A Nurse to Tame the ER Doc

This, she thought. This was fun. Light and held no real meaning. Just a man, a woman, and good old-fashioned physical chemistry.

Was the new Taylor the real Taylor, okay with starting something with Jack—a doctor, for goodness’ sake!—when she knew they’d go their separate ways when the music festival ended because she didn’t want a relationship? Not that she suspected he did either, just that she didn’t want a man in her life. She had too many things to still learn about herself.

“Hungry?”

Starved, and not for food. She wanted what she saw in his eyes, in what being near him hinted at within her body.

Did that mean she was okay with a meaningless fling?

Or maybe she just wanted to learn what Jack could teach her about herself?

He propped his guitar against his chair and stood. “I have sandwich stuff. You want to eat with me or grab something from a vendor?”

“You don’t have to feed me.” Was she talking food or sex? Or both? “I brought food.”

His lips twitched. “Something more exciting than ham and cheese?”

“Does such a thing exist?” she asked with feigned seriousness, eliciting a laugh.

While he pulled out his sandwich supplies from his cooler,

Taylor dug through her supplies to find a plastic container of cookies she’d made, thinking she and Amy would gobble them up.

When she set them on his table, he stopped what he was doing and helped himself to one.

“Hey, these are good.”

He sounded so surprised that Taylor laughed.

“You didn’t mention anything about being a good cook,” he accused.

“I’m not, but I can bake cookies.”

During her classes, she’d discovered she found cooking so-so but enjoyed baking. She’d mastered basic skills but had thrown herself into spending more time at her sculpting class.

“They’re good,” he repeated, reaching for another.

She slapped at his hand. “Didn’t your mother make you wait until after dinner before having dessert?”

His gaze lifted to hers and, grinning, he shook his head. “My mom would have been the first to encourage me to have the good stuff first because life is short.”

Taylor’s brow rose. Wow. “Sounds fun.”

And very unlike her older parents who hadn’t planned to have children, hadn’t wanted them, but had been stuck with her all the same.

“But not very nutritious,” Jack added wryly.

“There is that.”

* * *

Jack spread a blanket on the ground a good distance back from the stage. He and Taylor could have made their way closer, but closer to the stage meant more crowded. No way could they have seen from their sitting positions.

Taylor’s arms were wrapped around her knees and she was watching the band as if they were the most fascinating group she’d ever seen. Her head bobbed ever so slightly to the beat.

“Our little jam session may fail to impress you now that you’ve seen this.”

She glanced toward him. “Not likely. You were good.”