Page 10 of Resisting You

“Hopping,” Rob said, a little sullen.

Frey laughed. “Just think of it this way—you have an excuse to helicopter.”

Renato had no idea what that meant, but it must have been obvious enough because Rob burst into laughter. “Oh God, yeah. That’ll get my girlfriend hot.”

Frey grinned, looking mischievous and young and way too pretty for Renato’s liking. “My best friend in the whole world is engaged to an amputee. He lost his leg getting blown up on a movie set.”

Renato looked at Frey sharply, but the nurse wasn’t paying him any attention.

“Seriously?” Rob asked.

Frey’s smile widened. “Yep. That was before they met, though. And not to get too deep into TMI, but nothing my buddy’s fiancé does turns him off. Even helicopter dick.”

Ah. Renato didn’t need to know the phrase to get a very vivid mental image, and he glanced away, collecting himself.

“If there’s nothing else,” he started.

“I’m good,” Rob answered.

Renato gave a short nod, then turned his attention back to Frey. “If you would?”

Frey’s eyes widened for a second, and then he turned back to Rob. “I’ll be back in a sec to finish your cath.”

Renato winced. He hadn’t realized Frey was doing something besides cheering him up, but what he had to say would only take a second anyway. He started for the door, and a moment later, he heard Frey’s soft footfalls after him. He walked down to the desk between patient rooms and stopped, then turned to see Frey staring at him with an expectant expression.

“So,” Frey said after a long beat of silence, “your apology?”

The truth was Renato had been planning to apologize. He had everything worked out what he wanted to say. But Frey’s quiet demand set him on edge, and he found himself scoffing. “For what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Being an asshole,” Frey snarled very quietly. “Being wrong. Kicking me out of the OR for no good reason and refusing to listen to me when I said I didn’t do it.”

Renato bit the inside of his cheek. “From the fact that you’re here, I can tell you weren’t reprimanded for the incident.”

“Because other people around here actually wait to hear both sides of the story before making decisions,” Frey said.

“Do they? So if I bring up an incident with my scrub strings or my socks?” He paused when he saw a guilty look pass over the nurse’s face, but after a beat, it was gone. “I made a judgment call, one I’m not sorry for. If you had been that unprofessional, it would have put the patient at risk. I didn’t have time to launch a formal investigation in the middle of trying to keep that man from bleeding out.”

“And trusting me would have been out of the question, would it?” Frey sneered.

It was. And it wasn’t. But Renato didn’t really know why.

“Well, I’m sorry your plans to get me fired fell through,” Frey said to Renato’s silence. “I guess you can go back to fucking with my coffee and stealing the desserts out of my lunches.”

“I haven’t—” But Frey turned on his heel, and before Renato could think to call him back, Frey was gone.

He dropped his shoulder against the wall and rubbed his hands down his face, but just as he started to sink into his own melancholy, the pager on his belt began to buzz. He glanced at the number and knew that if the ER was trying to reach him, there was another disaster heading his way.

He supposed that was the job he signed up for.

He could deal with the infuriating, absurdly hot nurse later.

Chapter Three

“…and if we’re here any longer, those sutures are going to become sentient and close the patient up themselves.”

Across the table, Dallas choked on his swallow of tonic and lime, then glanced around guiltily. He was new to the group, so he was new to the ballad of Renato Agosti, Dr. Dickhead. “Sorry. Are we not supposed to find these funny?”

Adele rolled his eyes. “They’re hilarious.”

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