“Why? Because I’m just a bartender and you’re a brilliant, beautiful surgeon?”

Her cheeks flamed, her mind still caught on beautiful. Ignoring the question, she reached for the plate of food piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and toast, but he pulled it back out of reach.

“This is mine.” He took out a small container of what looked like oatmeal and handed it to her. “You said last night you only ate ‘clean.’”

She’d said that? Man, she must have sounded like a complete holier-than-thou asshole. His breakfast looked so good and the greasy food was exactly what she was craving that morning, but she squared her shoulders and accepted her fate. She could always head out for a second breakfast once he left. “The oatmeal’s perfect.” She opened it and, grabbing the plastic spoon, she forced herself not to gag on it. She normally skipped breakfast and sometimes lunch with her busy schedule. But she was on vacation and she planned to eat. A lot. And the faster she could get rid of him, the faster she could get to the breakfast diner on Main Street.

Reed grinned, watching her put another spoonful of the thick, tasteless gunk in her mouth. “Good?”

“Delicious.”

He folded a piece of crunchy bacon and popped it into his mouth. “Mmm. I love bacon.”

Setting the oatmeal down, she stole a piece off his plate and closed her eyes as the grease hit her tongue.

Reed laughed, sliding the plate toward her. “I was kidding. This is yours. I actually do eat ‘clean’ most of the time,” he said with a wink as a chime sounded from his pocket and he reached for...

“A pager? What are you, a drug dealer?”

“Don’t you carry a pager at the hospital?”

She sighed. “Yes, but there are very few professions where they’re needed these days... I can’t imagine the bar has an emergency at this time in the morning.”

“The bar—no. Snowcrest Mountain—yes,” he said, grabbing his coat.

She narrowed her eyes at the search and rescue logo in the corner of the red-and-yellow jacket. Okay, so that was unexpected and more than a little hot. “You’re mountain search and rescue?”

He nodded, checking his watch. He hesitated when his gaze locked on hers once more. A brief second of conflict registered in his baby blues before he said, “If you can tear yourself away from that coffee, why don’t you get dressed and I’ll show you my emergency room?”

CHAPTER SIX

INVITING ERIKA ALONG had been an impulsive move. One Reed was immediately wishing he could undo. Since the kiss the night before, he hadn’t been able to shake his annoying attraction to her. Her taste lingered on his lips and her taunting words replayed in his mind. She could say what she wanted, but she’d definitely been as turned on by the kiss as he was. His freezing walk back to the bar had little effect on the heat coursing through him. He hadn’t expected such passion from her, but she’d rocked him. So much so, that he’d turned down a very enticing proposal to spend the evening with a bombshell blonde tourist that promised no strings attached.