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CHAPTER ONE

OF COURSE. It had to be him.

Dr. Sandra Fraser stood in the ambulance bay of Rolling Creek General Hospital and watched as the most annoying paramedic she’d ever encountered in her years as a trauma surgeon, albeit the sexiest, climbed out of the back of the ambulance, helping his partner bring the gurney down.

Kody Davis was a damn fine paramedic. He was good-looking, and everyone loved him.

Too bad she hated him.

Hate is a strong word. You don’t hate him.

No, she didn’t hate him. He might grate on her nerves and she hated the fact that she was so drawn to him. He wasn’t the typical type of man that she’d dated in the past. He was a charmer, everyone loved him, and she made assumptions that he was a playboy.

Of course, that was only an assumption. She didn’t know if he was or not, but all the guys that she’d known like him in high school and college, the ones with that same playful, charming, carefree demeanor, had been players. Which was why she steered clear of men like Kody, even if secretly she really was attracted to his type.

She chose men who were sedate and serious.

Yeah, and look where that got you. Divorced and heartbroken.

Still, Kody would be the type to be a playboy. What woman wouldn’t be attracted to him? He was tall, at least six foot, and in good shape. He had to be, to be a paramedic. His black hair was always kept neat and he had a gorgeous smile, with a twinkle in his eyes that always made her heart beat just a bit faster.

And then there was his drawl. There was a hint of Southern when he spoke, but she couldn’t place what state. He was definitely not from Texas. She couldn’t place his accent and it made her wonder where he was from. What his pastimes were. What his favorite food was.

Whether he had a significant other.

She groaned.

Focus.

She wasn’t looking for a romantic entanglement. She’d moved to Austin to get away from her heartache. The last thing she needed was some kind of illicit, hot one-night stand with a sexy paramedic who made her heart beat just a little bit faster.

Don’t you? Maybe that’s exactly what you need.

Sandra shook that thought away. She didn’t have time to get annoyed by her thoughts about Kody; she had to put her focus on her patient. She was just annoyed that it was Kody again. That when he was around it made her think about other things. Things she had no wish to think about again.

And since she’d started here at Rolling Hills, she constantly ran into Kody. Didn’t he ever take time off?

Why did he always have to be the paramedic that she was assigned to meet?

If she believed in karma or fate or anything like that, she was pretty positive that it was messing with her and really that wasn’t fair. She’d already dealt with enough, hadn’t she?

“What do we have here, Mr. Davis?” she asked, trying to keep cool and stay impersonal around him.

Kody glanced at her briefly and she saw the small flash of annoyance when she called him Mr. Davis.

He didn’t like that formality, she knew that, but it was what Sandra preferred. It kept people out, kept them safely on the other side of her carefully constructed walls.

The last time she’d let someone in, it had broken her heart completely.

It had destroyed her.

She was not going to make that mistake again, even if it meant she didn’t really have many friends here in Austin.

“Luke McIver, forty. Passenger in a head-on collision with a cow. Wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was ejected through the windshield.”

Sandra’s eyes widened. “Did you say a cow?”

Kody nodded quickly and then shrugged. “I guess not a cow.”

“You guess not a cow?” Sandra asked, confused as she leaned over and examined the patient.

“Well, a longhorn type of cow, but I’m not sure if they’re actually a traditional cow.”

Sandra shook her head. “They’re cows. Texas longhorns.”

“Ah. Good to know. I’ve been wondering. Anyway, the car collided with the longhorn and Mr. McIver wasn’t wearing a seat belt. The driver sustained minimum injuries, but Mr. McIver here was eighty over sixty.”

Sandra frowned. That was not a good blood pressure reading.

That’s low.

And just from looking at the patient, she suspected he had a head trauma, especially since Kody had said the patient was ejected from his seat and went through the windshield. She continued her stabilization of her patient, although Kody had done a good job.

He might try to be too familiar with her, she hated the fact she couldn’t stop thinking about him, that she found him interesting and sexy, but she couldn’t deny his skills as a paramedic.

Kody Davis went above and beyond in an emergency situation. He could think on his feet, assess and, more importantly, save lives. So she shouldn’t complain about having to deal with him. She was lucky he was so good at his work. It made her job that much easier.

“Let’s get him into trauma pod three.”

“Right, boss lady.”

She cringed when he called her boss lady.

She hated that.

She knew that Kody wasn’t using it in a derogatory fashion, but in her experience it was usually used that way. And she detested when people called her that. It reminded her of her shattered life in San Diego.

It reminded her of broken promises and heartache and she knew the only reason he was calling her boss lady was because she called him Mr. Davis. Since they’d met four months ago they were always goading each other.

He always had a smile for her. Always called her boss lady.

That’s because he doesn’t know you don’t like it.

And she didn’t tell him because she didn’t want any kind of familiarity with him.

Just a professional relationship.

Are you sure?

There was a part of her that wanted more, just to see what it would be like, but she’d been burned by love before. She wasn’t going to let that happen again. No matter how much she wanted it to.

