Duh. Damn it, I hated when he got the drop on me like that. I should have figured that out myself, and would have, if it hadn’t been such a long day.
And long it was. Seemed like ages since I had “necked” on the beach with ER Dano. I sighed.
“You all right?”
Oh…yeah. I looked at Jagger as we stopped at my condo. “I’m fine. Just fine.” How I wanted to hop into my bed when I got inside though. Suddenly I pictured Airbrush Lady. Well, that was his prerogative.
“Be quiet so we don’t wake Goldie or Miles,” I said to Jagger as I unlocked the door. Wasted words, sure. Jagger was never a ball of energy or a chatty kinda guy anyway.
But what a guy!
Spanky looked up from the couch and smiled sleepily at…Jagger. Good, I thought, you little traitor. Good that you fell asleep down here waiting for me. The little guy always slept in my bed unless I wasn’t there. Served him right.
I turned on the living-room light and walked toward the stairs. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”
Jagger was already on the couch with Traitor Spanky fast asleep on his lap!
When I walked into my room, the bed stood out as if it’d grown a hundredfold. It called to me. “Pauline,” I heard it say, “just sit on my edge for a second. It won’t hurt to do that. Only a second. My pillows are so soft.”
Trying to ignore it, I went to my closet, where I shuffled through the many sets of scrubs hanging there. What color would be most inconspicuous? Something rather dull. Rather drab.
Gray.
I certainly wouldn’t stand out in gray. It’d match my eyes and make me look pale and tired-as if I were working the night shift. Perfect. And I sure didn’t want to wear blue, like the person who’d attacked the guard.
I dressed quickly and sat on the edge of the enticing bed to put on my socks and clogs. Typical nursing shoes nowadays. Had to have comfortable feet in a job where one stood so much. I leaned back to pull my sock up…
“Sherlock. Sherlock.”
“Hmm?” I rolled to the side and felt something solid under my hip. In my groggy state, I reached down and pulled out a clog from underneath me. Then I blinked several times in confusion, only to look up into the dark, sexy eyes of…Jagger.
In…my…bedroom…
Oh, my.
Suddenly I flew upright and shoved the clog onto my foot. “All set. I’m all set!”
“And the sun is out,” he said, nodding toward the window.
“Sun? At this hour?” Not sure what the heck hour it really was, I looked at my clock. “Damn. I fell asleep and have to be at TLC in a half hour.” I remained on my side of the bed. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
He raised one eyebrow. “I’ve had more luck raising the dead on several cases.” With that he turned, walked toward the door and said over his shoulder, “Be ready after work. We can’t drag our feet with Pansy’s condition the way it is.”
“Drag our feet? Drag our feet? You should have woken me up!”
He merely turned around and grinned.
And for the rest of the day I’d picture that look that reminded me-Jagger had stood by my bed, watching me sleep.
And, horrified, I’d keep wondering if I…snored.
I’d taken my own car to work so it wouldn’t look as if Jagger and I were in cahoots. That was my idea, and I was still smiling about it as I stepped out into the parking lot and saw ER Dano pulling his truck into his space.
My knees knocked. Ouch.
Taking a big deep breath, I told myself to calm down. He was just a man. A man who I’d kissed. Liked kissing and hoped to kiss more.
I gave a very casual wave, smiled nicely and walked toward the door. Dano was fast on my heels.
“Hey, Nightingale.” His uniform was clean but worn and wrinkled, unlike the snap, crackle, pop of Buzz’s. However, Dano looked so male and hot, no one cared about damn wrinkles.
“Morning.” I kept up my pace even though I wanted to slow, turn and grab him. Get that second kiss out of the way, you know.
“We’ll be doing a daily on the southern border of town today. Be prepared to sit and wait for calls. Bring a magazine or something.” With that he grabbed the door handle before I could, yanked and held it just long enough for me to get through.
I smiled so he couldn’t see. For some reason, I didn’t think ER Dano would want me to acknowledge any gentlemanly moves from such a macho guy.
He turned toward the guys’ locker room with a quick, “Later.”
Too bad he seemed so burned out. Been there. Done that.
I walked to the reception desk, where Lilla sat talking on the phone in French. “Your mom?” I asked quietly.
She winked.
“Say hi for me.” I sat on the chair opposite her desk and waited, wondering if she had anything helpful for me.
Lilla held her hand over the receiver. “Fabio is asking how the case is going.” She shook her head and winked at me.
I groaned. “Fantastic. Tell him fantastic.”
She continued on in French at what seemed like a lot more words than my “Fantastic. Tell him fantastic,” but didn’t translate for me after her “Adieu.”
Frankly I could care less about the jerk Fabio. I leaned toward her and asked, “Hey, Lilla, anything for me?”
She curled her lips. “Pansy’s guard was attacked-”
“Um. I know.” For a few seconds I wondered how she knew. Did Jagger tell her? If so, when would Jagger have seen Lilla? Maybe Buzz had told her. They seemed to have been getting along. Yeah, Buzz. I was going with Buzz.
“Morning, ladies,” a deep voice said from behind.
I swung around to see Sky heading toward the lounge. I looked at Lilla. “Yum.”
She giggled. Only someone dressed exclusively in black and having a face and body like her could get away with giggling and not have it be annoying. “You are special for him, chéri?”
“Special?”
“Interested.”
“Ah. No. Actually, he’s a doll and one heck of a looker, but no.” Just then ER Dano walked out of the locker room, and turned toward the lounge without a word. I remained silent.
Lilla’s eyebrow rose.
“What?”
“Ah. I see.” She winked at me and shuffled some papers on her desk.
I got up, turned toward the lounge and then looked back. “No you don’t see. You can’t see. There’s nothing to see.”
She chuckled. “You have the hots, as they say here, for Monsieur Dano.”
It wasn’t a question, merely an astute observation. “Does it really show?” I asked quietly.
She touched my hand. “No. No, chéri. It doesn’t.”
“Yeah, right. Thanks for that. I’ll be more careful,” I said, laughing.
While the two of us continued laughing, the intercom above my head boomed, “Copter 123, report. Copter 123, report.”
“That for Sky?” I asked as Lilla’s phone rang.
She nodded, answered and sounded concerned.
I waited a few moments for Lilla to hang up. “You have to go, chéri. They need a registered nurse on this flight. The trained helicopter paramedic will be with you too.”
For a second I was glad I hadn’t had my morning cup of tea yet, or else it might be climbing up my throat right about now.
Out on the helipad I met Nicky Straight, the paramedic. He explained that the patient we had to pick up needed some IV meds in transport that he wasn’t trained to give.
Okay, I told myself. That didn’t sound too bad. IV meds I could do. Watching for signs of distress I could do.
Whirr. Whirr. The helicopter’s blades started to turn.
Riding in this tin can with blades, I couldn’t do. Blades held on by only one nut, I’d heard.
Sky looked out the window and gave Nicky and me a thumbs-up. For a second, I thought of Sky being a suspect. But he had no motive for crashing a helicopter with a patient on it, so I tucked that potential fear away.