Brooks reached in the back and took a duffel from the seat. “I carry a spare set of duds in case a calf or a horse drags me into a muddy field. It has happened. How are you under that jacket?”
Actually, the waterproof fabric had kept her fairly dry. “I’m good. Just my jeans are wet.”
He switched on the ignition and the heater. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Numb right now from the cold and damp.”
He began unbuttoning his shirt.
At first she just stared at the tan skin and brown curly hair he revealed as he unfastened one button and then the next. For some insane reason, she suddenly had the urge to move closer...and touch him.
When his gaze met hers, her breath almost stopped. She quickly looked away.
She could hear the rustle of fabric...hear him reach into the duffel bag.
“Jazzy, take this.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see he was offering her a hand towel.
“You need it more than I do,” she managed to say, her eyes skittering over his bare chest.
“Wipe your face,” he suggested. “Then I’ll use it.”
She took the towel and dabbed at her rain-splattered cheeks, the ends of her hair that had slipped out from under the hood. After she handed it back to him, her gaze went again to his completely bare chest, broad shoulders, muscled arms. Wow!
“Do you work out?” she asked inanely, knowing he’d noticed she’d noticed, and there was nothing she could do about that.
“No need to work out when I wrestle with calves, chop wood for my stove and repair fencing on my dad’s property when he lets me.”
“Do you have a house in Kalispell?”
“No. Because I fully intended to move back to Rust Creek Falls someday. I’m in one of those double condos on one floor. It’s got everything I need.”
She handed him the towel and watched as he dried his hair with it. It was sticking up all over. She wanted to run her fingers through it and brush it down, but he quickly did that and swiped the towel over his torso.
“Getting warmer?” he asked, with the heater running full blast.
“Yes. I’m fine. I can’t believe you’re not shivering.”
“Hot-blooded,” he said with a grin that urged her once again to touch him, test the texture of his skin, and see if there really was heat there.
Before she had the chance to act foolishly, he pulled a T-shirt from the duffel, slipped it over his head, maneuvered his arms inside and pulled it down over his chest. She could see denim protruding from the duffel.
“Is that another pair of jeans?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You should change.”
“I’m fine. Let’s get you back to Strickland’s and look at that shoulder.”
“You’re a veterinarian,” she protested.
“I had some EMT training, too. Out here, you never know what you’re going to run into. If you’d rather I take you back into Kalispell to the hospital—”
“No! I don’t need a hospital or a doctor.”
“Great. Then I’m perfect for the job.”
After that, every time Jazzy glanced at Brooks, she envisioned his bare chest, his triceps and biceps and deltoids and whatever else she’d seen. He had tan lines from shirtsleeves on his upper arms. He had dark brown hair arrowing down to his belt buckle. He had a flat stomach and a slim waist and—
Okay, heating up her body wasn’t helping her shoulder. In fact, it was starting to hurt a little more.
They didn’t talk as he concentrated on driving and she tried not to concentrate on him. She thought about her sisters and brother and parents, and considered phoning them. She hadn’t checked in for a while and they’d want to know what she was doing. However, should she tell them about her job with Brooks? She almost had to, because Dean probably would. Besides that, the news would soon get around to the other volunteers and some of them would be going back to Thunder Canyon. It was difficult to hide anything in a small town.
When Brooks pulled up in front of Strickland’s, Jazzy said, “You don’t have to see me in.”
“I don’t have to, but I’m going to. I told you, I want to check your shoulder.”
“You’re still wet. You’ll catch cold.”
He laughed. “Everyone knows you don’t catch cold from the cold. I promise, this will be almost painless, Jazzy. I just want to make sure you’re not really hurt.”
Okay, so they were going to have to get this over with because he was persistent and stubborn. In a family as large as hers, she’d learned there was no point in arguing.
Once inside Strickland’s, they climbed the stairs. Jazzy took out her key and opened her door. She’d already told Dean that Brooks was “safe,” so why was she hesitating in letting him into her room?
Simple. He was half dry, half wet, and all imposing male.
Her room was small and the nice thing about it was it had a bathroom of its own. Standing by the single bed, Jazzy was very aware of it as Brooks came into the room and stood before her.
“I left the door open,” he said. “I don’t want you to think I have an ulterior motive.”
He had left it open about six inches, and she realized how thoughtful it was of him to do that. She simply had to think about him as a doctor right now.
“Take your jacket off,” he said gently.
At first her fingers fumbled with the zipper. Her nervousness was stupid. She had nothing to be nervous about. But unzipping her jacket, she felt as if she were letting him into her life in a different way. She shrugged out of it and hung it over the bed post. He took a step closer to her, and she suddenly felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Her gaze locked to his for a few seconds, but then he directed his focus to her shoulder and reached out to touch it.
She thought she’d prepared herself. She thought this would be clinical.
The exam was clinical on his part as he kneaded around the joint and asked, “Does that hurt?”
“Some,” she managed to say.
“Don’t soft pedal it if it does.”
“It’s not that bad. Really.”
As he felt along the back of her shoulder, she winced. His fingertips massaged the spot and she found that didn’t hurt but felt good.
“You got bumped around and might have black-and-blue marks tomorrow. Put some ice on it for the first twenty-four hours, ten minutes on, half hour off.”
“Yes, Doctor,” she said with a slight smile.
His fingers stopped moving. His eyes found hers. The room seemed to spin.
No, not really. Couldn’t be. But gazing into Brooks’s eyes was like getting lost in forever. His hand was on her back now as he leaned a little closer. She felt herself swaying toward him.
But then he straightened. “Take it easy for the rest of the day.”
Feeling reality hitting her straight in the face, she asked, “When do I officially start work for you?”
“Let’s consider tomorrow the starting date. I’ve been talking to a real-estate agent and she’ll have a list of places for me to look at. Would you like to go along to do that?”
“You bet.”
“Unless