Just Like That
“Yes. At least until some guy comes along to take care of her.” He frowned at that thought.
Danika smiled. “You’re not totally crazy about that idea?”
“I’m her big brother. No matter how much I’d like to have someone else worry about her, it’s weird to think about her with a guy…like that.”
“Even though you don’t want her to need you, you don’t necessarily want her to need anyone else?”
“I wouldn’t mind her being more like you, as a matter of fact,” he said, meeting her eyes. “Able to take care of herself.”
Danika felt a weird twinge in her chest with his words. Not the words themselves, exactly. They were words she herself had used any number of times to describe herself. But that he thought it was the epitome of how a woman, his own sister, should be.
Which was a compliment, wasn’t it?
Why did she feel annoyed?
“That’s great, but she can’t live in a bubble,” Danika said. “What about friendship, and conversation?”
“She can have those with other women,” he said.
Danika frowned. “Yes, but what about…”
Just being with someone. Having someone make her laugh.
The thrill of giving someone the perfect gift.
She couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t, technically, something she could do with a woman. Except…
Kissing that she can feel clear to her toes, being held just
because someone wants to hold her, being looked at like she’s the most beautiful woman in the world…
All of which would sound pretty stupid considering that Danika was choosing to not make those things a priority in her own life.
A fact she felt less than wonderful about right now.
Perfect.
“What about what?” Sam asked.
He loved his sisters. No matter what mistakes he might have made holding himself back, he’d done it for noble reasons. She couldn’t fault that.
“They’re lucky to have you,” she finally said.
He chuckled. “So I tell them whenever I have the chance.” Danika allowed him to lighten the mood. She couldn’t handle all these realizations anyway. She cared about him. She liked him. It was good to know that he wouldn’t allow himself to fall in love because she suspected that she wasn’t far from falling for him.
Now she’d be more careful.
All of a sudden Sam was kissing her.
It didn’t make sense, but Danika wasn’t going to protest. Especially when it was something she wanted so badly. As always.
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It wasn’t a quick peck on the lips either. It was an all-out, I-want-you-right-now kiss with heat and tongue and his hand buried in the back of her hair.
They didn’t come up for air until they heard, “Yep, I think a man’s place is definitely in the kitchen,” from one of the boys.
Sam grinned down at her, slowly sliding his hand through her hair as he let her go. “See what a great influence I am? The boys are going to be gourmets at this rate.” The party was a huge success.
Sam couldn’t help but grin as his brother-in-law attempted to get the kids to guess that he was acting out
Santa Claus
. The impromptu game of charades wasn’t going so well for Ben, while Jessica was kicking butt. Sam suspected that the kids were pretending to not get Ben’s words since it was Jessica’s birthday.
He’d done a pretty good job with both
bowling alley
and
campfire
, but no one on his team had guessed either phrase before time ran out.
The timer rang yet again and Ben puffed out a frustrated breath. “Really? Christmas? Toys? Ho, ho, ho?”
“Oh, was it Santa Claus?” one of the girls asked.
“
Yes
.” Ben threw up his hands.
The girl nudged the boy next to her. “I guess it was Santa.” The boy laughed and Ben looked at them suspiciously. But Sara kept the game moving.
“Come on, Jess. You’re up again. Last word.”
Sam snuck a look at Danika. She was on Jessica’s team and seemed to be having a ball. She was laughing and high-fiving her teammates—with her left hand only, of course—calling out taunts to the other team and shouting guesses as loud as anyone.
Sam sat by the snack table—as everyone expected—enjoying the whole thing and tossing popcorn into his mouth kernel by kernel.
Jessica’s phrase was
Charlotte’s Web
and the team got it in under two minutes. They all jumped to their feet, hugging and congratulating each other.
He saw Eric hug Danika. Eric was only seventeen but he was a foot taller than Danika and outweighed her by about eighty pounds. Eric lifted Danika off the ground and she shrieked with laughter, just before Tim, another large, rambunctious boy, got shoved into Eric. Eric stumbled forward, his balance thrown off by the woman in his arms. He stuck out an arm to try to catch himself, but that let Danika slip.
