He called her his favorite nurse … and she was scheduled to be off for the day in just a couple of hours.
Lynnette pulled the blanket carefully back into place as dangerous thoughts swarmed her mind.
“Lynn?” Lance prompted. The nickname he insisted on using for her.
She sighed to herself and asked, “What kinds of sandwiches do you like?”
Chapter six
First Steps
It doesn’t mean anything.
Lynnette smiled politely to the colleagues she passed in the corridors while she berated herself. She tried to convince herself she was just, maybe, doing a kindness. And despite the rarity of her method of choice, she was allowed to do those.
She walked her final circuit in a daze.
Kara was sleeping when she popped her head in, so she moved quietly and quickly before letting herself out again.
Mrs. Alvers was being wheeled out by Del, the male nurse who’d gossiped with Claire and seemed put off by Lynnette for whatever reason, so Lynnette offered the kind woman a smile and kept walking.
She braced herself as she approached the room where the older man who so rarely covered his genitals resided. He was nice, but in the creepy way, and had a tendency to only do a third of the things they asked of him.
“Garver,” Bishop called as her fingers hooked around the doorknob.
Shit.She preferred the perverted old man to the perverted, power-drunk surgeon. But she was on the clock for another eighteen minutes, so she exhaled and turned to face him. “Yes?” He was supposed to be avoiding her. If he needed a nurse, he should be grabbing someone else.
Not that Gavin Bishop did what was asked of him, either.
Bishop stood a half-dozen paces away and across the hall, near another patient room, and motioned for her. “Come give me a hand with this new patient.”
Another new patient?It wasn’t unheard of. Lynnette was mostly just surprised she’d missed the transition. She bit back her sigh and adjusted course. “I’m supposed to clock off in a few minutes,” she said, using her tone to emphasize the warning.
“You can clock off when we’re done,” he said as he pushed the door open and strode inside.
Asshole.Lynnette kept her lips pursed tightly shut and obediently followed him into the room, wondering what he could even need her assistance for. Nothing had been called over the intercom.
She stepped into the room and came up short.
The bed was empty. Theroomwas empty, and dark.
The door clicked shut.
Her heart beat louder and Lynnette spun in place just as Bishop, who’d sidestepped to keep hold of the door, moved into her personal space. She stumbled backward and braced the tablet—hospital property she gave no shits about breaking—between them like a shield. “This isabsolutelycrossing the line, Bishop. Step aside and let me leave, immediately.”
He latched onto her wrist and hissed back at her, “You self-important bitch. Do you have any idea how hard you’re making my life?”
Lynnette went still, refrained from jerking her arm or even striking him, and let her glare show him what she thought of his idiocy. “I’ve been abiding the agreement to keep our fucking distance from each other and stay professional. But if you want to get personal, I’ll start by breaking the twig between your legs and reporting this incident straight to the CMO.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’ll do no such thing, you slut.”
Lynnette held her tongue for a moment as she debated her options. He was holding her in place, but not so tight that he was likely to leave a mark. She could wrench her arm free, and be within her right, but if doing so caused him harm he would without question accuse her of assaulting him and she would be without proof that he’d laid hands first. She could open her mouth and scream, but she was on his side of the floor. She had one friend, who worked at the desk at the end of the other corridor. The rest of the nurses on call were not guaranteed to back her up.
But in her perusal, she realized she hadn’t bothered turning the tablet around when she’d lifted it between them. So, calmly, she reached up with her free hand and tapped the screen once. Twice. A third time.
The lights in the room were off, so Bishop noticed the flicker of changing light and color and his gaze flicked down.
Lynnette smiled. “Doctor Bishop,” she said clearly as her free hand fell to her side again, “could you clarify for me exactlywhyyou’ve lured me into this empty patient room and put your hand on my person, in quite the opposite of the Chief Medical Officer’s very clear command for you tonotisolate yourself with me?”
