Surrogate Escape

She held her smile and handed over a twenty. “Family only, I’m afraid.”

Nathan expertly made change. “Just found it, huh?”

“Yes. She’s doing well.”

“Ain’t that something.” He just stood there staring at her, and she felt sure he was going to ask her out yet again.

“Well.” She glanced at her computer. “Better get back to work.”

Nathan nodded and finally left, looking back only once this time.

Lori resisted the urge to check on Jake, but instead sent Nina to pop her head in. She returned a few minutes later with her report. “Still sleeping. Still cute. I left him a pitcher of ice water by his bed.”

Lori sighed as she returned to seeing patients and finished up the afternoon paperwork. The women’s health clinic closed at two o’clock on weekdays. The urgent-care unit stayed open until four from Monday to Saturday. After that, the tribe knew to wait until morning or call the volunteer fire department, now relocating until Piñon Forks was safe again. This week was unusual for them, too, because they’d be moving lock, stock and barrel to Turquoise Ridge tomorrow.

Baby Leniix and her mother had been discharged, leaving only baby Fortune, as Lori was now thinking of her. Lori and Nina packed boxes until nearly six.

“I’m going to wake up Officer Redhorse and see about getting him home,” said Lori.

“Okay,” said Nina, casting her a smile that showed much pink gum above her teeth before she returned to the computer and the records.

Lori retrieved the bag lunch and carried it to the room where Jake rested.

The golden September sunlight stretched across Jake’s bare arm and chest. At some point he’d removed his vest and his shirt now flapped open, giving her an eyeful of his heavily muscled torso. Her breath caught and she worried her lip as she considered turning tail.

Instead, she stepped closer.

You can do this, she thought. He’s just a man. Like every other man. But he wasn’t. He was the one man who short-circuited all her wiring, and he did it while asleep. That irritated her, but not enough to tamp down the unrest. She clenched the fist of her free hand to keep herself from stroking down the centerline of his body.

She stared at him, her body as tense as his was relaxed. It was safe now, since he was asleep.

But it wasn’t. Not really. Lori stretched her fingers and reached, unable to stop herself. She only just managed to redirect her touch to his forearm. His muscles twitched as her fingertips registered warm skin and the texture of the dark hair. His eyes flashed open as he reached with his opposite hand to his hip where his gun usually sat.

“It’s me,” she said and stepped away, clutching the bag before her.

The tension left his body. He squeezed his eyes shut, scrubbing his closed lids with his fingertips before forcing his eyes open again.

“Sorry. You startled me.”

He pushed himself to a sitting position, and her gaze slipped to his abdomen and the ribbed muscle there. She swallowed down the gnawing hunger.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

“Yes.” She forced her gaze upward to his face. Thankfully, he was looking toward the hallway.

“Who’s with Fortune?”

“Nina.”

He nodded and scrubbed his hands over his face.

His shirt flapped opened, giving her an unimpeded look at flexing chest muscles as he stretched. Her throat went dry and her eyes widened. He was making her sweat and he’d barely looked at her.

He noticed the water and poured a plastic cup full. She watched in silence as his Adam’s apple bobbed with each long swallow. Her stomach fluttered and she closed her gaping mouth.

She resisted the urge to step closer. Oh, no, you don’t, she told herself.

He wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand and then met her gaze. Did he see the raw desire there?

Jake’s mouth quirked. “What time is it?”

She glanced at her watch. “A little after six.”

His brows lifted. “Really? Seven solid hours. Can’t believe it.”

No one had gotten much sleep since the dam collapse. Everyone at the clinic was working long hours. They’d stayed open around the clock for the first three days to treat all the injuries resulting from the explosion and evacuation.

His gaze dipped and her skin flushed as his eyes roamed over her body and then settled on the bag she had forgotten she held.

“Do I smell food?” he asked.

She nodded and dropped the bag onto the mobile table. In a moment she had the table wheeled in place beside the bed, automatically adjusting the level to suit him. He ignored the food and instead stared at her.

She didn’t know what to do with her hands. Should she leave him to eat or stay? Lori glanced toward the corridor with longing.

Despite how it had ended, Jake had been kind to her after he got over the shock. He’d also stood by her and defended her from his mother, who’d opposed the marriage so vehemently. Her mother had been for it, delighted, in fact. But things had changed after she’d lost their baby. The distance between them had yawned as they drifted further and further apart. Lori laced her hands across her flat stomach, feeling a hollow ache that reached all the way to her heart.

“Any word from Bear Den?” asked Jake.

Lori shook her head. “No one from the force has been here all day.”

Silence stretched as the tension between them crackled like ice cubes meeting water. Jake pushed away the table that separated them and rose to his feet. Lori’s brain signaled danger, but the message never reached her motor centers because she remained frozen in place. Jake lifted a hand and gently cradled her elbow.

There was a knock, and Lori glanced up to see Dr. Kee Redhorse standing in the door with his perpetual generous grin and warm brown eyes. He’d been in the clinic much of the afternoon.

“So Sleeping Beauty is finally awake,” said Kee. “Doesn’t seem to have improved your looks any.”

He strode in and gave his brother’s shoulder a firm pat.

“Anything happen while I was out?” asked Jake.

“Had a few more injuries related to cleanup. Seeing those every day since the explosion. Today it was Lawrence Kesselman.”

Lori had helped close the gash on Mr. Kesselman’s leg. The man had been gaunt, with deep circles under his eyes. Lori knew the reason. His daughter, Maggie, had run away last Sunday.

“And our mom was in,” said Kee. “She’s got another sore on her foot.”

The men shared a silent exchange that Lori read as worry. May was still able to walk, but if the ulcer did not heal, her condition could change.