One-night passion—

To pregnancy bombshell!

In this First Response story, paramedic Kody Davis has kept his heart on ice since losing his wife. He’s careful not to let anyone in, save for his daughter, but he can’t ignore his attraction to his guarded but gorgeous new colleague, Dr. Sandra Fraser. So when one stormy night awakens a dormant passion in them both, they agree it will be one time only—until an unexpected pregnancy changes everything...

Born and raised just outside Toronto, Ontario, AMY RUTTAN fled the big city to settle down with the country boy of her dreams. After the birth of her second child Amy was lucky enough to realise her lifelong dream of becoming a romance author. When she’s not furiously typing away at her computer she’s mum to three wonderful children, who use her as a personal taxi and chef.

Also by Amy Ruttan

A Mummy for His Daughter

A Date with Dr Moustakas

NY Doc Under the Northern Lights

Carrying the Surgeon’s Baby

Royal Doc’s Secret Heir

First Response collection

Firefighter’s Unexpected Fling by Susan Carlisle Pregnant with the Paramedic’s Baby

Available now

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Pregnant with the Paramedic’s Baby

Amy Ruttan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90206-3

PREGNANT WITH THE PARAMEDIC’S BABY

© 2019 Amy Ruttan

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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For my family. All of them, those by blood and those members I chose. You mean the world to me.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

OF COURSE. It had to be him.

Dr. Sandra Fraser stood in the ambulance bay of Rolling Creek General Hospital and watched as the most annoying paramedic she’d ever encountered in her years as a trauma surgeon, albeit the sexiest, climbed out of the back of the ambulance, helping his partner bring the gurney down.

Kody Davis was a damn fine paramedic. He was good-looking, and everyone loved him.

Too bad she hated him.

Hate is a strong word. You don’t hate him.

No, she didn’t hate him. He might grate on her nerves and she hated the fact that she was so drawn to him. He wasn’t the typical type of man that she’d dated in the past. He was a charmer, everyone loved him, and she made assumptions that he was a playboy.

Of course, that was only an assumption. She didn’t know if he was or not, but all the guys that she’d known like him in high school and college, the ones with that same playful, charming, carefree demeanor, had been players. Which was why she steered clear of men like Kody, even if secretly she really was attracted to his type.

She chose men who were sedate and serious.

Yeah, and look where that got you. Divorced and heartbroken.

Still, Kody would be the type to be a playboy. What woman wouldn’t be attracted to him? He was tall, at least six foot, and in good shape. He had to be, to be a paramedic. His black hair was always kept neat and he had a gorgeous smile, with a twinkle in his eyes that always made her heart beat just a bit faster.

And then there was his drawl. There was a hint of Southern when he spoke, but she couldn’t place what state. He was definitely not from Texas. She couldn’t place his accent and it made her wonder where he was from. What his pastimes were. What his favorite food was.

Whether he had a significant other.

She groaned.

Focus.

She wasn’t looking for a romantic entanglement. She’d moved to Austin to get away from her heartache. The last thing she needed was some kind of illicit, hot one-night stand with a sexy paramedic who made her heart beat just a little bit faster.

Don’t you? Maybe that’s exactly what you need.

Sandra shook that thought away. She didn’t have time to get annoyed by her thoughts about Kody; she had to put her focus on her patient. She was just annoyed that it was Kody again. That when he was around it made her think about other things. Things she had no wish to think about again.

And since she’d started here at Rolling Hills, she constantly ran into Kody. Didn’t he ever take time off?

Why did he always have to be the paramedic that she was assigned to meet?

If she believed in karma or fate or anything like that, she was pretty positive that it was messing with her and really that wasn’t fair. She’d already dealt with enough, hadn’t she?

“What do we have here, Mr. Davis?” she asked, trying to keep cool and stay impersonal around him.

Kody glanced at her briefly and she saw the small flash of annoyance when she called him Mr. Davis.

He didn’t like that formality, she knew that, but it was what Sandra preferred. It kept people out, kept them safely on the other side of her carefully constructed walls.

The last time she’d let someone in, it had broken her heart completely.

It had destroyed her.

She was not going to make that mistake again, even if it meant she didn’t really have many friends here in Austin.

“Luke McIver, forty. Passenger in a head-on collision with a cow. Wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was ejected through the windshield.”

Sandra’s eyes widened. “Did you say a cow?”

Kody nodded quickly and then shrugged. “I guess not a cow.”

“You guess not a cow?” Sandra asked, confused as she leaned over and examined the patient.

“Well, a longhorn type of cow, but I’m not sure if they’re actually a traditional cow.”

Sandra shook her head. “They’re cows. Texas longhorns.”

“Ah. Good to know. I’ve been wondering. Anyway, the car collided with the longhorn and Mr. McIver wasn’t wearing a seat belt. The driver sustained minimum injuries, but Mr. McIver here was eighty over sixty.”

Sandra frowned. That was not a good blood pressure reading.

That’s low.

And just from looking at the patient, she suspected he had a head trauma, especially since Kody had said the patient was ejected from his seat and went through the windshield. She continued her stabilization of her patient, although Kody had done a good job.

He might try to be too familiar with her, she hated the fact she couldn’t stop thinking about him, that she found him interesting and sexy, but she couldn’t deny his skills as a paramedic.

Kody Davis went above and beyond in an emergency situation. He could think on his feet, assess and, more importantly, save lives. So she shouldn’t complain about having to deal with him. She was lucky he was so good at his work. It made her job that much easier.

“Let’s get him into trauma pod three.”

“Right, boss lady.”

She cringed when he called her boss lady.

She hated that.

She knew that Kody wasn’t using it in a derogatory fashion, but in her experience it was usually used that way. And she detested when people called her that. It reminded her of her shattered life in San Diego.

It reminded her of broken promises and heartache and she knew the only reason he was calling her boss lady was because she called him Mr. Davis. Since they’d met four months ago they were always goading each other.

He always had a smile for her. Always called her boss lady.

That’s because he doesn’t know you don’t like it.

