I lifted the sleeve and stretched it out. “You left it on the floor. I consider that more rescuing it.”
His smile was lazy, crooked in a way that almost made me forget the test results waiting for me. “Looks good on you.”
I stared at him longer than I should’ve. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to check his chart or call William or document anything. I wanted to sit back down, pull him toward me, and forget all of it.
But I had a job. And a choice to make.
“I have to head in,” I said, voice quieter than I meant it to be.
He stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the warmth of his body again. “I assumed.” He pushed my hair behind my ears, his blue eyes filled with sleep and warmth. “Hey, are you okay? You seem upset.”
No. “Yeah. I’m okay. “
He kissed my forehead without hesitation, lingering for a second before he sighed. “We both know you’re lying, but if you need to head out, I won’t stop it.”
“Oliver,” I said, hating how my voice broke. He was being kind, understanding. There was no malice in his tone when he should be demanding answers. “I’ll see you later?”
He smiled softly and placed his hand on my shoulder, his thumb gentle rubbing the spot where my pulse raced. “Yes, you will see me later. See, I’m going through something, and it seems I can only sleep when my girlfriend is with me.”
“Girlfriend?” I scrunched my nose, my face blushing. “I’m your girlfriend?”
“Mm, yeah, you are.”
I was his girlfriend… holy shit. I liked hearing that.
He smiled again, and I got lost in it. It wasn’t fair. Why did I have to fall for a guy on the team? Why did I meet him once I had my dream job? I couldn’t return his joy, my mind a mess, but he didn’t seem to care. “Please let me know when you’re home, okay?”
“Sure, yeah.” I shrugged, forcing a smile.
He rolled his eyes and kissed me once, then twice. “Hey, Sloane?”
“Hm? What?” I tensed, waiting for him to call me out on being weird. On lying to him. On avoiding the fat, large truth in between us that we couldn’t date publicly with our jobs.
“We’re gonna figure this out between us, okay? I don’t know a lot about the future, but I know mine is gonna be with you.”
My heart fluttered with the declaration. No one ever chose me this way. No one in my life and I wanted to hold onto that, keep it. I smiled, swallowing the ball of emotion those words caused.
“You say that with a lot of confidence.”
He winked and turned his back to me. My hungry gaze took in his muscles, his chiseled and hard-earned lines. Then he looked over his shoulder, smirking. “Because I know how I feel about you. Now go be Doctor Mercer for a bit, then come back to me.”
As if it were that fucking simple.
I arrived at the facility ten minutes before the full staff meeting and bypassed the performance suite entirely. My badge clipped clean through the secondary entrance near diagnostics. I didn’t want to make small talk in the hallway or answer questions about yesterday. I needed to see the data with a frenzy. What lab results did William want to discuss?
What was Oliver’s future?
The lower medical wing was quiet, lowlights still warming up in the overhead panels. William stood by the monitors, one hand resting on the back of a wheeled stool, the other holding a printed chart. His lab coat was unbuttoned. His posture was straighter than usual. That alone had me on edge.
He didn’t greet me.
“Resting heart rate baseline’s inconsistent with previous weeks,” he said. “We’ve got four peaks over 160 and two troughs under 60. All within the last seven days.”
I nodded, stepping closer. “Exercise-induced?”
“Two occurred at night. One during walk-through. One post-meeting.”
I took the chart from his hand and read through the data line by line.
