking about your patients like that.”
“I say it to his face every time he’s in. He spends more time out in Smoker’s Corner than he does in the hospital bed.”
“I was just kidding, anyway.” Shelly sighed and rested her chin on her hand. “Dating’s a big pain in the ass. And finding someone to date is even worse. I didn’t like it when I had a million men to choose from in Chicago, and I despise it here.”
“Was there ever anyone serious in your life?”
“Oh, of course. A good half dozen over the years.” She laughed at herself. “I was in love at least once every year from high school through med school. And then the doctors when I was an intern…” She sighed wistfully. “But, alas, I was young, naïve, and ready to jump in the sack with any handsome face and studly body I could find.”
“And now you want something more than a face and body.” Celeste nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean. Though, studly is still good.”
Dex’s soft voice and the tender look of sadness in his eyes as they’d talked the other night flashed in her mind. That was what she wanted. A man who she could talk to, listen to, share with.
Maybe once he wasn’t her patient any longer.
No. Probably not. While she’d sat there during dinner with him taking too much pleasure in the fact that he teased her, she hadn’t seen one iota of a hint of sexual attraction on his part.
“I gotta go,” Celeste said, gathering up her wrappers and dishes onto her tray.
Shelly glanced at her watch. It was almost one, and Dex might be waiting for her up in the therapy room. He hadn’t called to cancel his appointment, but she wasn’t sure if the town’s taxi would be running in this weather. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”
Celeste dumped her garbage and slid her tray onto the top of the trashcan. “What if Paul and I had a little get-together some night? A few of the married couples, and some of the single guys from the fire station and the police station?”
Shelly shook her head.
“I’ll talk to Paul about it,” Celeste said with a grin. “We’ll figure out something.” She gave a little wave as she headed for the door of the cafeteria.
Shelly gathered up her garbage and dumped it, filled her travel mug with coffee from the carafe on the counter, and headed for the therapy room on the second floor. Dex was just wheeling out of the men’s changing room wearing his gray sweatpants and Marine Corp T-shirt.
“Hey,” she said, a little upset with herself that her heart skipped a beat when she saw him.
“Hey yourself. You’re late.”
“Sorry,” she said softly as she headed for her office to put her coffee on her desk.
“I was joking,” Dex said, and she stopped to look at him. His face was serious, but that cold distance wasn’t there. The shields weren’t back up in place.
“You okay?” he asked.
All that talk about loneliness had gotten to her. She’d wanted to move to a small community so it felt more like home. What she’d never realized was that she wasn’t sixteen anymore. She was a grown woman with needs, and there wasn’t one damn man in the whole tiny town who could fulfill them.
She gave a little nod and unlocked her office door.
Dex was so totally out of reach, and also the only guy she’d been attracted to in ages, even when he’d been a total ass. The new, improved Pete Dexler was even worse. The guy had a heart, and kindness, and a deeper emotional pain than she could have imagined.
She took a breath and shored up her defenses against him before she turned and moved from her office to the therapy room. “So, how is your pain level today on a scale of one to ten?”
“Average. About a four.”
She nodded and motioned for him to go down on the mat for pre-exercise stretching. When she reached under his back to feel how tight his muscles were, he sucked in a quick breath.
“Hurt?”
He shook his head and looked away.
“Dex. I thought we went through this the other night…”
“It didn’t hurt,” he said, meeting her eyes. “I swear.”
And in his eyes she saw what she’d been hoping for, yet praying against. His bluer than blue eyes were filled with…
“I’m your doctor,” she whispered, her chest feeling a little constricted, her skin too tight all of a sudden. She breathed in his crisp, clean scent, and damned if her mouth didn’t water.
“I know. So you
might not want to wrap your arms around me like this. After the other night, you’re not just my doctor anymore.”
She stared into those eyes, wondering if she could drown in them. “I’m not?”
“No. You’re a pretty special woman, too. It was much easier when you were just the bitch who got off on torturing me.”
She swallowed hard, slowly withdrew her hands from his back, and sat up on her knees. “I want you to get better.”
He nodded. “And you’re definitely not a bitch. I just haven’t been around a woman I was attracted to in longer than I can remember.”
“Don’t be attracted to me. I’m your doctor. I can’t—we can’t—there’re rules—my job…”
“I know.” He clenched his jaw. “Let’s just keep the touching to a minimum, okay? As you showed me the other day, there are some things I can’t control, and the way my body wants to react around you today is one of them.”
Shelly nodded. “Okay.” She scooted back a few feet. “You go ahead and do your stretches. I’ll stay over here unless you need me.”
He turned his head and looked at her, then gave a half smile and shook his head. “Yeah, that’ll help.” He looked her up and down. “Damn.”
“What?”
“Nothing. If I say anything else, I’ll just get myself into trouble.” He stretched his arms above his head and pointed his toes, beginning his stretches.
Shelly’s heart fluttered erratically, and she clasped her hands together. This was so not good. One-sided attraction was way easier to ignore.
* * * * *
Shelly was locking her office door when Dex came out of the changing room in jeans and a sweatshirt, his hair damp from a shower. He didn’t always shower after his sessions, so she guessed he had something to do before he went home, but he didn’t have his jacket and winter gear on.
“You done for the day?” he asked.
“You’re the only hearty soul who fought the snow to make it in, so yeah, kind of. It’s pizza day upstairs, so I thought I’d surprise the kiddos by bringing it early.”
“Would you mind if I tagged along? And then maybe you’d be up to giving me a lift home? Bill pretty much told me my trip here was his last run until spring.” He chuckled but looked uncomfortable about having to ask.
Dangerous Intentions Page 4