Sam came to his feet as Danika hit the floor and her knee buckled, her ankle twisted and she fell onto her one knee.
He was kneeling next to her three seconds later. “Dani?” 94
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She was wincing and holding her knee, her right hand held carefully against her stomach. “I’m okay.” She looked up at Eric and managed a smile. “I’m okay. Honestly.” She started to get up by taking Sam’s hand, but she grimaced as she stepped on her sore leg.
The leg didn’t buckle, the ankle did turn, she didn’t gasp, she didn’t limp. But the grimace he’d seen was enough.
“Come on.” Sam pulled her against his chest and her arm went around his neck naturally. Then he slid his other arm under her knees and lifted her.
“I just bumped it. It will be okay.” But she didn’t struggle to get down.
“Humor me,” he said through gritted teeth.
He couldn’t believe how his heart was pounding. It was ridiculous. He knew he had glared at Eric too harshly, was gripping her too hard, and was stomping his feet too loudly to be appropriate for the situation.
But he couldn’t make himself stop. He couldn’t even pull in a deep breath.
Sam strode through the door to the kitchen, kicking it shut behind him. The kitchen had barely been cleaned up before Jessica arrived, with dirty bowls, utensils and pans shoved into the oven and refrigerator so she wouldn’t see them. But the countertops had been wiped and Sam deposited Danika on the closest one.
“Sam, I’m—”
“Does it hurt?”
“Well…” He could tell that she thought about lying, but then said, “A little.” Knowing she was hurt, again, made his stomach clench. Eric was just a kid, they’d been playing and Danika was fine. He himself had landed her in the ER. But part of him still wanted to grab Eric and shake him.
He’d like to think he would react the same way no matter who had twisted a knee. If one of the teenagers or one of his sisters had been the one to crumple to the floor he would have felt bad and would have wanted to be sure they were all right. However, he doubted very much that his hands would be shaking as he checked their knee.
But he inched Danika’s pant leg up with shaking hands.
He didn’t look up at her, knowing she would be watching him with a question in her eyes that he couldn’t answer. Why was he freaking out?
Instead, he focused on her knee, prodding the tissue and moving the joint.
“Is any of that painful?”
“No.”
He ran his hands down to her ankle and moved it around as well. “How about this?”
“I’m glad I shaved my legs before I hurt my wrist.”
At her words he glanced up and saw her smiling at him indulgently.
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He couldn’t help it—he ran his palm up and down the smooth expanse from ankle to knee again.
“And you’re fine.”
“I’m fine.”
He finally pulled in a deep breath and nodded. “Good.”
“You better get me some ice, though.”
“Ice?”
“If I walk back out there completely fine everyone is going to think you overreacted.” The way she said it, he knew she thought he had too. She was right, of course, but it was one thing for him to realize it and another for everyone else to think it.
“I’ll find an ace wrap too,” he muttered. He’d acted like a fool. She’d had a minor injury. Very minor.
Nothing as bad as her wrist. And he’d carried her off like she’d been shot and fatally wounded. There was a roomful of people waiting for their return, including several co-workers and friends who were never going to let him live this down. He was a paramedic. The best in the city. He didn’t overreact to injuries. He was calm and cool and professional no matter what he saw. He’d seen some gruesome things and was known for being able to keep his composure.
Composure was the last thing he’d had with Danika.
“I promise to limp when we go back out there.”
One look was enough to confirm that she was teasing him and he tried to smile. “I’ll look for crutches in the storage closet.”
“Want to use some ketchup to make it look gory?”
Now he smiled for real. “My reaction might have been over-the-top.”
“Why do you think that is?” She crossed her uninjured knee over her sore one, bracing her good hand on the edge of the counter.
“Because I wasn’t thinking.”
“What were you doing?”
“Reacting.”
