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Kelli leaned close and placed the softest of kisses on his mouth, then she took his hand. ‘We’re going back to the art shop and you are going to buy yourself a painting. It’s past time you got out in the real world again.’
‘And you think a painting is the answer?’
She stopped at that, turned so her fierce cobalt gaze locked on him. ‘You felt that painting—the moods it invoked were there in your eyes, on your face. It pulled you right in and touched something deep. I don’t know what that was but I do know that painting has your name on it.’
‘What if I don’t want to look at it every day and feel those emotions it brought back?’
She hesitated, and he thought he’d won. But no, this was Kelli. ‘Maybe it’s time you did feel all those emotions you’ve obviously kept clamped down deep inside. Maybe you’re ready to face living fully again, moving on and finding happiness. Everyone deserves it, Mac. Even you.’
Blimey, she didn’t hold back. Gave it like a metal truck dumping its load at the quarry. It was too much to take in right now. He did best when he let thoughts and emotions infiltrate slowly, one fact at a time. ‘What about you? Don’t you deserve it too?’
‘I wasn’t aware I was avoiding it,’ was her acerbic retort.
‘Oh, really?’
‘I am not shutting out happiness. I’m just afraid I won’t find anyone to love me enough to overlook my imperfections so that I can trust that happiness.’
Her ex had done a right number on her. What he wouldn’t like to do to him. How to put his feelings out there without getting too involved and giving Kelli hope he was afraid to follow up on? ‘I truly don’t understand. You are so beautiful, inside and out. No one’s perfect but in my book you’re damned close.’
Her mouth fell open, quickly followed by tears tracking down her cheeks. He wrapped her into a tight hug, his shirt getting a soaking and his heart a pounding.
When Kelli finally pulled back in his arms to look at him, she asked, ‘What are we doing to each other?’
Setting ourselves up for a big fall. ‘Telling it how we see it. Being honest, in other words.’ Except he wasn’t totally. Opening his heart wasn’t—A scream shattered the fragile air around them. ‘What’s going on?’ Mac stared around the shops and the street, saw two women running out of a café, and headed their way.
‘The chef’s been electrocuted!’ one of them shouted. ‘We need help. I think his heart’s stopped.’
Help. Mac’s key word. ‘I’m a doctor. Kelli here’s a nurse.’ He looked around at the shocked faces of pedestrians. ‘Is anyone a local? We need to find a defibrillator.’
‘There’s one in the superette. I’ll grab it,’ a man called, already racing away.
Kelli ran into the café, pushing through the throng of people gaping into the interior, not waiting for anything.
Mac took after her. Arriving in the kitchen, he heard Kelli ask as she knelt beside the stricken young chef, ‘How long has she been down?’
‘A minute, a bit longer.’ The guy swallowed. ‘Lauren—she was using the hand-beater, whipping the gravy. It must’ve short-circuited.’ Another swallow. ‘I’m the manager, haven’t had anything like this happen before.’
‘Stay clear everyone,’ Mac warned. ‘Don’t touch that beater,’ he snapped at Kelli as she reached for the girl’s hand gripping the utensil.
‘I’ve turned off the power to the switches,’ the manager informed them.
Kelli was onto it, immediately kicking the beater out of Lauren’s hand, then starting CPR. The girl was pale as sand while blue around her lips.
‘Where’s that defib?’ Mac asked as he dropped to his knees on the other side of their patient. ‘Have you called the ambulance?’ He flicked a quick look to the manager.
‘They’re on their way.’ The man was calming down now that he had medical help for his chef. ‘So’s the air ambulance.’
‘Here’s the defib,’ someone yelled.
‘Get it charging,’ Mac instructed as he tore Lauren’s chef jacket down the middle. ‘Wish we had some oxygen.’
Kelli kept up the compressions, a sweat breaking out on her forehead. ‘Your wish is about to be granted. I hear a siren.’
‘Clear the area around your patient,’ intoned the defibrillator.
‘Everyone stand back,’ Mac repeated the message as he placed the paddles on Lauren’s chest. With a quick glance around to make sure those in the room had heeded his request, he shocked the chef.
Her body jerked upward, fell back.
Feeling for a pulse, Kelli shook her head.
‘Stand back,’ Mac commanded though no one had moved.
Another shock, another jerk off the floor, and then a flicker of an eyelid, a slight rise of Lauren’s chest.
‘Yay, we have a result.’ Kelli huffed air over her lips. ‘A good result.’ Her fingers were on the pulse, nodding as she silently counted the beats.
‘The best.’ Mac sat back on his haunches as paramedics rushed purposefully into the room, carrying oxygen and all the other necessary paraphernalia to keep Lauren alive and well. Quickly explaining what he knew, he moved out of the way and left the experts to the job. ‘That calls for a very strong coffee,’ he told Kelli as they walked through the humming café.
The talking stopped and clapping broke out.
The manager pointed to a table out on the pavement. ‘Take a seat and I’ll bring you those coffees. On the house. I can’t thank you enough for your rapid response. Lauren was very lucky you were in town.’
‘Glad to be of help,’ Mac agreed.
‘How do you take your coffees?’
With their orders in place Mac settled on a seat and stretched his legs along the side of the table. ‘Things like what just happened remind me why I became a doctor. The unexpected can happen to anyone anywhere and it’s an awesome feeling being able to step in and do something constructive.’ He was feeling good.
‘Then you should shout yourself a reward. That painting’s got your name on it.’ Kelli grinned at him. Then her breath seemed to hitch in her throat and her teeth did that nibbly thing on her bottom lip as the grin faded. She looked away as her cheeks began turning a strawberry shade.
Mac understood that breathing problem. It was going on in his lungs too. He didn’t think his cheeks had taken on the red hue but he definitely wanted to nibble something. His brain was not in sync with the rest of his body. ‘We don’t have to wait for the coffee.’
‘Here you go, folks.’ Two large cups appeared on the periphery of Mac’s vision, along with a plate of chocolate and strawberry muffins. Strawberry? Yes, the same shade as Kelli’s cheeks. ‘Thanks,’ he muttered.
‘Thank you,’ Kelli told the hovering manager and picked up the huge coffee cup and wrapped her shaking hands around it. ‘Those muffins look delicious.’
Don’t spill the coffee, Mac warned silently. We’ll be here all day while another round is made and more food brought out.
She must’ve got the message because her grip tightened.
‘You’re welcome.’ Finally the guy moved off.
‘Isn’t that too hot to hold onto?’ Mac queried lamely, all out of what to say to her without double entendre. Her fingers had to be burning.
The colour in Kelli’s cheeks intensified. She sipped at the frothy milk on top of her coffee. Still not looking at him.
Now what? Hot? Too hot to hold onto? She had it bad. So did he. His gut had tightened in anticipation. ‘I suppose it would be rude to leave right now,’ he half asked, half stated.
Kelli nodded emphatically, making a moue with her mouth. ‘I reckon.’
‘And this is too hot.’ He blew on his long black. ‘Boiling, can’t drink it just yet.’
Suddenly Kelli laughed, a free and happy sound that w
ent straight to his heart. ‘I hope the resort staff haven’t cleaned our room and sent our bags to the luggage room yet.’
Mac wanted to wrap her hand in his, kiss her knuckles, knew that’d only turn him on even more. ‘We don’t have to be out until two. Should be just enough time for what’s on your mind.’
Those alluring eyes widened, and colour crept into her cheeks again. ‘My mind hasn’t a lot to say at the moment. Except we are going back to that art shop on the way to the resort.’
‘Persistent, aren’t you?’
