Page 34 of Vetted for Vengeance
“You can run the entire building,” he adds at the end, confirming what I didn’t dare assume.
“Me?”
“Kennel manager. No. Hospital manager. You can be in charge of all the wards. I know you can do it; you've been doing it alone for months. Now you can have staff rota’d on to help you.”
“Snowy will not like that.”
“You've picked a favorite dog? Or is this one who hates kennels?” He frowns.
“No, it's the student nurse. Please don't get her in trouble, but she's been a bit cold towards me. I think I'm outshining her.”
“Of course you are.” He paused for a moment, finding the red brick between my feet fascinating once more. “This barn is going to take a while to complete. So we'll get you through your training. You'll be qualified before it's ready.”
That is something to smile about. Not that he isn't angry I've named his nurse Snowy, but that he is thinking that far ahead. I'm not a short-term pity project. I'm someone he can count on to be here for the long haul. Like Tree, the head nurse, and Tammy, the senior surgical nurse. I'd be Noah Calder, hospital manager.
Woah.
Slow down.
Let's take that back about ten steps.
Noah Humphries, hospital manager.
“I love your vision for this place, and I love your vision for me being part of it. But I'd like to start my training before accepting the promotion.” One miracle at a time.
Chapter nineteen
Rhys
Noah is strange.
Maybe that is why I find him so fascinating.
He has charm without confidence. Snowy, as he so wonderfully called her, would love his shoes right now. She has all the confidence but none of the charm. I can't teach someone to be charming, but I can build someone's faith in themselves. I can teach someone to believe they deserve to stand in the spotlight.
Noah. More of a pet project than this barn. Can I mold him into someone who can glow under the cameras? Someone I shape, not someone who surprises me. Someone who can share the pressure, not steal the spotlight.
I know I can trust him. Or at least, I know how to keep him quiet. I've known since he turned himself into my accomplice rather than a witness in the brothers’ murders.
Now I need to prove he can trust me. Keeping quiet about him calling Chloe by a nickname will build that trust, but he will slip up and call her Snowy to her face.
“Chloe,” I corrected him. “The student nurse is Chloe. And she isn't too bad once you stop outshining her.”
“How? I'd rather none of your staff hated me.”
“Invite her to join you when the cameras roll. She can help you weigh puppies. She wants to be on the screen, but she doesn’t shine like you. She'll appreciate the background. And it keeps her useful.”
He steps back, moving his feet from the brick. Not uncomfortable with my gaze, but trying to improve it. He is the first person to acknowledge that he's distracting me from my thoughts, unlike most, who assume I'm doing nothing.
“I…” His sentence stops at that word; the rest of the words seem to vanish as he stares at me, hoping I can help him out.
He moves forward, closer than the brick he started on. He's nearly my height, eyes lift to make up the final few inches between us.
His mouth is so close.
Those lips are just begging to be kissed.
I lean forward, closing the distance. I feel his breath on my skin, slow and gentle. We're so close, I could wrap my arms around him and drag him in for a kiss. Deep, warm. Dangerous. All the things I thought I didn't deserve.
