From Hawaii to Forever Read online

  A stepping stone. This was exactly what irritated Jack about the doctors who came to Hawaii for temporary positions. They were never invested in the islands or the community. They were interested in their careers, and they loved trying out their grand new ideas at a tiny, insignificant hospital where the stakes were low. A tiny, insignificant hospital that happened to be his professional home, with colleagues and patients he cared about.

  “Oahu General may not have much prestige, but it’s a great hospital, with great doctors,” he said.

  “Oh, I know,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. But there’s a lot I’ve learned from working at Chicago Grace Memorial about how to increase efficiency and improve patient outcomes. I’m so excited to start putting some of my ideas in place—I’m sure there’s so much that can be improved.”

  So much that can be improved? thought Jack. She hadn’t even seen the hospital yet. How could she know what needed improvement?

  It was obvious to him that Kat was a typical big-city doctor, assuming she would be able to change everything. As though the hospital didn’t already have good systems in place, built by people who lived in and cared about Hawaii.

  His ex-fiancée Sophie had been the same way. Career-driven, independent, and unabashedly pursuing what she wanted from life. They had all been qualities Jack had wholeheartedly admired...until he’d realized that when it came to choosing between her career and the important people in her life Sophie would do whatever it took to advance her career. Even if it meant that people would get hurt.

  He’d only known Kat for a few moments, but that was long enough to see that she was smart, funny, beautiful...and completely certain that she knew what was best for everyone.

  At least she’s only here for a year, he thought. There’s no need for things to get complicated.

  He tried very hard not to notice that Kat’s medical coat had fallen open just a little further, revealing another inch of bare, creamy skin. Instead, he focused on packing up the items from his suturing kit, in a manner that he thought was very detached and professional indeed.

  * * *

  Despite Kat’s frustration at being treated like a patient, she couldn’t help but notice that Jack had handled her stitches swiftly and competently. He clearly knew what he was doing. And as she’d watched Jack complete the stitches she’d felt the soothing effect that observing a simple medical procedure had always had on her.

  No matter the emergency, she took comfort in knowing that there was an established process to handle things. Simple injuries like this were almost comforting to face, because it was such a relief to have a plan, to know exactly what to do.

  Watching Jack work gave her another chance to appreciate just how muscular his arms were. He’d put his shirt back on when they’d gotten into the ambulance and she wondered if she’d ever be able to get another look at what lay underneath it. But then she sternly guided her thoughts back to the present.

  You’re still getting over a relationship, she told herself. You’re heartbroken, remember? The last thing you need is to get involved with another guy. Besides, you’ve already made a fool of yourself in front of this one.

  Her cheeks burned when she recalled how she’d bragged about her accomplishments. She’d only meant to reassure him that she knew what she was doing, but she’d come off sounding so stuck-up. He probably thought she was completely full of herself.

  Her body, however, was pushing her in a very different direction than her cool, logical mind.

  Do you see how wavy his hair is? her body screamed. Just run your fingers through it! Do it!

  In the three weeks that had passed since the Day of Doom, Kat had felt an anesthetizing layer of numbness settle over her heartbreak. But the moment she’d taken a good look at Jack something had pierced that and gotten through to the aching heart underneath.

  She wasn’t ready for it. Feeling attraction to someone wasn’t part of this year’s plan.

  This year’s plan was to recover from losing Christopher and losing her job, while learning to embrace life against the serene backdrop of a tropical island setting. Eventually—much later—she might start dating again, if the right person came along. But for now it would be completely illogical and inconvenient to feel attracted to anyone. Especially a bossy, overconfident paramedic.

  Kat liked her plan. It was a good plan. The thought of deviating from the plan made her nervous. And her attraction to Jack was definitely a deviation, so it would have to stop.

  It almost came as a relief when Jack seemed to become increasingly irritated as she discussed her plans for changes at Oahu General Hospital. Dealing with his irritation was much easier than dealing with her feelings of attraction.

  Although she couldn’t understand what he could possibly be irritated about in the first place.

  “Am I missing something?” she said. “Is there some issue with me wanting to make changes at the hospital?”

  “Why would there be an issue?” he said.

  She didn’t buy his innocent act. “I’m not saying there is. But I can’t help noticing that you’ve gotten awfully quiet since I started talking about my job.”

  “It’s just...” He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “I think you might want to actually get to know the people and the hospital you’ll be working at before you start thinking about making any sweeping changes. People can get very set in their way of doing things, and you don’t want to push too fast for too much change.”

  Kat pressed her lips together, trying not to let her emotions show on her face. Jack’s words reminded her of what the administrative director at Chicago Grace Memorial Hospital had said, about thirty minutes before she’d been fired.

  Kat had spent nearly a year doing research before she’d made her presentation to the hospital board. In it, she had proposed that the hospital open a nonprofit clinic to help provide free and very low-cost care to patients who struggled to afford treatment. She had the financial information to prove the hospital could support it.

