“High-strung? Dramatic? Intense?”
He grins at me, clearly delighted by my adjectives, and I swear the room gets brighter. And I get warmer. “I was going to say in love,” he says. “She loves him very much to be that concerned and it’s beautiful. Eli’s a lucky man.”
“Huh…a sensitive, insightful hockey player.” I give him a sassy wink. “Now that’s a real plot twist.”
Dr. Luongo turns the corner and joins us at the nurses’ station. “I’m going to have him sent up for a CAT scan, and you can get him a room. He’s definitely spending the night. It’s precautionary, but he started getting nauseous so we should keep him here, wake him up every hour and keep him hydrated.”
“Okay. Thanks, Dr. Luongo.”
He leans on the desk and smiles. “I’ve told you before. It’s Bob.”
“Thank you, Bob. I owe you one.”
“You can get me one of those fancy lattes next time we run into each other at the diner next door,” he tells me with a grin. “I think they’re ridiculously overpriced and won’t pay for them myself, but I do accept gifts.”
I laugh as he heads toward the elevators. I turn back to Griffin. “He’s the best in city and he isn’t all the worried about Eli, so you don’t have to be.”
He nods, but he seems like he has something more to say. I wait and watch as he dips his head a little and he rubs the back of his neck, but what comes out of his mouth isn’t what I expected. “The best doctors are paid in fancy lattes. Who knew? Of course I’d take my pay in lattes too if they were delivered by you.”
A blush blooms on my cheeks, and I suddenly realize I must look so dowdy right now. I never wear makeup to work, and my ash blond hair is always pulled back into a ponytail. I smooth the sides self-consciously and react the only way I know how to a compliment, with a joke. “I should tell the Thunder you said that. They could use your salary to increase my brother’s paycheck or Eli’s.”
“Are you a nurse or a sports agent?”
“Last time Jude signed a big contract, he took the entire family to Bora Bora, so really I’m just a selfish sister,” I reply and wink.
“Well, I think—” He stops as his cell phone buzzes in his hand. He glances at the screen, silences it, and shoves it in his pocket. “I wish I could stay, but I have to get going.”
“That’s okay, like I said Eli is in good hands and he’ll likely be fine,” I assure him, but I’m disappointed he’s leaving.
“I’m sure he will be.” Griffin nods. “He’s not the reason I was hoping to stay.”
Dixie comes running down the hall. “He just threw up! All over himself.”
She slaps a hand over her mouth because it must have made her nauseous too, but despite that the look in her eyes is pure fear. I step out from behind the counter. “Nausea is a symptom of a concussion, Dix. It’s okay. I mean it’s gross, but he’s not dying. I’ll go clean it up.”
I head toward the supply room to grab new sheets and the plastic receptacle I lovingly call a barf bucket. I glance over my shoulder at Griffin, and he walks toward me. “I don’t want to keep you, but is there any way I can get updates on him? Since I have to go. I mean, I’m not family but—”
“We can call you,” Dixie offers, interjecting herself into what feels like our moment.
“Dixie will probably just spend half the night snoring by his bedside, so it’s probably best if I keep you updated,” I volunteer and Dixie, who was on the brink of looking offended, suddenly clues in and smiles.
“Totally. Good idea,” Dixie agrees and turns to Griffin. “I’ll give you her number while she goes to clean up the love of my life and then you can text her so she has yours.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Griffin says and looks at me again, pinning me with that lovely, intense stare of his. “I look forward to hearing from you.”
I just smile and force my legs to take me down the hall. The last thing I want to do right now is clean up barf, but at least I got his number…even if it’s for professional reasons…Technically.
3
Griffin
Despite the fact that my star goalie is in the hospital and might be out of the lineup for a while and my ex has sent me not one but three angry texts since I left the hospital, I’m grinning. I walked into that hospital with nothing more on my mind than getting my player treated. Now my mind is filled with thoughts of a very pretty, very charismatic nurse. It’s been a long time since my mind was on anything other than my work and my kid, but Sadie Braddock made one hell of an impression.
Sure, she was pretty, with her bright blue eyes, high cheekbones, and sexy curves not even her scrubs could hide, but her looks aren’t why I’m still thinking about her. It was her warm smile and the effortless way she balanced being a calm, professional nurse and a concerned sister and was witty and sassy the entire time.
I pull into the marina parking lot, and my smile disintegrates when I see my ex-wife’s car in one of the visitor slots. My chest instantly tightens and my jaw locks. I do not want to deal with her tonight. I jump out of my Range Rover and rush toward my houseboat. Even as I unlock the gate to the dock, I can see her silhouette standing on my front deck next to my front door.
“Lauren.” I say her name as passively as possible. “What are you doing here? It’s my night with Charlie.”
