One Summer in Santa Fe - By Molly Evans Page 0,39

a life. No problem.” Standing on her toes, she mopped his forehead. Their eyes connected for a brief second and a flash of heat consumed her. Piper moved away, then handed him the suture kit to secure the tube to the patient’s skin. If the tube became displaced, the patient would be back to critical in seconds.

Taylor palpated the man’s throat again and nodded. “Looks like that did the trick. Everything’s back where it should be.”

“I’m always amazed at what air in the chest cavity can do.”

“Air where it doesn’t belong causes all sorts of problems. Air where it belongs is just fine.” Taylor took the dressing that Piper handed him and applied it to the chest tube site. “Go ahead and call Radiology. We need a head CT, spinal films, probably chest and abdomen, too.”

“Got it.” Piper reached for the phone.

Taylor walked to the sink to scrub and removed his goggles as he listened to Piper’s brisk voice. She knew her stuff, he had to admit that. Casting a glance her way, he wondered how her weekend had gone with her sister. Shrugging, he turned back to the sink. If she wanted to talk, she would. It wasn’t any of his business unless she wanted to make it that way.

Despite his attraction to her, he really needed to cool things off between them. She was such a responsible, conservative person, she didn’t need him in her life. Not that he was irresponsible. He simply didn’t want any romantic entanglements at this point in his life. Sure, he liked her, she’d helped him with Alex, was beautiful, more fun than any woman he’d dated for ages, and…Was he trying to talk himself out of being attracted to Piper? With a frown, he scrubbed at the sink, and tried to keep his mind focused on the work in front of him. They were getting along great right now, but sooner or later their friendship was going to head south. Always did with him. Relationships never lasted more than a few months with him. Somehow, he always found a reason to move on.

Hours later, Piper handed the patient over to the ICU nurse and gave report. Chest trauma and lacerations were his biggest problems. “Head CT, spinal and abdominal films all negative. Got a pneumo on the left. Chest tube placement confirmed by X-ray.”

She glanced at the man who was now rousing in the bed with his concerned family hovering around him. “He’s darned lucky.”

“Yeah. We don’t see many drunk-driving accidents early Monday mornings. They’re usually the Friday- and Saturday-night types,” the ICU nurse said as they finished report.

Piper returned to the ER and for the rest of the day dealt with the mundane complaints more usual for a Monday. As she wearily slung her bag over her shoulder and headed out the door, she could think of nothing better than filling her tub and her wineglass to the top and diving into both. Which made her think of the hot tub at Taylor’s house and she flushed with the memory. Since he’d adjusted her back, she’d had no stiffness and the cuts and scrapes had healed nicely. Not even on the flight to or back from Phoenix. Though they had been only hour-long flights, seats on commercial flights weren’t known for their great comfort.

Guess the man with the magic hands knew what he was doing there, too.

It seemed that her thoughts conjured him as Taylor walked into her peripheral vision.

“Hi, Piper. Heading out?”

“Yep. Been a long day. You?” She heaved a heavy sigh.

“Yep. Alex stayed after camp for a birthday party, so I’ll pick him up, then head home.”

“How much longer until your sister returns?”

Taylor consulted his watch. “A few weeks.”

“Fabulous. Then what will you do with your free time back?”

They strolled to the parking lot together as staff hurried by on their way home, too.

“Climb mountains, jump out of airplanes and various other super-hero stuff.”

Piper laughed. The sensation felt good in her chest. It seemed that Taylor knew just what to say and when to say it to draw her out of her doldrums. That, she appreciated more than he knew. He was so out there sometimes. She needed her feet firmly on the ground. In that they were polar opposites, but they had somehow made a connection that she was reluctant to see end. After his sister returned, he probably wouldn’t need her help with Alex any longer and then where would they be? The boy had been somewhat