hot and intense and quite potent. She had felt it the first time she’d laid eyes on him. Yes, she had caught him looking at her several times as well, but she’d decided he must be trying to figure out why she was always looking at him.
When he was distracted, she did look.
Look? More like let her eyes feast on him, soaking up every morsel of his eye-candiness. Which meant she was quite pathetic and not nearly as immune to his charms as she liked to think. Then again, maybe she was just trying to figure out what it was about the man that messed with her head when she’d been getting along just fine all these years without once being tempted to get involved in another relationship.
“You sure got quiet.” Mrs. Sain practically cackled with her delight. Definitely, her eyes held a knowing sparkle and an uh-hum, I knew it gleam.
Suppressing a smile in spite of her inner turmoil, Joni shook her head at the older woman who’d come so far in such a short time. “You sure talk a lot for someone who was just taken off a vent a couple of days ago. Shouldn’t you be quiet? Save your voice?” she teased.
Her eyes not losing their twinkle, the older woman attempted to take a deep breath into her diseased lungs. She only managed to bring on a coughing spell that lasted a full minute and had both Grant and Joni leaning her forward to beat on her back before she calmed and nodded. “You should spend some time with me when I’m not hacking up a lung.”
Glad the coughing spell had ended, Joni thought she’d like spending time with this feisty woman very much. “I’d love to.”
Grant said something from behind Joni. She couldn’t make out his words, but then he spoke clearer, louder to his patient. “You keep improving the way you have over the past forty-eight hours and you’re going to blow this joint in a few days.”
Mrs. Sain’s scarce eyelashes batted coyly at Grant. “You make house calls, Doc?”
Joni suppressed an eye roll. Grant just grinned at the feisty woman.
“Only when I have a nurse to chaperone me. Gotta have someone around to make sure I behave.” He winked conspiratorially at his patient. “Maybe we can convince Joni to accompany me to check on you.”
Mrs. Sain seemed to think that a brilliant idea. Joni just gave a noncommittal answer, finished logging in the data she’d collected, then skedaddled out of the hospital room before the two had her committing to something she’d regret—like making house calls with Grant.
She paused outside the closed door, took a deep breath. Phew. What was it about the man that got her so flustered?
Why ask a question she knew the answer to?
Everything about Dr. Grant Bradley flustered her—and apparently every other female on the planet.
“You are going to the Hearts for Health benefit on Friday, right?” Samantha Swann asked as she clocked out via the hospital time-keeping system on the nurses’ station desktop computer.
“You know I am.” Joni replaced her best friend at the computer, typed in her information, clocked out, then logged off the program. “I’m volunteering with the cake walk for an hour.”
The North Carolina hospital was committed to being involved within the community, playing an active role in helping out when needed. Hearts for Health was cosponsored by the hospital, hospital employees, and local businesses to provide assistance to families with healthcare needs within the community, whether that need was for transportation back and forth to doctors’ appointments or for assistance with excessive medical expenses. Joni wholeheartedly believed in the organization and often volunteered a helping hand. Friday night was a fundraising event that involved a barbecue dinner, games, and a raffle for various items donated by local businesses.
“I’m selling tickets at the front door. Vann is stopping by about the time my shift ends. We’ll look for you so we can all grab a bite to eat together.”
Vann had been Samantha’s significant other since they had been fifteen. He’d asked Samantha to marry him at least a dozen times, but Samantha had turned him down each and every time, stating that they really shouldn’t ruin a perfectly good relationship that way. As Joni couldn’t name a single happily married couple, she tended to agree with her friend.
“Sounds great.” She gathered her purse and turned to go, colliding into Grant.
He reached out, steadied her, smiled down at her even as she pulled away from him. How long had he been standing behind her? Had he been listening to she and Samantha talk? Why was her heart clamoring its way out of her chest? Not because his body had felt strong and solid against her. Not because in that brief moment before she’d jerked back, a zillion electrodes had sparked to life within her. Not because he’d smelled so good she’d wanted to fill her lungs with the musky scent of him.
Samantha smiled at Grant. All the nursing staff liked him. Most couldn’t say enough ooey-gooey things about him.
“Is there something I can help you with before I go?” Samantha offered, despite the fact she had clocked out, doing a fairly good imitation of Mrs. Sain’s earlier eyelash batting.
“No. Thanks, though.” His gaze briefly touched on Samantha, then shot right back to Joni. “Can I speak with you?”
Her heart rate zoomed from banging against her ribcage to an all-out pinball machine ball ricocheting hard throughout her chest cavity. She was pretty sure her rhythm would send a cardiologist into panic, too. No way was the fluttery thump-thump in her chest anywhere near normal. Maybe she should make an appointment with Vann.
“I guess so,” she squeaked, sending a desperate don’t-leave-me glance toward Samantha, who proceeded to bat her lashes again, wave, and do just that. Great. Some best friend.
With a friendly nod he said goodbye to Samantha, then turned the full force of his attention onto Joni. Never had eyes been bluer or more intense. Never had a grin been more lethal. “If you’re ready to go, I’ll walk you to your car.”
Grabbing her bag, she nodded, keeping her gaze anywhere but on him. She didn’t point out that his car would be in the physicians’ parking area and nowhere near hers. Neither did she point out that she was perfectly capable of walking herself to her car and that she’d been doing so for the five years she’d worked at Bean’s Creek Memorial.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Why did you say no when I asked you out?”
They asked at the same time.
Although her feet kept moving at a normal pace, the urge to run shimmied up her spine. Every fight-or-flight protective response flared strong within her body. “That’s what you wanted to talk about?”
“Not really.”
Surprised by his answer, her gaze cut to him. “Pardon?”
“No, I don’t really want to talk about a beautiful woman saying no when I ask her to go out with me. I’d really like to forget that ever happened.” He grinned sheepishly.
Joni tried to ignore the way her own eyelashes threatened to flutter at him calling her beautiful, at the impact of that smile.
“But,” he continued, “I do want to understand
