he asked.
“We have to up to Goderich to get her.” Samantha poured herself another cup of coffee.
“How far is that?”
Samantha cocked an eyebrow. “Do you have other plans?”
George shook his head. “No, just curious.”
Samantha wasn’t convinced that it was just curiosity. He looked agitated at the prospect of being alone with her.
“Goderich is almost two hours there, give or take, and then it depends on traffic and the hospital, but expect this trip to take most of the day.”
George nodded and slung his knapsack over his shoulder, and as he did that Samantha saw his bandaged arm.
“How’s your arm this morning?”
“It’s a bit sore.”
Samantha set down her coffee cup and walked over to him, taking his arm gently. “Can I look?”
“Sure.”
Sure?
Why had he agreed to let her touch him?
He should’ve said no, because he hadn’t slept a wink last night and it hadn’t been the pain meds or the burn that had kept him up.
It had been Samantha.
He could smell her perfume as he stood close to her.
Heather, the sweet smell of summer on the tundra.
The part he’d thought had died with Cheryl long ago had come alive, and lambasted him for not taking Samantha in his arms and kissing her. When she’d mentioned Adam yesterday the green-eyed monster had reared his head.
And then she’d told him Adam was her son.
He’d had no idea she was a mother.
Not that that was a deal-breaker. Far from it. He was just surprised.
If there had of been a third paramedic going with them to Goderich, it would have been a welcome distraction. But there wasn’t and he’d be trapped in an ambulance with Samantha for several hours. Which was the last thing he wanted. It was going to be absolute torture not to reach out and touch her, kiss her, and he hated himself for being weak.
You’re here to do a job.
He wasn’t here to romance. He wasn’t looking for a significant other. He was here to learn as much as he could so when he took a posting with the company in Thunder Bay he could do his job well.
Though it wouldn’t be as far up north as he liked. For that he’d have to climb into a plane again and he wasn’t going to do that. It had been bad enough flying down here, but then he hadn’t been the pilot.
He had been able to take something to help him relax, letting Quinn get him on and off the plane.
George closed his eyes as the sounds of the crash filled his head.
The howling wind, listening for the sound of a polar bear as he’d dragged his limp body across the snow to dig himself a shelter, certain he was going to die.
Not now.
He took a deep breath and silenced the voices.
“Am I hurting you?”
Then he realized that Samantha was touching him.
He’d forgotten momentarily that she was looking at his burn. Her long, delicate fingers were touching his tender skin with a feather-light touch that ignited his blood.
“No, you’re not hurting me. I mean, it’s tender, but you’re not hurting me.”
“Well, it looks fine and you’re keeping the salve on. That’s good.” She smiled up at him.
“My adopted sister is a doctor, she’d kick my butt if I didn’t follow doctor’s orders.”
Samantha chuckled and then wrapped his burn back up and let go of him, taking a step back. “I forgot there’s a lot of medical people in your family. Is the adopted sister the one Dr. Devlyn is married to?”
“Yes.” George pulled down his shirtsleeve and buttoned the cuff. “Charlotte was the daughter of our village’s physician, but he died when Charlotte was young and she had no other family so my family took her in. She became a physician like her father and came up to Cape Recluse to practice and I was her paramedic.”
“Very tight-knit community.”
“Very.” You don’t know the half of it.
Samantha tucked an errant strand of ebony hair behind her ear. “Well, we’d better get a move on. The run to Goderich will take most of the day.”
Damn.
“Of course. Lead the way.”
Samantha, still not looking at him, turned on her heel and George followed her out to the garage where the ambulances were kept.
Today was going to be a long day.
A long and trying day as he battled the part of him that told him to reach out and kiss her. The traitorous side he’d thought he’d buried with Cheryl’s memories.
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