Cheryl Wyatt - The Nurse's Secret Suitor

She turned. “Aren’t you coming?”

She flashed a grin of such warmth it made him not only walk into a decorative, steel light pole, but grab it and say, “Excuse me.”

Kate snickered enough it started him laughing, too. Felt good. Furthermore, she looked burdenless, all incapacitated with laughter. So he was glad she did, even at his expense. He just wished he could get past feeling as klutzy as an elephant on ice skates around her. The only time it had gone away was when he’d been BB.

At her car, she initially passed the windshield and then arced backward. Her cheeks tinged red as she slipped the note from her wipers.

Caleb angled away, trying his best to look simultaneously patient, oblivious and bored. In reality, his heart thumped like a war drum.

Despite his best intentions, Caleb could not keep from watching Kate’s quiet yet profound reaction as she read. Her shoulders relaxed and the twin dimples that occasionally accompanied her megawatt smiles peeked through.

Bri was right. The note lifted Kate’s burden. For now.

He saw the moment she realized that the first note he’d left at EPTC with her mask wasn’t going to be a one-time thing—that her bandit would continue to reach out to her. And as long as he lived, he’d never forget the look of tangible relief. Her chin wobbled precariously. She covered it with her hand before he could see for more than an instant, but he didn’t have to see to know.

The bandit’s kind gesture almost moved her to tears.

He looked away, partly to provide her emotions a cove of privacy but mostly because if he didn’t, he’d rush over there and do something more stupid than walk into a light pole. Like hug her.

The note was enough. It would have to be enough.

If he was closer to God and sure he’d be heard, he’d beg God to let it be so.

A few moments later, as if aware of his scrutiny, she snapped to attention, tucked the note into her snakeskin handbag and schooled her features. Nevertheless, she seemed stronger now, taller and more peaceful. As they would say in military speak—at ease.

Caleb bit back a thankful smile and experienced profound relief that Kate didn’t seem to suspect he’d written the note or that his sister had delivered it secretly.

“Your bike can go here,” Kate said as she popped open the back. “And once it’s stowed away, can you grab that bag?” Kate nodded to the military rucksack in her backseat as she hefted a camouflage duffel bag. She must have used both overseas because they were well-worn and military.

What was she doing with the bags? He restrained his curiosity, figuring that soon enough he’d be able to see for himself.

“Think you’ll ever go back?” Caleb asked as they marched with the bags back through the alley toward the main street.

“To Sully’s? I go there all the time. I love it.”

“I meant the military. Heard you were top-notch.”

Her face hardened. “I have no interest in that anymore. I served my time.” She smiled stiffly up at him, which almost made him trip over himself as he paused to let her pass. “I do have an interest in downing a Sully’s Super Chili Burger, however.” She grabbed his shirt and steered him there.

Bossy little thing. Of course, she’d been a drill sergeant.

Once inside the diner, she advanced as though she owned the place and set the duffel inside the owner’s office door. She gestured for Caleb to do the same with the rucksack he carried. Reading the confusion on his face, she answered his silent question.

“Sully’s owner reminds me of my grandpa. They were war vets and served at the same time. Sully lost all his military stuff in a house fire. All he has left is what’s in here.” She gestured at war memorabilia on the diner walls. “I figure this stuff means more to him than to me.”

Alarm trickled through Caleb as well as a sense that she was making a rash decision. “You’re really sure about getting rid of these?”

“I am.” She lifted her chin, face dared him to talk her out of it. “That’s my old life. I don’t want reminders of it.” She raked harsh eyes over his T-shirt’s army triathlon emblem.

He could see that Kate’s walls were granite-hard and fortress-high now, unlike the vulnerability she’d displayed in the garden at Mitch’s wedding. If she’d only open up like that to BB, then that was yet another reason why the masquerade needed to continue.

Caleb glanced through Sully’s office at Kate’s hard-earned and respectably decorated past, abandoned and crumpled in two heaping bags on the shoe-scuffed floor, and squelched the urge to tell her she might regret giving it all up and walking away. After all, did he really know her well enough to make that call?

You know her better than she realizes, down to the satiny feel of her lips and how her chin quivers when she cries, something whispered inside him. Probably his unwieldy conscience.

Would Kate be livid once she found out he was BB? Probably. But if BB made her life better now, the wrath was worth it. Right?

“You look like something’s on your mind.” Expressive eyes watched him intently as he motioned her into a booth. Hair spilled over her shoulders as she scooted in. She’d grown her dark brown, cropped military hair out to luxurious lengths.

He almost commented on it but clamped his mouth shut, sat and stared ahead. Some things were better left unsaid. “It’ll work itself out.” He slid a menu her way.

She leaned in. “Sometimes talking about it helps.”

A laugh choked out of him. “Trust me, not this time.”

The waitress brought ice water. Kate sipped hers like a regal princess. He resisted the urge to guzzle his. Manners were in order. She was, after all, a lady. “Thanks, Caleb.”

“For?”

She shrugged. “Friendship. Hanging out. For getting me.”

“I get you?”

She grinned. “Yeah. I think you do.”

Caleb sliced a piece of nut-dusted French bread for her.

“I could use a friend,” she added. “Bri’s strapped with wedding plans. I’m not the type who thrives alone. I get into too much trouble.” Mischief brightened her gorgeous eyes.

He laughed and tried not to dwell on how astonishingly pretty she was when she smiled. “Somehow, I can believe that.”

“See? I told you that you get me. It’s proof we’re going to be great friends.”

The waitress, a pale-skinned waif with coal-black hair, came back and took their orders, then left them alone again. “I’m glad we’re both comfortable with just being friends,” Kate continued. “Otherwise, people in town might try to fix us up.”

Caleb struggled not to choke on his water. “R-really?”

Kate nodded. “Yeah, besides our waitress and a few others, there aren’t many people our age in town, so everyone seems to think a newly arrived single man must be my Prince Charming.”

“But that’s not what you think,” he said, even though he already knew the answer.

“Nope. I’m not interested in you romantically. It’s nothing personal!” she hastened to assure him. “You seem like a great guy, and I’m glad we’re going to be friends. But you’re military all the way, and that’s not what I’m looking for.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll only be around for a few months anyway, and then hopefully it’s off to ranger school, so it’s not like I have time for romance, either.” He thought he saw a flash of disappointment cross her face, but it was gone before he could be sure.

“So we’ll make the most of the months as friends. After all, we’ll be spending a lot of time together with fund-raiser meetings and the work we’ll do together to ready props. Plus, Ian texted Mitch and informed him you applied at EPTC part-time as a surgery tech. Mitch called Ian first thing this morning.”