Page 12 of Deck the Fire Halls

I wasn’t mad about that either.

Did I want something with him?

He was gorgeous and sexy and seemed to be interested in me. For what, I could only guess. Something casual and physical? A one-night stand?

Apart from getting way ahead of myself, I knew virtually zero about him. He was a firefighter, drove a motorcycle, and he’d dropped everything to help me hang my diploma in my office, which told me he was kind.

Did he have ulterior motives?

Nothing his wicked grin and sparkly eyes didn’t already convey. He certainly didn’t hide his interest.

Unless he was like that with everyone?

Unless he was the town flirt and man-whore? Or maybe it wasn’t flirting at all. Maybe he was just a super nice guy.

Maybe he was incredibly unstable and one bad day away from being onAmerica’s Most Wanted.

No, that didn’t seem likely.

Not that I knew him at all.

But if things didn’t work out between us, if theyprogressed no further than friendly neighbor dinners, then I’d be very okay with that too.

Jeez, Robinson, listen to yourself.

Already talking about possible relationship scenarios with a guy you’ve just met.

I was so out of practice. Maybe a guy being no more than nice to me was sending me into a tailspin. Especially when that guy was younger and hotter than anyone I’d ever been with.

Why was he even interested in me?

Washe even interested in me?

Could I even act on it? If he was interested? I wasn’t sure Icouldact on it, even if I wanted to. I was the local physician.

God, was he a patient at this clinic?

Stop it, Robinson.

I was letting my mind get away from me.

It’d been far too long for me, obviously.

One flirty smirk from a hot guy and my mind went to pieces. I’d been here for three days!

Maybe I was more stressed out and defeated than I’d realized.

I needed to focus.

“Doctor O’Reilly,” Katie said from the door. “Mr. Thornton is here to see you.”

Startled, I stood up. God, I really had lost my mind. “Yes, thank you, Katie. Send him through, please.”

Mr. Thornton was an older gentleman in for a general check-up and a chinwag. I got the feeling he was also here to check on me, but he was a lovely man and I didn’t mind the curiosity.

“Katie told me you brought her in her favorite sweet treat from the diner,” he said with a bit of a smile. Then he nodded and winked. “You won her over already.”

I chuckled. “Well, I had a bit of help from the man working at the diner. Was his name Jayden? He told me which was her favorite. I can’t take all the credit.”

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