Snowfall by Sharon Sala

That had been a very close call. He thought he’d known everything there was to know about Caitlin Bennett, but he’d been wrong. He didn’t like surprises.
    While Buddy was making his getaway, Mac was in the hall, looking for the nearest nurse. It had taken him a few seconds to circle Caitlin’s bed, and by the time he’d reached the hallway, the doctor was nowhere in sight. At that point, his instincts had gone into overdrive. The flesh on his arms was still crawling from the shock of awakening to find a stranger in the room, even though he knew that it could have been a simple error in names. Bennett and Benton weren’t all that different, but he had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right. A nurse emerged from a nearby room, and he stopped her on her way back to the desk.
    “Ma’am, I need to ask you a question.”
    The nurse recognized him. “Is Miss Bennett all right?”
    “Yes, she’s still sleeping. A few moments ago Dr. Frost came into her room looking for a Mr. Benton. Is there a patient by that name on this floor?”
    The nurse frowned. “No.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, and you must be mistaken about the doctor’s name, too.”
    The skin started tightening on the back of his neck.
    “Why?”
    “Dr. Frost is an OB/GYN. He doesn’t have patients on this floor, and even if he did, they wouldn’t be male.”
    “Shit,” Mac said, and headed toward Caitlin’s room.
    The light was on over her bed, and she was reaching for the button to call a nurse. It was hard to say who was more surprised.
    Caitlin gasped. “You!”
    Mac sighed. “Yes, it’s me.”
    Shock mingled with confusion. She’d fallen asleep listening to Aaron’s voice and woken up to find herself alone. And now Mac was here. If she hadn’t been in so much pain, she could almost have believed this was all a bad dream.
    “What are you doing here, and where is Aaron?”
    “I’m here because he asked me to come. And he’s at home, where I sent him.”
    Caitlin’s eyes flashed angrily. “He asked you? Why?”
    “To help.”
    “I don’t need your help.”
    Ignoring the emphasis she put on the word, he shoved his hands into his pockets and glared back.
    “Oh, I think you do. And if I wasn’t sure before, I am now.”
    Caitlin knew as she asked that she wasn’t going to like his answer, but she asked it just the same.
    “Why?”
    “A few minutes ago, someone came into your room. I don’t think he expected me to be here.”
    Her heart skipped a beat. Again she imagined the feel of that hand on her back, pushing.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I asked him what he wanted. He said his name was Dr. Frost and that he was looking for a Mr. Benton.”
    “Our names are similar…Bennett, Benton. Maybe it was an honest mistake.”
    “There wasn’t anything honest about it, Caitie girl. There is no patient named Benton, and the real Dr. Frost is a gynecologist.”
    Caitlin ignored the diminutive he’d made of her name and focused on stifling a scream. She stared at Connor until her eyes filled with tears, and then she covered her face with her hands.
    Mac groaned beneath his breath and crossed the floor in long strides. Struggling with an urge to hold her, he settled for an awkward pat on her shoulder instead.
    “Don’t worry, kid. We’ll figure out what’s going on, and before you know it, it will be nothing but a bad memory.”
    “I want to go home,” Caitlin whispered.
    “Yeah, I know. Maybe in the morning, okay?”
    She dropped her hands and nodded while looking away, still unwilling to let him see her cry. But when he turned, she grabbed his wrist before she thought.
    Mac stopped, looking down at the fingers encircling his wrist and wondered if she screamed when she came. The moment he thought it, he felt ashamed. When he looked up, he got caught in her fear and knew he was a goner.
    “What?” he muttered.
    “Don’t leave.”
    A muscle jerked in his jaw as he tried to smile.
    “I’m going over there to get the