“I see you plotting over there. Leave my boys out of this.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say sweetly.
“Staring at my dick is sexual harassment. What would Josh say about where your curious little eyes are venturing?”
Josh. That’s another thing. What the fuck does he want? What is this? Ghosts of bad exes and mistaken kisses day?
“You’re an ass.”
“Not a dick?”
“Are you always like this?”
“No,” he answers with a note of honesty. “It’s something about you that drives it out of me.”
“Yeah. Like I said. You’re an ass.”
His head snaps down toward me. “How am I an ass? I simply wanted my tour before lover boy asked you some basic,inane question he already knew the answer to just so he could talk to you.” A large hand on my arm that happens to graze my boob pulls me to a screeching halt. “Wait. Is he the guy who bought you the chocolates? Is he who you were with last night? You mentioned an ex, not a new boyfriend.”
A bitter laugh catapults from me. “You know I’m twenty-five, right? I graduated from nursing school at the top of my class. I even earned an award for it. I’m a damn good nurse, and I save lives on a daily basis. That means no one gets to play games with me. Not anymore and not ever again.”
He frowns. “I’m not playing games.”
My hands fly frantically about. “Bullshit, you’re not.Skywas going to show me around,” I mock his voice. “Never in my life have you ever called me Sky.”
“I would have called you Swan, but I felt that was revealing my hand a bit too much, and I didn’t want him to think we’re together. Just wonder enough to fuck off since I’m his new boss.”
“Argh. Stop.” I shove at his chest, more than a little frustrated by all things men. "I don’t need another big brother playing the role of protector. One is enough. I know Micha asked you to babysit and cockblock me.”
He laughs. Kind of loud. “Sure. Yeah. You got it, Swan. No more acting like a big brother. Since that’s obviously what I was doing.”
I squint at the sarcasm in his voice but move on to the next hot button. “Why do you call me Swan? Is it meant to be ironic?”
His eyebrows take a nosedive. “Ironic?”
I fold my arms over my fleece and adjust the stethoscope around my neck. “Do you think I don’t know that people used to call me an ugly duckling? Do you think I didn’t hear them when they talked about me behind my back?‘Poor Skylar, so short and awkward, she’ll never be tall and graceful. Poor Skylarwith those vomit green eyes that are a little too big and lips that are a little too thick and wide and a nose that’s a little too small for her face. She’ll never be beautiful. Such an ugly duckling’.”
He shifts into me, his hand on my upper arm, and his expression fierce. “Who the fuck said that about you? Not Micha.”
His extreme reaction throws me back a step. “No. Not Micha, but everyone else. The kids at school, my dance instructors, and even some parents and teachers.” And it didn’t stop there. High school kids can be brutal. Especially rich, elitist kids. In college, guys weren’t much better and only pretended to be interested in me because of my family.
Then I met Josh after I started here and was so broken and affection-hungry that I fell for his love bombing. All the gifts and gestures and affection. It was incredible. Like waking up to a bright sunny day after a never-ending nightmare. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before he started treating me like shit and making me feel like the old, chewed-up gum you step on in the street and then curse at for being there. They all made me feel so small, so ugly, so insignificant, and useless, but he was the worst of them. And my wake-up call.
“That’s pretty fucked up.”
I remove his hand from my arm. “No less true, though.”
“That’s not why I call you Swan.” The strong, sober note in his eyes and the hard set of his jaw demand I take him seriously. “I think it suits you.Beautiful,” he emphasizes, “smart, protective, untouchable, and a little mean. Plus, your skin is so fair, and your hair is so blonde it’s almost white.” He takes a strand between his fingers, and my belly jumps.
I huff a breath and swat his hand, along with that feeling, away. “I’m not mean.”
“You are to me. All of those things, actually.”
I close my eyes. “Ugh. Stop. Why are you here?”
“I work here.”
I cock an eyebrow, unimpressed with his deadpan response. “I meant, why did you ask for me to show you around?”