And she didn’t tell him because she didn’t want any kind of familiarity with him.

Just a professional relationship.

Are you sure?

There was a part of her that wanted more, just to see what it would be like, but she’d been burned by love before. She wasn’t going to let that happen again. No matter how much she wanted it to.

Focus.

Kody helped her get the patient into the trauma pod and her residents came in.

Dr. Megan Coombs, the senior resident, immediately took over monitoring the patient’s blood pressure. “BP is seventy over fifty.”

“We’re losing him,” Sandra said over the din of residents going about their work. She was glad she didn’t have to coddle her residents. They knew what they were doing. She stepped in and began to work her magic. This was the moment when she really shone—this was the kind of moment that she lived for.

Saving a life.

She wasn’t going to let Luke McIver die. He might have been foolish not wearing a seat belt, but she was going to save his life.

“I need five hundred ccs of saline stat!” she shouted over the din. She needed to raise his blood pressure so that they could stabilize him and she could find out what was going on inside. As another resident was hooking up the saline, she went over her ABCs of the patient and saw his pupils were still reactive and responsive.

Which was good.

They had a chance to save his life.

“BP is stabilizing,” Dr. Coombs said.

“Good.” Sandra stepped back. “Dr. Coombs, you can lead this trauma pod. Take the patient for CT scans. Look for a brain bleed and possible internal injuries. Page me when you have the results.”

Dr. Coombs nodded. “Yes, Dr. Fraser.”

Sandra pulled off her gloves and saw that Kody was still standing in the trauma pod. His blue eyes were fixed on the patient and it was the first time she noticed how stunningly blue his eyes really were.

Her pulse began to race, her blood heating, and she hoped she wasn’t blushing as she gazed deep into those eyes.

Get a grip on yourself, Sandra.

“You’re still here?” she asked.

Kody smiled, a dimple in his cheek. “You never released me, boss lady.”

Sandra rolled her eyes and jammed her yellow trauma gown and gloves into the medical waste bin beside him. “You’re excused.”

She walked out of the trauma pod, hoping that he didn’t follow, but he did.

“Why do you dislike me so much?” he asked.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. “What’re you talking about?”

The smile was gone. “I’m good at my job and I have a good rapport with people, but since you arrived at Rolling Creek, you just don’t seem to like me much.”

She sighed. “I don’t dislike you, Mr. Davis. I just prefer to keep things professional at work.”

Which was true. She was still trying to heal from the last time she’d let people in. It didn’t matter how lonely she was, this was for the best. Her walls were up to protect her heart.

“Ah, so that’s why you don’t really seem to have any friends,” he remarked.

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “I’m not here to make friends, Mr. Davis. I’m here to save lives.”

The twinkle returned to his eyes. “Aren’t we all? But it doesn’t hurt to put a wee bit of a smile on your face every once in a while. You’re looking kind of pinched lately, boss lady.”

He tried to move past her, but she blocked his path. “Don’t call me that.”

“What?” he asked.

“Boss lady. I don’t... I don’t like it.” And she tried to keep her voice from trembling. Kody didn’t need to know how her ex-husband had called her something similar when she’d been promoted above him, and after she couldn’t get pregnant.

He’d blamed it all on her.

And she’d blamed a lot of her infertility on herself too, but he’d called her boss lady and that brought back too many painful memories. Memories she didn’t want to think about or be reminded about here in Austin.

She’d left San Diego four months ago to get away from all that. It had been two years since her divorce was finalized, but it had taken her that long to realize she really needed a fresh start. Austin was where she was born and put up for adoption, it was where her loving adoptive parents had found her, so she’d decided to come back to her roots for her new start.

This was supposed to be her fresh start and she’d learned from her past mistakes. She wasn’t going to let anyone in.

So she was half expecting Kody to brush off her concerns, as if they were nothing. It was a harmless name, wasn’t it? That was what she’d been told before when she’d told other people she didn’t like it.

“Come on, Sandra. We’re just joking. Can’t you take a joke?”

“I’m sorry,” Kody said softly, and she was surprised.

“What?” she asked, not quite believing him.

“I’m sorry that I called you boss lady. If I had known that, I would’ve never called you that.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised.

“Really. I’m sorry, Dr. Fraser.”

She didn’t know what to say and she was taken aback by his genuine sincerity. No one had ever apologized to her for that before because they all thought the supposed “joke” was harmless, but it hurt her.

“Sure. Of course I really mean it.” Kody smiled kindly at her. “You’re not the only one who didn’t like a nickname given to you as a joke.”

Heat bloomed into her cheeks. “I know you don’t like to be referred to as Mr. Davis, so I’m sorry for that too.”

Kody shook his head. “I don’t mind that. That’s nothing. Although, it does make me think of my father...but, yeah, I’m no stranger to nicknames that I feel aren’t appropriate, nicknames that hurt and are explained away. So, I’m sorry, Dr. Fraser. I hope this won’t ruin our working relationship?”

“No. It won’t. I appreciate your apology.” And she did.

Kody half smiled at her. “Good. I’ll see you later.”

He walked past her, down the hall toward the ambulance bay.

What just happened?

Something had changed there. He’d got past her walls. Got through her front line of defense and, even though it was the last thing that she’d wanted, she was glad.

Kody stopped and looked back and saw Dr. Fraser walking away. He hadn’t meant to hurt her—that was the last thing he’d ever wanted to do when he’d first seen her four months ago. He’d been taken aback by her beauty. Her dark brown hair, always pulled tightly back in a high ponytail, and those dark brown eyes that were keen. She never missed anything. The pink in her high cheekbones that always deepened when she was angry or annoyed or anything.

She hardly smiled. He’d never seen a true smile from her and that was why he always worked so hard to get one, but after a while he’d just thought that she had some pain in her past and he was no stranger to that.

Dr. Sandra Fraser intrigued him. She was a closed book and he wanted to peek inside. Although, he shouldn’t.

She was off-limits as far as he was concerned.

She turned and walked in the direction of the radiology floor. Probably because the patient’s CT scans were up, and Kody really hoped that the patient pulled through.

