Page 202 of Boyfriend of the Hour

I turned toward the voice and found him. Nathan. Looking stupidly hot in his robin’s-egg-blue scrubs, his name on a pass hanging from a lanyard. Was he working?

I frowned. No, he wasn’t. That’s right, he had used his credentials to be there during the surgery.

“Babe,” I murmured, squeezing the hand in response. “Did you watch?”

His eyes crinkled, bright behind his glasses. “The whole thing. It only took an hour, and it went perfectly. Jayce will be in here soon to debrief.”

I smiled and tugged him closer. “Come here. I need to snuggle.”

“Patients really shouldn’t be disturbed?—”

“Do it.”

There was a loud huff. The next thing I knew, he had wedged himself beside me on the bed, allowing himself to be pulled down so I could rest on his chest.

“These beds really aren’t meant to be shared,” he said.

“Just don’t bump my knee, and we’ll be fine.” I wasn’t sure why I was so concerned. I couldn’t feel the incision or anything else except my groggy brain and a sore throat.

Nathan pressed a kiss to my forehead and stroked my hair. “There’s someone here waiting to see you.”

I turned. “Nathan, you didn’t tell Nonna, did you?”

We’d had a whole conversation about it before leaving France. Marie had thought I should ask Nonna to come back from New York to help me for a bit. I had staunchly refused. This was my life. My mess. I was done asking my grandmother or anyone else to help me figure things out. Not when I finally had a real partner.

Nathan shook his head. “No, although I’m sure she knows. Your sisters aren’t very discreet.”

He gestured toward the door, and I looked across his chest to find Lea edging her way in, looking more than a little suspicious as she regarded the hospital room the same way some people might examine a haunted attic.

On the outside, my oldest sister looked the same as always in the skinny jeans she’d been wearing since 2005, her dark hair pulled back into a messy bun, one of Mike’s hoodies tossed over a graphic T-shirt, and a pair of big silver hoops for good measure. A closer look, however, informed me that the dark circles under her eyes were a lot darker than usual, her skin had that sallow look of someone who hadn’t been sleeping, and she’d lost a little too much weight since I’d last seen her.

“Hey,” I said, pushing myself up fully to sitting.

Nathan stood up and nodded. “Hello, Lea. She’s awake.”

I glanced between my sister and Nathan when she had nothing snarky to say. No “Thanks, Captain Obvious” or “Glad you cleared that up.” Clearly, something had happened between them while I was under the knife. I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad.

“Can we have a moment alone?” she asked.

Nathan glanced at me, and I nodded.

“I’ll be outside,” he said before pressing a kiss to my head and leaving the room.

Lea watched him go. “He was there the whole time.”

We both looked over to where Nathan now stood in deep conversation with another doctor. His gaze, however, darted every so often toward me, as if to make sure I was still in one piece.

“He’s nice,” she said. “And maybe kind of good for you.”

“There’s no way for you to know that,” I argued, even though it was true. “You’ve barely even met him.”

“I just spent the last two hours talking to him. It was a solid introduction. Better than me being a bitch when you moved in.”

At that, I finally turned, genuinely surprised. “You were at the surgery too?”

“He called Kate and me yesterday to let us know what was happening.” Lea grabbed my hand. “I was worried. He saw me in the waiting room and offered to bring me into the gallery to watch the surgery. It was honestly kind of boring, but he explained what was going on. I’m not going to lie, Jo—he’s a bit of a stiff?—”

“He isnot—” I started to protest.