CHAPTER ONE

      YES! NURSE TAYLOR HALL mentally pumped her fist in the air as she looked across the Rockin’ Tyme music festival medical tent at the tall man wearing a “Medical Staff” T-shirt and navy shorts.

      Yes. Yes. Yes.

      Her body had noticed a man.

      Sure, the current tingles were just sparks of physical attraction, but as she’d thought good old-fashioned lust a thing of the past at the age of twenty-five, Taylor cherished the incoming zings.

      She wasn’t dead inside after all.

      Her ex hadn’t accomplished quite as much as she’d given him credit for this past year. Thank God.

      Seeming to sense someone was watching him, the medical staff hottie glanced up from the clipboard he’d been studying and met Taylor’s gaze with eyes so brilliant she questioned if they were colored contacts. She was positive she’d never met him, but recognition flashed in his baby blues and a huge smile lit his face.

      Wow. Just wow.

      Awareness sparks burst into blistering red-hot flames.

      Crazy that something as simple as physical attraction could make her feel so ecstatic, especially since she wasn’t interested in a relationship, but Taylor credited the heat as a sign she was healing. She truly had progressed from the beaten down woman she’d been at her divorce a year ago.

      Of course she had. She was a strong, independent woman who didn’t need a man to hold her hand. She held her future. No one else.

      The job interview she’d gone to earlier that day had been yet another sign of how far she’d come. She’d moved on from the past and was taking charge of her life in new and exciting ways.

      Curious at the man who’d awakened her libido when she’d been so oblivious to the opposite sex for so long, she took in his features. He wasn’t the most handsome man she’d ever seen, not even close to her ex’s Hollywood perfect good looks. But there was something about this guy that had drawn her attention the moment she’d stepped into the Rockin’ Tyme music festival medical tent, which was abuzz with activity.

      His shoulder-length, sun-kissed brown hair, pulled back with a rubber band, and skin told a story of someone who loved to be outdoors and spent a lot of time doing so. Someone who didn’t worry about his outward appearance, but who’d been blessed with natural good looks. Friendly face and eyes, great smile, nice body, and if he was who she thought he was, he was Amy’s friend.

      Her bestie had never liked Taylor’s ex.

      Amy had said she would know Dr. Jackson Morgan when she saw him. Everything inside her had “known” this man—or sure wanted to.

      Taylor smiled at the hunk standing twenty or so feet away. Would he think her certifiable if she walked over to thank him?

      He immediately put his clipboard down on the table in front of him and crossed the tent. Had he read her mind and was going to say, “You’re welcome.”?

      Ha. She’d hug him for real.

      She fought back another smile and told herself to get a grip. Just because her body suddenly remembered it was female, it didn’t mean she would dare act on those zings. After the raking over the coals Neil had put her through, she had planned to avoid men forever. Not all men were like Neil. She knew that. But no matter how many sparks and tingles, no matter how excited she was that her insides weren’t dead, when it came to men, her brain warned her to steer clear.

      Men weren’t worth the trouble.

      Once upon a time she’d thought she needed one. The last year had taught her she was just fine without one.

      Better than fine.

      “Taylor, right?” He grinned, causing happy lines to fan out from his eyes.

      Great smile, she thought again as she nodded. Genuine, not calculated. A smile that radiated as much from his eyes as his mouth.

      “I’m not a crazy stalker.” He chuckled. “Amy Sellars told me to be on the lookout for you.”

      Another wave of disappointment that Amy wasn’t there hit Taylor. Not that Amy could help it that her grandmother had fallen and broken a hip two states away, but Taylor had really been looking forward to catching up with her best friend. Amy had come to Louisville last summer immediately following the finalization of Taylor’s divorce, but that seemed forever ago, and Taylor hadn’t done much more than cry.

      Tears for lost dreams and tears of happiness that she’d escaped Neil’s controlling, abusive hands.

      “Amy has a picture of the two of you on her fireplace mantel,” the medical staffer continued. “I recognized you immediately.”

      Taylor knew the photo he spoke of. She had the same one displayed at the tiny apartment she’d leased following moving out of Neil’s sprawling showplace. The photo was a close-up following her and Amy’s nurse pinning ceremony. Their smiles had been huge, as had their dreams for the future.

      Her university roommate had tried for years to get Taylor to work the infamous annual festival that took place in her hometown. Taylor finally had and now Amy wasn’t even in town.

      Agreeing to work the music festival had been more about spending time with her friend than the generous sum she’d be paid for her three twelve-hour shifts. But the extra pay wasn’t a bad thing.

      Still, if her job interview that morning had gone as well as she thought, they’d soon have lots of catch-up time.

      If all went according to plan, she’d be living with her former roomie yet again. Amy had tried to get Taylor to relocate last summer, but Taylor had needed to put her life back together on her own. She’d needed to stand on her own two feet. It would have been too easy to let Amy take over and just have gone through the motions.

      Which was what Taylor had done her whole life.

      Gone with the flow. Done what had been expected. First with her parents and then with Neil. She’d never stepped outside the boundaries they’d set. Not until she’d left Neil and filed for divorce.

      She was a work in progress but was happy with the woman emerging from the wreck she’d been. She was still