Page 89 of Wicked Refusal

I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling anyway. How can I not? “You’re unbelievable.”

“And you’re going to be late.” Yulian’s fingers trace the inside of my arm. His voice drops to a low, husky whisper. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about what you want to be doing today.”

It’s tempting. So, so tempting. “After my shift?” I try to negotiate. “I’m gonna need coffee, though. Loads of coffee. I’m not used to the ER rush anymore.”

“There’s a cart by the lobby,” Yulian says. His fingers have moved to my face now, tipping up my chin just enough to tease. “Italian roast. Bound to wake you up.”

“Then it’s a date.” I try to keep my own voice from darkening with desire, but it’s a losing battle. “I’ll hitch a ride with Nik and meet you there?”

Possessiveness flashes into his eyes. “I can come get you.”

I shake my head firmly. “I don’t want to interrupt your workflow. I feel like I’ve done that enough these days.”

“You and I have very different definitions of ‘enough.’”

I shove him playfully. “Jesus, you’re so horny all the time!”

“You weren’t complaining last night,” he whispers, leaning close to my lips. “Or the night before that. Or the night before that.”

I feel my knees go weak. If I don’t get out of this car right this second, there’ll be no great comeback for Nurse Winters. Nuh-uh. Only the individual components of that word, possibly more than once.

God, I’m a hornball too, aren’t I?

I push out of the car before I can let Yulian have his very tempting way with me. “I’ll see you after work, Mister. Behave while I’m gone.”

“Now, you know I can’t make that promise.”

Yes, you can. Because you wouldn’t dare misbehave without me.

I press a quick kiss to his lips and draw back before he can catch me. Then I skip up the steps of the underground parking lot and into the service elevator.

I respawn directly in front of the changing rooms on the ER floor. It’s so odd walking in here again—everything’s so foreign and familiar all at once. Nothing’s changed, not really, but I feel likeIhave. I’m not the same person who donned her dirty purple scrubs in this hospital three whole months ago.

I walk under the neon lights, change into my trusty scrubs—clean for the next five minutes, if my luck holds—and walk through the ER doors.

“Code red!”

“Nurse Mendez, hold the patient down?—”

“I need 1 mcg acetaminophen, STAT!”

Ahh. Home sweet home.

Kallie rushes by my side, a stretcher in tow. “Welcome back to hell, soldier.”

“Glad to be back. Need some help with that vein?”

She flashes me a grin. “I thought you’d never ask.”

By the time my first shift back trickles down, everyone’s come to congratulate me one way or another. Kallie even baked cookies. The other nurses couldn’t believe their eyes, Reese nearly broke down crying, and Gwen—well, even she showed a speck of emotion. Though I’m unsure what it was.

Now, we’re taking advantage of a rare quiet moment to catch up.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Reese blurts. “You got kidnapped by a Russian mob ghost?”

“I mean, when you put it like that…”

He stares at me like I’ve grown two heads. “Holy shit. I want to steal your life.”