Read Online Wishing for a Miracle by Alison Roberts - Free Book Online

enough of a hesitation. Mac stood up and took his mug back to the sink to rinse it. The question morphed into a statement and left the clear impression that the fact she was looking forward to leaving was acceptable.
    A relief, even?
    Â 
    He could do this.
    That pesky part of Mac’s brain that was attached to something much lower on his body just needed a bit more squashing and it would fit neatly into a box that could be locked and then ignored.
    He’d managed well so far today, apart from that tiny prod he hadn’t been able to resist this morning, askingif Julia was looking forward to getting home. Alert for a flicker of something other than the impression she was trying very hard to pretend that kiss had never happened. Testing her. Or testing himself?
    Whatever. They had both passed.
    They’d tidied and restocked the back of the helicopter and then their kits but all they’d discussed had been things like the strength of disinfectant to use or the fact that they were low on IV supplies and morphine. It hadn’t helped that the busy start to the day for the road crew had become an unusually quiet day and, once he and Julia had moved inside to do the kits, they were hanging around, keen to hear as much inside detail as they could about the train-crash scene.
    â€˜So how did you tackle the fractured femur?’
    â€˜Usual protocol,’ Julia responded as she pulled pockets of the back packs open and laid out their contents to see what was missing. ‘Oxygen, fluids, pain relief and a traction splint. Just the same as you’d be doing.’
    â€˜Bit different, hanging in mid-air with a vertical aisle! Must have been hellishly awkward.’
    â€˜Jules can work anywhere,’ Mac told them. ‘She’s like a cross between a contortionist and…’
    He had to think of something that could describe both her level of endurance and the way she could use her body. Impossible not to let his gaze rest on that body for a moment as he tried to come up with that word. No overalls right now. She was wearing the team T-shirt and it hugged the curves of her upper body. Her arms were bare and he could see the definition of her muscles. She was as fit as he was. If he touched herupper arm, it would be firm. Those curves on the front of her T-shirt wouldn’t be firm, though, would they? They’d be… Oh, God ! Desire seeped out of that mental box, that wasn’t secure enough yet, to tackle him like a solid force. He hurriedly shifted his gaze back to that defined biceps.
    â€˜A weightlifter,’ he supplied.
    Nobody had noticed his hesitation. Julia was wrinkling her nose at him.
    â€˜Gee, thanks, mate,’ she huffed. ‘You make me sound like some kind of muscle-bound circus act.’
    Mac grinned. And then quirked an eyebrow, keeping his tone very casual. ‘I only meant that you’re supple. And strong. It was a compliment.’
    â€˜Oh-h-h.’ The look Julia gave their audience said that this was a one-off, getting a compliment. The look she flashed in Mac’s direction said something rather different. There was almost a question there—as though she was puzzled by something.
    That kiss was still there. Hanging in the air between them.
    â€˜Not that strong,’ she said in a tone as offhand as his had been. ‘I couldn’t have got her onto that stretcher without you, let alone up and out of the carriage.’
    Mac leaned past her to drop a new pack of luer plugs onto one of the piles. ‘We make a good team,’ he said. ‘That’s all.’
    There. He’d said it aloud and he could feel the way Julia stilled for a moment. As though she was capturing his words and soaking in their significance. The kiss was history. They were colleagues again. Nothing more.
    â€˜What about the other guy?’ Mac was grateful for the voice of the paramedic. Moving them on and chasing that moment into the past, where it