“Seriously? You can do that?” Phil raised his eyebrows.

Say no. Say no. He caught Annika gaping at him, and it sent a thrill through him. “Sure.” Daniel shrugged.

“I didn’t catch your name, young man.” Phil turned his gruff voice toward Daniel with new interest.

“Oh.” Daniel extended his hand to Phil. “It’s Daniel, sir. Daniel Bliant.”

“All right, then, son, you’re hired.” Phil clapped him on the back.

“I can give you an estimate, so you’ll know what to expect.”

“Why? You planning on cheating me?”

“Uh, no, sir.”

“Then we’re fine.” Phil was firm. Daniel opened his mouth to protest, but Phil cut him off. He held out his hand to Daniel. “We’ll shake on it like men, and that’ll be it.”

Daniel grinned and shook it. Clearly, there was no arguing with Phil. “Deal. I’ll give you a fair price.” How much was his peace of mind worth? Because he would have none working here, side by side with Annika.

“Damn straight you will.” Phil winked at him. He looked over at Annika and Bobby. “Who’s taking care of the customers?”

Annika and Bobby looked at each other and scrambled out to the front, but not before Annika turned and caught Daniel’s eye. Her small smile lit up her face and zinged through his body. He caught himself staring, and smiled back. She nodded and took off before Phil could say any more.

Daniel assessed the damage and started picking up the debris.

“So what’s your other job? I mean besides the helicopter?” Annika had returned.

“Uh...” He hesitated. If she found out he was a nurse practitioner in the ER, she might wonder what he knew. “I work at Hopkins.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You’re a doctor? How do you have time for—”

“I’m a nurse practitioner.” He gave in. “Working. That’s my vice. Not the alcohol.”

Satisfied, she started to leave. She came back again. “Why are you doing all this? I mean, you don’t know any of us.”

Because he’d thought of nothing else but her for the past five months. Not to mention that he apparently enjoyed torturing himself.

Daniel shrugged. “I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Besides, I’m pretty good with my hands.” He cringed. Did he just flirt with her?

She flushed, but did not break eye contact. “Well, I guess we’ll have to see about that.” She smirked and returned to her customers.

Oh, damn.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ANNIKA

AFTER SCHOOL, ANNIKA approached the bar for her shift, trying not to speed up her pace. Every day for the past three weeks, she’d found herself walking a bit faster to the bar in anticipation of seeing Daniel. At this rate, she’d be running there within the week.