The Wildcat and the Doctor by Mina Carter & BJ Barnes Page B

Doc.” Tess...Call me Tess. “Some people have called me ‘hey you’, but I don’t always answer to that one. Selective hearing,” she informed him and laughed softly.
    She had noticed the tattoos on his knuckles earlier. Lead warrior tattoos. Along with the rest of the black swirls and loops that covered his arms from wrists to shoulders, the ink he wore not only told the story of his life, but proudly proclaimed his accomplishments. He had to be a very formidable warrior to carry so many tattoos.
    “So...what do I call you? Just Lead, or are you going to tell me your name?”
    The easy smile didn’t leave his face as the door behind them pinged when they reached their level. Ignoring it as it opened, he turned her hand and lifted it to his lips, planting a soft kiss on her knuckles. “You can call me Day, if you like... Tess.”
    Oh, he was a charmer . Like him, she didn’t move to exit the lift. She’d be lying if she said he didn’t affect her. He did. Oh hell yeah, he did.
    “Day,” she echoed quietly. “I like.”
    “Good... I’m glad.”
    He smiled down at her. She forgot where they were, who they were, and even the fact that she’d been taking him back to medbay to sort out the burns across his chest. Burns she’d inflicted. The world narrowed down to just the two of them, and... his eyes really were a fascinating color.
    “So...Tess. What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?”
    “Playing doctor,” she teased suddenly with a saucy grin. Her cheeks heated up, but she stubbornly ignored them. In truth, she was filling in for another doctor short term until she transferred to her new assignment.
    Heat flashed in his eyes as he lowered her hand but didn’t let go of it. “If we’re playing doctors and nurses, does that mean you wear a sexy little outfit?” he asked in a low, gruff voice that sent a shimmy of near electric current across her skin.
    She was saved from answering by the sound of loud voices behind them and a discussion of floor numbers. With a wink, Day turned her hand in his as he pivoted on a heel and led her from the turbolift. Rather than avoid eye contact with the approaching group of officers or make some quip about his shirtless state, or the fact that he was leading a furiously blushing woman by the hand, her knight-errant simply stared them down. As if daring them to make a comment.
    Once they were well past them, she let out a small giggle and picked up their conversation exactly where it had left off. “I think the only doctors or nurses that wear sexy little outfits have names like Dr. Cherry Onatop and are in rather naughty holovideos. Or they’re the sort of companions that get paid to dress up.”
    Curiosity set in though. What would he do if she wore a skimpy little skirt and top... and offered to take his... pulse ?
    He slid her a sideways glance, the look in his eyes hot enough to melt tri-titanium alloy.
    “Really?” he asked, the expression on his face innocent. “I wouldn’t know... I don’t watch that kind of holovid.”
    Realizing how her quip sounded and what it implied, Tess smacked a hand over her face. “Oh hell,” she choked out, trying to backpedal. “I don’t either. I mean, it’s not my idea of fun to sit there and watch that sort of thing. Though...” Her mouth snapped shut with an audible click from her teeth slamming together.
    He chuckled as they reached the double doors of the medbay, a deliciously evil little sound that did strange things to her insides. This late at night the place was deserted, only the automated doctor online for routine complaints. Given the size and importance of SB16, they were sophisticated enough to distinguish between the mundane and a real emergency and then contact the relevant personnel.
    Day seemed to take it all in with a glance. He scanned the room with a single look as he pulled her through the door, disengaged the auto-doc with a slap of his palm over the plate by the door and yanked