Chapter 10
Robyn
I’m almost through reception when Carla rounds the corner with a clipboard pressed to her chest and a look on her face that has me stopping in my tracks.
“There you are,” she says.
“I’m on my way to see Onyx.”
She falls into step beside me. “And? What’s up with tall, dark, and yummy?”
I laugh despite myself. “You mean the Draig Security Commander?” I lift my brows.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t notice how cute he is,” she gushes.
She really doesn’t remember him, and part of me doesn’t want to tell her, which is stupid. I don’t have to divulge that I took him home. I didn’t tell a soul about my one-night stand, and I plan on keeping it that way.
“I think he has a stick up his ass, which detracts from his looks,” I say.
“His very fine ass.”
I stop in my tracks.
“Look, Carla, Commander Ridge is here to do a job.”
“I know that.” She nods.
“The Council has concerns about our security, especially after what happened at the vaccination center. If his being here means my staff are safer, I’m all for it.
” I shrug. “It’s going to be a bit of an inconvenience for the next week or so while he does his assessment and makes the necessary changes. ”
“He can inconvenience me any time he wants.” She covers her mouth, widening her eyes. “Is he off-limits?”
“Carla!”
“No, really? Would it be against HR policy if I ask him out?”
I blink at her. “You want to ask him out?”
“That is what I said.”
“You’ve known him for less than two minutes.”
“So what?” She widens her eyes at me. “I’m a single woman in my early thirties. My clock is ticking. Ridge is hot. I want to ask him out.”
“Carla, you literally date every second male who walks through those doors.”
“That is an exaggeration and a slander on my good name.”
“It is not an exaggeration, and you know it,” I say.
“You’re being unprofessional. Ridge is here on assignment.
He’s here in an official capacity. While he is reviewing this hospital and assessing its security, he is off-limits and not just to you, but to everyone here.
You can spread the word. Make sure the nurses know too. ”
“Define ‘off-limits.’”
I push out a laugh. “Don’t ask him out while he is working in this building. When the review is over and he’s moved on to the next facility, you can approach him. You are a grown woman. Do what you want, although I wouldn’t advise it. He’s too serious for you.”
Carla’s mouth twitches. “I love it when a guy is all brooding.” She huffs out a breath. “Is he off-limits to you, too?”
“Obviously.”
“Obviously?”
“Yes, obviously. I am his main point of contact at this facility. If I even looked at him sideways in a personal way, we would have a conflict of interest the size of this building.”
“So you have looked at him sideways.”
“Carla, please.”
She grins at me.
“I have not looked at him sideways. Stop twisting my words,” I tell her.
“But you did consider whether it would be appropriate, which means you thought about it long enough to decide it wouldn’t be. Which means—”
“It means I am a professional and I am doing my job.” I start walking again, because it is the only way to end this conversation. “He is off limits to everyone, me included.”
Carla skips two steps to catch up, and I can feel her smugness radiating off her without even looking.
“Well, that’s a relief,” she says. “I didn’t want to have to fight you for him.”
I laugh all over again. I love her. “Don’t make me fire you.”
“You love me.”
“I tolerate you.”
“That is love in a small, tidy package.”
I shake my head, and I’m smiling, even though I’d rather not be.
“Excuse me…Carla. I need your help,” someone says from behind us, and I know exactly who that someone is.
A tingle rushes up my spine as I turn.
Ridge isn’t that far behind us.
Crap!
How much did he hear?
His eyes go to me first, then to Carla, then back to me.
“Dr. Keller.”
“Commander.”
“You can call me Ridge.”
“Ridge.” I say it only because he looks like he wants me to.
He turns to Carla. “I need to speak to someone in your IT department. I have questions about your intake systems and the pharmaceutical tracking software. Who is the right person?”
“Are you sure I can’t get you something to drink while you work?” Carla asks.
Ridge scowls like someone just shot him in the knee. “NO. I’m fine. I need someone from IT?”
“Oh…yeah…of course. No problem,” Carla says. “Jimmy is our senior systems guy. I can walk you up there now.”
