Free Hotblooded by Erin Nicholas Page A

suddenly the truck lurched forward then swerved several feet in front of her, blocking her path. She calmly altered her route and continued. He got out of the truck and stepped in front of her, hands on his hips. He was also drenched within seconds, his hair plastered against his forehead, his eyes flashing like the lightning overhead.
     
    Jack had experienced more frustration since meeting Brooke Donovan than he’d ever felt in his life. She was stubborn, and strong…and beautiful, even wet.
    Her long hair was swept away from her face where she’d pushed it back out of her eyes. Tiny rivulets of water chased each other over her cheeks and down her throat. Her light blue T-shirt was plastered to her body, emphasizing curves that Jack remembered all too well. He’d dreamed about those curves.
    He’d been too frustrated and worried by the time he’d seen her jogging along the street that he hadn’t paid attention to her long, tanned legs beneath the short running shorts—but now he took a moment. She was clearly a regular runner, her body trim and toned. Suddenly, he felt more supportive of her finishing her workout before their talk.
    “Get out of the way,” she said, obviously exasperated. “I don’t want to talk.”
    “Too bad,” he said, mimicking her earlier words.
    “You can’t make me talk to you.” She planted hands on her hips as well, clearly in challenge.
    “You might be surprised what I can make you do.” He was pleased by the way her eyes widened, with surprised curiosity and maybe a few memories.
    “I’m not…” She stopped and cleared her throat. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
    He wondered about the throat clearing for a moment. She seemed distracted.
    “You need to get out of the rain,” he told her, stepping forward.
    “I like it.”
    “You’ll catch a cold.”
    She looked at him as if she couldn’t believe what he’d just said. “You’re a doctor. I’m sure you know colds don’t come from being outside in the rain.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “Get in the car.”
    “I thought you were a salesman, you know,” she said suddenly.
    “And I thought you were the cleaning lady.”
    “You could have told me who you were the very first time we met.”
    “Likewise.” He watched her try to argue that point in her mind and then fail. “And I wasn’t here as a doctor, so it wasn’t relevant.”
    “Well, I wasn’t in the clinic as a physician’s assistant when you showed up yesterday.”
    Yesterday. He didn’t need to try hard to conjure nearly every detail of yesterday. “I wasn’t looking for a physician’s assistant. I was looking for you.”
    “I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone looking for me.”
    “So you lied.”
    “I intentionally misled you,” she corrected. “There’s a subtle but important difference.”
    He snorted. “Okay, that’s fine. The fact is I wouldn’t have even been there today with Amanda if you’d just told me who you were upfront. We could have had everything taken care of by now.”
    “Right. And if you’d just take ‘no, thank you’ for an answer you also would not have been there today with Amanda.”
    Which brought them effectively back to the reason he’d come looking for her. Well, the reason other than the fact that he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
    “Listen—”
    She interrupted his intended apology. “I assume you didn’t tell Carla that you were a doctor either. I’m sure she would have told me.”
    “I just met her and—”
    “I must have looked like an idiot not knowing you were a doctor, not asking for your assistance.”
    He hadn’t intended to step in at all. But his instincts as a physician had kicked in when he saw her getting nowhere. The patient had been his first concern.
    “You didn’t—”
    “Contrary to popular belief, I do realize I’m a P.A., not a physician. I realize that there are times when I should defer to a doctor. But I didn’t know there was a doctor around. I was