34. Really Good News
To have a few minutes to myself after an afternoon of constant introductions, I waited at the other side of the door on the top of the stairs and caught my breath for a second before I opened it.
I stepped out of the staircase onto the Intensive Care Unit, and Dom rushed at me from the nurses’ station. “You snuck up on me.”
Already reaching for me, he jerked his head in the opposite direction. “I was watching the elevators for you.” I shoved my hands in my pockets because I knew he’d be grabbing them if I didn’t. So he turned around, laying his hand on my back instead as he led me down the hall. “Let me introduce you to the day crew.”
One youngish, dark-haired woman peeked up from her desktop when Dom tapped his fingers on the counter. “This right here is Kim. She’s the charge nurse the first half of the week.” His thumb flipped up at us. “Kim, this is Faith Bennett, our new Speech Pathologist.”
Her eyes quickly traced Dom’s arm around me before she smiled and launched her hand over her screen. “Nice to meet you, and welcome.”
Dom zig-zagged his finger through the three other staff behind the counter as we shook hands. “Then we got Mark from Respiratory. And Michelle and Amy, who are both nurses, too.” They all smiled at me, but every gaze was on Dom’s hand sliding around to my shoulder. “Everybody, this is Faith.”
A jingle started in his chest pocket, and he held up a finger. “Can you guys entertain Faith for a minute? I have to take this.” Sliding his hand down my back as he left us, he winked at me. “I’ll be right back, baby. Don’t go anywhere.”
Mark gently cleared his throat and arched his brow at the contraption he was putting together. “So, where are you from, Faith?”
My hands clasped at the counter’s ledge, and I beat my thumbs together as I shrugged back at him. “Here, actually.” I tipped my head toward the staircase Dom paced in front of. “Doctor Vasser and I went to high school together.”
Sharing a glance with one nurse leaving the station, he curled in his lips and jerked his eyes. “And you came back here to…”
“Um.” Though Dom had already made it fairly obvious we were a couple, I motioned to the window that pointed toward Dad’s house. “My father still lives here, so I moved back to be closer to him.”
The charge nurse leaned back in her seat, pushing it away from the desk. “Married? Kids?”
Just as I heard the squeaks of Dom’s sneakers coming down the hall, I wiggled my fingers in front of my face. “No. Not married.”
Dom put his arm around me and jerked me to him. “Not yet.” Embarrassing me just to see my face turn red was one of his favorite sports. But when I pushed him away with my palm and sighed, he backed out behind me and tugged at my elbow. “Alright, let’s go work on a game plan. Shall we?”
Waving at Mark and Kim, I followed him around the corner to another hallway. “It was great meeting you all.”
As soon as I got inside his office, he pressed the door closed and used his forearm to push me against it. Both arms boxed me in, his elbows pinning me in place as he licked his lips. “Hi.”
Diving into my mouth, he stole every word I was going to complain with until I grabbed his hair and pulled him off. “Can you cool it with all the touchy-feely when we’re working, please?”
Squinting back at me, he shook his head and slid one hand up the doorframe. “No. I’m not sure I can.”
Slipping my fingers under his scrub top, I curled them around his waist. “I just don’t want people complaining about us being inappropriate.”
His nose scoff blew over my face as he shrugged. “Who cares what the hell these people think? I won’t act like I don’t know you to make anyone comfortable.”
I moved my fingers over his back and gently scratched him until he closed his eyes and whimpered. “But you’re making me uncomfortable, Dom. You know how I am about that kind of stuff.” When he dropped his head onto my shoulder and growled, I bounced it at him. “I’m not talking about a quick kiss at lunch. But in a clinical situation, it’s just not…”
He put his fingers over my mouth and sighed as he faced me again. “I hear what you’re saying.”
With a wave, he had my cheek in his palm, rubbing the edge of his thumb against my chin. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I see these people every single damn day of my life, and I don’t even think about how I act around them.” His head bounced from side to side with every thought. “I cuss at them. I yell at them. I say offensive shit that makes them complain to the management at least once a week.”
Flipping his lips out a little, he shook his head. “This place is my second home, and I have to feel like I can be myself here. And I want you to get to a point where you feel that way, too.” He bumped my forehead with his and flickered his eyebrows. “But I’ll back off for a minute, because I want you to be happy here.”
Tilting my chin away a bit, I shook my head and wagged my finger at him. “That was too easy.” Dom would do anything for me, anything. But what he wouldn’t do for anyone was give up on something he felt like he was right about. “What are you planning, you stinker?”
Smiling against my lips with that naughty grin of his, he clicked air through his teeth and backed away from me. “Let’s just say I got some really good news a little bit ago.”
His whole aura was lighter and happier than it was at lunch. In fact, he was almost glowing the way the light glimmered off his shiny blond hair and made his eyes twinkle. He was beautiful and a little scary, honestly. “Okay. Well, now I have to know what’s going on.”
Bumping me closer to him with it, the door opened again as Dom let the world back in. “Not yet, but soon.” The chair across from his desk turned aside for me to sit, and he swept his hand toward it as he inched away. “Now, let’s put our heads together and figure out how to improve these outdated care plans, Miss Bennett.”