Page 12 of Too Hot to Sleep
The nurse held open the door. "I was just going off duty," she said with the barest hint of a smile. "I'll show you the exit."
"To guarantee I make it out of here?" he asked wryly.
"Something like that."
As he laughed good-naturedly, she removed a leather shoulder bag from behind a counter, then told a clerk she was leaving and ordered an immediate disinfecting of exam room three. As she joined him, he was overwhelmed with the urge to know her, to find out if she was involved with anyone. He scoffed inwardly. Of course someone as beautiful as she would already be involved, maybe married, and probably to a doctor who earned ten times as much as a policeman. Ken tried to keep the dog's head covered as they headed toward the exit so hewouldn't get the woman into trouble, but the poor mutt whined most of the way, raising eyebrows. His unwilling cohort kept her eyes averted and walked swiftly.
"Georgia!"
At the sound of the name that had been on the periphery of his brain all day, Ken halted midstride. The woman next to him hesitated, then kept going.
"Georgia!" someone repeated, louder. He turned to see a plump woman jogging toward them. The comely nurse turned as well.
Ken's feet stopped moving as his brain tried to assimilate the information. This woman's name was Georgia? He'd never met anyone named Georgia. What were the chances he'd meet two in less than twenty-four hours? He zeroed in on her voice and tried to match hers with the one running through his head. It was possible—he almost laughed—but highly unlikely.
Still, his mind raced for a logical-sounding question that might help him determine if this fabulous-looking woman was the same... No, she simply couldn't be.
"Get out of here," she hissed out of the side of her mouth.
But his feet refused to move.
"Georgia," the woman gasped, lumbering to a halt in front of them. Then she zeroed in on the whining blanket. "Is that adog?"
"Melanie, did you need something?" Nurse Adams asked her, while frowning at him and nodding toward the exit.
The other woman craned her neck, eyes alight with curiosity, then handed his companion a yellow sticky-note. "I almost forgot to give you this message. Rob phoned and said he was called out of town unexpectedly."
Ken swallowed and nearly dropped his patient.Rob?
Chapter 6
HIS TONGUEhad turned to cotton. Ken stared at the woman he'd just met as she read the note in her hand.Thisgorgeous woman was the same silky-throated creature who had roused him from sleep last night? His skin tingled with revelation. He glanced up, expecting a spotlight to be shining on his guilt-ridden head.
"Thank you, Melanie," she said tersely, then proceeded through the door, seemingly lost in thought.
But Ken wasn't ready to let Nurse Georgia Adams walk out of his life. He hurried forward, mindful of the bundle in his arms. "Wait!"
She turned back but seemed less than thrilled to see him still standing there. "As I said, Officer, the vet clinic is on Sixteenth Street. You don't need an appointment."
He tilted his head, desperate to extend their conversation. "D-don't I know you from somewhere?"
She squinted. "I don't think so. I've never been in trouble with the police."
"Georgia Adams," he murmured to himself, pretending to mull her identity, when in truth, he simply liked the way her name rolled off his tongue. "Georgia Adams..."
"Maybe you've seen me in the halls of the hospital," she offered.
"Wait a minute," he said, improvising. "I know a guy named Rob who dates a woman named Georgia."
She took a half step toward him. "Rob Trainer?"
Ah, the identity of the unwittingly deprived boyfriend. "Um, yeah." He shifted the dog's weight to his left side while he extended his right hand. "Ken Medlock."
She hesitated, then placed her soft, healing hand in his. "How do you do, Officer Medlock."
"Ken is fine," he said, reluctantly releasing her hand.
"I'll tell Rob I ran into you when he returns from his business trip."
