Page 18 of Room One Hundred and Nineteen: Watching Her

At least not without having a different job lined up.

I walked into Room Four and stopped for a moment. Dr. Silver was laughing with a little girl who was probably two or three years older than my twins. Her mom stood next to her, and I could feel the stress slowly melting away from the mom. I understood her. There was nothing that felt worse than your kid being sick. You felt helpless and more scared than you could ever imagine. The relief you felt as a parent when they finally laughed or smiled after not feeling well was palpable.

I checked her vitals and took down the notes Josh dictated. By the time we were leaving the room, both mom and patient were clearly feeling a little better. Josh was that good. All my three doctors were.

“Send the antibiotics prescription to the pharmacy off Aurora. Mom mentioned she’d messed up on her paperwork which pharmacy they preferred. I think she was just nervous.”

“Got it.” I smiled and rolled my neck.

“After that, go rest.” He was sweet, but I didn’t look up at him. I couldn’t. I’d been avoiding him since the day I caught him in the shower. Not that avoiding him had seemed to work. He was always working when I was.

“I don’t know. I have to check—“ I pointed haphazardly toward the lobby area where patients waited to be called. Thankfully, it didn’t seem too crazy busy.

“Elena,” he quietly called my name, and I felt my face warm up. “Baby, look at me,” he ordered gently, and I obeyed. My eyes connected with his icy blue, almost gray stare. “There you are. Go rest, babe. You need it. That witch has you working crazy hours.”

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “The overtime won’t hurt.” I tried to look on the bright side. “Soccer signups are coming up, and that’ll pay for registration and new cleats,” I rambled. “I should get these labs put in.” Josh’s hand covered mine.

“Elena.” When he said my name, I shivered because even though it didn’t sound as great as it had in the shower, it still sounded good. “Please look at me, gorgeous.” I glanced up at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and the two words tasted bitter in my mouth. I had to stop myself from flinching.

I didn’t want him to apologize about the moment we shared. As wrong as it had been, it was the most erotic moment I’d shared with someone else. The only thing hotter were thethoughts I had when I had a moment to myself in my room with the door locked later that night.

“About?” I asked like I was clueless about what he was talking about. I knew. I thought about it constantly. Just like I thought about the kiss with Rick. Josh’s brow rose.

“I shouldn’t have made you do?—“

“You didn’t,” I clipped, cutting him off. Not only had I walked in on him in the shower during a very intimate solo moment, but when he noticed me hiding in the shadows, Josh hadn’t stopped stroking himself. He’d crooked his finger, and I’d moved toward him, and I’d even spit on his cock to help lube him up before watching him come.

All that the day after I’d kissed Rick.I am such a slut!The only one I hadn’t messed around with in some shape or form was Miles. Sort of. Wearing his hoodie felt like I was wearing his mark, and I didn’t mind it.

This had to be Rosie’s fault.

My sister going on and on about my doctors while she was with her own trio of guys had messed up my head. I couldn’t go out with all three guys! I was someone’s mom.Two little people’s mom!Not that they wanted me like that. That’s all I could think about as I hit the keys on the laptop in front of me.

“Elena?” He tilted my head up, and I blinked, staring into his light-colored eyes.

“I put in the labs you asked for, and the prescription is sent off to the pharmacy off Aurora.” I ignored the topic he’d brought up.

“We need to talk.”

“There is nothing to talk about. Nothing happened.” The lie left a terrible taste in my mouth. My eyes widened and then shut when he leaned in, dipping his head close, so close his breath brushed against the shell of my ear.

And then, in a tone so low, only for my ears, he said, “Baby, you and I both know that’s not true.”

And I trembled.

Full-body shiver that left me feeling achy. Needy. Josh pulled back, and his eyes connected with mine. I knew he’d felt it. He knew exactly the effect he had on me.

“I should go lie down,” I whispered before running away like a coward. I wasn’t the flirty kind. Even before I’d met my ex, I didn’t date all that much. I was terrible at the whole thing.

Now divorced, I felt like I was worse.

My head was filled with thoughts of Josh, Rick, and Miles. I didn’t notice the fact someone was in the bed I picked and I lay down, not until an arm wrapped around my middle.

“Ohmygod!” I gasped and was pulled into a very strong body. One that was lying next to me.

“Shh,” a deep voice soothed, and my eyes fluttered shut. “I got you.” The voice sounded at the shell of my ear. I knew exactly who it was. My eyes popped open.

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