Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
She peers at me curiously. “What’s the catch?”
I laugh. “No catch.”
I just can’t go back in that room after I fucking kissed him.
Courtney arches a brow skeptically. “Really.”
“Honestly, yes, I just have a really full plate as is, and—”
“Doctor Linetti?”
Caleb, one of the nurses on duty, pokes his head in the room.
“Sorry to interrupt, but your gunshot patient needs you.”
I swallow and swivel my eyes back to Courtney.
“He’s actually Doctor Santos’s patient now.”
Courtney smirks and wags her brows at me, but Caleb clears his throat.
“I’m sorry, Doctor Linetti, but he’s very insistent on it being you.”
“Caleb, like I said—”
“Very insistent,” Caleb growls, and I suddenly see the strain and bottled anger on the normally extremely easy-going nurse’s face.
Shit.
I sigh. “Okay, okay fine. I’m coming.” I glance at Courtney. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she mopes. “I’ll just go back to the debate team. Twelve years of higher education to clean up shit. Super.”
I laugh and give her a sympathetic look before I follow Caleb out of the lounge.
Back to him.
Back to temptation.
Back to the man who makes me forget every rule I have.
Chapter Four
Jack
“Okay, Mr. Corbin, is it?”
I frown and glance up to see an all-America, corn-fed-looking blonde motherfucker smiling away at me.
“What.”
“Mr. Corbin, I’m Caleb, your attending nurse. How’re we feeling?”
“We’re feeling like I just got shot, twice,” I grunt.
Caleb laughs. “Well, feeling it is a good thing, if you get what I’m saying. We’ve had gun victims in here who can’t feel anything afterwards, and that’s a whole other sto—”
“What can I do for you, Caleb.”
He smiles. “Well, I’m actually here for your post-op follow-up. Get some vitals, check those bandages—”
“Ar—” I frown. “Doctor Linetti already checked my wounds.”
Caleb looks surprised. “Oh? Well, no harm in checking them again. Also, I’m going to give you a quick sponge bath and get you into a gown to make you more comfortable.”
I frown. “No, you’re not.”
He smiles. “Mr. Corbin, I think you’ll be much more comfortable—”
“I’m plenty comfortable considering I just got shot, twice,” I growl. “I don’t need a gown.”
“Mr. Corbin, you’re not wearing anything.”
“Fine, then how about some scrubs or something.”
Caleb chuckles. “Okay, Mr. Corbin, let’s just get this done, okay? We’ll start with the sponge—”
“Yeah, not happening.”
He sighs. “Mr. Corbin, this is standard post-op procedure. You need to be sure you’re clean after the wounds you’ve sustained and the surgery you’ve just gone through.”
“Then leave it, I’ll wash myself.”
“Mr. Corbin—”
“You’re not touching me with a fucking soapy sponge, blondie.”
Caleb smiles that smile that really says, “I want to tell you to fuck yourself but I’m going to smile instead.”
“Mr. Corbin, I’m a nurse. I’m a professional. If this is about my being a guy, believe me, I get no pleasure in this. Not that it matters in the damn slightest, but I’m married, to a woman, if that eases your—”
I snort. “Caleb, I don’t give a shit who you like to fuck. This isn’t about you being gay or straight, no one touches me. Not when I’m chained to a fucking bed.”
Caleb groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Mr. Corbin,” he growls, clearly at the end of his patience. I do have that gift with people.
“Mr. Corbin, this is happening. It’s hospital protocol. If you’re that hung up about me—”
“Buddy, no one is touching me,” I growl. “End of fucking discussion.”
He scowls at me, I scowl right back at him in this standoff, before suddenly, I open my mouth.
“Doctor Linetti.”
He frowns. “Excuse me?”
“Doctor Linetti can do it.”
“Mr. Corbin, doctors don’t—”
“It’s her or nothing.”
His jaw clenches and he folds his arms over his chest. But finally, he sighs. “I’ll get the doctor,” he snarls.
“Thanks, blondie,” I mutter as he walks out.
I smirk as I turn to glance out the window. The van that was parked out there when I first woke up is still there. It could be anything, and I could just be being paranoid, but the passenger side window is cracked, and I can see cigarette smoke curling out of it. I snort.
Amateurs. They sent amateurs. A pro would just lay low and wait. The rookies are the ones who are losing their minds by hour three of a stakeout, hence the chain-smoking out the window. It’s a dead giveaway, and I’m almost insulted that Victor didn’t send pros to keep an eye on me. But it lets me know that he knows I’m here.
…My timeline is shrinking, fast.
“Mr. Corbin.”
I smile at the sound of her voice, and I turn my gaze from the window to let my eyes slide over her. Fuck, she’s even more beautiful the second time seeing her. And she’s changed, too. She’s in a skirt now that lets me get an eyeful of those sexy fucking legs, and a blouse that actually hugs her curves a little more than scrubs did. I drink in the way she moves across the floor—sensuality mixed with the power-stride of a woman who know what she wants and isn’t afraid to take charge. My pulse quickens and my jaw tightens.