This was the only part of his job that he didn’t like, because he often didn’t know what happened beyond this point. He didn’t know what became of the patient.

“You should’ve become a doctor, then!”

Kody shook his sister Sally’s words out of his head.

Yeah, he could’ve been a doctor, but he’d given up any idea of medical school when his high-school sweetheart, Jenny, had got pregnant. They had married and both studied to be paramedics, while looking after their newborn daughter, moving to Austin from North Carolina.

They’d had high hopes to eventually move to Alaska so that Kody could become a flying paramedic and there had been talk that perhaps one day he’d go to medical school.

All the plans had been in place, but then, when their daughter had turned two, Jenny had got sick and the doctors had found the cancer in her ovaries. It had been a short battle and all their dreams had gone.

Just like that.

It was just him and his little bug, Lucy, against the world. Although Sally came and helped as much as she could, Sally wanted to be a doctor and wouldn’t be able to help with Lucy anymore. And Sally was moving on with his best friend, Ross. They were happy and he couldn’t begrudge them happiness. He had been annoyed at first, when Ross had made a move and taken up with his little sister, but not overtly unhappy about it. He was just going to let Ross think that every once in a while.

Sally deserved happiness and Ross was a great guy.

Still, he was envious of them, but he couldn’t let another woman into his life. He wouldn’t put Lucy at risk if things didn’t work out. He’d dated since Jenny died, just nothing more than a couple of dates that had gone nowhere because Lucy was his priority.

So, here he was, a widower, father and a paramedic, who really wished he could do more to help the lives he tried to save when he was first on the scene.

Dr. Fraser will save him.

And the fleeting thought of Dr. Sandra Fraser made his pulse beat a bit faster. The moment he laid eyes on Sandra something came to life. There was a spark, something electric, and he wanted to get to know her.

It was just she didn’t seem interested and he couldn’t introduce a woman to Lucy when there was a chance it wouldn’t last. He wouldn’t allow Lucy to get hurt like that.

Still, Sandra made him think about what could be.

Don’t think about it.

Kody ran his hand through his hair and sighed as he turned back toward the ambulance bay. He had no time for relationships and really hadn’t had the inclination since Jenny had died five years ago.

Lucy and taking care of her were his top priority.

That was all that mattered.

“You were a long time,” his partner, Robbie, said. “Did boss lady tear you a new one?”

The mention of boss lady made a few of the other paramedics hanging around their rigs laugh and that made Kody a bit uneasy. If he had known it bothered her so much, he wouldn’t have called her that.

He hadn’t been lying when he’d said he was no stranger to being called “joke” names that apparently weren’t supposed to cause harm but did.

Like half-breed or Injun. Everything that pointed out he was part-Cherokee, as if it were a shameful thing, as if it were something he shouldn’t be proud of, when he was dang proud of that fact.

“Hey, cool it, Robbie,” Kody said quietly.

“Cool what?” Robbie asked, confused.

“The boss lady.”

Robbie shrugged. “It’s just a joke.”

“Yeah, well, what’re we, like, twelve? And no, she didn’t tear me a new one. She was so busy stabilizing our patient that she didn’t release me until now.”

“Sorry,” Robbie said. “No offense.”

Kody didn’t respond and helped Robbie clean up the rig and make sure it was stocked for the next shift. Kody was glad his shift was almost over. He wanted to get home to Lucy, especially before the storm that was threatening to come in hit.

If there was any kind of disaster, he was on call to be first on the scene. He was hoping for a quiet night.

“You okay, man?” Robbie asked.

“I’m okay.” Kody smiled. “Just tired.”

Robbie nodded. “Well, let’s get back to the station house. It was a long shift and an accident involving a car and a cow really wasn’t a great ending.”

Kody half smiled and nodded. “You’re right.”

It had been a bizarre ending to a long shift, but also a good ending since he’d got to see Dr. Fraser. Even though there was no way he’d act on anything, it was nice to see her and admire her, even from a distance.

And that was all it could ever be.

Admiration from a distance.

CHAPTER TWO

“DADDY!”

Kody was nearly barreled over when he walked in the front door of his small west-Austin home. Even though Lucy was a big girl of seven, he still scooped her up in his arms and gave her a kiss. Lucy looked more and more like his late wife, Jenny, every day. Strawberry blond hair, with curls and his blue eyes.

“You did your nails,” Kody exclaimed as he checked her hand and saw the wildly garish colors on her tiny nails.

“Aunt Sally helped,” Lucy said.

“It’s about time,” Sally, his little sister, said, coming in from the kitchen. “Ross is waiting for me. He’s driving me to the station.”

“Sorry, Sweet Pea. I was held up at the hospital.” Kody set Lucy down. “My patient was a passenger in a head-on collision with a Texas longhorn.”

Sally cocked one of her finely arched brows. “A cow?”

“Oh, no, was the cow hurt?” Lucy asked.

Kody plastered a fake smile on his face. “No. The cow’s fine.”

Then he shot a look to his sister and shook his head. No, the longhorn did not fare well at all. Sally made a face.

“Well, I fed Lucy...macaroni, beef and tomato sauce casserole,” Sally said.

“Thanks,” Kody said dryly as Lucy plopped herself on the couch to read her book.

“That doesn’t sound appreciative,” Sally teased.

“Sorry. It is, Sweet Pea. It was just a very long rescue. Very messy and now I get to eat a casserole of beef.”

What he didn’t mention was his run-in with Sandra was partly to blame. He didn’t need Sally teasing him about Dr. Fraser.

It was bad enough that Ross bugged him about dating again, he didn’t need Sally siding with her new boyfriend.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were dealing with a cow accident at work.”

“I know.” Kody scrubbed his hand over his face and there was a crack of thunder in the distance, before the slow and then fast patter of rain on his metal roof.

Great.

Sally winced. “Well, I’d better get home so Ross can take me to the station. I am working another twenty-four-hour shift again.”

“It’s part of the job,” Kody teased.

“Don’t I know it.” Sally walked over to Lucy and gave her a kiss on the head. “Later, love bug.”

