Page 9 of Roman

She crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. “I’m covering your patients. Take your break—I know you’re overdue.”

Danny gave her a relieved smile, unable to even pretend to put up a fight. “I promise I’ll be quick. Just need some fast calories and caffeine.”

She shook her head at him. “Full half hour, mister. I’ve got ’em, I promise.”

He was about to protest further, but she cut him off before he could start. “You need to eat some real food, Danny Boy. Not gonna lie—you’re looking wrecked. I’ll text you if we get slammed. Scout’s honor.”

Choosing to ignore the less-than-flattering assessment of his appearance, he widened his eyes at her in mock surprise. “Chloe, were you a Girl Scout for real? Tell me there are pictures of a mini you in a Brownie uniform. I need them in my life.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but her lips quirked up. “It’s a figure of speech, dummy. Go eat.”

He gave a huff but got up from his chair, mumbling some choice words about getting a boy’s hopes up for embarrassing photos with no intention of follow-through, but she blatantly ignored him.

Ten minutes later, he was sitting in a cafeteria booth, eyes glued to his book as he shoved half of a slightly soggy turkey sandwich—cafeteria pickings were slim in the middle of the night—into his mouth.

A tall figure slid gracefully into the seat across from him. Figuring it was Gabe by the size of him, Danny didn’t bother to finish chewing before giving him a friendly, “Fuck off, I’m reading.”

“And a good evening to you too.”

He knew that voice.

He looked up to find a pair of familiar bright-blue eyes gazing back at him.

And now Danny was choking on his turkey sandwich.

Eyes watering, he covered his mouth with an arm as the coughing fit took him over. When he finally choked the bite down, he managed to get out a strained, “—not who I thought you were.”

Mr. Handsome Creep—or was it just Mr. Handsome now?—gave him an even look. “I figured.”

Danny waited for his stranger to continue, ideally to explain what he was doing interrupting Danny’s sandwich time, but that was it.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “I see we’re still saving up all our words for a rainy day.”

The man across from him gave a slight smirk but still didn’t say anything else. He was wearing a different suit from the night before, just as perfectly fitted. He looked like he should be strutting the streets of Milan or Paris rather than sitting in a dingy hospital cafeteria.

He must be an employee after all, to be here two nights in a row.

There was something different about him tonight. Something less…harsh. He was still clearly prone to staring, but that cold, predatory look was gone. Which was slightly unfortunate, because without the “creep” part, he was just Mr. Handsome, and Danny refused to drool over another hospital employee.

No drama in the workplace for him, thank you very much.

“Okay, I’ll go,” Danny relented. “How can I help you?”

“That is a dangerous question.”

Danny fought a blush at the man’s low tone; his voice had that sultry edge again. What was Danny just thinking about not drooling again? This man wascreepy, damn it. Danny would not be charmed.

“I’ll rephrase,” Danny said, keeping any hint of flirtation out of his voice. “What are you doing here at my table?”

“Talking to you.”

“Yes, butwhy?”

The stranger placed his elbows on the table and leaned slightly forward, toward Danny, and goddamn it, why did he have to smell so good?

“And here I thought I was being so obvious,” he purred.

This…this was flirting, right? Honestly, Danny was so out of practice with the act he couldn’t quite tell. “Obviousis a not a word I would use to describe you. You must still be pretty new here, right? What unit? You’re not wearing scrubs. Or a coat. Are you one of those ‘cool docs’ who think the white coat is too pretentious? Because I gotta tell you, that suit does not send out the chill vibes you think it does.”

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