A Nurse to Tame the ER Doc

She nodded. “Sounds good.”

“If there are any particular shows you want to see, speak up and we’ll go. I’m game for whatever.”

“Duly noted.” Game for whatever. He had no clue as to what ran through her mind at his innocent comment.

Or maybe, with the way his eyes danced, his comment hadn’t been so innocent.

“How is it you’ve never been to a music festival?” He leaned across the table to stare into her eyes and, again, she wondered if perhaps he’d read her mind and knew more than she thought.

She shrugged. “Just not that lucky, I guess.”

“I’m glad you’re at this one.”

“Me, too.”

His grin shined brighter than the sparkly dance ball a few hundred yards away and Taylor really was glad she’d agreed to work the festival, that she’d gotten away from Louisville, and that she’d met Jack.

Because she was in charge of her life now, was making changes, reaching for new adventures, taking chances, had given herself permission to make mistakes as long as they were mistakes she’d chosen to make.

Her gaze connected with Jack’s, her heart speeding up as she wondered if she’d choose Jack as her next new adventure. If she could give herself permission to take a chance that he’d be her next mistake.

Because becoming involved with a man, any man, would be a mistake.

Becoming involved with Jack would be a big one. Colossal.

* * *

Taylor didn’t sleep well that night. Not that her bed wasn’t semi-comfortable. It had been. The night air wasn’t nearly as sticky and hot as she’d expected either. The temperature had almost been cool.

What had kept her awake had been the noises around the festival. Obviously, she and Jack had been the only people in the entire place who had wanted to sleep. Then again, there weren’t that many inside the event grounds who would be getting up at four a.m. to go to “work” either.

Donning a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail, then slipped out of her tent.

Her gaze immediately went to Jack’s tent. In the dim moonlight and lights coming from the festival, she could see he was up. He gave a little wave.

Taylor’s stomach grumbled. Whatever Jack had going on his portable stove smelled a lot more mouth-watering than the breakfast bar with which she had planned to start her day.

“I made extra,” he told her in a low whisper.

Although there was noise coming from beyond the other side of the main medical tent, the medical staff camping area itself was relatively quiet other than crickets chirping and the early morning crew slowly making their way out of their tents.

“Thanks,” she mouthed, taking the plate. “Hey, this is good.”

He grinned. “Did you think it would taste bad?”

She shook her head. “Smelled too good for that. Just wasn’t expecting it to be amazing.”

They finished up, cleaned up their mess, then headed to the main medical tent. When they got inside, they checked in, were given that day’s mandatory medical staff T-shirt and would change each day. Guys changed T-shirts in the main area. Taylor fought—and lost—to keep her eyes from soaking up the rippling of Jack’s muscles. As he pulled his T-shirt down over his six-pack, his gaze met hers and he grinned, as if he knew she’d been watching him and had liked what she’d seen.

“I, uh, need to put this on,” she mumbled, turning to go to one of several enclosed areas in the tent where any private examinations would take place inside the main medical tent. She quickly stripped off her T-shirt and replaced it with the designated one.

She crammed her removed shirt into the backpack she’d brought with her and returned to where the others were waiting for a staff member to drive them to the medical tent.

When they arrived, Jack reached up to take Taylor’s hand to assist her off the golf cart. It might have been before the crack of dawn, but that didn’t stop the zings that shot up Taylor’s arm at holding his hand. Zings shot and her heart kaboomed.

“Thank you,” she murmured, cramming her fingers in her pocket the moment he let go. How was it possible to go from completely dead inside to so very aware? Had her body just saved years’ worth of sexual nothingness and was unleashing it all at once?

And why, why, why, why couldn’t he have been anything other than a doctor? To give in to Jack’s smile would mean ignoring not only her man aversion but also her decision that never ever would she get involved with another doctor.