Focus.

Kody helped her get the patient into the trauma pod and her residents came in.

Dr. Megan Coombs, the senior resident, immediately took over monitoring the patient’s blood pressure. “BP is seventy over fifty.”

“We’re losing him,” Sandra said over the din of residents going about their work. She was glad she didn’t have to coddle her residents. They knew what they were doing. She stepped in and began to work her magic. This was the moment when she really shone—this was the kind of moment that she lived for.

Saving a life.

She wasn’t going to let Luke McIver die. He might have been foolish not wearing a seat belt, but she was going to save his life.

“I need five hundred ccs of saline stat!” she shouted over the din. She needed to raise his blood pressure so that they could stabilize him and she could find out what was going on inside. As another resident was hooking up the saline, she went over her ABCs of the patient and saw his pupils were still reactive and responsive.

Which was good.

They had a chance to save his life.

“BP is stabilizing,” Dr. Coombs said.

“Good.” Sandra stepped back. “Dr. Coombs, you can lead this trauma pod. Take the patient for CT scans. Look for a brain bleed and possible internal injuries. Page me when you have the results.”

Dr. Coombs nodded. “Yes, Dr. Fraser.”

Sandra pulled off her gloves and saw that Kody was still standing in the trauma pod. His blue eyes were fixed on the patient and it was the first time she noticed how stunningly blue his eyes really were.

Her pulse began to race, her blood heating, and she hoped she wasn’t blushing as she gazed deep into those eyes.

Get a grip on yourself, Sandra.

“You’re still here?” she asked.

Kody smiled, a dimple in his cheek. “You never released me, boss lady.”

Sandra rolled her eyes and jammed her yellow trauma gown and gloves into the medical waste bin beside him. “You’re excused.”

She walked out of the trauma pod, hoping that he didn’t follow, but he did.

“Why do you dislike me so much?” he asked.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. “What’re you talking about?”

The smile was gone. “I’m good at my job and I have a good rapport with people, but since you arrived at Rolling Creek, you just don’t seem to like me much.”

She sighed. “I don’t dislike you, Mr. Davis. I just prefer to keep things professional at work.”

Which was true. She was still trying to heal from the last time she’d let people in. It didn’t matter how lonely she was, this was for the best. Her walls were up to protect her heart.

“Ah, so that’s why you don’t really seem to have any friends,” he remarked.

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “I’m not here to make friends, Mr. Davis. I’m here to save lives.”

The twinkle returned to his eyes. “Aren’t we all? But it doesn’t hurt to put a wee bit of a smile on your face every once in a while. You’re looking kind of pinched lately, boss lady.”

He tried to move past her, but she blocked his path. “Don’t call me that.”

“What?” he asked.

“Boss lady. I don’t... I don’t like it.” And she tried to keep her voice from trembling. Kody didn’t need to know how her ex-husband had called her something similar when she’d been promoted above him, and after she couldn’t get pregnant.

He’d blamed it all on her.

And she’d blamed a lot of her infertility on herself too, but he’d called her boss lady and that brought back too many painful memories. Memories she didn’t want to think about or be reminded about here in Austin.

She’d left San Diego four months ago to get away from all that. It had been two years since her divorce was finalized, but it had taken her that long to realize she really needed a fresh start. Austin was where she was born and put up for adoption, it was where her loving adoptive parents had found her, so she’d decided to come back to her roots for her new start.

This was supposed to be her fresh start and she’d learned from her past mistakes. She wasn’t going to let anyone in.

So she was half expecting Kody to brush off her concerns, as if they were nothing. It was a harmless name, wasn’t it? That was what she’d been told before when she’d told other people she didn’t like it.

“Come on, Sandra. We’re just joking. Can’t you take a joke?”

“I’m sorry,” Kody said softly, and she was surprised.

“What?” she asked, not quite believing him.

“I’m sorry that I called you boss lady. If I had known that, I would’ve never called you that.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised.

“Really. I’m sorry, Dr. Fraser.”

She didn’t know what to say and she was taken aback by his genuine sincerity. No one had ever apologized to her for that before because they all thought the supposed “joke” was harmless, but it hurt her.

“Sure. Of course I really mean it.” Kody smiled kindly at her. “You’re not the only one who didn’t like a nickname given to you as a joke.”

Heat bloomed into her cheeks. “I know you don’t like to be referred to as Mr. Davis, so I’m sorry for that too.”

Kody shook his head. “I don’t mind that. That’s nothing. Although, it does make me think of my father...but, yeah, I’m no stranger to nicknames that I feel aren’t appropriate, nicknames that hurt and are explained away. So, I’m sorry, Dr. Fraser. I hope this won’t ruin our working relationship?”

“No. It won’t. I appreciate your apology.” And she did.

Kody half smiled at her. “Good. I’ll see you later.”

He walked past her, down the hall toward the ambulance bay.

What just happened?