“Bye, Aunt Sally.”

“Thanks, Sally.” Kody walked his sister out as she dashed from his front porch to her car on the street.

Kody let out a heavy sigh and headed to the kitchen. He was going to heat up some of the dinner and then make sure that Lucy’s grandparents, Jenny’s parents, who had moved from North Carolina to be with Jenny and Lucy, were around so that he could drop Lucy off there if he was called in.

He was one of the few medics at the station who had advanced life-support training as a tactical paramedic and wilderness emergency medical technician.

If there was flash flooding, he’d be called in.

I should just take Lucy there now.

He knew he’d be called in. It was only a matter of time and he was thankful his in-laws were so close.

At first, he’d grumbled when Jenny’s parents, Ted and Myrtle, had decided to follow him and Jenny to Austin, but he was so glad they had and that they’d stayed. They were a huge source of help to him and they’d got to be with Jenny when she’d passed.

What had started out as a strained relationship when he and Jenny had been in high school was now a close relationship. He thought of them as a second set of parents.

They’d been his rock here in Austin, before Sally had followed him out here after her divorce.

Davises are cursed in love, apparently.

He punched in the number and Myrtle answered.

“Hey, it’s Kody.”

“Kody! So glad to hear from you. I take it you’re on call tonight?” Myrtle asked.

“I am and it’s raining hard. I’m worried there’s going to be some flash flooding up in hill country.”

“Bring Lucy over whenever. It’s been a while since she had a sleepover with Grammy and Gramps.”

“Thanks, Myrtle. I’m going to have dinner and spend some time with her before I bring her over.”

“See you soon, Kody.”

Kody ended the call and then took the plate that Sally had made up for him. He zapped it in the microwave and then sank uneasily into the kitchen chair. There was a flash of lightning and Lucy came scurrying into the kitchen.

“Hey, love bug. Do you think you could pass me some Parmesan cheese from the fridge?”

“Sure, Daddy.” Lucy opened the fridge and handed him the Parmesan cheese, taking her seat right next to him. He smiled at her. She reminded him of Jenny so much.

“Promise me you’ll open your heart again,” Jenny whispered.

“Don’t say that. How could I do that?” he asked.

Jenny smiled weakly. “I don’t want you to be alone. I don’t want Lucy to grow up without a mother.”

A lump formed in his throat and he shook the memory away. He was breaking his one promise to Jenny. She’d wanted him to be happy again. She’d wanted a mother for Lucy, but he couldn’t risk opening his heart again.

He couldn’t risk losing another mother figure for Lucy.

He couldn’t risk his heart again.

But you’re lonely.

“You okay, Daddy?”

“Fine.” Kody smiled, but it was a fake smile for Lucy.

He was lonely and it had been five years since Jenny died, but how could he move on from her? How could he let his heart open again to that kind of pain? That kind of grief over the possibility of losing someone else he loved?

He just couldn’t.

“So, there’s a bad rainstorm...”

Lucy sighed. “I know. You have to go help others. Does this mean a sleepover at Grammy’s?”

Kody chuckled. “It sure does. How about you go pack an overnight bag and after I finish dinner we’ll head over to Grammy’s?”

“Okay.” Lucy ran off to her room.

He’d lucked out on having such a great, well-adjusted kid and he credited that to Jenny’s kind disposition and to all the help he’d had in raising her.

As he finished his dinner and cleaned up, his cell phone buzzed with a text message. He was being called in for emergency duty. There was some flash flooding, just as he’d expected. He flicked on the coffee machine and jammed in a pod. It was going to be a long night.

While it whirred and hummed Lucy came out of her room with her bag ready.

“I’m ready to go!” she said brightly.

Kody grinned. “Good. I’ll just get my coffee in a travel mug and we’ll get out of here. Go put on your rubber boots and dig out the umbrella.”

“Right, Dad.”

Kody stifled a yawn. Yep, tonight was going to be a long, long night.

Sandra had her wipers going at maximum speed, but she still couldn’t see through the rain that was coming down in sheets.

I should’ve just stayed at the hospital.

The thing was, her shift was over, Mr. McIver had died and after what had happened today she was emotionally drained. For the first time in a long time she’d decided to actually go home instead of lingering at the hospital, even though she hated going home to an empty house.

You’re the one who bought a ranch outside the city.

She hadn’t been thinking straight when she’d bought the ranch house on an old cattle range when she’d moved out here from San Diego. Although she’d always loved the country over the city. She’d had hopes of buying a large piece of land outside San Diego where her kids could grow and run.

And her heart hurt when she thought about that.

Kids.

She desperately wanted them, but, after rounds and rounds of IVF treatments that hadn’t worked and too many miscarriages that had broken her heart, she knew that she would never have kids. She wanted to adopt, as she was adopted, but it was about the time she’d started the process of adoption her now ex-husband had suddenly announced that he didn’t want kids. And she’d realized Alex never had been the right man for her.

She wanted kids and he didn’t, at least not ones that weren’t biologically his.

And that was the reason he’d said he wanted a divorce: because he couldn’t open his heart to someone else’s child. He wanted his own and she couldn’t give him that.

She’d had to walk away, though it had broken her heart to do so. It had been the right thing to do.

Alex had made her feel, for an inkling of a second, that she had somehow failed as a woman. It had taken her a year to shake that thought of failure from her mind. Staying in San Diego and working with him had never let her truly heal. Which was why she’d bought this old ranch outside Austin and moved away from San Diego.

There was no family keeping her in San Diego anymore. Her beloved adoptive parents were gone. It was just her and she had to do something for herself. So she’d decided to go to the place of her birth. To find roots, and what better place to find roots than a beautiful piece of land on the outskirts of the city?

Of course, now, with this crazy rain, she was really regretting her choice of living outside the city.

Sandra leaned over her steering wheel, trying to peer through the sheets of rain. Thankfully it wasn’t completely dark out, but the sun was setting behind the gray rain clouds. She had to get home soon, before it got dark and made it completely impossible to see anything.

