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Tonight it felt like she was even more alone. She tossed and turned all night long, making it a large cup of coffee type of morning when she got up at five and got Adam up and out to the school’s daycare.
When she got to work, she wasn’t even sure how she’d got across the city. She couldn’t remember anything about her drive there, and that was bad. She didn’t like losing control over herself. This was getting ridiculous.
Get a grip on yourself.
“Afternoon, Sam. How was the first day?”
What? She stared down at the paper coffee cup in her hand, thinking it had spoken to her and she was cracking up.
“Yo! Earth to Sam!”
Samantha turned and Lizzie was giving her a strange look.
“What?”
Lizzie raised one of her eyebrows and crossed her arms. “I asked how the first day went.”
“Why do you ask it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Evilly.”
Lizzie smirked. “I know how it went. The hospital’s report on a certain paramedic’s burn came in to process through the company’s insurance.”
Samantha groaned. “George’s?”
Then Lizzie reached over and held up the newspaper.
Samantha had to do a double-take at the large picture on the front of the newspaper. It was George, running through the line of firemen that was headed to the wall of flames behind him, and in his arms was that sweet little girl cradled against his chest.
The headline was “Hero Paramedic”.
Samantha took the paper from Lizzie’s hand and scanned the article quickly.
“I guess he had a successful first day.” Lizzie leaned against her desk. “Not every day a newbie to the program can hit such heights of heroics.”
“Yeah, he did a good job.” Samantha handed the paper back to Lizzie. “Hopefully he won’t get a swollen head and prance around here like he owns the place.”
“I don’t think Atavik is that type of person, do you?”
No. He wasn’t and Samantha knew that.
Still, coverage like this would go to anyone’s head. Even though he denied the fact, he was a hero.
Like the word “hero” was a burden to him.
Lizzie chuckled. “What have you got on your mind?”
“Nothing,” Samantha responded, but Lizzie didn’t look convinced. “Has he arrived?”
Lizzie nodded. “Yeah, he’s in the other room.”
Samantha headed into the common room. She caught sight of George sitting across the room, his head bent over a manual, studying.
“Good afternoon!” She grinned and tried not to look at George, because she knew if she looked his way then she’d start blushing again.
And she didn’t want to. It was bad enough he rendered her into a space cadet.
She didn’t want him know how much he affected her.
The room was painfully silent, but she could sense that George was looking at her and her cheeks heated.
Dammit. Come on. Focus.
She was better than this. She was level-headed and in control.
“Did you get home okay?” she asked after she cleared her throat to keep her voice steady, because she was sure if she didn’t it would crack like that of some pubescent boy.
George nodded. “I did. Thanks.” The cheeky grin from the night before was gone. He was professional and though it was a relief that it was all business, like nothing had passed between them, it still stung her.
There was an awkward silence.
Say something. Say anything.
“Well, we have a patient transfer this afternoon.” She cleared her throat. “It should be pretty straightforward.”
“Where are we headed?” 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.
CHAPTER FIVE
IT WAS ABSOLUTE TORTURE, being in the ambulance with him. No words were exchanged because she wasn’t going to encourage conversation. It was better this way. Professional.
It was horrible.
He was so close. The warmth of his body firing her blood, making her pulse race. She felt like a girl who’d never been kissed. Any movement from him made her heart skip a beat, her body reacting to him. She wondered if he’d take her in his arms and do what she’d been fantasizing he’d do.
Oh, dear.
Maybe focusing on her career for so long hadn’t been the right course. Maybe if she’d dated more, gotten out more, she wouldn’t be acting this way. Only she hadn’t had any desire to date. No one had piqued her fancy.
Until George.
“What lake is that?” George asked, looking in her direction.
“Lake Huron.”
“Wow, the water is so blue!”
Samantha grinned. Goderich sat on a bluff and at certain points you could see Lake Huron. Even after a tornado had devastated the town, it was still one of the prettiest spots for miles. At least, that was her opinion.
“What color were you expecting it to be?” Samantha asked.
“I don’t know.” George grinned and glanced at her. “I guess grey.”
“Grey?”
“The first great lake I came across was Lake Ontario. I was visiting my sister in Toronto when she was going to medical college. I guess I just assumed they’d all be the same.”
“Tsk-tsk. You judged a book by its cover.”
George rolled his eyes and shook his head and she just laughed. He was so easygoing, but it was only rare times she saw this side of him. Usually he was aloof and distant and she couldn’t help but wonder which side of him was real.
Was it the stand-offish, polite version or that charming funny man with the dark twinkling eyes who made her heart skip a beat?
What was hiding beneath that veneer.
There was just something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she felt like maybe the aloof act was a wall meant to keep people out.
Nothing more was said as they drove into town and straight over to the hospital, where they parked at the emergency entrance.
“Do you have the paperwork?” she asked George as she put the ambulance in park and undid her seat belt.
“Right here.” George waved the clipboard and climbed out of the ambulance.
Samantha followed, but before they entered the hospital they were met by a physician.
“You the crew coming to transport Doris Hallman?”
“Yes,” Samantha said. “We’re to take her down to the hospital in London.”
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