“No, he won’t.” I look down at the unconscious man. The resemblance is uncanny. Every feature the exact same as Dev’s. Dark wavy hair, high cheekbones, strong jaw, long thick eyelashes, and tons of ink. The most intricate designs I’ve ever seen. The entire right side of his body is covered—arm, chest, torso, thigh, calf. It looks like he’s half machine. Just like the Terminator when his fake flesh was pulled off his body.
“See something you like, Nurse Kincade?” Dr. Hale teases me.
“Huh?” I look up realizing I’m inspecting Reese a little too closely. “Oh.” I step back and clear my throat. I feel like I was just caught with my hand in the cookie jar. “I’ve just never seen a tattoo like that before.”
“You’ve never seen Dev without his shirt off then,” Dr. Hale purrs.
My face drops. “Not you, too.” I thought she had more respect for herself.
“Oh, God no. I have my own bad boy at home. I saw Dev changing his shirt in the parking garage after work one night. Lord.” She fans herself. I can’t even. It’s like Dev emits pheromones. “It’s definitely at least worth a peek.”
“I’ll remember that.” I scrunch my nose. The last thing I need is to be looking at Devlin Dane without any clothes on.
We walk out of the room together as Reese is wheeled into recovery. I can’t believe Dev has a brother. An identical twin. He never even hinted he had a sibling. I can’t get over the craziness of it all.
Dr. Hale makes her way back into the ER as I escort Reese. I’m not technically on duty, so there’s no place pressing I have to be.Except the gym.It’s close to ten p.m. by the time everything settles down. It’s a slow night in recovery, so I figure the nurses are probably catching up on charts—or chitchatting. Take your pick. It’s just me, a comatose Reese, and the guy snoring across the room.
As hard as I try, I can’t bring myself stop looking at Dev’s twin. It’s like I’m staring at a carnival attraction.
I lean in closer without even thinking and inspect the mechanical tattoo some more. It’s so detailed. Not one centimeter of skin is showing. I touch the lifelike metal gears and springs, marveling at the 3D effect, when Reese suddenly wakes with a start, latching onto my arm.
“Ouch!” He squeezes so hard I know I’m going to bruise.
“Where am I?” he demands in a panic.
I struggle to get free but his hand is like a steel vise. Maybe he really is part robot.
“Where. Am. I?”
“The hospital.” I jerk my arm. “You were in an accident. You sliced your thigh and broke your leg.”
“Who are you?” He looks directly into my eyes, his hand still clamped around my bicep. He’s holding me so tight, my limb is starting to go numb. If he didn’t just sustain life-threatening injuries, I would punch him just so he’d let go.
“I’m Nurse Kincade, and Mr. Dane, you’re fucking hurting me,” I grind out.
He releases me immediately. He may be Dev’s brother, but he definitely doesn’t share his bedside manner.
“Where’s my brother?” He looks around the room, skittishly. Geez, wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?
“He’s on his way,” I assure him in a calm tone.
“He’s right here.” Dev’s voice echoes behind me. “It would behoove you to be nice to Nurse Kincade. She saved your sorry ass.”
We both look up at Dev.
“You heard about that already?” I ask.
“I think the whole hospital heard, superstar.” He nudges me.
I bite my lip. I wasn’t trying to do anything heroic, just my job. “Say thank you, you schmuck.”
Reese sneers at Dev. “Thank you.”
That was heartfelt.
I look back and forth between the two of them in awe; it’s like gazing into a mirror.
“You’re welcome.” My response is actually genuine.
