My knees knocked. Ouch.

Taking a big deep breath, I told myself to calm down. He was just a man. A man who I’d kissed. Liked kissing and hoped to kiss more.

I gave a very casual wave, smiled nicely and walked toward the door. Dano was fast on my heels.

“Hey, Nightingale.” His uniform was clean but worn and wrinkled, unlike the snap, crackle, pop of Buzz’s. However, Dano looked so male and hot, no one cared about damn wrinkles.

“Morning.” I kept up my pace even though I wanted to slow, turn and grab him. Get that second kiss out of the way, you know.

“We’ll be doing a daily on the southern border of town today. Be prepared to sit and wait for calls. Bring a magazine or something.” With that he grabbed the door handle before I could, yanked and held it just long enough for me to get through.

I smiled so he couldn’t see. For some reason, I didn’t think ER Dano would want me to acknowledge any gentlemanly moves from such a macho guy.

He turned toward the guys’ locker room with a quick, “Later.”

Too bad he seemed so burned out. Been there. Done that.

I walked to the reception desk, where Lilla sat talking on the phone in French. “Your mom?” I asked quietly.

She winked.

“Say hi for me.” I sat on the chair opposite her desk and waited, wondering if she had anything helpful for me.

Lilla held her hand over the receiver. “Fabio is asking how the case is going.” She shook her head and winked at me.

I groaned. “Fantastic. Tell him fantastic.”

She continued on in French at what seemed like a lot more words than my “Fantastic. Tell him fantastic,” but didn’t translate for me after her “Adieu.”

Frankly I could care less about the jerk Fabio. I leaned toward her and asked, “Hey, Lilla, anything for me?”

She curled her lips. “Pansy’s guard was attacked-”

“Um. I know.” For a few seconds I wondered how she knew. Did Jagger tell her? If so, when would Jagger have seen Lilla? Maybe Buzz had told her. They seemed to have been getting along. Yeah, Buzz. I was going with Buzz.

“Morning, ladies,” a deep voice said from behind.

I swung around to see Sky heading toward the lounge. I looked at Lilla. “Yum.”

She giggled. Only someone dressed exclusively in black and having a face and body like her could get away with giggling and not have it be annoying. “You are special for him, chéri?”

“Special?”

“Interested.”

“Ah. No. Actually, he’s a doll and one heck of a looker, but no.” Just then ER Dano walked out of the locker room, and turned toward the lounge without a word. I remained silent.

Lilla’s eyebrow rose.

“What?”

“Ah. I see.” She winked at me and shuffled some papers on her desk.

I got up, turned toward the lounge and then looked back. “No you don’t see. You can’t see. There’s nothing to see.”

She chuckled. “You have the hots, as they say here, for Monsieur Dano.”

It wasn’t a question, merely an astute observation. “Does it really show?” I asked quietly.

She touched my hand. “No. No, chéri. It doesn’t.”

“Yeah, right. Thanks for that. I’ll be more careful,” I said, laughing.

While the two of us continued laughing, the intercom above my head boomed, “Copter 123, report. Copter 123, report.”

“That for Sky?” I asked as Lilla’s phone rang.

She nodded, answered and sounded concerned.

I waited a few moments for Lilla to hang up. “You have to go, chéri. They need a registered nurse on this flight. The trained helicopter paramedic will be with you too.”

For a second I was glad I hadn’t had my morning cup of tea yet, or else it might be climbing up my throat right about now.

Out on the helipad I met Nicky Straight, the paramedic. He explained that the patient we had to pick up needed some IV meds in transport that he wasn’t trained to give.

Okay, I told myself. That didn’t sound too bad. IV meds I could do. Watching for signs of distress I could do.

Whirr. Whirr. The helicopter’s blades started to turn.

Riding in this tin can with blades, I couldn’t do. Blades held on by only one nut, I’d heard.

Sky looked out the window and gave Nicky and me a thumbs-up. For a second, I thought of Sky being a suspect. But he had no motive for crashing a helicopter with a patient on it, so I tucked that potential fear away.

We both stuck our helmets on and stepped inside. I had to. A person’s life depended on it and that’s why they had hired me at TLC. Even though my job was investigating medical insurance fraud, I was a nurse first.

And always would be.

Not to mention I’d be alert for murder clues too.

Sky was a hell of a pilot, was all I could think, as we landed safely on the roof of the hospital, where a group stood waiting with the patient we had to transport to a larger trauma center.

They worked quickly and in such a synchronized way that I felt much calmer and safer at the job, especially when I looked into the pale blue eyes of the woman on the stretcher. She couldn’t have been older than her early twenties. Her coloring was cyanotic and those lovely blue eyes were quite glassy.

Didn’t look good at all.

I said a silent prayer and she started to mumble something. I couldn’t hear much with the helmet on and the blades of the helicopter whirring, but I did make out “my kids.”

It didn’t matter what she said, how many kids she had, how old they were. I was bound and determined to get this mother to wherever she needed to go as safely as she needed to go.

So I put all my reservations out of my head.

“You really are one hell of a pilot,” I said to Sky after we landed, unloaded our patient at the destination hospital and got back inside the helicopter.

Nicky strapped himself into his seat and shut his eyes. “I had a late night, you guys.”

Sky shook his head. “Night, buddy.” He turned to me. “Thanks. I try. Isn’t too hard really, though, when you love your job.”

And I could tell he did. We took off and while I was now able to watch the scenery below, Sky’s voice came over the earphones in my helmet.

“You did good, Pauline.”

I smiled and nodded, giving him the thumbs-up.

He chuckled in my ears and maneuvered the helicopter as if we were in a video game.

I laughed, but my insides didn’t find it too funny. When I waved at Sky to calm down, he did.

“How long have you been doing this, Sky?” I thought he’d fly safer and straighter if I kept him busy in conversation.

He chuckled. “Three years with TLC. I used to fly with a hospital out in Phoenix for a few years before that.”

“Oh, what brought you to Connecticut?” Suddenly I sounded interested. Maybe it was the altitude, although, yeah, I knew we weren’t much higher than the power lines (at least I hoped we were higher than the power lines). Maybe it was because Sky was a real looker and a decent pilot to boot. Or, maybe he’d say something that would help my case, or cast suspicion on himself.

I sighed. Anything was possible, and right about now I needed anything to get this case moving-so I wouldn’t have to lie to Fabio again.

Lies always seemed to jump up and bite me in a not-so-pleasant spot.

Sky seemed to hesitate, but at the same time there was a gust of wind that had us shaking. I’d hesitate too. No, I’d land this sucker in the nearest field so the wind wouldn’t blow us into any power lines. Then he said, “Came here for a change and to be with someone special. Didn’t work out though.”

Even through the noise of the helicopter, I could hear him sigh and hear the pain in his voice.

A woman.

Sky had moved nearly across the country for a woman and he was still single and obviously alone. Lonely, maybe.

“Sorry.”

He waved a hand at me, and I worried he needed that hand to fly. “No need to be. Wasn’t meant to last.” He chuckled. “No big deal. I’ve met several since that one, and will meet a hell of a lot more. You always live here?”