Page 14 of Stolen Kisses
Stop it, Krista. Stop, stop, stop.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked, leaning forward over the table.
For a moment she thought he was asking about the wicked thoughts running rampant through her mind. Then she realized he was talking about the reason she was drinking more than usual.
She shook her head, her thoughts immediately returning to Adam who’d cried a few times that day. He’d never really had a dad. Today he’d seen another dad come to visit one of the other children on the floor and for some reason he’d decided to get upset about it. Krista had sent his mom home to sleep, so Krista had been the one to comfort the poor little guy while he’d cried about all the things he’d never get to do with his own dad. Like play catch outside. Go camping. Go on a fishing trip.
Krista’s gaze snapped up and met Noah’s.
“Uh-oh. You’ve got that look in your eye,” he said, sitting back.
“What look?”
“The one that says I’m about to regret I even asked the question.”
“I have an idea,” she said.
“A drunken idea.” Noah nodded at Tina as she placed his drink in front of him. “Thank you.”
“I’m not drunk,” Krista said, pulling her fourth beer in front of her. “Just a little flimsy.”
“Don’t you mean tipsy?” Noah laughed. “Okay. Spill. What’s your idea?”
“I have this patient. He’s seven and his name is Adam.”
Noah nodded. “Uh-huh. I think you’ve mentioned him before.”
“Well, it’s just him and his mom. His father bailed right after he was born. He’s a sperm donor and a check-writer once a month, but that’s all.” Krista ran her tongue over her lower lip. “Anyway, he was really upset today. Sometimes things just set kids off, you know?”
“Is that why you’re drinking?”
Krista held his gaze, getting lost. There was a myriad of reasons why she was drinking. Adam was one. Karen at work was two. Noah was another reason. She was always thinking of him more than she should. It was crazy-making really. “Yep.”
“I thought you decided to pull away from getting too close to your patients. At least until your boss retires and makes you head nurse.” He winked.
“And I will. Just not Adam. I’ve seen Adam in and out of the pediatric floor since he was a month old. I couldn’t love him more if he was my own child. Anywayyyyy,” she said, dragging the last syllable out like a drumroll into her genius idea, “Adam has never been fishing before.”
Noah straightened. By the look in his eye, Krista knew his razor-sharp mind had already connected the dots with lightning speed. “Your brother is a fisherman,” he pointed out.
Krista shook her head. “One, he was a cabbie until last week. Two, Joey isn’t good with kids. He’s awkward around them. When he tries to play with them, he usually scares them.”
Noah laughed while shaking his own head. “I’m not good with kids, either.”
Krista slapped a playful hand across Noah’s forearm on the table in front of her. “Liar. You’re awesome with kids. You come to the peds unit every Christmas and you’d think that you were actually the real Santa Claus.”
“One, Santa isn’t real. Two, I don’t even know this kid. He’s your patient andyou’rethe one who has a problem getting too close.”
“And you never get too close, right?” she asked, surprised by the sudden switch of her emotions. Suddenly she wasn’t talking about Adam anymore. She was talking about her and Noah.Crap.
“Getting close complicates things. This boy doesn’t have a father. What if he…what if he, I don’t know, starts to think of me as a father figure if I take him fishing?”
“He’s not a duck, Noah.” Krista put on a smile that didn’t feel quite right. “He isn’t going to follow you around. He wants to go fishing. With his compromised immune system, he doesn’t get to do a lot of things that other kids do. The fresh salt air will do him good. I know it. It’s not easy being in a hospital bed.”
Noah frowned.
When she’d been sick as a child, waiting for her new kidney, Noah had barely left her side. He was her protector, the one who made her smile and laugh even when it was the very last thing that felt natural. He’d been doing it ever since.
Their entire history was written in the space between them. After all this time, how the heck did he not feel the same way that she did? But he didn’t. If he did, he’d treat her the way he treated the other women she’d seen him with over the years. He’d flirt with her. Touch her. Do all the things she’d only ever fantasized about him doing to her. Instead, when he was with her, he acted the way he would around any of his other friends. She was just one of the guys, and that was all she’d ever be.
