“No. It can’t be,” she cried, and shook her head. “He’s just a boy.”

“I’m sorry this is such a shock for you. But I just cut off his clothing and found this.” Gina exposed the markings on his deltoid for her to see herself.

The mother gasped and pointed a trembling finger at the tattoo clearly defined on her son’s arm. “I don’t know what that is, but it’s not a gang.”

“Has he been using any drugs that you’re aware of?” Gina spread the boy’s fingers apart, examining them for signs of drug use, but found nothing.

“No.” She shook her head and looked as if her world was about to fall apart. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Right now we need to focus on stabilizing him. We’ll work out the details later,” Thomas said. “Rhonda, why don’t you take her back to the waiting room?”

“I’ll come get you when you can see him, I promise,” Gina said, trying to offer the woman some support, though thinking of her son this way was obviously painful. “What’s his name?”

“Terrence,” the mother whispered. After touching his shoulder, she leaned heavily on Rhonda as they left the trauma room.

“Well, Terrence,” Thomas said to the unresponsive patient, “you’re in a world of trouble.” He turned to Gina. “Let’s get a CAT scan. I’m concerned that he hasn’t roused at all.” He checked Terrence’s pupils with a penlight, looking for a response.

“He’s had quite a wallop on the back of the head. He may be just concussed or he could have a brain injury,” Gina said.

“Absolutely,” Thomas replied. He liked the way she thought, processing the possibilities quickly. Obviously a nurse of some experience and ability to think through all the possible scenarios. Good qualities to have in an ER nurse in a small town. Someone who had been around and could snap into emergency mode when the need arose, but be content with the smaller issues of every ER, like the flu, cuts and broken arms. Nurses like that were hard to find. Thomas would have to review Gina’s temporary contract and see if he could get her to extend her stay. She’d only been there two days, but working with a nurse with her skills would only make his job easier.

Within the hour Gina handed the boy over to the OR team. Brain surgery was indicated for him immediately.

Gina returned to the trauma room to clean it. Traumas always created a lot of trash.

Thomas found her there, banging drawers, clanging things around and making a lot of noise. He stepped into the room. “What are you doing?” he asked, and looked around. The room looked worse than when the patient had been in there.

“Cleaning,” she said, and avoided looking at him. “This room is a disaster.” She gathered up the dressing materials that had landed on the floor. “You’re a very sloppy doctor, by the way.” She gave him a sidelong glance.

“What? I’m not.” He frowned at her assessment of his character.

“You are,” she said with a smile. “I can see you didn’t go to college on a basketball scholarship.”

“I didn’t, but—”

“You threw a lot of things on the floor and now I have to pick them up.” She reached for another handful of trash from the floor. “This is so gross. I think you should do it.”

He stepped closer, placing himself inches away from her. She was flirting with him! And he liked it. Hiding a grin, he waited for her to turn round. “I tried for the trash can and missed. That’s not sloppy. That’s just bad aim.”

“Like I said, no basketball scholarship for you.” She turned and gasped. She hadn’t expected him to be so close to her and her heart took off. She tried to back up, but her legs wouldn’t move.

“Want some help with this?” he asked.

“You want to help me?” She glanced down at his attire of crisply pressed white shirt that probably cost more than a day’s pay and the navy linen slacks that bore a neat pleat. “You don’t want to get blood on your shirt. I can handle this, thanks.” The way his mouth moved, one corner of it twitching up, made her want to reach out and touch it, to see if it was as warm as it looked. She swallowed. This attraction was getting a little too serious a little too fast.

He took a step back. “I’m not bothered. Why should you be?”

“Seriously, this is my job, and I’d feel guilty if you helped me. You don’t want to be responsible for my guilt, do you?” Despite the mental warning to herself, she couldn’t help liking his reply.

“Gina, I’ve done my share of dirty jobs as an intern and resident. A little bit of gauze isn’t going to bother me.”

“I know. But just the same. I’ve got it.” She looked down at the mess around her. “It’s a shame, isn’t it?”

Thomas instinctively knew exactly what she meant. “It is. Some kids learn the hard way, and I think he’s one of them.”

“His mom’s in for a whole lot of heartbreak, isn’t she?” Gina asked, already knowing the answer.

“She is. But hopefully she won’t have to face it alone.” He watched her stuff the gauze into the trash can. “Are you OK?”

“Putting a kid back together gets old sometimes, ya know?” A sigh came from her. “It seems like everywhere I go I put the same kids back together for the same things all the time. Just once I’d like to see them do well.”

“Yes. I know. Emergency medicine can be a bit overwhelming at times. Nurses burn out in ICU and ER more frequently than any other area.” He watched her with those striking blue eyes. “You make sure to take breaks, don’t you?”

“Yes. That’s why I don’t work in the same area all the time, but change back and forth to stay fresh.” Returning to her task, she stuffed more trash in the garbage can.

“Relax, will you? Let someone else get the trash. You don’t have to do everything.”

“It makes life easier on Housekeeping if I can at least help.”

“Certainly. But the trash isn’t what’s bothering you. Everything is just fine. Terrence is off to surgery and there aren’t any other emergencies right now, so why don’t you take a break?” He tried to coax a smile out of her, put her mind at ease. “I could use a break, too.”

“I can’t,” she said, as she carried on tidying. “When one job’s done, there’s always another waiting.”

“Come on. Trauma can be tough on people. The patient, the family…and the staff,” Thomas said, and took a step closer to her, invading her space again, putting more pressure on her until she looked up at him.

She frowned and glared at him, but couldn’t hold it and cracked a grin, feeling the heat of a blush in her neck. “What? Don’t you have a laceration somewhere to suture?”

“Nope, I’m fresh out.” The sassy edge to her voice made him smile. She was a refreshing change from people who knew who he was, what his family was, and sought to ingratiate themselves to him. Gina didn’t care who he was, and he liked that.

She dropped her shoulders and released a pent-up breath. “OK. Coffee sounds good. But I need to get rid of this stuff first,” she said. “I don’t want to leave everything for Housekeeping. That’s not fair.”

Thomas smiled, glad she had accepted his offer. “Five minutes, in the staffroom, or I’ll hunt you down.”

She grinned. “Good enough.”

Thomas hesitated. When she smiled like that she was absolutely stunning. With a quick nod he left her to her task, not wanting to think where this association could head. They were just coworkers sharing a bit of coffee and conversation, right?

Minutes later Gina entered the staff room to the fragrance of an exotic blend of coffee. “Oh, what’s that?” she asked, and sniffed appreciatively. “That’s not hospital coffee, is it?” The smell was making her mouth water. Thomas smiled, and Gina’s knees threatened to go weak. Oh, he was almost making her mouth water, too.

“This is my secret office stash.” He shook his head. “Now you know my deep, dark secret.”

“There are some perks to being the medical director, I see.”

“So, how do you take yours?” Thomas asked.