She slowed down as she approached a small one-lane bridge and pulled over as a driver coming in the opposite direction crossed over.

There was a crack of thunder and a rumbling sound, which made Sandra’s blood run cold. She glanced out of her driver’s-side window in time to see a wave of mud washing down over the hill.

Oh, my God.

And there was nothing she could do. She just closed her eyes as the mud hit her car, tipping it over and over down the embankment toward the small creek that was swollen and overflowing with water.

Her life, her lonely life, flashed before her eyes and she knew right then and there she was going to die.

“Jesus!” Kody climbed out of his car. He had just passed that car while it waited for him to cross the bridge when he heard the rumbling behind him. He looked in his rearview mirror to see the mud from the side of the hill come washing down over the small SUV.

He instantly called into the dispatch for help.

“I’m on Tarry Cross Road West and there’s a car that’s been washed down into Burl’s Creek.”

“Gotcha, Kody. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Some of the roads out that way have been washed out.”

“Roger, I’ll see what I can do to help.” Kody ended the call and popped open his trunk, grabbing a tool he kept for smashing open windows. He made his way carefully over to the mudflow that had stopped, for now, but he knew any moment it could give way again.

The rain was dissipating, and the SUV was on its side, but not far down the embankment. It wouldn’t have taken much for it to become dislodged and be swallowed up by the creek. He made his way to the driver’s-side door and peered inside. There was a lone passenger, unconscious, who was buckled in and on her side.

Kody tapped on the window. “Hey! You okay?”

She roused and looked toward him. His blood ran cold when he saw who was trapped in the SUV.

“Sandra!” he shouted. “Are you okay?”

She nodded but motioned she was stuck.

“Cover your face,” he said and held up his tool that was used to break windows.

Sandra nodded her understanding and grabbed her jacket, shielding her face and arms. Once Kody was sure that she was safe he smashed open the window. It was an older vehicle, so the window broke easily. He cleaned away all the jagged remnants.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No, my head,” she murmured. “And I seem to be stuck in my seat belt.”

Kody handed her a knife. “I can’t climb in there—if I do it might dislodge the vehicle and it and you will tumble down into the water.”

She nodded and took the knife, sawing away at her seat belt; sliding a bit, she held her own and grabbed her purse, snaking it around her body.

“Take my hand,” Kody said.

Sandra reached up and he carefully helped her out of her SUV and into his arms. He held her close and backed away from the SUV and out of the mud. Just as they got back onto the pavement, there was a crack and her SUV continued its tumble down the embankment.

She buried her head in his neck and let out a whimper as he held her close.

“It’s okay. I got you.” His heart was hammering, and he was trying to catch his breath. All he could do was stand there and hold her. It was comforting to hold her, and he didn’t want to even think about what would’ve happened had he not been here.

“We should get out of here,” Sandra murmured, but still holding on to his jacket, her body still curled up tight against his chest.

“You’re right.”

“I live just on the other side of the bridge. Down Denham Road.” Her voice shook as she spoke, and he didn’t blame her.

“The bridge is washed out, but I know another way.” He carried her to his car and helped her get settled into the back. He opened his trunk and tossed his tools back in there, before grabbing a blanket.

He climbed into the driver’s seat and handed her the blanket. She was wadding up some tissues for what looked like a superficial head wound.

“Thanks,” she said, her voice trembling.

“You’re safe. Let’s get you to your house and then I can call the team and tell them you’re safe and I’ll make sure that’s just a superficial wound.”

“Thanks.” She held the tissues against her forehead.

“Sorry about your vehicle,” he said.

“It’s just my SUV that’s totaled,” she muttered. “That’s a small price to pay for my life.”

Kody nodded, but his pulse was still racing. He couldn’t believe she’d been so close to death like that, and the thought of her losing her life terrified him and he didn’t know why.

Probably because you know her and you watched it happen.

Kody pulled away from the scene of the mudslide and took his time making his way carefully down the road and turning down the other road that led to Denham, but the moment he turned the corner, it was gone. The road was washed away and Burl’s Creek now looked like an angry river gurgling and rushing past them.

“Well, I guess we can...” There was a rumble and Kody watched in horror as the road behind them washed out. They were trapped on a small stretch of road and Burl’s Creek was inching toward them.

“We have to go on foot. There’s a small cabin not far from here. It’s on the edge of my property. It’s high ground,” she said.

Kody nodded. Sandra helped him grab what he needed from his truck, but it was hard for her since one hand was holding the now-wet blob of tissues against her head wound.

“Just lead the way, Sandra. I’ll follow,” he ordered.

Sandra nodded and headed up a trail off the road, higher than the river, up onto the range. It was a slippery climb, but she seemed to know her way up the stony embankment, through the cottonwood trees, and eventually they were out on the plains. It looked as if it was an old cattle ranch.

“My house is in that direction, but we’d have to cross the water to get to it,” Sandra shouted.

Kody nodded, but he couldn’t make it out, not through the rain, which was getting heavier. However, she had led them right—there was a cabin about five hundred feet away and they should be safe there, provided he could get a fire started and figure out a way to contact help.

“Let’s go.” He slung his pack of supplies over his shoulder and without thinking he took her hand and led her through the wind and rain to the cabin. She pulled out her ring of keys and unlocked the door.

Kody followed her in.

The cabin was dark, but it was dry, and it was shelter.

“There’s no electricity yet,” she explained through chattering teeth. “I was planning on having it renovated soon, to rent it out.”

“It has a fireplace, so I can get to building us a fire.” He set down his bag and Sandra sat on a sheet-covered chair, pulling the damp blanket around her tighter.

He pulled out his fire starters and was relieved that there was a bit of wood still in the cabin, so it would be dry. He knelt down and built a pyramid and set his homemade fire starters under. It didn’t take long before they had a fire going.

He pulled off his jacket and set it on the floor, while he rummaged in his bag for some rope. Something they could hang their wet clothes on so the fire could dry them. He pulled out the twine and set about making a makeshift clothesline.

