He leaned down and captured her lips for a sweet kiss. His mouth moved gently over hers. Not demanding her to deepen the kiss, but letting her know he cared, even if it was only a little bit.
He pulled away before she was ready for the kiss to end. “Have dinner with me tomorrow night.”
“Yes.” Her response was immediate, but then her brain caught up with her impulse. “Wait, I can’t. I have to work the afternoon shift.” Disappointment replaced her joy at Mitch wanting to see her again.
“You have a dinner break, right?”
Nadia laughed. “Theoretically, but it’s the ER, it doesn’t necessarily work to a schedule.”
“I suppose. How about lunch then? Before you go on shift.”
The fact he wasn’t giving up had to mean something, didn’t it? A guy who wasn’t interested would’ve decided it was too hard to organize something with her erratic schedule.
“That would be great, I don’t have to be on shift until two, so lunch will work. But how about your schedule. Can you do it?”
Mitch reached out and brushed his fingers down her cheek again. God, she was really coming to love that gesture from him. “For you I can.”
Her heart did a little giddy jump and her inner girl was clapping her hands in delight. “Where shall we meet? It will be easier if we arrive separately so I can go to the hospital and you can get back to work.”
“Okay, I’ll text you where we’ll meet.” He suggested and pulled out his phone, fiddled with it and then held it out toward her. “Why don’t you put your number in and then I’ll text you and you’ll have mine?”
She reached out and took his phone, their fingers brushed and he kept hold of the device for a heartbeat longer before releasing it for her. Nadia looked down and saw that he had his contacts app opened. Quickly she added her name and number. The temptation to put a heart emoji after her name was high but she controlled it. Maybe she’d put a heart emoji after his name in her contacts.
The next day,Mitch sat in the passenger seat of the fire truck as they hurtled down the highway to deal with a fire. The bad weather from the previous couple of days had cleared and the hot weather had returned with a vengeance.
The fire they were being called to was in a different part of the national reserve where the large fire they’d worked on in March occurred. This time he didn’t think they were going to be rescuing a woman who’d been kidnapped by a serial killer/hunter.
When he was called on jobs, adrenaline jolted through him. With fires, he didn’t have to worry about slipping into a PTSD attack, he’d never had one before and he hoped he wouldn’t now or in the future. Medical situations, like after the tornado, had the ability to trigger him, but Gene always kept him close. But Gene was taking a couple of days off and Alana Jackson was taking his place. Alana was ex-military like him, and she’d been a firefighter in the Army. He always enjoyed working with her.
Perhaps Nadia was right, he should go speak to someone about his attacks again. The Army had given him a card for a therapist after he was discharged. He’d gone a couple of times, but at the time, he’d been stubborn and hadn’t been open to help. Now, though, he felt differently about it and was ready to talk through his issues.
“You okay, Mitch?” Dean looked over at him from where he sat in the driver’s seat.
“Yeah, fine, just thinking.”
“Thinking about anyone in particular? Maybe a certain ER doctor from Kerrville?” This came from Eric who was behind him.
Mitch flipped him off. “No. Just cause all of you guys are blissfully happy, doesn’t mean I’m heading down that road.” Although that wasn’t entirely true. After his military discharge, he figured he’d be better off alone. But if he could imaginespending a future with someone it would be Nadia. After all, she was the reason he’d been thinking about going to get some help. But wasn’t he getting ahead of himself though? Being called out on the job had meant he had to cancel their lunch date. She hadn’t responded to his text so he had no idea if she’d seen it already or was mad at him for cancelling and refused to respond.
He may not know Nadia well, he didn’t think she would be that petty, she was a doctor, she knew how unexpected emergencies could come up and derail plans.
“You could do worse than her,” Chris commented. “You deserve happiness just like everyone else. You may not think so, but you probably more so than others. You’re not meant to be alone, Mitch.”
Mitch didn’t know what to say. Was Chris right and he deserved happiness too? And what did his team mate mean by saying he wasn’t meant to be alone? That truly made no sense to him, but he couldn’t think about it now, they’d arrived at the fire and he needed his focus on that.
“Shit, this looks almost as bad as the one in March,” commented Dean.
There were a few other fire trucks scattered around the parking lot. At least there weren’t any police cruisers or FBI trucks like there had been in March. This was a straightforward fire and he could cope with that.
They all hopped out of the truck, donning hats and jackets. On a hot Texas summer day, like today, the gear they had to wear was stifling, but Mitch knew that not wearing it wasn’t an option.
While they collected their equipment Alana strode over to the command leader to find out where they wanted the team.
Mitch checked his gear and looked up to find Eric watching him. “What?” he asked.
“Nadia.”
Mitch controlled the urge to roll his eyes. “What about her?”
