The Family You Make (Sunrise Cove #1)(21)

Even if it’d almost killed him.

The parking lot was full, the lifts were running, and given all the skiers and snowboarders on the ski runs, business was booming in spite of what had happened with the gondola only a week ago.

The investigation had yielded a decision that it’d all been a freak accident. Earlier on the day of the storm, there’d been some construction work done and somehow a piece of debris had been left behind. A small chunk of wood. The vicious wind had knocked it onto the track.

The odds against such a thing were astronomical.

But Levi still didn’t get onto the gondola.

Instead, he found a friend who happened to be on ski patrol and hitched a ride on his snowmobile up to the urgent care clinic at mid-mountain. He entered the clinic and asked if Jane was working. He’d called earlier. He’d called all the clinics. He couldn’t get anyone to tell him who was on duty. So here he was . . .

“She’s not on our schedule today,” the nurse at the front desk told him.

He drove to High Alpine Resort next. No luck there either.

Two hours later, Levi walked into the last urgent care clinic in the area. This one was in Sunrise Cove, right next to the hospital.

There was no one behind the front desk, but he didn’t need help because Jane was standing in the middle of the room wearing scrubs and a familiar attitude, staring up at the only other person in the room—a huge guy, at least six-five, and clearly a fan of daily lifting at the gym.

His expression was dialed to royally pissed off, his entire body taut with tension. “Hell, no,” he growled at Jane. “Not happening.”

Jane, maybe five-four, and that was including the pile of wild dark red hair knotted on top of her head, was hands on hips, head tilted back to see the guy’s face, clearly not at all impressed by the macho display. “We’ve been through this before, Nick,” she said calmly. “And we both know who won. So you can either walk to the back of your own free will”—she gestured toward the door behind her, which presumably led to the patient rooms—“or I can call your wife again.”

The guy seemed to shrink. “Ah, man, why do you gotta be so mean? I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“No. You need a Tdap shot today.”

“I don’t need whatever that is.”

“It’s a tetanus shot, and yes you do. You stabbed your thumb on a rusty nail. But I promise, it’s just a little prick.”

“You’re a little prick,” he muttered, then swiped his hand down his face. “Shit, I’m sorry. That was automatic.”

“Understood. Now can we . . . ?” Jane pointed at the back again.

Nick and his mountain-wide shoulders sagged. “I just don’t see why it has to be today. I said I’d come back another time.”

“Please refer to my earlier answer of no.”

Nick huffed out a huge sigh and started shuffling into the lab. Halfway there, he turned back.

Jane was still pointing.

With a huge sigh, he vanished through the doorway.

Jane turned to Levi, registering nothing but a quiet surprise. “Tarzan.”

He grimaced. “Tell me you remember my real name.”

“Of course I do. But then again, I’m not the one with a head injury.”

“I’m fine.” He knocked on the top of his head. “Hard as a rock. And you?” He gestured to her wrist, which wasn’t splinted.

“I’m good.” Her dark green eyes gave nothing away, including how she felt at seeing him again.

As for what he felt, it seemed a whole lot like relief. “I wanted to thank you for saving my ass.”

“You’d have been fine if I hadn’t been there. You only got hurt because you were trying to protect me.”

“I liked the company,” he said, and while she looked to be absorbing that comment, he made another. “You ducked out on me at the hospital.”

“Hey, I made sure you were going to live first.”

This made him laugh. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Are you in need of medical attention?”

“No.”

She looked him over anyway. He’d like to think that there was some attraction as well as assessment in her pretty eyes, but she was damn good at holding her own counsel. “Okay then,” she said. “Welp, I gotta get back to work. Make sure the door shuts behind you. The latch doesn’t always catch.”

He smiled at being so thoroughly dismissed. “Nice bedside manner. Sexy. Only you’re not the boss of me, Jane. I mean . . . unless you ask real nice first.”

“Now you’re just trying to fluster me.”

“Didn’t know I could.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face. “Like you don’t know you have that effect on most women.”

“But not you.”

“I’m not most women. How did you find me anyway?”

“First, I braved North Diamond’s mountain looking for you, only to find out that you weren’t scheduled at that urgent care today. Or at Sierra North, Homeward, or Starwood Peak . . .”

That won him a low laugh, but her smile slowly faded. “I’m off rotation at North Diamond for now.”

He hated the idea that she was afraid to go back up there, but he certainly understood it. “I nearly had a panic attack at the idea of getting on the gondola,” he admitted. “I had to get a buddy from ski patrol give me a ride on his snowmobile.”