A buzzer went off, and Aistov moved before I could ask for clarification. He was lithe on his feet and fast. With little effort, he ducked beneath a swing aimed at him, droveforward, and wrapped himself around the larger fighter’s back like a cobra.
He was going to win. I could feel it in my gut. Just how many men did Aistov own anyway? He was rich enough that he could buy anyone he wanted, so why work this hard for it?
30
LEO
“Well, aren’t you the lucky one?”
Puzzled, I glanced over at Dr. Mendez as we made our way down the hospital steps together. The cool evening air hit my face the second the automatic doors slid shut behind us, but it did little to cut through the exhaustion weighing heavily on my body. It had been one of those shifts where everything that could go wrong somehow had. Trauma cases stacked on top of emergency consults, equipment malfunctioning at the worst possible moments, families screaming, and nurses stretched too thin. The kind of night that left my nerves buzzing long after the adrenaline wore off.
Now that the rush was finally fading, all I felt was tired.
My shoulders ached beneath my coat as I rolled my neck slowly, trying to work out some of the stiffness lodged there. The only thing keeping me upright was the thought of going home and collapsing face-first into bed for the next three days.
Though, technically, I’d promised Sergei I would spend part of the weekend helping him shop for furniture. The thought brought an annoying warmth to my chest despite my exhaustion. My body pretty much reacted that way to him or thoughts of him all the time now. Too damn often for me to pretend anymore that I didn’t have feelings for Sergei.
After I’d stayed despite him killing that man in front of me, I couldn’t lie to myself—couldn’t swallow the untruth anymore that it was because of how good the sex was between us. What I experienced when I was physically around Sergei, and the way he dominated my thoughts in his absence, went much deeper than the way he felt when we were locked in each other’s arms.
The sad truth was that Sergei had become impossible to ignore because he made himself present in every corner of my life. He never allowed me the distance needed to forget him, always appearing with that relentless attentiveness that slipped past my defenses no matter how hard I tried to keep them up. He noticed things about me even I didn’t. Whether I’d eaten. When I was exhausted. When my shoulder was bothering me after a long shift. Needs so small and specific that I’d gone most of my life unaware of how much they mattered.
And the worst part was realizing how much I liked it. How much I’d apparently been starving for that kind of attention from someone.
Even Brad, for the decade of love between us, had never looked at me the way Sergei did, as if my comfort and happiness were worth studying, protecting, and prioritizing. Sergei cared in this intense, all-consuming way that should have annoyed me. Instead, it made me grow softer and softer around him every time.
“How exactly am I lucky?” I asked, aware that I’d gotten distracted by my thoughts, and Dr. Mendez was waiting forsome kind of answer. “I just survived a shift from hell where every possible thing that could go wrong somehow did.”
Dr. Mendez laughed softly beside me, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Fair point. But I meant personally.”
I frowned at him.
“You’re lucky enough to find another man so dedicated to you this soon after losing your husband.”
My entire body stiffened, and my steps faltered. I righted myself and kept walking, hoping he hadn’t witnessed my moment of blunder.
“What?”
He slowed slightly for me to catch up. “I’m just saying most people spend years alone after losing someone they spent such a long time being married to. You and your husband were always the beaux of the ball whenever we had hospital gatherings. And here you are already in a committed relationship in such a short time, while the rest of us should be so lucky as to experience that even once.”
A denial sprang to my lips as I fought the panic crawling up my spine. Where was all this talk coming from?
Dr. Mendez nodded toward the parking lot, and my gaze followed automatically. It took me a second to pick Sergei out among the rows of vehicles. He was leaning against his SUV with his hands buried deep inside the pockets of his dark coat, his attention fixed in our direction like he’d been waiting there for a while.
My heart stumbled hard inside my chest, and I instinctively reached for my phone, checking the screen to see if I’d somehow missed a message from him. Nope. Nothing. No text. No missed call. Which meant he’d just shown up without warning. Again.
Warmth spread through my chest. Over a month ago, I would have been pissed off to see him, but here I was, my lipsfighting to remain stoic instead of smiling at him. God, I was getting too used to this, and that wasn’t a good thing. Not when my coworkers were commenting on the status of our relationship.
“You have got to give me lessons someday,” Dr. Mendez said with an amused laugh. “I’ve been single for five years. You’re barely back on the market, and you have another gorgeous guy devoted to you. Whatisyour secret?”
Gorgeous guy.
The words hit me with an embarrassing amount of irritation. I knew Sergei was attractive in a rugged sort of way. Anyone with functioning eyes could see that. The man looked unfair in the way he carried himself alone, broad shoulders fitting well under formal or casual attire, and that permanently intense expression that somehow only made people stare harder.
But hearing someone else say it out loud made my stomach twist in jealousy.
Especially when Dr. Mendez kept looking at him like he was a favorite snack.
“He’s not…devoted to me,” I said, though the defense sounded weak even to my own ears. Because he was. Every day, he proved it with the way he took care of me, while I used that devotion for my nefarious means.
