“Well, I am Knox.” He kept his mouth right there near her ear.
She liked it.
Liked that he thought of her and brought her a crepe, liked that he kissed her and sucked her fingers, and liked that he was playful instead of serious.
There was way too much serious in the world to make it part of the daily landscape of her personal life.
“I kind of like the nickname,” she admitted. “It feels like us.”
Which meant she needed to lock these feelings down tight, because it was one thing to be turned on by him. But there was no way—no way at all—she could allow herself to fall for her fiancé and his cutesy nicknames.
Chapter Ten
IRINA
“Sergio,”she tried, lengthening the vowel sound.
Gah. No. Still not it.
“Excuse me,” the flight attendant knelt beside Irina. “We are looking for a physician on the flight. Are either of you a medical doctor?”
Irina shook her head. “I’m sorry—”
“What’s the problem?” Knox was all perked-up ears and pent-up energy: a combination that might not end up going well.
“We have a pregnant woman in coach with a situation. You’re a doctor?” the flight attendant—Grace, her name tag read Grace—asked.
“Depends on thesituation.” His eyes sparkled, his grin flashed, and Grace was putty in the palm of his hand.
A little green-eyed monster seemed to sit high on Irina’s shoulder. Unacceptable, because it wasn’t like he was actually flirting. He’d just answered the question.
“He’s not.” Irina made big eyes at him.
“I could be.” He draped his arm around Irina in a claiming movement she didn’t quite understand. Then he pressed a kiss to her cheek.
Her body snuggled against him as though they’d practiced this.
“Of the three of us, which one has helped deliver a baby?” Knox raised his hand. “Just me? Okay. Of the three of us, which one completed their emergency childbirth certification course?” He kept his hand raised. “Still just me, huh?”
He did all that? “When did you do all that?”
“I started during the last Rocky Mountain tour. I couldn’t actually let you be Courtney’s birth guide knowing you hadn’t been to any births, so I studied up.”
“You watched MyTube,” Irina pointed out. “With me.” She didn’t shift because she liked his arm where it was across her shoulder.
“And then I enrolled in an online class, and now I’m an Emergency Medical Tech.” He beamed at this announcement.
“Don’t mess around when someone’s looking for a doctor.” Irina nudged him with her elbow. Then she glanced to Grace, shaking her head.
He couldn’t be! That wasn’t something a person could just godo.
“Look,” he sounded as exasperated as she felt. He reached for his wallet and pulled out a red and white card. “I even paid the extra five dollars for a certification card.”
She took the card. Seemed legit, but he probably could’ve made it at Office Depot.
“It’s the real deal,” he said to Grace. “I can help out if you want. If not, Denver’s close, she’ll probably make it without issue. Unless, you know, her water broke or something.”
“There are no other medical providers.” Grace rubbed at her temples. “So I guess it’s you.”
