finish this conversation another day. Time you’re off for a shower. You don’t want to smell like a polecat your first day at camp, do you?”
“No, I don’t wanna smell like a polecat,” he said, and frowned, staring up at Taylor. “I…I don’t even know what a polecat is.”
Taylor gave a laugh. “It’s a kind of skunk. Hit the shower, kiddo, just to make sure,” he said, and tousled Alex’s hair.
“Okay.”
Taylor laughed as Alex headed for the bathroom. Maybe this thing with Alex was going to turn out okay after all. Caroline was right. He didn’t really know his nephew, and he should. Even though his life was a little on the wild side, Taylor was the only stable male influence in the boy’s life. But now, spending so much time with Alex stirred up feelings that he thought he’d put to rest long ago. His relationship with his father was not much different than the one Alex had with his own father. More like they tolerated each other than liked each other’s company. Whatever. Over and done with for him. Rising from the chair, he changed into jogging pants and his running shoes. The last two days he’d been off his exercise schedule and desperately needed the release it gave him. Endorphins, here I come. He knocked on the bathroom door.
“Alex, I’m going for a jog. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Okay.” Alex called through the door.
Once out into the evening air, Taylor drew in deep breaths and stretched a few minutes before walking to the park. Exercise and strength training had made him physically strong, and he needed that endorphin kick he’d been missing the last few days. Sometimes that was all that got him through some very long and intense days at work. Though he worked with a lot of very good nice people, he had few truly close friends. A few guys he climbed with, a few doctors like Ian McSorley, and a few women he’d had casual relationships with. Nothing serious. Nothing long-lasting and that was how he needed it. At least at this point in his life.
In minutes he reached the nature park, filled with desert flora and fauna native to the high desert of New Mexico. Breathing in the cooling evening air, he relaxed into his pace and sought the zone that had been his salvation for many years.
Piper watched as Taylor loped around the sand-filled track. She’d never catch up with him with the pace he set, so she just walked along behind him, enchanted with the plant life and terrain that was so different from any place she’d ever been. Now she understood what was meant by high desert. Muted browns and greens covered most of the ground, but here and there were fabulously colored blooms, usually attached to thorny cacti. There was beauty here, you just had to look for it. Up ahead, a jackrabbit zigzagged in a crazy move to dash away and hide beneath a bush. Unaccustomed to the 7000-foot elevation of Santa Fe, Piper was winded after a few minutes, so she found a large rock to rest on, took in the nature scene and caught her breath.
She kept her eye on the lone jogger working his way up and down the hills through the park. There were no trees to speak of, just clumps of large bushes, so she could see him as he moved around the park. Numerous other people walked and ran past her on the trail, but no one captured her attention as Taylor did.
The man was intense. As intense as any doctor she’d ever worked with, and her heart noticed every time she’d been close enough to smell his spicy cologne. She wondered how he was going to cope the entire summer with his nephew at his side, but she was not willing to take a bet as the other staff had done. Men like Taylor valued their freedom and independence more than anything. That had been her ex-boyfriend exactly. Another physician. Another assignment. Another town, miles away. Another heartbreak she was not going to repeat. She’d never been enough for him. He’d made that clear from the start. She’d never be enough for a man like Taylor, either.
Taylor dropped behind a hill, and Piper lost sight of him, then he reappeared on the next rise, closer to where she was. The man in motion was definitely a wondrous sight.
Eventually, he jogged right up to her. “Hey, Doc.”
“What?” He looked at her then. “Oh, hey, Piper.” He stopped and bent over to catch his breath. “What are you doing out here?”
She caught herself looking at his lean, muscled legs, bared by almost indecently short jogging shorts, and the way his chest pumped with each breath he dragged in and pushed out. “Er, just reviewing my anatomy.”
“What?” He tilted his head up to look at her, a frown on his face.
“Nothing. Don’t let me interrupt your exercise. I just wanted to say hi.” Embarrassment flooded her. She hoped he hadn’t caught her looking at his legs or that magnificent chest. Working with someone and finding them physically attractive could be a snag. Not that she couldn’t be professional about it, but it could certainly make her assignment, uh, interesting. A perk she hadn’t thought of. Working with a handsome man could never be termed a hardship.
“No problem.” He waved away her concern. “I was just about through anyway, ready to cool down.”
“Did you find a camp for Alex?” Distraction. That’s what she needed to keep her mind off of Taylor’s gorgeous body revealed by those shorts and tight T-shirt.
“Yep. Got him all signed up, and he starts tomorrow morning. Thanks again for that suggestion. I don’t know what I’d have done otherwise.”
“I’m sure he’s thrilled.” A warm feeling pulsed through her that he’d taken her advice. Though it had been a little thing for her to make the suggestion, she had been glad to do it.
“Yeah. He about hugged me to death.” A frown briefly crossed Taylor’s brow, and he looked away.
“Hugs bother you?” she asked, watching him closely. Many men weren’t comfortable with affection. They wanted sex, sure, but real affection was another thing. Intimacy? Forget about that, too. She’d found that out with her doctor ex-boyfriend. Sex equated intimacy, then you rolled over and went to sleep. Right. While your partner stared at the ceiling for a few hours.
“Not usually. Just not used to them.” He placed a foot up on the rock beside her and stretched out his leg, then switched to the other side. “I’m not very demonstrative by nature.”
“There’s a theory out there that we need four therapeutic hugs a day for survival, eight a day for maintenance and twelve for growth,” she said. “I read that somewhere. Stimulates the immune system and fosters well-being.”
“That’s a lot of hugs in a day.” He trained piercing eyes on her and raised his brows.
“I kind of like it. And there are documented benefits of therapeutic touch.”
“There’s a lot of that stuff going on in Santa Fe, but not much in the traditional settings. More in the outpatient setting, though I think there could be benefits for inpatients, as well.”
Piper nodded. “I took a few courses on healing touch and have used it successfully for pain control when nothing else works.” The touch was a form of meditation and self-healing that some people responded to.
“Really? There is a school for healing touch here, and I think it’s mostly for nurse-type people if you’re interested.”
“I’ll think about that, but as I’m only going to be here a few weeks, I probably won’t have the time.” She’d witnessed too many incidents of success with the technique to doubt it. “Works for me when I
