‘Relax,’ he commanded. ‘No one can see us. And I want to sort out this problem you have with me.’
‘Around here, someone can pretty much always see you,’ she snapped. ‘And, for the record, I don’t have a problem with you.’
‘I’d like that to be true,’ he continued, his tone measured. At least that was better than him sounding condescending or patronising. ‘But you’re clearly on edge.’
She didn’t intend to bristle, but she felt herself doing it all the same. Time for her to make that apology she knew was owing. Kat sucked in a breath.
‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that I always put the patient first.’
‘I know,’ Logan agreed. ‘Even if I hadn’t heard such good things about you from your colleagues, I can tell a good nurse from a bad one. And I don’t believe anyone else noticed, but it was apparent to me that you...weren’t entirely comfortable with my presence.’
She wanted to deny it. She even opened her mouth to do so. But what would be the point when they both knew it would be a lie? Surely it was better all round if she faced up to the truth? Maybe that way they could get over it quicker.
‘Perhaps I am, a little,’ she confessed. ‘I don’t make a habit of kissing my colleagues.’
‘Is that so?’
He arched one eyebrow, and she instantly regretted such a candid confession. Especially since it only served to make more of what had happened between them rather than less.
‘No, I mean, yes...’ It was irksome that her attempt to remedy the situation wasn’t entirely going to plan. ‘I’m sure the longer we work together this shift, the easier it will become.’
‘Kat—’
‘Please don’t.’ She held her hand up, arguably too close to Logan’s chest for comfort.
‘I think we should talk about this.’
‘I don’t.’ She shook her head.
‘Then what do you propose we do?’
Quickly, she dropped her arm and gave him her most professional, yet cool, smile. ‘We keep it strictly to innocuous subjects.’
‘Like the weather perhaps?’ She hated that his all-too-familiar crooked smile fired that heat up inside her all over again. ‘The traffic?’
As ridiculous as it seemed, Kat found herself lifting her chin slightly, as though it would help her to convince herself that she was disdainful rather than charmed.
‘How about the holidays?’ she suggested, before a more pertinent question tugged at the edges of her mind. ‘Is Jamie looking forward to Santa visiting?’
It was hardly the innocuous choice of subject matter that she’d intended. Far from it, in fact. Yet Kat couldn’t help herself. She could pretend it was the emotion of walking through the atrium and seeing the enormous tree for the first time, but she wasn’t certain she believed it.
Something gleamed in his eyes as he stared at her hard and then, just as she thought he wasn’t going to answer, he spoke.
‘Jamie can’t wait. This will be the first year he’s really understood the concept of Santa Claus and will be able to get into the excitement of it.’
‘He’s sleeping better again now that Doc Terrence is back?’
And, just like that, everything seemed to flip back from awkward to okay.
‘Like a log,’ Logan confirmed with a devilish flash of a grin.
‘Is he with his grandparents now?’
‘Actually, no. He’s in the hospital crèche, and that damned dinosaur was the first thing he packed in his brand-new backpack. We’re going to go shopping for more Christmas decorations as soon as I finish here today.’
‘Didn’t you mention your parents had already brought you some stuff over?’
‘Yeah, but Jamie has seen some other decorations that he wants, and I thought, Why not?’