Something had changed there. He’d got past her walls. Got through her front line of defense and, even though it was the last thing that she’d wanted, she was glad.

Kody stopped and looked back and saw Dr. Fraser walking away. He hadn’t meant to hurt her—that was the last thing he’d ever wanted to do when he’d first seen her four months ago. He’d been taken aback by her beauty. Her dark brown hair, always pulled tightly back in a high ponytail, and those dark brown eyes that were keen. She never missed anything. The pink in her high cheekbones that always deepened when she was angry or annoyed or anything.

She hardly smiled. He’d never seen a true smile from her and that was why he always worked so hard to get one, but after a while he’d just thought that she had some pain in her past and he was no stranger to that.

Dr. Sandra Fraser intrigued him. She was a closed book and he wanted to peek inside. Although, he shouldn’t.

She was off-limits as far as he was concerned.

She turned and walked in the direction of the radiology floor. Probably because the patient’s CT scans were up, and Kody really hoped that the patient pulled through.

This was the only part of his job that he didn’t like, because he often didn’t know what happened beyond this point. He didn’t know what became of the patient.

“You should’ve become a doctor, then!”

Kody shook his sister Sally’s words out of his head.

Yeah, he could’ve been a doctor, but he’d given up any idea of medical school when his high-school sweetheart, Jenny, had got pregnant. They had married and both studied to be paramedics, while looking after their newborn daughter, moving to Austin from North Carolina.

They’d had high hopes to eventually move to Alaska so that Kody could become a flying paramedic and there had been talk that perhaps one day he’d go to medical school.

All the plans had been in place, but then, when their daughter had turned two, Jenny had got sick and the doctors had found the cancer in her ovaries. It had been a short battle and all their dreams had gone.

Just like that.

It was just him and his little bug, Lucy, against the world. Although Sally came and helped as much as she could, Sally wanted to be a doctor and wouldn’t be able to help with Lucy anymore. And Sally was moving on with his best friend, Ross. They were happy and he couldn’t begrudge them happiness. He had been annoyed at first, when Ross had made a move and taken up with his little sister, but not overtly unhappy about it. He was just going to let Ross think that every once in a while.

Sally deserved happiness and Ross was a great guy.

Still, he was envious of them, but he couldn’t let another woman into his life. He wouldn’t put Lucy at risk if things didn’t work out. He’d dated since Jenny died, just nothing more than a couple of dates that had gone nowhere because Lucy was his priority.

So, here he was, a widower, father and a paramedic, who really wished he could do more to help the lives he tried to save when he was first on the scene.

Dr. Fraser will save him.

And the fleeting thought of Dr. Sandra Fraser made his pulse beat a bit faster. The moment he laid eyes on Sandra something came to life. There was a spark, something electric, and he wanted to get to know her.

It was just she didn’t seem interested and he couldn’t introduce a woman to Lucy when there was a chance it wouldn’t last. He wouldn’t allow Lucy to get hurt like that.

Still, Sandra made him think about what could be.

Don’t think about it.

Kody ran his hand through his hair and sighed as he turned back toward the ambulance bay. He had no time for relationships and really hadn’t had the inclination since Jenny had died five years ago.

Lucy and taking care of her were his top priority.

That was all that mattered.

“You were a long time,” his partner, Robbie, said. “Did boss lady tear you a new one?”

The mention of boss lady made a few of the other paramedics hanging around their rigs laugh and that made Kody a bit uneasy. If he had known it bothered her so much, he wouldn’t have called her that.

He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he was no stranger to being called “joke” names that apparently weren’t supposed to cause harm but did.

Like half-breed or Injun. Everything that pointed out he was part-Cherokee, as if it were a shameful thing, as if it were something he shouldn’t be proud of, when he was dang proud of that fact.

“Hey, cool it, Robbie,” Kody said quietly.

“Cool what?” Robbie asked, confused.

“The boss lady.”

Robbie shrugged. “It’s just a joke.”

“Yeah, well, what’re we, like, twelve? And no, she didn’t tear me a new one. She was so busy stabilizing our patient that she didn’t release me until now.”

“Sorry,” Robbie said. “No offense.”

Kody didn’t respond and helped Robbie clean up the rig and make sure it was stocked for the next shift. Kody was glad his shift was almost over. He wanted to get home to Lucy, especially before the storm that was threatening to come in hit.

If there was any kind of disaster, he was on call to be first on the scene. He was hoping for a quiet night.

“You okay, man?” Robbie asked.

“I’m okay.” Kody smiled. “Just tired.”

Robbie nodded. “Well, let’s get back to the station house. It was a long shift and an accident involving a car and a cow really wasn’t a great ending.”

Kody half smiled and nodded. “You’re right.”

It had been a bizarre ending to a long shift, but also a good ending since he’d got to see Dr. Fraser. Even though there was no way he’d act on anything, it was nice to see her and admire her, even from a distance.

And that was all it could ever be.

Admiration from a distance.