Page 8 of That Emerald Vow

“I’m proud of both of you. You can definitely hold your own,” Adrian says, smiling at them.

“Can we all go get the next round now? Fighting crime makes me thirsty,” Lily admits as we all head back to our table.

Adrian gets the group a round of shots before we head over to the dance floor. Lily and Adrian leave us without a second glance.

“I guess it’s just you and me, gem,” I say, offering her my hand.

She turns her head and looks at me quizzically. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Because your gorgeous eyes are the purest shade of emerald I have ever seen,” I respond honestly, hand still outstretched towards her.

She bites her lip and continues to look at me before smiling and taking my hand. “Let’s dance, rockstar. Maybe I’ll let you buy me a drink later.” Charlie winks at me before pulling me by my hand deeper onto the dance floor. There’s a rush of unfamiliar heat that courses through me as she maneuvers me through the crowd.

Once we’re dancing to the beat of the song, I’m absolutely transfixed by this woman I don’t know but would do anything to learn more about. Our bodies melt into each other as we sway closer and closer with each beat until there is barely any space between us. I can’t tell where I end and she begins. I look down at her to see her eyes are closed, just enjoying this moment. Not being able to help myself, I move a loose strand of hair from her shoulder, making her eyes open. Her teeth pull in her lower lip as she maintains eye contact, making my dick twitch.

Being friends with benefits with her would be a bad idea, right?Yes, yes it would. But no one said anything about not being friends with her. Something about her pulls me in like a moth to a flame.

“You like what you see, hot stuff?” she challenges as her body continues to grind against mine.

I playfully grab her by her neck and lean in closer to whisper in her ear. “I guess we’ll find out when I buy you that drink.” I know I have her attention now as goosebumps erupt all over her body, making her shudder. “And if your reactions are any indication, I thinkyouwould quite enjoy spending more time with me.”

“You wish,” she says breathlessly.

“Oh, sweetheart, I wish for a lot of things,” I say, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “This is gonna be the start of a very fun friendship.”

Her face lights up with the most mischievous smile. “That it is.”

“Miley!” I yell out, feeling the sweat trickle down my back as I continue to do compressions on Mrs. Fowley, who is coding.

Miley, the newly graduated RN, is just staring with her mouth agape, pale as a ghost.What the actual fuck!

Unlike Mrs. Fowley, my heart is racing with adrenaline pumping through my veins. “You will not die on me, dammit.”

I look back up to Miley. “I need you to switch off.” After there is no response, I yell out again, “Miley. For fuck’s sake, I need you to switch off.”

Her terrified eyes fill with tears as she meets my pissed off gaze. “I-I can’t.”

I have been doing this by myself for the last four minutes, and as strong as I’m, I’m getting exhausted and can’t vouch for the quality of compressions I’m doing anymore. My whole body heats as I continue to grow frustrated that there’s no one on this floor to help me except this moron of a nurse. “And why not?” I ask, continuing to pump down on my patient’s chest as I count in my head.

“Uh . . . Uh . . .” she starts, looking around frantically until her eyes fall on her belly. “I-I-I’m pregnant.”Fat fucking chance.

I groan as I try my best to keep going. “Go call Jimmy’s team fromupstairs.” Miley looks up at me, confused at the directive.

“RIGHT NOW!” I scream, and I don’t care if it’s unprofessional anymore. A patient’s life is at risk.

I’m no stranger to watching life leave someone’s body. And if this was an asshole who Lily and I had strung up somewhere, I wouldn’t bat an eye at letting them die. Hell, I would enjoy watching them suffer as they leave the world to meet their maker. But here? At the hospital, my patients are important to me. And there is no way I’m letting their death come without a fucking fight to save them.

Thankfully, moments later, I hear three members of Jimmy’s team run up to help. We quickly switch off so I can take a break, and we let out a deep exhale of relief when the monitor beeps to indicate her pulse. We saved her.

“Go take a fifteen, Thatcher. We got this,” Jimmy says as he comes from behind.

“Thank you! Keep me posted on her.”

I head towards the break room and pass Miley on my way, who is cowering in the corner. She needs to find a new job because she’s gonna get someone killed. I shake it off, focusing on taking a mindful break, which is a rarity at this job. My body is exhausted and needs this before I return to the floor to finish out my shift.

I take out my phone from my scrubs pocket after plopping down hard on the old, puke green couch in the break room. You would think with us working such long and rigorous hours, they would pay to get us something more comfortable. But nope, we have this ancient couch nobody could ever want that feels and looks like a hand-me-down from a great-great-great-grandmother.

Pulling up my social media app, I see that an @devilishlyhaysome started following me and has sent me a private message. Looking at the profile picture brings a smile to my face—it’s Damon. Goingon his feed, I see it’s full of pictures of him, his motorcycle, and some with Adrian. His full name, Damon Hayes, makes me chuckle. Clever man with his choice of username. I may or may not have zoomed in on the one with his shirtless body just for research purposes . . .Yum,I think to myself as I unconsciously shift in my seat. Nothing happened that night other than us dancing and continuing to have a good time. It would be too complicated to have a one night stand with my best friend’s maybe-sorta-boyfriend’s best friend. Even saying that is a mouthful. But there’s something about him that draws me in even a few days after meeting for the first time.

---