Her arm tingled from the contact and Renee bit her lower lip as she contemplated yet again just how well Dr. Dan’s ocean-blue eyes matched his tie, a tie she’d given him last Christmas.

Not that it meant anything. It was just a tie. A tie she’d researched during a three-hour online shopping mission and a gift she’d wrapped three times before she got the bow exactly perfect.

A simple tie. A boss gift. No big deal.

Nothing to see here.

Every morning, Dr. Dan passed along the tear-off from his word-of-the-day desk calendar. Today’s word? “Chary,” which meant careful, cautious. How appropriate. Best to be chary in this situation. She had no business crushing on her boss or his dead-sexy baby blues.

Intensely private in some ways yet incredibly warm in others, Dr. Dan was a widower who knew his way around his forty-foot sloop moored down at the harbor. And lord, did he have the tan, craggy good looks to prove it—not to mention a darn near perfect shoulder-to-hip ratio.

“I wanted to see all the fall foliage,” Dr. Dan had once given as a vague explanation for his move. “Not to mention a low cost of living and high quality of life.” Though according to Essie Park, who had sold him his log cabin out in the willy wacks, he’d come from away, seeking a change of scenery following the death of his wife.

“Sounds like Sam Baldwin to me,” she could hear Tansy saying with her impish grin, referencing her favorite movie, Sleepless in Seattle. “Maybe he’s ready to find his Annie Reed?”

Renee cleared her throat and her mind.

Though Essie was well intentioned, she never met a story that she didn’t embellish. For all Renee knew, Dr. Dan had been a widower for years and was no stranger to the dating scene. He probably had a new fascinating woman on his boat each weekend.

All that added up to mean that Dr. Dan’s bare left hand was a whole lot of none of her business.

And even if he was available, he was her employer—a no-go zone, venture into that territory and there be dragons. Besides, why would he ever look twice at her, a homebody receptionist who hadn’t gotten any in a decade? If he wanted a catch there were plenty of fish with perkier boobs and sexier underwear.

* * *

At five fifteen, Renee checked out the final patient of the day, Eloise Collins with a double ear infection. The little girl clutched a stuffed rabbit to her chest, sucking her thumb.

“Thanks again for squeezing us in.” Jack Collins signed his credit card receipt with a flourish. “I know the office closes at four thirty, but I’ve never seen Ellie like this.”

“Don’t give it a second thought.” Renee smiled in understanding. “We couldn’t have Miss Eloise going all night in pain. The prescription Dr. Hanlon gave you will kick the infection fast. It always worked for my daughter. She was on the swim team, and if there was a single germ in the pool, I swear it found its way into her ear canal.”