  All her data indicated that the poorest patients struggled to get well because of their limited resources. They came in to the hospital far too late, after their illnesses had progressed significantly—sometimes too late for help. A nonprofit clinic would be life-changing for some of the hospital’s patients.

  All the board of directors had to do was approve her proposal.

  But, to her shock, the administrative director had told her that the hospital was there to make a profit, and that if she wanted to make such sweeping changes she should have gone into politics instead of medicine. She was pushing for too much change, too fast, he’d said. And she’d been stunned to see the other board members nodding in agreement.

  And the director had been so condescending and sanctimonious. At one point he had even referred to her as “little lady.” His attitude had infuriated her and, unable to stop herself, she’d shared a few choice words with him. The director had fired back, tempers had flared, and before Kat had known it, she’d been out of a job.

  When her friend Selena had offered her the job at Oahu General, Kat had been honest about her firing—and the events leading up to it. But no one else knew except for Christopher. And after Christopher’s reaction... Well, that conversation hadn’t gone well at all.

  If she could help it no one else would ever know how she’d lost her job. She couldn’t reveal to Jack just how much his words had activated her worst fear: that her new plans for the hospital wouldn’t work and that her time at Oahu General would lead to a repeat of the Day of Doom.

  But that was unlikely to happen again, she reminded herself. This time things were different. She had the full support of the hospital director. And her plans for changes in policy and procedure were good ones... She just needed a chance to prove it. Her year at Oahu General would give her that chance. And if Jack or anyone else had a problem�
��well, they’d just have to get used to it.

  At least she didn’t have to worry about losing her job and her fiancé on the same day again. After all, she no longer had a fiancé to lose...

  She realized her thoughts were hitting too close to emotions she wasn’t ready to face. Especially not while she was sitting partially dressed across from a certain dark-haired, half-shaven, irritatingly self-assured paramedic.

  “You did that pretty well,” she said, indicating her stitches. “You’ve clearly got some skills.” She’d barely felt a thing, and she could already tell she was unlikely to have a trace of a scar.

  He looked up at her, seeming surprised by the unexpected compliment.

  “You must have gotten lots of practice in the SEALs,” she said.

  “Actually, I had three years at medical school. So it wasn’t exactly a challenge. But it’s nice to have my abilities appreciated.” He cleared his throat. “You’ve...um...you’ve got good skin. So this should heal up very nicely.”

  His hand was very warm where it rested against her leg. He’d applied the stitches so deftly she tried not to think about anything else his hands might be able to do.

  “Three years of medical school would have put you past the worst of it,” she said, trying to keep her head clear. “Why didn’t you keep going?”

  “I happen to love being a paramedic,” he said. “I knew medical school wasn’t for me, so I left.”

  Kat was surprised by the defensive tone in Jack’s voice. She’d only known him for a few moments, but he struck her as a supremely confident sort of person. Surely he couldn’t be sensitive about being a paramedic?

  During her career she had met a very small number of physicians with extremely arrogant personalities—her old hospital’s administrative director came to mind—who seemed to believe that doctors were somehow superior to other medical professionals. It wasn’t a view she agreed with at all. Paramedics and nurses simply provided a different kind of care than doctors. Different and vitally important.

  Perhaps Jack had run into a few doctors who held such antiquated views. She hoped he didn’t think that she was one of them. But in her pre-hypothermic state, and in her desperation to avoid arriving at Oahu General in an ambulance, she’d probably given him every reason to think that she was as arrogant, stubborn and overconfident as...as he was.

  “Well, in my opinion you left medical school not a moment too soon,” she said lightly.

  He looked up at her in surprise.

  “If you’d become a doctor you wouldn’t have been there on the beach today,” she explained. “You wouldn’t have been able to save my life. So I’m extremely grateful you decided to become a paramedic instead, no matter what the reason was.”

  He gave a low, dark laugh. “You’re probably the first person who’s ever been happy that I left medical school. Well, maybe the second, after me.”

  There was something more he might have said, Kat could tell. But he didn’t speak any further.

  Her thoughts turned again to his tattoo. “Are others in your family in the military?” she asked.

  “Not exactly,” he replied. “My grandfather’s a doctor...as are my parents and both of my brothers.”

  Ah... Suddenly Jack’s defensiveness was a bit more clear. With five doctors in the family, there had probably been many expectations about Jack’s career options.

  “I knew a few people in medical school whose parents were physicians,” she said. “But lots of people don’t want to do the same thing as their parents. And I can imagine that being a paramedic in Hawaii would be the best of both worlds to someone who’s a former SEAL and a former medical student. You’re still able to help people, but you get the rush of adrenaline and excitement that comes with the job.”

  “Exactly,” he said, but again, he didn’t elaborate.

