“Hey,” a nurse says, catching me sitting in the break room. “You don’t work here. Who are you and what are you doing in here?”
“Do you remember those muffins Rina brought in on Saturday?”
“Yeah…” She’s eyeing me all over the place with impatience and skepticism.
“I bought those for you all.”
Arms fold over her chest as she stares me down. “Huh. That was you?”
“That was me. I respect and admire the work you do. I’m trying to surprise Rina, who is finishing up, and asked my buddy, who is a trauma surgeon, to sneak me in. Bad idea?”
Another full-length stare with a no-bullshit expression, her dark tight curls held up in a bun by not one but two pens. “Not if you buy us more muffins.”
“Consider it done.”
“I like orange cranberry. There was no orange cranberry in with the last bunch.”
“I will scour Boston for them.”
Another up and down. “Alright. I suppose I can let this slide. Just this once,” she warns me with her finger.
“I appreciate that…” I lean forward, squinting as I try to read her badge.
“Janiqua.”
“Janiqua. Gorgeous name. And thank you. I’ll be sure to have your muffin of choice for you tomorrow.”
“You better.”
And with that, the woman turns around and leaves me here. I feel lucky that I’m still breathing. That she didn’t take my life with a simple flick of her wrist. She seemed very capable. In fact, if I’m ever sick and in this ICU, I think I want her to be my nurse. Now I understand why Rina became a nurse instead of a doctor. You don’t mess with nurses.
Two minutes later, the door swings open again, this time Rina enters, her eyes already searching for me. I’m guessing my pal Janiqua or maybe even Wes tipped her off.
“Brecken. It’s not Friday.”
She looks so pretty like this. Blonde hair piled on top of her head. Cheeks flushed pink. Face void of makeup. Pale blue scrubs covering her body. Smart and sexy. And let’s be real here, my girl is wicked smart. Total Boston babe.
“Can I cook you dinner tonight?”
“Ugh.” She removes her maroon stethoscope from around her neck, shoving me aside as she digs through her cubby, setting it on the top shelf. “No.”
“I was thinking shrimp el diablo over spaghetti.”
“It sounds spicy.”
I reach out and grasp her hip, not daring to stop her as she unloads her work stuff, pulling things that look like syringes of clear liquid wrapped in plastic and alcohol swabs from her pockets.
“It is,” I agree. “But it’s also really good on a cold night, which is what tonight is. It’s also amazing with garlic bread and have I mentioned I make a killer garlic bread?”
“Don’t ever say killer in the ICU.”
I grin. And smile after that. And hold in my chuckle. “A mean garlic bread then. Delicious garlic bread. We both have to eat it or we can’t make out all night. Also, you have to explain to me why garlic doesn’t impact Edward. He said it was a myth.”
“You’re still reading it?”
She glances down at me and suddenly my horrible couple of days, my fucked-up life, my world that is steadily imploding around me, feels just a bit better. “I’m still reading it. I told you, I’m trying to learn how to speak woman.”
“I can’t decide if you’re the perfect man or just the perfect man for me.”
Damn. That grows like a weed through my chest. It claims my soul and makes me want to own hers.
“Both. More of the second though.”
“You’re weakening me in places I can’t afford to be weakened.”
“If it helps, I never see you that way. I only see you as strong. Beautiful. Everything I want to be a part of.”
Her eyes glimmer. Shining such a brilliant shade of green I don’t think I’ve ever seen it on her. “I guess I can do dinner then,” she says. “But I have to be back here tomorrow morning. Then I start my night shift Saturday.”
“You don’t have to warn me, Rina. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You and I both know that’s a promise you can’t make.”
Touché. And damn, that hurts. Standing up, I grasp her shoulders, twisting her to face me. “I like you. It’s not something I’ve ever told a woman, or even a girl for that matter. That might sound bad. In fact, I know it does. But the truth is, I’m not sure if I ever truly have until I met you one night in a bar. Well, I saw you first. And that kind of started me off. Then you opened your mouth, and I was done for. Don’t run because it’s what you always do. Stay because you never have before.”
“I stayed once.”
I shake my head. “No. This is nothing like that. I don’t need to own you to know you’re mine. I don’t need to control you to get you to be with me. I’m a mess, Rina. A serious mess. My life is… uncertain. And because of that, I likely shouldn’t be pushing this as hard as I am. But I can’t stop it either. I can’t go back.” I cup her face in my hand. “You’re the only good thing I have going for me right now and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you around.”
“Wes knows you’re here.”
“Yes,” I say, still holding her face in one hand, squeezing her hip with my other. “He does. But he owes me and he’s my best friend. I also don’t think he wants to be the one to tell Aria. That said, if this continues the way I’m planning on it continuing, I want her to know.”
Rina’s green eyes slowly close as she blows out a breath. “It’s too soon for this.”
It is. She’s not wrong with that. But what feels too soon to her feels right on time to me. I have to remember to slow my pace. To steady my moves. To not push too fast.
“Dinner first then?”
She just shakes her head like she doesn’t know what to do with me. “Dinner first. You cooking me dinner. Me showering off the ICU.”
“I have work tomorrow morning too, but I promised Janiqua cranberry orange muffins and Jesus save me, I will not break that promise to her.”
Rina finally cracks a smile and then laughs. “We’ll get them before we both head in. I’ll let her know they’re from you.”
“Nurse Fritz. You just saved my life.”
“Mr. Davenport, I think we’re actually saving each other with that one.”
She takes my hand and leads me out of the break room, through the sterile halls and back onto the elevator. Two hours later I’ve cooked dinner for her at my place and cleaned the whole thing up because I wouldn’t let her help. My computer is upstairs. Both of them actually. For once. But I’m not thinking about that as I wipe down the countertop. I’m thinking about Rina’s body.
I’m thinking about how much I want Rina’s body.
I’m thinking about how fucking hot she looks in those leggings she changed into. I’m thinking about all the dirty, dirty things I want to do to her.
She’s reading on my sofa, thinking this will be a cute and cuddly night where I read Twilight and she reads whatever it is she’s reading and then we have fun sex up in my room. And maybe that was the other night with her brothers all around us.