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Only he shook his sister Mentlana’s words out of his head. No. He didn’t deserve love again. He didn’t want it again.
Get a grip on yourself.
Why was he letting himself think like this? It was dumb. Sure, he was attracted to Samantha but that didn’t mean anything had to happen.
Except she was the first woman he’d been really attracted to since Cheryl.
They walked down the street to the empty bus stop.
“You have a training session tomorrow morning at seven sharp, and I’ll see you in the afternoon,” Samantha said. “Try to get that through to the other paramedics too.”
George laughed. “I will.”
Samantha stopped and jammed her hands in her pockets. “You can head back to O’Shea’s.”
George shook his head. “No, I think I’ll just wait here with you.” He was treading on dangerous ground but he couldn’t resist it.
Pink bloomed in her cheeks.
He cleared his throat and looked at her. She was so beautiful. He needed to get away. Fast.
Only he couldn’t move. He stayed there, standing close to her. Close enough to touch.
Run.
Only he didn’t run. Instead, he imagined what it would be like to kiss her. Her lips looked soft, moist and he wondered if they tasted as sweet as he imagined.
“I should go. You’re right. I’m sure your boyfriend Adam will be glad to see you’re home safe.”
Samantha still didn’t say anything—she didn’t have a chance as the bus pulled up and opened its doors. She climbed up the first step.
You’re an idiot, Atavik.
George waited for a word from her.
Anything.
Even “Scram” would suffice.
Instead, she smiled, the pink in her cheeks still shining. “I’m not involved with anyone. Adam is my son.”
And with that the doors of the bus closed with a hiss and George watched as it took off down the street.
He grinned, relieved to hear Adam was her son, but it didn’t last long. If there was a child there was a father.
She’s off limits.
He would keep his distance. That wasn’t what he wanted to do but it would be the best thing. He was here to learn, not date, and not fall in love with someone. He’d tried love once and it had nearly broken him.
He wouldn’t make that mistake twice.
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_658ddc3c-202e-5aa0-bdaf-3115e8d06c0d)
SAMANTHA HAD THOUGHT George was going to kiss her, but he hadn’t and she was both relieved and disappointed.
It had been a long time since she’d had a kiss. Though she didn’t know why she was allowing disappointment to gnaw at her. She’d only just met George and she was his mentor. Still, she couldn’t deny the spark he’d ignited inside her. A slow-burning ember making her feel giddy. It was a scary prospect indeed.
It had been the moment he’d come running down the highway, cradling that child, putting himself in danger to save that little girl.
That was it. It wasn’t attraction, it was a motherly instinct that played with her.
Nice try, Samantha.
When she’d married Cameron, she’d sworn to herself that he would be her first and her last. She just hadn’t expected their last kiss to come so soon.
She had been expecting fifty years or more.
Not the just the five they’d had.
It hadn’t been enough.
Then George had shown up, turning her world upside down, and she wished he’d kissed her. But that would not have been wise.
A year after Cameron had died his mother, Joyce, had told her that it was okay for her to move on. That she was too young to spend the rest of her life alone.
Samantha had been horrified by that prospect.
She hadn’t been able to even contemplate finding someone else or loving again.
Cameron had been gone ten years now. She thought about moving on, even though it was scary to let someone else in.
Samantha touched her lips, which still tingled in anticipation. The heady scent of his skin wrapped around her. He’d been so close and just thinking about what might’ve happened flustered her.
Get a grip on yourself. He has no interest in you. You’re delusional.
It was effect of the drinks she had still in her system. It was making her out of sorts. Yes, that was it. She was going to blame it on the alcohol, even though she hadn’t imbibed that much of it, but it was a good scapegoat.
She headed into the bathroom and turned on the cold water, splashing it against her face. Maybe she could wash it all away.
She cleaned her face and then undid her hair from the high ponytail, brushing it out so it wouldn’t get snarled.
Still, she couldn’t get George out of her mind, which was going to make it hard to be his mentor.
When Cameron’s parents brought Adam home they spoke to her and she made pleasantries, but she was sure she sounded like she was a zombie.
Yes. No. Uh-huh. And that was thanks to George.
They asked if she was okay several times and she finally told them she was just tired, that a large car crash on the highway had left her exhausted. They understood and left.
Adam, however, didn’t understand his mother’s distraction.
And she couldn’t blame him.
This was not how she usually acted. Being like this drove her crazy.
“What’s with you tonight, Mom?” Adam asked, giving her a wary look.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with me. Why would you ask?”
Adam shrugged. “You looked weird and zoned out.”
“I’m fine.”
Adam nodded, no longer interested. Why would he suspect that being in close proximity to a handsome man she had just met had apparently melted her brain into the consistency of fondue. Gooey, stringy fondue.
These feelings were old, but foreign and unwelcome.
It was bad timing.
“Hey, Mom, can I go over to Ameer’s house?”
“No,” she said to Adam. “You have to go to school tomorrow. Let’s get you to bed.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
The subject of bed distracted Adam, so much so that he didn’t question her trance-like state and she even forgot for a few moments as she wrestled her son into bed.
It was when the lights were out and she was lying in bed that the fantasy of a kiss come flooding back to her. Night-time was always hard on her anyway. The bed felt so empty even after all this time.
Tonight it felt like she was even more alone. She tossed and turned all night long, making it a large cup of coffee type of morning when she got up at five and got Adam up and out to the school’s daycare.
When she got to work, she wasn’t even sure how she’d got across the city. She couldn’t remember anything about her drive there, and that was bad. She didn’t like losing control over herself. This was getting ridiculous.
Get a grip on yourself.
“Afternoon, Sam. How was the first day?”
What? She stared down at the paper coffee cup in her hand, thinking it had spoken to her and she was cracking up.
“Yo! Earth to Sam!”
Samantha turned and Lizzie was giving her a strange look.
“What?”
Lizzie raised one of her eyebrows and crossed her arms. “I asked how the first day went.”
“Why do you ask it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Evilly.”
Lizzie smirked. “I know how it went. The hospital’s report on a certain paramedic’s burn came in to process through the company’s insurance.”
Samantha groaned. “George’s?”
Then Lizzie reached over and held up the newspaper.
Samantha had to do a double-take at the large picture on the front of the newspaper. It was George, running through the line of firemen that was headed to the wall of flames behind him, and in his arms was that sweet little girl cradled against his chest.
The headline was “Hero Paramedic”.
Samantha took the paper from Lizzie’s hand and scanned the article quickly.
“I guess he had a successful first day.” Lizzie leaned against her desk. “Not every day a newbie to the program can hit such heights of heroics.”
“Yeah, he did a good job.” Samantha handed the paper back to Lizzie. “Hopefully he won’t get a swollen head and prance around here like he owns the place.”
“I don’t think Atavik is that type of person, do you?”
No. He wasn’t and Samantha knew that.
Still, coverage like this would go to anyone’s head. Even though he denied the fact, he was a hero.
Like the word “hero” was a burden to him.
Lizzie chuckled. “What have you got on your mind?”
“Nothing,” Samantha responded, but Lizzie didn’t look convinced. “Has he arrived?”
Lizzie nodded. “Yeah, he’s in the other room.”
Samantha headed into the common room. She caught sight of George sitting across the room, his head bent over a manual, studying.
“Good afternoon!” She grinned and tried not to look at George, because she knew if she looked his way then she’d start blushing again.
And she didn’t want to. It was bad enough he rendered her into a space cadet.
She didn’t want him know how much he affected her.
The room was painfully silent, but she could sense that George was looking at her and her cheeks heated.
Dammit. Come on. Focus.
She was better than this. She was level-headed and in control.