“Thank you.”
His eyes come back to me while she’s saying it.
He’s the kind of tall that makes me aware of my own neck.
I tilt my head back a fraction so I can meet his look squarely, and I catch myself doing the top-to-bottom sweep of his shoulders before I register what my eyes are doing. I snap them back up to his face.
I think he saw me checking him out.
I think he probably sees most things.
Note to self: Do not check him out…not ever!
I don’t want to be another woman in a long line of them who looks at him that way. I want to be as unaffected by him as he is by me. Like we never had sex.
“I need to go,” I tell them, using my thumb to point behind me.
I turn on my heel before I can embarrass myself further and walk down the hallway that leads to “the hangar.”
When I get there, I push through the doors.
The hangar is cool and quiet at this hour.
The morning shift has settled into their rhythms, and the only sounds are the soft beep of monitors and the low hum of the warming plates on the big recovery pad.
Onyx is in the far bay, under a soft-light panel that casts his scales in low gold.
The bay is partitioned off with sliding screens for privacy. Not that he can appreciate the gesture.
Dr. Jenkins is already with him, a tablet in one hand and a stylus in the other, making notes.
“Morning, Dr. Keller.”
“Morning. How is he?”
“Better than expected. He’s strong and stubborn. His pressure is holding, and his temperature is closer to baseline. The wing repair that Dr. Patel did is clean. No oozing, no warmth, no swelling that wasn’t expected.” She taps the tablet. “I’ve charted another round of bloods for midday.”
“Good.” I step closer and rest a hand against the broad plate of his forelimb. The scales are warm under my palm. His flank rises and falls with a slow, even rhythm. “You scared the hell out of us, but it looks like you’re going to be fine,” I tell him.
His eye cracks open a sliver. Yellow, slit down the middle, watching me. Then the lid slides closed again. He’s too drugged to do more than that, which is just as well.
“He’s been doing that all morning,” Jenkins says. “I take it as a good sign.”
“It is. Keep me posted. He should manage to shift soon. Hopefully within the next day or two. I will let you know when to ease off the sedative.”
“Perfect.”
“If the midday bloods look even slightly off, I want to know before the results land in anyone else’s inbox.”
“Yes, Doctor,” she says.
I should go back to my office. I have charts to sign. Pharmacy orders that need my signature before noon, and two letters to draft for the staff meeting later. There’s a mountain of other things.
I should go back, but I don’t.
I refuse.
Not while he’s in it, or about to be in it, smelling the way he smells and taking up all the air and space. I hate that about him.
I walk the long way round instead, through the side corridor that leads past the pharmacy storeroom.
On impulse, I stop in and do a walkthrough.
I haven’t done one personally in weeks. I inspect the cold chain logs, check the temperature readouts on both sedation fridges, and cross-reference two of the controlled drug registers against the last shipment manifest. Everything is in order.
The pharmacy tech is surprised to see me and even more surprised when I ask him to walk me through his end-of-day reconciliation process. He does it, a little nervously, and I make notes on a pad and tell him he’s doing well.
By the time I finish, almost an hour has gone by. A small flare of satisfaction sits under my breastbone, but it quickly fades when I think about the long list of “to-dos” waiting for me at my desk, as well as him.
I really need to get back to my office now, but I don’t want to.
Ridge saw me practically naked.
I’m being prudish. He’s seen me fully naked. It’s just that, unlike me, he was completely unaffected.
I remind myself that shifters don’t think about nudity the way humans do. It’s not a big deal to them.
I know all this.
It doesn’t help.
I push through a set of doors and into the admin wing, and make myself slow my stride.
I’m pretty sure he hasn’t given it a moment’s thought. He’s carrying on like it’s a normal day. I’m not going to think about it anymore, either.
I can do this.
I’ll have to stay out of the office as much as I can. There is plenty to do elsewhere. Maybe I can work from home later or something.
I will not be holed up with him unless absolutely necessary.
I will do my job. He will do his. In a few days, he’ll be gone, and I won’t have to see him again.
I’ll hold on to that thought, and I’ll be just fine.