“Maybe I needed to know you’re okay too.”
“I’m fine.”
He smiled at his own usual mantra and his gaze settled on the bruise along her jawline. Very gently, he ran a finger along it. “I’m sorry about what happened that night, Jane.”
She swallowed hard, then shook her head. “None of it was your fault. And I’m sorry, but I’ve really got to get back to work. So unless you’ve got another of your fascinating facts for me, I’ll see you around—”
“If you burned all the new data from just one day onto DVDs, you could stack them on top of each other and reach the moon—twice.”
She blinked, then looked impressed. “Okay, that’s a good one.”
“Also, I brought you something.” He reached into his pocket.
“At least you didn’t ask me to get it out for you this time.”
He grinned, and that felt good. Too good. He held his hand out to her, palm still closed, and her eyes narrowed. “What is it?”
“Suspicious much?” Reaching for her hand, he dropped her necklace into her palm. “One of the search-and-rescue guys found this that night, but they missed you at the hospital. I promised to get it back to you.”
She stilled and stared down at the necklace, her eyes going shiny before she closed her fingers around the locket and brought it up to her chest. “Thank you,” she whispered, voice thick. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Looking at her stare at the necklace again, he thought maybe he did. “I’m just glad you have it back. Jane . . .”
She lifted her face.
“Do you want to talk about it? About what we went through?”
“No. We’re both okay, there’s no need.” She took a step back. “But I owe you one.”
“Actually, you saving my life trumps me getting the necklace back to you. Can I buy you lunch on your break?”
“I’m not hungry.” Then her stomach growled and she grimaced, looking embarrassed. “Okay, fine. I’m starving. After I finish with my patient, I get a break. Meet me at the hospital cafeteria. It’s in the next building over, ground floor.”
He smiled. “It’s a date.”
“It’s not a date. I don’t date.”
“Never?” he asked.
“Well, maybe once in a blue moon.”
His eyes twinkled with mischief. “Then here’s hoping for a blue moon. See you in the cafeteria, Jane.”
She nodded, then watched him walk out of the urgent care—which he knew because he looked back and caught her at it.
With another grimace, she vanished into the back, and he smiled all the way to the hospital cafeteria.
Chapter 7
Fifteen minutes later, Jane walked into the hospital cafeteria. This was a bad idea. Like, a really bad idea, mostly because while she could say she wasn’t interested in starting anything with Levi, she seemed to conveniently forget that when looking in his eyes.
Stupid, sexy eyes.
Sandra, a fellow traveling nurse, caught her at the entrance. “Jane! Hi, what’s new?”
“Not much,” she said neutrally.
“You sure? ’Cause there’s a really hot guy waiting for you.” Sandra tilted her head in the direction of a table off to the right and waggled her eyebrows.
“And?” Jane asked.
“And . . . there’s a really hot guy waiting for you.” The unspoken question was clearly Where did you find him?