You’re ridiculous.?
?Bryce Hubs:
You love me.?
Beth had been bouncing between patients nonstop her entire shift, the rhythm of the ER keeping her thoughts occupied. She was catching up on charting when Tasha—one of her favorite nurses—passed the nurses’ station.
“Wow, today has been crazy!” Tasha said, breezing past Beth before doubling back and really looking at her. She squinted, tilting her head. “Guurrrrrl… you look goooood. Glowing, almost. What’s going on with you?”
Beth opened her mouth, scrambling for a response, but before she could get a word out, Dr. Gibson’s voice cut through the noise of the emergency room.
“Stoner, ER 3.”
Tasha smirked, stepping aside. “Fine, fine. Go save lives. But we’re not done here—we’ll catch up later.”
Beth laughed, already heading toward the exam room. “Looking forward to it.”
Beth was stifling a yawn when she finally clocked out. She and Tasha didn’t end up talking again during the shift—and that was fine.
She had just made it to the parking lot when she spotted a familiar figure leaning against her Jeep.
Bryce.
Dressed in jeans and a gray running jacket, arms crossed, looking too handsome for her level of exhaustion.
Beth grinned, shaking her head. “You know, for someone who’s moving my stuff while I’m at work, you sure find a lot of time to loiter.”
Bryce smirked. “Gotta make sure my wife makes it to her car safely.”
Her stomach did a weird flip at the wordwife. He hadn’t said it like that before.
She glanced around, instinctively checking for nosy coworkers.
“Since you didn’t let me announce things my way, did you at least make any announcements your way?”
Beth grinned sheepishly. “Nope.”
Bryce sighed dramatically. “Unbelievable.”
He reached for her hand—then frowned.
“Where’s your ring?”
Beth hesitated. “I didn’t wear it to work.”
“Why not?” Bryce narrowed his eyes.
Beth sighed. “The stone is too big. It would get caught every time I put on or take off gloves. There’s no way I’m risking losing it.”
Bryce nodded slowly, finally understanding. His mind was already spinning on how to fix that. Relieved there wasn’t more to why she chose not to wear it
“Makes sense. Are you ready to head to the loft?”
Beth gave a hesitant nod.
CHAPTER 22
Beth grabbed her bag from the back of the Jeep but couldn’t make herself move forward.