“You’ve thought of everything,” Sandra said. She was visibly shivering, and the tissue was blood-soaked and wet under her fingers.

“Come closer to the fire and I’ll check out that wound.”

“It’s superficial,” she said.

“Dr. Fraser, get over here. Now.” He shook his head and she came closer to the fire and sat on the floor in front of him.

“I’ve never heard you be so forceful before,” she said and there was a twinkle in her eye, like one he’d never seen, and she was smiling. He liked her smile.

“I think you have a concussion,” he said dryly.

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re joking with me.” He smiled at her and she laughed softly.

“I don’t think it’s a concussion. I think the adrenaline is wearing off.”

“So you’re saying it’s nerves?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She laughed. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“It’s my job.”

“Still, if you hadn’t been there...” She trailed off and he knew what she was thinking because he thought it too. She would’ve died.

“Hold still,” he said as he gently peeled away the wet tissue to examine the wound. She was right, it was superficial, and it had mostly stopped bleeding.

“Superficial, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Doctors make the worst patients,” he muttered as he pulled out some antibiotic ointment and gauze.

She laughed again. “I suppose we do.”

Kody didn’t respond and bandaged up her head. “There, you’re all done.”

“Thanks,” she said and pulled the blanket tighter. “The fire feels good. You have a lot of stuff in that bag of tricks.”

“I have wilderness survival skills training and am a tactical paramedic.”

“Wow,” she said, sounding impressed. “I usually don’t meet a lot of paramedics with that level of training in an urban setting.”

“Well, when I got my certifications, I was preparing for a different life than being an urban EMT. Of course, fate sometimes has a way of kicking you in your soft spot.” He snapped the lid shut on his first-aid kit.

“I hear you,” she said. “I never thought in a million years that I would be here, in Austin, and living on an old cattle ranch.”

“Where did you expect to be?” he asked.

She cocked an eyebrow. “If I tell you, then you have to tell me about this different so-called life you were preparing for. Tit for tat.”

“Tit for tat?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m not going to give you my life story without something in return. Just know that it stays between us.”

“Deal,” he said, because they had to kill time somehow and the rain was starting up again something fierce. At least he knew that Lucy was safe, so he didn’t have to worry about that. And he wouldn’t mind getting to know Dr. Fraser better. He admired her and she was a closed book. “So, where did you expect to be? How has your life gone sideways?”

“I got divorced,” she said. “And we worked together in San Diego and I couldn’t stand seeing him all the time, so I came here.”

“There’s more to it than that.”

“What do you mean?” she asked carefully.

“San Diego is a large city. You transfer to another hospital—you don’t pick up everything and move a couple of states away.”

Sandra sighed. “Fine. I couldn’t have kids... He didn’t want to adopt. It was a hard and emotional breakup and I knew to put it properly behind me I’d have to leave.”

“So why Austin?”

“I was adopted and grew up with my parents in San Diego, but I was born here. Since my adoptive parents are gone, I thought I would come home. Besides, a few months ago my ex remarried and is having the biological family he always wanted.”

“And you desperately wanted kids,” he said softly.

She nodded and he could see the tears in her eyes. “I did, but it wasn’t meant to be. I can’t get pregnant. Trust me, we tried, and I went through a lot of procedures. He found someone else who gave him the kids I couldn’t.”

“Now I get it.”

“You get what?” she asked.

“Why you moved from San Diego and why you bought an old cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere.” He reached into his bag and dug out a couple of granola bars. He tossed her one.

“You get that?” she teased, opening her granola bar and taking a bite.

“I think so, and I see the appeal. Living in a city is not at all how I planned my life.” He leaned back against the wall. “I wanted to be an air paramedic in Alaska.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Wow, that sounds adventurous and explains the wilderness training.”

“It was going to be.” He smiled. “Of course, then my high-school girlfriend got pregnant when we were twenty-one, so we got married and both became paramedics. There wasn’t much work in North Carolina and with a baby we couldn’t pursue our dreams of Alaska right away. I took a job in Austin...” He trailed off because it was hard even now to talk about Jenny. It brought back all those memories. All their hopes and dreams that never saw fruition.

He never talked about this with anyone. Ever. Those were his hopes and dreams. Their hopes and dreams, Jenny’s and his.

He never shared Jenny with anyone but her parents, Sally, and Lucy; Jenny and their plans he kept locked away. It was easier to cope with the grief that way.

Is it?

“What happened?” Sandra asked softly.

“My wife died of cancer five years ago.” And he fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. Even after all this time, admitting it was hard.

“I’m so sorry.”

Kody nodded. “At least I have my daughter, Lucy. I have a piece of my wife still.”

“So, Alaska is on hold?”

He nodded. “My late wife’s parents followed us from North Carolina to Austin and are a huge help to me with Lucy. I could never take Lucy away from them.”

“I never knew you had a child.”

“You never asked.”

“No. I suppose I didn’t, but I haven’t made a lot of friends here in Austin,” she admitted.

“You will.”

A strange looked passed briefly over her face. “We’ll see.”

“Well, I’m your friend.”

“Are you?” she asked.

“Of course. I don’t talk about my personal life with just anyone.”

What he didn’t say was that he didn’t share any of this with anyone. He wasn’t even sure why he was telling Sandra all of this. Maybe because she’d let down her guard too and it felt good to let it all out. He’d been bottling it up for so long.

“Well, there are flying paramedics in Texas. Perhaps you can get your license?”

Kody scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s costly and you need to invest a lot of time in learning to fly. Perhaps one day. Right now, Lucy needs me.”

“You’re a good dad.” She smiled at him, her brown eyes twinkling in the flickering firelight. “I misjudged you.”

“How?” he asked.

“You were this fun-loving, charismatic guy. Men I know like that often play the field.”

He was shocked. “I’ve never been a player. There’s only been Jenny, and a handful of dates I went on about a year ago that went nowhere. That’s hardly playboy material.”

“I understand that now,” she said. “And I’m glad you’re not. Guys like that aren’t good for the heart.” She blushed. “What I mean is...”

He chuckled. “I understand. Still, it does secretly please me you thought I was charming enough to be a player.”

