Page 15 of Such a Sweet Omega (His Alpha Desires #5)
Jabez
I thought I’d only be an hour or so, assuming one of the on-call doctors would be able to take over once the patient was stabilized, but no such luck. The patient remained an active emergency well into the night and almost until dawn, giving me not even a few minutes to go back and send the omega home in a rideshare.
Not even time to check my phone in case he’d texted to say he’d decided to leave, but as the sun was red-lining the horizon, I opened the door to my office to find he had not left but instead had fallen asleep on my couch.
I knew it was short for me but had somehow thought his shorter stature would afford him more comfort. Seeing him curled up with his knees to his chest, I felt terrible. Despite the fact I’d been occupied with the pack alpha of a local pack who suffered from one of those rare diseases I was known for dealing with. His own healer had not known anything about it, being an older and more traditional fellow who had learned at his own mentor’s knee and never studied a thing beyond what that wolf knew.
If he hadn’t been brought in that night, and if they had not called in someone familiar with the issue, he’d be a dead one this morning, leaving a pack challenge in the offing.
This was why I was here. Why I hadn’t hung up my stethoscope. Why I traveled so much. And…why I was such a bad choice for a mate. I should probably just enjoy his company while I could and try not to think of the day when he would realize that I wasn’t worth all the waiting around.
Gods, that was going to happen, wasn’t it?”
Beale didn’t look very comfortable, even covered with my blanket and with his head on the pillow, but I didn’t know how much sleep he might have had, so I hesitated to waken him. My office faced east and the sun as it rose would flood the room with light, helping him to wake naturally. Until then, I would just sit at my desk and take care of some paperwork. Not actual paper, of course, it was on the laptop. Same idea. Or it would have been, if I hadn’t fallen asleep about two seconds after landing my butt in my chair.
Sometime later, I woke bathed in midmorning light, my exhausted self not having been disturbed by any of the earlier sunshine. But what did make me stir was the feeling of being watched.
I opened my eyes to find Beale sitting up on the sofa, the blanket folded next to him with the pillow sitting neatly atop it.
“Good morning, Jabez,” he said. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I know.” I rubbed my face, trying to push the last of the sleep away. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“You had a long night,” he said. “I tried to stay awake, but finally I gave up, figured if I got a bit of sleep, I’d be in better shape to face the day.”
“I never thought…do you work today?” If I’d made him stay up most of the night and then he had to try to do his job? That would be a very irresponsible alpha indeed.
“No, I am off until tomorrow. No need to worry, but I still owe you dinner.”
“Beale, you did eat some of the snacks in my drawer, didn’t you?”
He shook his head. “I forgot they were there, and then I fell asleep.”
“Oh, omega, you must be starved.”
“And you, Jabez? Did you find time for a meal?”
Gods, he had me again. “No, in fact I did not.”
“Then we’d better head out to a restaurant somewhere for breakfast.” He was on his feet and smoothing a hand through his hair. “What do you feel like?”
“How about the cafeteria here? I think you’ll be surprised at how good the food is, and frankly I’m too hungry to wait very long.” Even if I was willing to allow him to do so. Which I was not.
“If you like. But aren’t hospitals known for bad food?” His little grimace was the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
“Human hospitals.” I stood up and started for the door, grabbing his hand along the way. “If you hate it, we can eat just enough not to faint from hunger and then go anywhere else you want.”
We weren’t even off the elevator when the scents of bacon frying and brewing coffee met my nose.
“I didn’t think a hospital would serve bacon,” Beale marveled. “Let’s eat.”