Inside Heat Read Free Page B

signed, then he took one of the two of them holding the glove so the signature could easily be seen. “If you give Alec your email address, he can send you the photos. You can print them for Christopher. I bet he’ll get a kick out of seeing his favorite nurse with his favorite player.”
    “Thanks,” she said. Alec pushed a business card across the counter and she wrote her email address on it. “You’ve both been more than kind. I can’t thank you enough.”
    “No thanks needed. I’m sorry you had to go to this much trouble. If I’d known…”
    “You couldn’t have…”
    “I know, but still.” He thanked Alec and ushered Megan out the door, back toward her car. “I can’t say I’m sorry to have met you.”
    “Thanks for dinner, and the glove. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees this.”
    “I wish I could see it too. Hey! Why don’t I come by the hospital tomorrow and we can give it to him together? Do you think he’d like that?”
    Megan’s eyes twinkled with moisture and her jaw dropped. “You’d do that?”
    “Sure. What time would be good?”
    “Morning? Around ten, maybe?”
    “Ten it is. We have a game tomorrow afternoon, so I can’t stay long.”
    He watched her drive off, then headed back to the store to thank Alec, and get Megan’s email address. Just in case, he told himself. Besides, now that he was going to see her again, he could take the photos to her himself.
    * * * *
    Megan glared at the man standing next to the nurses' station. She should have known Jeff wouldn’t show. It was a good thing she hadn’t said anything to Christopher. Building his hope up, then having to tell him his hero wasn’t coming might be too much for a kid in his condition.
    “Where is he?” she demanded.
    “Who?” the man asked.
    “Your brother, that’s who. Did he send you, thinking a look-alike would do?”
    He smiled at her, his crooked smile a mirror image of his brothers. “You can tell us apart?”
    She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course she could tell them apart. The two men shared the same DNA, but this one was…well, he wasn’t Jeff. Not that he wasn’t sexy as hell too. Even though her head told her this wasn’t Jeff, her body didn’t seem to notice. Every physical reaction she’d had to Jeff came back in a rush, a very inappropriate, unwelcome rush. Megan squashed the feeling, wondering how she could react so strongly to two different men at the same time. Since she couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was that had told her from the other end of the hallway that this man wasn’t the one she was expecting, she fell back on her original question. “Where is Jeff?”
    “He’ll be here in a minute. He had to park the car. We were running a little late, so he sent me up so you wouldn’t think he flaked. I’m his brother, Jason.” He offered her his hand and Megan reached out to shake it but stopped short when the elevator door swooshed open and Jeff Holder stepped out. He stopped for a split second to get his bearings, then headed straight for them. Oh lord. She tried to convince herself her reaction yesterday had been a fluke, but watching him walk toward her with that easy gait of his – his eyes locked on her as if she were the only person on the planet – and she knew she was already lost.
    “Sorry I’m late. I had to stop and pick up some stuff.” He lifted a bag from the sporting goods store he’d taken her to the previous evening. “Is this a good time?”
    “As good as any. Christopher’s mother is here. Why don’t you wait here? I’ll go get her so she can talk to you before you see Christopher. They’ve been through so much, I hate to spring something like this on her without fair warning.”
    A few minutes later, Jeff and Christopher’s mother took the elevator down to the cafeteria, leaving Megan alone with Jason. “What was that all about?” she asked.
    “Jeff always does that. He’ll be back in a few minutes, then