Flirting with Destiny

She’d lost more than employment that day, and she was finally seeing the light at the end of a long, gloomy tunnel. When Mac had suggested she spend her last two months in the States with him, she’d been overjoyed. Not that she didn’t love her mom, stepfather and stepsisters, but she’d always felt that she and Mac shared something special and it meant so much that he wanted her in Destiny.

Now she knew why.

Gathering her yoga bricks, she turned and came face to face with the one man in this town she never planned to get her hands on again.

“What exactly is it that you do?” Devlin’s softly spoken question and the sincerity in his gaze doused her indignation, compelling her to answer him.

“Like I already told you, I’m a licensed acupuncturist.” Tanya rattled off her credentials, knowing them by heart, having been asked that question many times before. “I’m also board-certified as a massage therapist—although lately I’ve been working mostly in aquatic therapy—and I’m a Chinese herbalist.”

“Wow. That’s pretty impressive.”

“Thanks. Mac obviously thinks so.” Filling her bag, she ducked around both men and headed for the hangar’s exit, having no idea what she was going to do now. Other than drown her sorrows in a hot shower and a tall glass of wine.

On second thought, scratch the wine. She’d settle for ice-cold lemonade instead.

“Tanya, wait. Please, let me finish,” Mac called out. “I’m sorry I blurted my idea out like that. Being tactful has never been my strong suit.”

Not knowing why, Tanya stopped along the side of the antique plane and turned to look at him. “Yeah, I’m learning that about you.”

“I swear I didn’t bring you here under false pretenses. Remember how we’d talked about you helping me during your stay to bump up your savings for your living expenses overseas?”

Tanya nodded and bit hard at her bottom lip. Damn, he got her right where it hurt the most. Her wallet. She’d finally paid off the last of her student loans a year ago, but losing her job had hurt her savings in more ways than she’d ever planned.

A satisfying kind of hurt, but painful nonetheless.

Even giving up her apartment and storing her stuff at her mom’s place meant things were going to be tight for the next six months.

“When I got the idea of you helping Dev, which honestly only came to me a few nights ago,” Mac went on, taking a few steps toward her, “I fully intended to pay for any work you do with him, in addition to my own treatments.”

Well, he had her there. The extra money would mean she could experience life outside of her schooling during her time in Europe. There were so many amazing places she’d only read about or researched online that she wanted to visit.

“Like hell you will.” Dev joined them, the hitch in his step visible to her trained eye. “I pay my own way.”

“This was my idea,” Mac protested. “I’ll pay.”

“Forget it, old man. If I end up going for any of that stuff, I’ll cough up the cash. Besides, she doesn’t sound too thrilled about taking on an extra patient.”

“What stuff?” Tanya challenged. Not that she had agreed to take him on. Yet. However, helping non-believers understand the benefits of her work was her favorite part of the job. “You practically keeled over when I said the word acupuncture.”

“Yeah, well, needles aren’t my thing.” He squared his shoulders, placing his weight mainly on his left leg. “And you can forget about any herbs, Chinese or otherwise.”

Oh, yes, this man was hurting all over. He was doing his best to hide that fact and he probably succeeded with those with an untrained eye, but she could almost feel the pain radiating from him.

The need to ease that hurt quickly outweighed any of the reasons why she should or shouldn’t do this. “You’re not leaving me with much to work with.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Dev said, his voice suddenly shifting into a more relaxed tone. Then came that familiar grin. “A massage is always welcomed.”

Hmm. The desire to show off her roundhouse kick came back to her from earlier. “Yeah, like that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that.”

Thankful for the shadows that hid the heated flush on her cheeks, Tanya cursed herself for blushing. She never had in the past when other men had been foolish enough to say the same thing to her.

She’d easily put professional athletes and ski-bum millionaires in their place when they’d tried to flirt their way through her sessions. Getting involved with a patient was a major no-no.

Not that Devlin would technically be her patient. Even if she did agree to this crazy idea...

She returned his stare, fighting the memories from the night they’d shared, a night that felt like it had happened a lifetime ago.

Because it had.

She had no idea how much Devlin had changed over the years. He could be married with three kids by now. But she was also far removed from the girl she’d been back then, too.

Could she do it?

Could she possibly work with—?

Mac loudly cleared his throat, forcing her attention back to her grandfather. “Of course, I don’t want you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable,” he said. “Maybe we should just forget the whole thing. I can double my payments for the work you do with me.”

“Clients are often the ones who are uncomfortable, at least until they understand what I’m accomplishing and they see the benefits of the treatments.” Tanya kept her tone cool and professional as her gaze slid between the two men. “I think Devlin should observe an acupuncture session before either of us makes up our minds.”

“Sure, but I won’t change my mind on that.” Dev rocked back on his heels for a moment, then caught himself. “But you can have Mac give me a call when you get it scheduled.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that. I have the cabin all set up. We’re ready to go.”

The smile slipped from his face. “You mean, like now?”

“That’s why I was doing my yoga workout here. I don’t know if you’re aware of how small the cabin is and I wanted Mac to be able to have his first session in a calm place.”

“Right.” Dev swallowed hard. “Calm.”

“So why don’t I head there and take a much-needed shower?” Tanya smiled at the both of them as she backed away. “I’m sure you two can find something to talk about for the next half hour.”

Mac, who stood as tall as Devlin, eyed his friend. “Yeah, I’m sure we can.”

“Oh, and, Mac, you should get yourself a light meal and slip into something looser, like sweats. It’s been a while since you’ve done this and remember what happened that first time.”

He nodded. “I remember.”

Dev’s eyes grew wide. “What happened?”

“I tossed my cookies.” Mac barked out a gruff laugh. “And that was after I fell flat on my face while getting off the damn table.”

“And you want to do this again?” Dev’s tone was incredulous.

Tanya’s laughter joined her grandfather’s as she reached the door. “That’s what I said, too, but he was brave enough to agree to a second session just a few days later. He came through that one with flying colors.”

Dev looked from Mac to her, crossing his arms over his chest again. She couldn’t see his eyes from this far away, but she could guess at the emotion in their icy blue depths.

“Brave or just crazy?”