You’re being ridiculous again.
Shaking her head, Kat battled to focus. This wasn’t like her. It wasn’t what she did.
She prided herself on her reputation as an efficient, kind, approachable ER nurse, liked by patients and colleagues alike, just like all the nurses who had made her own childhood, spent in and out of hospitals, so much more bearable.
And above all—just like those nurses who had cared for her—Kat strived to be very, very good at her job.
She did not strive to feel unsettled.
Ever.
Which only made it all the more incomprehensible that, standing face to face with Comic Book God, she found herself...rattled.
Unexpectedly, that gaze slammed into hers, and this time she realised his eyes had to be the most incredible, piercing blue she’d ever seen. Pinning her to the spot. Making her feel as though he could peel back every layer of who she was, and leave her exposed and vulnerable, for the world to see.
And then they scanned her up and down. Checking her out. And everything...compressed inside her.
You’re being ridiculous.
She pasted her best smile on her face and held her hand out to indicate a vacant consultation room.
‘If you’d like to go into there, Mr... Logan.’
Not a single muscle twitched. He remained standing, feet shoulders width apart and arms folded over his chest—only making it seem all the broader, and stronger.
‘I already told you,’ he growled at last, ‘I don’t need to be checked over.’
The steely blue gaze swirled with emotion. For a moment she felt swept up in the maelstrom, her breath catching in her throat until, just as suddenly, they masked over and she tumbled to the ground—shut out. Relieved and bereft all at once.
He was acting like it was his duty to put the man in that room in front of his own health. But surely he could see that it benefited no one to stay outside a door when they had an entire team in that room?
‘I understand that you’re concerned for your friend—’ Kat tried her usual tack of empathy, but right now it was all she could do not to melt under his laser glare ‘—but he is with our best team right now. And we are obliged to check you over. You could have internal injuries and not even be aware of them.’
‘I don’t have internal injuries. I’m fine.’
‘You’re covered in blood,’ Kat pointed out as evenly as she could.
Right up until that startling gaze walloped back into hers, leaving her feeling oddly winded.
He glanced down in evident surprise.
‘It isn’t my blood,’ he declared after a moment.
‘If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to ascertain that for myself.’ Her voice sounded strange. Haughtier than she was used to.
Logan Connors was getting under her skin, and she wasn’t sure she understood why, much less cared for it.
His eyes gleamed, as though he could read her thoughts. Slowly, he unfurled his arms and lifted them out to the sides in invitation.
Or in challenge.
‘Fine. Be my guest.’
Either way, a tiny thrill threaded its way along her spine. Wholly inappropriate—not that she seemed to be listening, no matter how sternly she tried reprimanding herself.
‘Not here, in the middle of the corridor,’ she managed to bite out. ‘Perhaps in the consultation room?’
He crossed his arms back over his chest, his stance seeming all the more rooted. If that were even possible.