Kisses at Sunset

She shook herself.

This was ridiculous.

She was behaving like a teenager with a stupid crush and she needed to snap out of it. And if her wretched body had suddenly woken up—she lifted her chin in a determined gesture—well, it could just go straight back to sleep again.

‘Who can just go straight back to sleep again?’ Josh strolled up to her and lifted an eyebrow.

Kat gaped at him. Had she spoken aloud? ‘I—I—must have been thinking aloud.’

‘Right. Archie having problems sleeping?’

Not Archie.

Kat dropped the notes she was holding and inevitably they scattered over the floor. With a soft curse she dropped to her knees and gathered the various papers together with shaking hands. ‘Did you want something?’ Thoroughly flustered, she stuffed the pages back in the folder and scrambled to her feet. ‘You were obviously looking for me.’

‘Yes.’ His eyes dropped to her mouth. ‘I was.’

She really, really wished he wouldn’t look at her like that.

She licked her lips and clutched the notes tightly. It was that or drop them again. ‘So, what did you want?’

‘You.’ His gaze lifted and he gave a slow, sexy smile. ‘I wanted you, Kat.’

Her knees shook, her heart raced and she desperately wanted to look away from that smile. But she couldn’t. Her gaze was fastened to his and she watched his smile fade. Watched a very different emotion flicker into his eyes.

And then the doors to Resus crashed open behind them.

‘You’re both hiding in here.’ Hannah hurried across the room, looking harassed. ‘That’s good. The paramedics are bringing in a collapsed teenager who was on holiday with some friends.’

Kat dragged her gaze away from Josh and felt the burn in her cheeks. ‘Another drug incident, do you think?’ Her tone was calm and professional and she busied herself at the intubation tray, hoping that Hannah wouldn’t notice anything amiss.

‘No idea.’ Hannah quickly checked the necessary equipment. ‘So far no real clues. Could be something as simple as food poisoning from the description. Maybe she ate some dodgy seafood on the beach.’

The paramedics arrived moments later, with the teenager groaning and clutching her stomach.

‘She’s been sick all the way in the ambulance and complaining of pains in her stomach,’ the paramedic said, giving a full brief to Josh as they transferred the girl across from the stretcher to the trolley.

‘Acute abdomen?’ Kat glanced at Josh and he narrowed his eyes.

‘Possibly.’

Which meant he thought it was something different. Kat loved watching him work. He was like a detective, searching for clues and missing nothing.

‘I’m so thirsty…’ The girl gave a groan and wretched again while Hannah handed her a clean bowl and made sympathetic noises.

‘You’re thirsty because you’re sick,’ she said soothingly, and Josh frowned.

‘Or maybe not.’ His tone was thoughtful. ‘Maybe she’s thirsty for an entirely different reason. Let’s get a blood pressure and pulse reading.’ He drew closer to the girl, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out heavily. ‘Dr O’Brien, what do you know about Küssmaul respiration?’

Kat racked her brains, mentally leafing through the various chapters of her A and E textbook. Then something clicked into place. ‘My first medical house job.’ She looked at him. ‘We had a diabetic man on the ward and he—’ She broke off and looked at the girl. ‘You think that’s what’s wrong here?’

‘Her breath smells of ketones.’ He shrugged. ‘Could be.’

‘And the GI symptoms?’

‘They’re common in a hyperglycaemic crisis and they’re often misdiagnosed.’

But not in his department, Kat thought, filled with silent admiration for his skills. He didn’t miss anything and he always looked beyond the obvious.