Just Perfect by Julie Ortolon Page B

have a terrible weakness for immature, irresponsible men. I’m going to break that habit, though. I don’t care how much I’m attracted to you or how much fun you are. I’m not going to do this to myself anymore.”
    “You think I’m unemployed?” The accusation spurred his anger higher because it lumped him into the same group as his lazy bum of a father. She thought he wasn’t any better than that? “You came up with this theory how, exactly? Without even asking me?”
    “I did ask! And Trent said you didn’t work. Plus, you spend all your time skiing or hanging out in that pub, drinking with your friends. Is this the schedule of a responsible, working adult?”
    He shook his head in amazement. “This coming from a woman who takes three-week vacations in her rich daddy’s condo and wears clothes that could bankrupt a small country. What do you know about working? Have you ever had to work for anything?”
    “Talk about unfair assumptions,” she nearly sputtered. “You know nothing about me.”
    “Ditto, babe.”
    “For your information—”
    The crowd rose with a gasp. Alec looked to the stands and saw a sea of horrified faces. Whipping around to face the slope, he saw a snowboarder rolling in the snow, clutching his leg.
    The announcer’s voice rose over the sound of the crowd. “Oh, that’s a bad one, folks.”
    “Stay here,” Alec snapped at Christine and took off at a dead run for a break in the barrier between the stands and the course. One of the workers tried to step in his path. “Let me through!”
    Realizing it was either that or get plowed over, the worker stepped aside. Alec raced toward the downed boarder who was thrashing about, screaming.
    Dropping to his knees, Alec grabbed the guy’s shoulder and tried to hold him still.
    “I’m a paramedic. Will you let me help you?”
    “My leg! Shit! My leg!”
    Alec glanced at the thigh and silently cursed. The fractured femur hadn’t broken through the pant leg, but he’d bet money it had broken through skin. And he couldn’t do squat until he had verbal permission or the guy passed out.
    “Hey! Listen!” He pressed the boarder down. “I’m a paramedic—”
    Christine dropped to her knees on the other side of the boarder. “You’re a what?”
    The surprise on her face would have been comical if he’d had time to enjoy it. Ignoring her, he turned back to the boarder, getting his first good look at the kid’s face. Jeez, he was young. “Will you let me help you?”
    “Yes! Shit!” The face contorted in agony.
    “Try to be still,” Alec ordered and ripped off his ski gloves before reaching for the surgical gloves in his jacket.
    Christine surprised him by pulling a similar pair out of her purse and snapping them on like a pro. He looked from her hands to her face.
    “Surprise.” She smiled. “I’m an ER doctor.”
    “You’re a
doctor
?” The notion seemed ludicrous with her kneeling in the snow in a white fur coat and matching hat haloing her supermodel face.
    The boarder screamed, jarring Alec’s attention back into place.
    Christine bent forward, pressing her fingers to the patient’s throat. “What’s your name?”
    A stream of obscenities spilled forth.
    “Hold him still,” Christine ordered and pulled a pair of scissors from her purse. “This is going to be messy.”
    Alec pressed the kid’s shoulders down with one forearm and reach for his radio. While he called in the situation, she cut the pants from hip to knee. Yep, she was right. It was messy. Blood gushed out, staining the snow about her and turning the fur coat red.
    “This is 14B32 to dispatch,” he said to Doris back at the station, then gave her a quick rundown. “I’m going to need a trauma kit, spine board, and traction splint.”
    “Ski patrol heard the accident over the loudspeaker and is already on the way,” the ever-efficient Doris told him. “Do you want an ambulance or life flight?”
    “Stand by.” He glanced at Christine as she