And it did. It made his pulse quicken in anticipation that she thought he was something of a bad boy. That she thought of him like that. That she thought about him more than just as a paramedic who annoyed her.

Sandra smiled at him; there was a dimple in her cheek and her chocolate-brown eyes lit with a sparkle he’d never seen. It made him feel warm; it shook away the remnants of the pain that were threatening to take over. The grief that he’d learned to compartmentalize in the last five years since Jenny slipped away.

“You have a beautiful smile, Sandra. Really beautiful,” he whispered.

“Thanks.”

“You should smile more.”

“Why? Because I’m only pretty when I smile?”

“No! No, you’re beautiful all the time. I’ve always thought so. I just like it when you smile at me.”

And before he knew what he was doing he reached out to touch her face. She let out a little sigh and she leaned forward, kissing him and sending an electric buzz through him that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

Sandra didn’t mean to kiss Kody. When he’d told her she was beautiful and touched her, she’d lost all control. Kissing him had never been in the plans.

Liar. It so was.

She’d thought about it once or twice or more since she’d met him. She’d just never thought she’d act on it.

Liar. You so did.

“I’m sorry,” she said, quickly breaking off the kiss. And she was. She didn’t know what had come over her. She was so moved by his story. So moved by the emotion he stirred in her, she couldn’t hold back. It had been so long since she’d felt this way about anyone.

She’d thought, after Alex and her failed marriage, that she would never feel that way about another man again. She was so burned out, so lonely, but then Kody had shared a piece of himself with her. She’d shared her vulnerability and he in turn had shared his own.

It meant a lot.

“Don’t be sorry,” Kody said and then he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her back. She rose to her knees and he rose to meet her. Their bodies pressed together. His kiss was tender at first, but then urgent.

And she responded in kind to that urgency.

That need that she had been trying so hard to ignore. She hoped that if they just shared this moment of release, she could move on. He’d be the first man she slept with since Alex, and Kody was the exact type of man to help her move past the pain that held her back. Still, the thought that Kody was the first since Alex scared her. Being intimate and vulnerable was overwhelming, but she wanted—needed—this moment. She wanted to move on, and she was glad that it was with Kody. She moved her hands down his back, slipping them under his shirt.

“Sandra, are you sure?” His voice was husky.

“I’m sure. I know that you can’t promise me anything and I can’t do that either, but I think we both need this.”

Kody didn’t respond vocally, but kissed her again, making her blood sing with need. His hands were in her hair and then on her back as he pressed her down against the blanket on the floor, in front of the fire.

The only sounds were crackling fire, the roaring rain and her pulse thundering in her ears as her body came alive under his touch. Sandra melted against his kisses and there was a frenzied need to be just skin to skin with him.

To have no layers between them.

Just warmth and touch.

Human contact.

A groan slipped past Kody’s lips as her hands slid inside the waistband of his jeans. She undid the button and the fly and then he pulled off her sweater. It was a joint effort. No words were needed. They both knew what they wanted.

The only sounds between them were their hungry kisses.

She knew what she wanted in this moment.

And that was Kody.

She wanted to feel every inch of him. Feel him buried deep inside her. His kisses left her lips, burning a path of flames down her neck, over her collarbone to her breasts. She arched her back. She was ready, so ready for this to happen. So ready for him to claim her and that it was Kody for this first time since Alex. Since her heart was broken.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, letting him silently know she burned for him, just as she knew he burned for her.

“Are you sure, Sandra?” he asked again.

“Yes.” She kissed him, running her hands through his silky black hair. “So sure.”

Kody didn’t kiss her, just held her locked in his gaze. She was lost deep in his eyes as he entered her. Sandra cried out, but not from pain, from the release she felt at trusting someone to be intimate with her again. The sense of vulnerability he made her feel.

As if she didn’t have to hold back in this moment. It was freeing. It was hot and frenzied and exactly what she needed. For far too long she’d been holding back, trying to find the bits and pieces that Alex had stolen from her when he’d cheated on her, when he’d told her that she was a disappointment for not being able to carry a child.

Kody didn’t expect any of that from her and it was freeing. So freeing it was heady. The feel of his strong hands on her body, on her hips, guiding her in a rhythm they both found pleasurable. She held on to his shoulders, not wanting to let him go, not wanting this moment to end.

It didn’t take long, and she climaxed around him, crying out, and he joined her soon after. He rested his head on her shoulder for a moment, before rolling over on his back, trying to catch his breath, his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

“We should probably get dressed again, so we don’t freeze to death,” she said. Not that she wanted to get up. Her legs felt like jelly and her head was spinning. She pulled on her clothes and then grabbed the blanket.

Kody tended the fire and threw on some more wood. He’d put on his jeans, but not his shirt. She arched an eyebrow in question.

“It’s better for body heat.” He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Thank you.”

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “Thank you too. I hope... I hope this won’t be awkward at work. This can only be a one-time thing.”

“I know and, no, it won’t be awkward.” He smiled and wrapped his arm around her. They lay back down on the hard floor. He let her use his shirt as a pillow, as her head was throbbing still, and he tucked the blanket around them. He spooned her from behind.

“That feels nice,” she murmured.

“Good,” he said gently. “Try to rest. Hopefully someone will find us in the morning. If not, we should be able to walk to your place and let people know we’re still alive.”

“What about your little girl?” Sandra asked.

“She’s with her grandma and grandpa. She’s safe.”

“Good.”

No more words were needed, and Sandra slipped into a peaceful sleep as she hadn’t had in a long, long time.

CHAPTER THREE

“KODY!”

Kody woke to someone screaming his name.

“Kody!”

He blinked as sunlight streamed in through the open window. It was blinding and right in his eye.

Where the heck am I?

And it took him a moment to realize that it was morning and that Dr. Sandra Foster was curled up beside him. It all came flooding back to him then. He’d made love to Sandra. He’d become lost in the moment after they’d opened up and shared and he’d completely lost his head and all sense of reason.

Completely.