  I get it, you don’t like to talk about the past, she thought. Duly noted.

  That was fine with her.

  She felt the ambulance pull into the hospital docking bay and saw the driver step out. As Jack started to open the back door Kat put her hand on his arm to stop him.

  “Wait,” she said. “I haven’t thanked you properly. If you hadn’t been there today I probably would have drowned.”

  She could tell that he was as surprised as she was by the softness in her voice. What was she doing? She had only meant to say thank you, but the emotion behind her voice had been more than just gratitude. And now that she was looking directly at him...now that he was holding her gaze with those ocean-blue eyes...that same electric charge that she’d felt on the beach was there again, keeping her eyes locked with his.

  “You mostly saved yourself, by staying calm and trusting my instructions,” he said, his voice soft and low. “I was just there to help.”

  They were by themselves in the back of the ambulance and there was silence. His gaze met hers and Kat couldn’t look away. His eyes were pools of cerulean blue. His nose was inches away from hers.

  For one insane moment she thought he was going to kiss her—which was a ridiculous idea. Why would Jack want to kiss her? She was a bedraggled mess. And he probably thought she was completely full of herself after she’d bragged about her medical background.

  But she’d only bragged because he’d been so bossy at first. So, really, that part was his fault.

  And Kat couldn’t think why she would want a man as irritating as Jack Harper to kiss her.

  She only knew that she did.

  They were so close. She could smell his sea-salt scent. She felt an undeniable pull toward him, as strong as the current that had pulled her out to sea earlier. But this time, instead of panic, she only felt safety. Calm. A sense of certainty about what would happen next.

  But just as his face began moving toward hers, close enough for her to feel the warmth of his breath on her face, two EMTs pulled open the back door of the ambulance.

  Kat gave a jump and a start, and she and Jack quickly pulled away from one another. She instantly regretted her sudden move away from Jack, realizing that her reaction would probably make the situation appear even more suspicious to any gossip-prone EMTs. She needed to make it clear to everyone that she and Jack were just co-workers, and she needed to do it quickly.

  She pulled the white coat tightly over herself and stepped out of the ambulance. Despite her protests, the EMTs insisted she sit in the wheelchair they’d brought out to meet her.

  As they left, she turned back to Jack and said, in her coolest, most professional voice, “It was nice to meet you, Jack. It’s good to find out firsthand that I can trust my co-workers to do such a competent job. I think it’s great that we’ll be working together professionally. Just great.”

  * * *

  As Kat was wheeled away Jack let out the long, slow breath that he’d been holding since the driver had stepped out and left the two of them alone together in the ambulance. He had no idea what he’d been thinking in the moment before that almost-kiss with Kat. In fact, he hadn’t been thinking at all.

  If he had been, he would have been able to tell himself that he and Kat made no sense. That the reasons not to get involved with her far outweighed any attraction he might feel. He ticked them off in his mind. Kat had deliberately emphasized their status as colleagues as she’d left the ambulance. They’d be working together, and workplace relationships were always a mistake. And then there was his most steadfast rule of dating: no doctors.

  Not since Sophie. They’d been in medical school together, and then she’d gone on to one prestigious medical research fellowship after another. He’d been fully supportive of her, but when he’d left medical school, she’d let him know in no uncertain terms that she was interested in being the wife of a doctor—not a military man or a lowly paramedic.

  As hard as it had been to accept, he’d thought he understood. After all, he was the one who had changed, de
ciding that a doctor’s life wasn’t for him. He couldn’t fault her for wanting something different than what he wanted.

  But wanting something different was one thing. Finding out that she’d been with his brother for six months before breaking up with Jack was quite another.

  Sophie had always been extremely ambitious. And Jack’s parents were well-known in the medical field, and the Harper doctors were a valuable connection.

  It was one reason he disliked talking about his family with others—especially those in the medical field: he never knew if people were just trying to get close to him in order to claim a connection to his family. Had Kat made the connection? Harper was a common enough last name, but there weren’t many people who had five doctors in the family. If she did suspect that his family was essentially medical royalty, she hadn’t said anything.

  He’d always wondered if the reason Sophie had cheated on him with Matt, of all people, was so that she could still marry into the Harper family—simply swapping one Harper brother for another.

  Matt, for his part, either hadn’t seen it that way or hadn’t cared. Matt had always liked Sophie, Jack knew...but he’d never realized just how far that attraction went until it was too late. He’d trusted Sophie. He’d trusted both of them.

  Jack didn’t want to go through that kind of heartbreak again. Ever. And as far as he was concerned he wouldn’t have to. There was no shortage of short-term dating prospects on the islands. Hawaii was full of tourists with romantic ideas about a whirlwind affair before they returned to the mainland. They expected nothing more, and neither did he.

  As far as he was concerned love was an illusion, and the best way to protect yourself from heartbreak was to keep from getting close to anyone in the first place.