Page 95 of Forced Proximity
I melted. “It’s too early.”
“I know.” I smiled. “You’re a smart girl who likes to be cautious. I told him that. He said that you were cautious with other people, not him. Then he left with a ‘you’ll see’ in his eyes.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Let’s get to work.”
The day was exhausting.
I’d gotten used to having days off, and a lot of those days had been spent lazing around.
Needless to say, when the coffee order came in around four with a note that read “you look tired,” I couldn’t disagree.
I was really freakin’ tired.
The last thing that I wanted to deal with was seeing my mom and sister walking up to the nurses’ station with a look of determination on their faces.
“I can’t do this right now,” I said with my hands full of IV bags that I needed to go drop off in a patient’s room. “You need to leave, and we can have this out when I’m not at work.”
Mom opened her mouth and then closed it. “But you’re not answering her calls.”
“I’m at work, Mother,” I reminded her. “Of course I’m not answering any personal phone calls.”
I hadn’t even answered any of Finnian’s.
I’d been so damn busy that I hadn’t had a chance to call him back, let alone take my lunch or pee.
My bladder was currently screaming at me, but I had two fresh-from-surgery patients that needed to be taken care of before I could take that bathroom break.
“We’re just asking…”
“Ladies,” I heard said from behind them. “It’s time to leave.”
The security guard that emerged had me smiling.
I turned around and left them to it, but I did check my watch when a text came through.
Finnian:
Sorry I didn’t get them before they got up there. I’ll do better next time.
He really was the best.
His stalkery best.
The man was a genius with computers, which I was slowly starting to really comprehend. He’d said he was. He’d made jokes about hacking into places. He’d hacked into American Airlines for Christ’s sake.
But what kind of eye did the man have to have on the pulse to know that my family had shown up here?
That thought stuck with me the rest of the night.
And when the coffee came around three in the morning, I couldn’t help but send him a text message in thanks.
Me:
I don’t know what kind of stalkerish tendencies you have, but my belly likes them. Next time, get me a pumpkin muffin to go with it.
Finnian didn’t reply.
But the pumpkin muffin came when the end of my shift hit.
