Page 22 of Deck the Fire Halls

Clay seemed pleasantly surprised by this. “Sounds good.”

“Oh look,” Chuck said. “Speak of the devil.”

And sure enough, Robinson’s car came down the street and pulled up in the medical center parking lot. It was directly across from us, so the fact the four of us were standing there watching wasn’t weird at all.

Much.

“He and Soren are dating,” Chuck whispered.

Clay and Rusty both spun to stare at me. “We are not,” I hissed at Chuck, giving him a much harder shove. “We aren’t,” I explained more civilly to Clay and Rusty. “He’s my next-door neighbor, that’s all.”

“That isnotall,” Chuck added with a laugh, and I tried to kick him in the pants just as Rob got out of his car.

Of course he saw.

“Go and say good morning,” Chuck said, and this time I did manage to connect my boot with his ass.

Of course, Rob saw that too. I just hoped he didn’t hear.

But then Rob raised one hand, kinda awkwardly. “Morning.”

Yep. He’d heard.

Clay and Rusty both laughed as they went on their way, but I raised my hand in a wave back at Rob. “Morning.”

Rob ducked his head and went into his clinic and Chuck stood behind me waiting for me to turn around. He raised his hand and spoke in a baby voice. “Morning.”

I was about to tackle him but Doug came out with a clipboard and an out-of-patience sigh. He handed the clipboard to me. “Hydrant report. Both of you. Now.”

“Hey,”I said when Rob opened his door. He was wearing dark jeans and a black sweater, which made his hair seem more salt than pepper.

God, he was handsome.

It was not lost on me that he was the first older guy I’d ever been attracted to. And when I say older, he had to be no more than thirty-five. I just meant older than me.

“Come in,” he said, opening the door for me. “I’m almost done. Just finishing the dishes.” He looked at my feet. “Leave your boots on. I won’t be long.”

I noticed he had shoes on so I didn’t feel too bad, but I still wiped them on the doormat before stepping inside. I followed him into the kitchen. “So how was day number two?”

He pulled his sweater sleeves up to his elbows and dipped his hands into the soapy sink water. “It was good. I met Doctor Humphries today.”

“And?”

“Nice guy. The townsfolk clearly love him.”

“They do.”

Doctor Humphries was a great man, and everybody did love him. He’d been the town doctor for forty years or something. But he had to be almost seventy. It was no surprise he was cutting his hours back.

“I have big shoes to fill,” Rob said.

Which of course made me look down at his shoes. Then up his legs, the backs of his thighs, his ass. His narrow waist and shoulders, and how his hands washed the dishes. Jesus, that shouldn’t be so sexy...

How was that sexy?

“He had an appointment in Mossley yesterday,” Rob went on to say.

Right. Yes. Doctor Humphries.

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