“And now you’re regretting it.”
“My brother-in-law, two sisters and three best friends are going to find this
very
interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because I never act this way.”
“With women?”
“At all.”
Danika just looked at him.
He’d spilled a lot of personal information in the kitchen earlier while they’d been supervising the cupcake bakers. He was feeling vulnerable and he hated it. He was also feeling serious and introspective 96
Just Like That
and he hated that more. He was the one people wanted around when they wanted to forget the serious stuff, when they wanted to feel good and laugh. He wasn’t one for reflection. He was always sincere, but he was never solemn. He was cool under pressure, but never cold in his interactions.
“But especially with women,” he said.
“And your friends will think all of this—” she gestured to her knee, “—means something?”
“Yes.”
“Does it?”
It was his turn to stare at her for several heartbeats. “It shouldn’t.” She took a few seconds. Then nodded. “All right.” She slid off the counter to the floor.
“Danika…”
She turned. “Yes?”
“I…” He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say, what he was supposed to say. She shouldn’t be special to him, that would only cause trouble for them both.
“Don’t worry about it, Sam.”
Wait. She didn’t care that he didn’t want a relationship? He didn’t like that either.
“Danika…”
“Do we need an ambulance in here or what?” Dooley Miller, one of Sam’s best friends, came through the door.
Sam glanced at Danika, whose pant leg was still pulled up past her knee. She quickly took her weight off the leg and leaned against the counter. “I’m doing better.” Dooley was pushed out of the way as another body entered the kitchen. “Anybody naked?” Mac Gordon asked, grinning. “Anything I should cover my eyes for?” Sam’s third friend stepped through the door, more hesitantly than the others. “They might want some privacy. Not that that would have occurred to you two.” Kevin Campbell looked at Sam and then Danika apologetically. “I tried to stall them.”
“And we let you,” Dooley said. “You think I didn’t guess
quarterback
within the first ten seconds?”
“We’re paramedics,” Mac added. “We can’t let someone suffer without trying to help.”
“Who’s suffering here, though?” Dooley asked. “Danika or Sam?” The other two studied him and Sam sighed, feeling very put-upon. His friends often did this and if he tried to divert them from their joking, they would be even more convinced they needed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. It was best to go along with them and hope they ran out of steam quickly.
“Danika was the one on the floor,” Kevin reminded them.
“But Sam’s the one looking upset,” Dooley said.
“Danika is still fully clothed,” Mac pointed out. “That might be some of his frustration.”
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“Not that your calf isn’t gorgeous,” Dooley said to Danika. “But that isn’t the part I would have exposed first,” he said to Sam.
Sam took a deep breath while Danika murmured, “Thank you.”
“Maybe she turned him down,” Kevin said. “Ever think of that?” Dooley and Mac looked at one another.
“No.”
“Nope.”
Sam heard a giggle and turned to look at Danika. She was grinning, watching his friends’ banter.
Thank goodness she was a good sport.
“I’m quite sure
he
didn’t turn
her
down,” Kevin said.
Even Sam had to smile at that. Kevin was a born-again Christian and it was always especially funny when he forgot himself and said something like that.
Mac looked Danika up and down. “Of course not.”
“Definitely not,” Dooley agreed.
“Do you mind not ogling my…”
Everyone grew silent and four pairs of eyes turned to look at him.
Damn.
His what? That’s what they were all wondering. Including Sam.
What was Danika to him? What did he want her to be? It should have been an easy answer. She was a one-night stand waiting to happen.
“Ride home,” he said, staying with a more immediate answer and stubbornly ignoring that there might be another answer anyway.
But the four people in the room with him knew him. Well. He got three snorts of laughter and one expression that said
That’s the best you can do?
“You know what?” Mac slapped him on the shoulder. “As soon as she’s more than your ride home I’ll stop ogling her.”
“She’s definitely ogle-worthy,” Dooley agreed. “And as long as you’re just friends you don’t get to put up anti-ogle rules.”