“Because I’m the head of department and?—”
“And you go bright red whenever he walks into a room.”
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do. And don’t try to tell me you don’t find him attractive, because every red-blooded woman in this hospital, and I do mean every single one, is doing laps past your office for the view. You can’t be the only female who has somehow not noticed that the man is gorgeous.”
“I admitted it on the day he arrived. Heisattractive. There, are you happy? I’m the Head of Shifter Medicine, Carla. I have to set an example. Can we please leave it at that?”
“I don’t know.” She stares at me. “Something is going?—”
And then her mouth falls open.
Her hand comes up and covers it, fingertips resting on her bottom lip.
“What is wrong with you?” I ask, sounding annoyed.
“Oh, my gosh,” she breathes. “Oh my, oh myyyyyy. You had sex with him. I know you did. That’s it. I can tell.”
“What? No.” I snort-laugh.
“You did. You totally had sex with him. I can see it written all over you. It explains everything.”
“I’m telling you, Carla, you are barking up the wrong tree.” I look at my watch. “Look at that, it’s after eight. I will fire you if you don’t go back to your desk, and right now.”
“When did this happen?”
“It didn’t!” I sound exasperated. “Drop this right now.”
She gasps so loudly that a passing nurse glances over. “Last night,” she whispers. “Holy shit. It was last night, wasn’t it? You guys went at it. You came back from the function, and you tore each other’s clothes off. Tell me I’m wrong.”
“It. Did. Not. Happen.” I hiss under my breath. “Drop it!”
“Oh, my god.” She puts her whole hand over her mouth this time. Her eyes are huge. “You had sex with Commander Ridge. Did he stay over at your place? Was it good? It was, wasn’t it?”
“It is none of your business.”
She jumps up and down. “I knew it. Tell me everything.”
I smack the side of her arm, and I look around the corridor. Two orderlies are heading down the far end. Someone is at the water cooler. I lower my voice to almost nothing.
“Will you keep your voice down?”
“I knew it,” she whispers. “I knew it. You totally did, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I say through my teeth. “Can you drop it now?”
She lets out a small, ear-splitting squeak.
“Will you please shut up?” I smack her arm again. “This is why I didn’t want you to know.”
Then I grab her by the elbow and steer her into the empty exam room across the hall. I close the door behind us and lean against it. The room is mercifully empty, lights off, the bed crisply made up for whoever comes in next.
“It is not what you think,” I say.
“It is exactly what I think.”
“We did sleep together last night, but?—”
