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pleasant way. If they were anywhere else, she’d take the risk and
lean over to inhale the delicious scent right from his warm skin followed by a
tongue bath over the pulse point on his neck. Talk about giving a new meaning
to the term “bedside manner”.
    Focus. Focus.
    “These are walking casts. I know you’re going to pitch a fit
about being wheeled out in a chair, with these babies on, you’ll have a good,
showy excuse for why you can’t walk out of here on your own. You can take them
off once you get home.”
    “What makes you think I’m going to pitch a fit?”
    She raised her brow.
    “I may politely disobey your request, but I don’t pitch
fits.”
    “Right. Just sit tight. I’ll strap them on for you.” She rolled
a stool over to begin her work. “If you’d like, I can wrap your head in
bandages and put your arm in a sling. Make you look really heroic.”
    The contemplative look on his face made her smile. He sighed
and shook his head. “Nah. Don’t want to go for overkill.”
    Through the fabric of his pants, his calf muscle bunched
against her palm as she positioned the cast into place. From beneath her
lashes, she studied the way the denim of his jeans fit around his thighs. The
captain had more of a runner’s build than a bodybuilder’s. He was lean and
toned in all the right places, but not what one would call ripped. More like
the Flash than The Incredible Hulk, at least from what she remembered from her
brother’s comic book collection.
    What she liked best about his body was how warm he was to
the touch. He radiated heat like a furnace. When she had nearly reached the end
of her shift in the middle of the night, and most of the lights were off and
the thermostat had been turned down low, she had been half tempted to climb
into the bed beside him for heat.
    Sigh… He really was nicely put together.
    “So. Doc…” his voice trailed off.
    Her breath caught as tingles tripped across her neck in
warning. Had she been caught admiring his physique?
    “Do you have plans this week?”
    A grin tugged at her lips. Was he fishing for information
about her visits to The Cavern? “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
    “Oh.” His free foot swung to and fro. “Would you like to
join me for dinner one night?”
    The request brought her upright. Her eyelashes fluttered
with her confusion. “Dinner?”
    “Yeah. Dinner.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “Are you asking me on a date?”
    “Uh.” A flush of pink raced up his neck. “Yeah.”
    Oh, Lord. “I don’t date patients.”
    “Well…then it’s a good thing I’m not your patient. You’re
not my regular doctor. It was only timing that had you on duty and available
when I came in.”
    “I don’t date,” she said and tightened the last strap of the
boot with a little extra force to make her point.
    “Play then?”
    Her breath caught at his choice of words. “What?”
    “Isn’t that what you call it in the club? Play?”
    Whoa.
    Every molecule in her body froze, except for her heart that
pounded like a bass drum in a marching band. Was he seriously suggesting what
she thought he was?
    As slowly as ice forms on a lake in winter, she pushed up
into a standing position. With him sitting on the bed, they were now at about
the same height. It didn’t put her in the most powerful position, but at least
he no longer towered over her.
    “What are you saying, Captain?”
    His Adam’s apple bobbed and he swayed in his seat. “I’m
asking you if you want to play. With me.”
    Intrigued wasn’t quite the word to describe how she felt
hearing his stuttered statement. The man actually had the balls to ask her to
dominate him in her place of work. He was either brave, cocky or stupid.
    She had to admit, if only to herself, the idea did have a
certain appeal. But so did racing Ferraris down I-90. The speed, the danger,
the rush of pushing the envelope was what made life worth living. Just as the
fiery crash into the mountainside ended it just as