He’d never opened up about Jenny before and he’d never thought he could ever be with someone again, but Sandra had got through to him.

It had been a long time since he’d wanted someone, but reaching through to Sandra and understanding why she held people at a distance just made him admire her drive and determination more.

And she looked so peaceful, sleeping beside him. A touch of pink in her cheeks, her lips parted as she breathed softly.

He remembered the touch of those lips against his and the warmth of her embrace. The feel of her nails in his back.

He wanted her again.

You can’t have her again. One time only, remember?

And he had to keep reminding himself of that. This was a one-time thing. A moment of comfort between the two of them.

That was all it could be.

And he’d thought one time would be enough. It scared him that he wanted her so fiercely again.

“Kody!”

He recognized that voice. It was Sally calling him. He got up, trying not to disturb Sandra, and his back protested after having spent the night on a hardwood floor. He went to the door and walked outside. The temperature had dropped, breaking the heat wave that had been plaguing Austin the last couple of days. The breeze was cool and earthy, but also there was not a cloud in the sky, which meant the risk of flash flooding was past them.

He saw a team of first responders and a fire truck down the hill. And part of the first responders was his sister, Sally, who was calling his name frantically.

“Sweet Pea! Here!” He waved and Sally came running up the hill. She ran straight into his arms.

“Oh, thank God!” she said. “When I saw your truck... I was worried you were washed away, like the other one farther down the creek.”

“The SUV?”

Sally nodded, stepping back. “Yeah, we couldn’t find a body, though. Ross has his team looking farther downstream of Burl’s Creek.”

“That’s Dr. Fraser’s SUV. She was hit by a mudslide and I got her out.” Kody turned and saw that Sandra was standing in the door, looking just as confused as he first was when he’d woken up this morning.

“What’s going on?” Sandra asked.

“We’re being rescued,” he said over his shoulder before turning back to Sally. “You can call off Ross’s search party. Dr. Fraser is fine.”

“Is she hurt?” Sally asked, noticing his crude bandage job on Sandra.

“She was hurt, but it was superficial.”

“Still, it should be looked at. Both of you need to be checked out. If you have any cuts, you’ll need a course of antibiotics. You know mudslides contain bacteria that can contain flesh-eating properties,” Sally stated.

“Right,” Kody said, exhausted. He ran his hand through his hair and winced.

“You okay?” Sally asked, worried.

“Just stiff. Please take care of Dr. Fraser.”

Sally nodded and approached Sandra. He could hear them talking—Sandra was a bit standoffish. More like her old self, but he couldn’t shake the image of how it had been last night. When it had been just the two of them, as one.

His blood heated as he thought about her in his arms. The way her lips had felt on his and how tender she’d been.

It had been a long time since he’d been with anyone.

There hadn’t been anyone since Jenny, and in a way he felt guilty. Even though Jenny had told him to move on, to find happiness after she died, there was a part of him that still felt guilty. As if he had cheated on her memory.

You didn’t. Jenny’s been gone for five years.

And it was a one-time thing. He had to keep reminding himself of that. It was a one-time thing. Only he was fooling himself. Why did he ever think that once would be enough?

Either way, it had to be.

He’d promised Sandra that.

Sally helped Sandra out of the cabin.

“Let’s just go to the hospital to get checked out, Dr. Fraser,” Sally said gently.

Sandra nodded and briefly glanced at him.

“I’ll come too,” Kody assured her. “We both should be checked out.”

Sandra didn’t say much. It was almost as if she was angry with him. He had promised that there would be no awkwardness between them, but that seemed to be the opposite of what was happening here.

And he didn’t like it one bit.

They were taken to the hospital where Sandra worked. She was immediately taken off to have a CT scan; even if she was constantly insisting to the trauma doctors on duty that the wound was superficial, they wouldn’t listen to her. It was protocol, and she had some symptoms of a concussion.

Kody was checked over and Sally went off to tell his in-laws and Lucy that he was okay and had been found. They were eventually placed side by side in the same trauma pod, just a curtain separating them.

He snuck out of his bed and opened the curtain next to him. Sandra was lying in bed and waiting for test results. She looked highly annoyed. Those delicious lips of hers were pursed and she was staring up at the ceiling, her hands folded across her stomach.

“Hey,” he said gently.

She glanced at him. “I told them it was nothing, but they won’t listen to me.”

He chuckled. “I told you that doctors are the worst patients.”

She smiled quickly then, before it disappeared. “Are you okay?”

“They ran a blood test to see. I had a scrape on my leg. I didn’t even feel it, but it was dirty...wading around in the mud trying to save people’s lives.” He winked at her. “I’ll probably get some antibiotics via IV.”

She nodded and held up her hand that had an IV started. “Probably, like me. Just waiting until they tell me the CT was clear and I can get a cab to take me home since my car was washed down Burl’s Creek.”

“They found it and are retrieving it. Your insurance should cover it.”

Sandra sighed. “So that female paramedic, is she your partner?”

“Sally? No, I don’t work with her.”

Sandra frowned. “She seemed so worried about you. More than a colleague should be...”

He grinned then. “Dr. Fraser, are you jealous of my baby sister?”

Her eyes widened. “Your sister? You called her Sweet Pea!”

“It’s a name my entire family calls her.” He chuckled. “She’s my sister, which is why we’re not partners and why we never work on the same shift. She moved out here after her divorce and she helps with my daughter as well. Also, she’s stolen my best friend, Ross, out from under me too.”

“Oh.” He thought that he saw a brief moment of relief there.

“You were jealous, weren’t you?” he teased.

She glared at him indignantly. “I was not. Okay, perhaps just a bit. I was worried that I...”

“What?” he asked.

She lowered her voice. “That I slept with someone else’s partner. I never want to be the other woman.”

“No need to worry,” he said gently.

That struck a chord with him. He couldn’t blame her for feeling guilty. Heck, he felt guilty for what had happened, and he was a widower, but there was a part of him, deep down, that thought she sort of was another woman compared to Jenny. He had never felt this way about someone since Jenny died. It scared him that she’d got under his skin.

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