Page 28 of Betrothed
“What in God’s name are you still doing here?”
Stifling a yawn, I had to blink a few times before the big numbers on the flat white surface stopped appearing as cockroaches scuttling across the wall in the nurses’ station. It was almost three in the morning. Way past my usual bedtime of nine in the evening if I wasn’t working.
Unfortunately, since my return from the fabulous trip abroad, my internal clock continued to be way off, tossing and turning all I’d been able to accomplish.
Well, I had to admit that I’d had an imaginary night visitor who had kept me company with heat lingering well into the morning hours. I resisted rolling my eyes since the woman standing in front of me with her hands on her hips could easily see through my skull to my mischievous mind.
I’d indulged in thinking about Kirill one too many times, which wasn’t like me. After our… round of passion, we’d enjoyedsharing my little pod together, drinking champagne, eating fabulous food, watching a movie, and I’d fallen asleep with my head against his chest.
All incredible activities. And as an added bonus, we hadn’t been reported to either the captain or the authorities. When we’d separated inside JFK Airport, we’d done so with a handshake.
How very modern of us.
I was obviously daydreaming again because she tapped on the counter.
“What?” I asked, my mind still wrapped around the last smile Kirill had offered. Sexy as hell like the rest of him.
“That’s what I’m talking about. You look like a walking, talking zombie.”
“So you like my new makeup, huh?” If I was still teasing, I was still breathing.
She chuckled, shaking her head. “I think you and I are almost the only ones here tonight.”
“What about Dr. Doom?”
We always called the senior ranking doctor by the nickname, sometimes to his face. Single and without a hobby, he didn’t mind taking the late shifts. How very gentlemanly of him, although there were rumors the man was harvesting organs since so many people died on his shift.
A joke. A complete joke that had been going on for years.
“He’s making his rounds. We had two nurses call in sick.” She winked and I knew what that meant.
Another big-time performer was in town.
“Which artist is it this time, Lady Gaga or Bruno Mars?”
“Girl, you need to get out more. Alex Warren.”
I shook my head and she grumbled under her breath. “The hot guy who used to live in his car before making it big?”
My actions remained the same.
“The one who does the goofy videos every time he has a song come out?” When I shrugged, she huffed. “For heaven’s sake. I’ll find it on Spotify for you.” Her eyes were about to bug out of her head. “You do have Spotify. Right? Please tell me you know what that is. You’re a couple years older than me. Maybe I should start calling you the old lady around here.”
“You do, you die and I know, for God’s sake.” She had no idea how sheltered I’d been as a child. We’d had all the money in the world, but I hadn’t been allowed to be a normal kid growing up.
“Well, anyway, he’s in town and two of our nurses are crazy for the man. Too bad all the good ones are married. You’re not getting out of my question. What are you doing here?”
Nurse Emily Reynolds wasn’t just one of the best nurses in the Mount Sinai Hospital, she was a woman I considered a good friend. She’d certainly seen me at my worst, often with my scrubs covered in blood and other gore from a shift taken in the emergency room. Or after having consumed one too many margaritas during what limited down time we had.
At least tonight had been quiet, leaving the crazies and criminals who regularly came in via ambulance on the first floor. In contrast, the sixth was a relative tomb.
Especially at this time of the morning.
“Just checking on a patient in ICU.”
Emily’s eyebrows furrowed as she leaned over the solid surface of the nurses’ station. “Weren’t you scheduled to get off a couple hours ago?”
“Well, five or six but who’s counting?” I laughed and leaned across the counter from the opposite direction. With only the service lights on and a couple near the desks, the entire floor had an eerie appearance. That wasn’t the case in the emergency room, where you could easily land a Boeing aircraft with the number and wattage of lights used.
