ground shifted beneath Levi’s feet.
Her expression gutted him, left him feeling as if something had lodged in his throat. Something hard, full of emotion, and unrelenting, something that would require more than the Heimlich to rescue him from.
Damn. That was exactly the same varoom that had hit him when he’d first met her. When he’d thought he’d met someone worthy of settling into a relationship with.
Then she’d come at him like a heavy truck, which hadn’t been at all what he’d been looking for. The last thing he wanted was to get involved with an overly forceful woman. Been there, done that, liked it, but the time had come to grow up.
After his last encounter with his father, he’d turned over a new leaf, decided he was ready to quit playing games, that he wasn’t “a chip off the ole block”, and would settle into a relationship, see where that took him.
He’d initially thought Madison would be that woman, but he’d overheard her telling another nurse that she played the game as well as any man, that she wasn’t looking for commitment, just a good time.
He’d known right then and there that no matter how attracted he was to her, he needed to keep his distance. But that hadn’t dulled his reaction to her. Not one bit.
So he’d avoided her as much as possible.
Today, there’d been no avoiding.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he began, wondering at how his knees wobbled like a newborn foal’s and why he wanted to wrap his arms back around her. This time to hold her close and assure her she was going to be okay, that he’d never let anything happen to her.
Totally insane. Outside of work, he barely knew her.
Only a few weeks before he’d have thought Madison’s enlightened outlook regarding sex exactly what he wanted. But his father had cured him of that attitude. He’d actually wondered if his reaction to Madison might partly be because he’d decided he was ready for a new phase in life. A more settled phase than his former playboy ways. Not marriage or happily-ever-after, but something more permanent than he’d been willing to commit to in the past.
If the thought of falling into old habits, his father’s habits, didn’t disgust him, he’d have been all over Madison Swanson. Figuratively and otherwise.
Drawing his attention, her chest expanded and relaxed in jerky breaths. Her fingers trembled as she swatted at the moisture on her cheeks. She looked in shock. As if she might pass out at any given moment. Or burst into full-fledged sobs.
An odd spasm tightened his chest.
“We should run to my office and shoot a few X-rays to make sure I didn’t crack anything. That last thrust was a bone-crusher.”
“No.” She shook her head back and forth, still greedily sucking in air. “I’m fine.”
She didn’t look fine. Her smooth skin had lost its usual healthy glow and blanched a pale gray, contrasting eerily with the vivid green of her almond-shaped eyes. Barely coming up to his shoulders, she looked more like a child than a woman in her mid-twenties. A child who needed looking after. Who needed him.
“I insist,” he said, studying her ragged breaths, her shaky hands, the quiver to her plump lower lip. Those lips.
He averted his gaze before he gave in to the urge to lean in and give her a breath or two. In the name of medicine, of course. Right.
“I just want to sit down for a few minutes.” Closing her eyes, she lowered her head, but didn’t move from the spot where she stood. “And crawl under a picnic table and die from total humiliation.”
Levi blinked. She could have died, and she was embarrassed? Not in a million years would he understand women, but after holding Madison in his arms, he fully understood that he wanted to get to know her better even if he shouldn’t. Lots better. Enough better that now he’d acknowledged that truth, he also admitted Little Miss Madison might be responsible for the fact he hadn’t been on a date since she’d come onto the scene.
He’d blamed his father’s pat on the shoulder and condemning words of praise, but perhaps Madison played just as strong a role in his change of pace. Maybe the two really did go hand-in-hand.
Not quite understanding why his realization didn’t upset him, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Choking can happen to anyone.”
She didn’t look up, just took a step back. Letting his hand fall away, she dropped onto the wooden slat seat of a picnic table. She looked so miserable that another protective wave hit him and he fought to keep his arms to himself.
Sure, he wanted to get to know her better, but it wasn’t as if he planned to start sweeping women off their feet at company functions where they were surrounded by co-workers, friends and family. The last thing she would want was for him to hold her like she really was a small child needing comfort.
He wanted to hold her and kiss away the tears that fell faster than she could wipe them away.
“Hey,” he bent, cupped her face. His fingers pressed firmly against the silky skin of her jaw, forcing her to look at him. His fingertips burned with hot awareness. “You okay?”
“Just Jim Dandy,” she mumbled, wincing at the crowd moving in, offering her a drink, a wet cloth, a word of commiseration.
Willing away his physical responsiveness to touching her, Levi couldn’t decide if she was really okay and embarrassed or if she was hurt and trying to hide it. She looked as if she really would like to crawl under the picnic table. As if she desperately needed someone to rescue her again. This time from the crowd.
Still, she kept a wobbly smile on her face and nodded her well-being to the many well-wishers surrounding her. She might have only worked at Angel Creek hospital for a month or two, but she’d won many a heart.
No wonder. Madison Swanson was cute.
Cute? Nah, that word didn’t exactly fit the woman he’d heard say she ate men for breakfast. Not that he’d ever gotten the impression Madison was a man-eater, but she’d said the words herself.
Ignoring the reasons he shouldn’t, ignoring the well-wishers’ praise for his “heroic act”, Levi bent enough to slide his arm beneath Madison’s shaky legs. Straightening, he scooped her into his arms and ignored her protests and the crowd’s whoops of delight.
Yeah, he was ignoring lots of things today.
How good Madison felt in his arms topped the list. He really shouldn’t be noticing her apple-blossom scent, shouldn’t be noticing how toned her petite body was. He definitely shouldn’t be feeling twinges of lust at just how delectably female she was.
Twinges? More like earthquakes.
Get a grip, ole boy.
He wanted substance, not a quick fix. He wanted a long-distance haul, not a rush across the finish line. He wasn’t like his father.
Willing his adrenaline-hyped body under control, he flashed a reassuring smile to the crowd. “Sorry, folks, but she’s had a scare. I’m going to take her to my office and make sure I didn’t crack her ribs.”
A couple of co-workers, including the medical floor’s charge nurse who he’d heard through the hospital grapevine was Madison’s roommate, rushed along beside him, talking a mile a minute, mostly asking if she was okay and did she have any idea how much she’d scared them all?
“This is crazy,” Madison protested, shooing her friends away with assurances that she was fine and for them to please go back to the picnic. “I can walk,” she directed at him as her roommate left, casting a few curious glances over her shoulder.
“Yes, you can,” he agreed, but kept on toward the parking lot. When he reached his sports utility vehicle, he contemplated setting her down, but wasn’t quite ready to let her go. “Can you get my