Chapter 15
Fifteen
Don’t play to win. Play to make them remember who played.
—Sage to Gentry
Sage
My left eyelid was twitching something fierce, and every time I heard Tanny’s voice, it would seize.
I counted out my breaths, hoping that the extra oxygen would cause my brain to start working normally again.
But that didn’t seem very possible seeing as every time Tanny spoke, it was something acidic and tested my grip on my temper.
She knew that I could hear her.
Everyone knew that I could hear her.
Yet, she spoke anyway.
All morning long I’d been hearing about her love of married men and the sickness that was swelling inside of me was nearly overwhelming.
Her absolute pride in breaking up marriages was appalling.
And her friends’ support of her actions was downright disgusting.
“Which deputy do you think is going to come?” Tanny asked loudly.
If my “husband” was smart, it wouldn’t be him.
He’d stay far, far away from this place, and go out of his way to ignore Tanny Smith if he knew what was good for him.
“All right, Mr. Cable,” I said to the old farmer. “Now, what are you going to do when you go home?”
Mr. Cable was a wheat farmer. He’d been farming wheat for over sixty years now.
He’d informed me that he’d come into the ER all of two times, and one of those times was because his wife was in labor.
The other was because his wife had forced him in, just like today.
Both times he’d been cut severely.
This time, he didn’t have the gift of time on his hands like he had previously.
He needed to rest, and that was nonnegotiable.
“Rest, relaxation, and follow up with my primary care provider.”
I nodded.
“Only, my primary care provider just died…” He paused. “Doc Pendelton was that for me. Do you recommend anyone else?”
I frowned. “Dr. Pendelton passed away?”
He nodded.
I’d heard a rumor but…wow.
That was news to me.
In Jesper County, there was only a single doctor that served over ninety miles of towns. With Dr. Pendelton gone that would mean that the ER would become overcrowded.
That was a terrible way to look at it, but that just meant that I’d be forced to work in the ER more and more.
Maybe someone would replace the old doctor soon…
“Give me a few seconds and I’ll call his office.” I held up a finger. “They may have a replacement.”
But when I called, there was no answer.
I went back into his room and said, “Come back here. I’ll check it out. Just let one of the staff know that you’re here, and I’ll come check it out.”
The farmer smiled.
The farmer’s wife patted my arm. “Thank you, dear.”
I watched her leave, which was why I saw which particular police cruiser pulled up to transport the patient that I’d called about earlier.
The slightly lifted brown sheriff’s department-issued GMC with contrasting yellow lettering. The one-of-a-kind truck that only one person that I knew drove because I saw it sitting in the driveway every freakin’ morning.
I blew out a breath, girded my loins, and crossed my arms as I stood to the left of the nurses’ station and watched him hop out of the truck.
Today he was in full uniform.
Tan cargo pants. Tan boots. Skin-tight black t-shirt. Tan Kevlar vest with all the pockets on the front. Black thigh holster holding a big black gun. Bright gold star on his chest.
Tan baseball cap. Black and gold Randolph Engineering aviators.
He was the total package.
He started sauntering toward the hospital as if he was there for a lovely visit instead of transporting a patient from the hospital to the jail—something that usually meant he was in for a headache and not a pleasant drive.
As he came closer, more things became apparent.
The five o’clock shadow on his chin.
He’d shaved either this morning or last night, and now all he had left of his beard was a little stubble.
Sexy stubble.
Sexy lips, too.
Kissable, sexy lips that were so stupidly plump.
Women would pay good money for those lips.
He lifted his hand and scratched the small cleft in his chin and that’s when I saw the other new addition.
He was wearing a ring.
A bold, black ring on his left ring finger that he was turning around with his fingers as he walked toward us holding…
The asshole was holding the lunch he’d forced me to bring him this morning.
He grinned when the doors opened automatically, revealing me standing toward the far wall.
Tanny got up from her usual seat at the desk, and I watched her walk toward him, holding out a plate of cookies as if she was Vanna White.
My entire world rocked in the next moment.
He didn’t spare her a single glance as he walked right up to me, stopped directly in front of me, and reached for my face with one hand.
I gasped when his rough hand closed around my chin and he dragged me toward him.
Literally, there was nothing that I could do but follow his silent order.
His mouth closed over mine, and I forgot how to stand.
My knees went weak and the only thing that was holding me up was the wall at my back.
His tongue was wet and warm, and everything that I’d ever thought it would be.
His lips were soft. His stubble was prickly. His hand was strong.
His body was hard all over—though that might’ve been the Kevlar vest that he was wearing, too.
My pussy was instantly drenched, and if I wasn’t currently at work, I might’ve thrown myself at him like those women do in movies that haven’t seen their men in days.
I’d always known that Gentry would be off the charts.
But I’d never thought I would find out…
“Thanks for bringing me lunch,” he growled as he pulled away from my lips, still holding onto my face as he looked down into my eyes. “Was hoping that I could warm it up in your microwave, though.”
I swallowed hard.
“Yeah, sure,” I croaked.
I could see my dazed expression in his mirrored shades.
He took them off, and I was presented with…
I inhaled swiftly when his gray eyes met mine.
He had forgotten to put his contacts in today.
“Your eyes,” I found myself croaking.
Was croaking all that I could do? I sounded like a frog.
“Yeah, one fell out during a traffic stop, and I felt like it’d probably be more noticeable if I had two different colored eyes. Hence the shades.” He put them back on.
I licked my lips.
I loved his eyes.
Like seriously, there was just something about his gray eyes that made me feel so warm inside. Maybe it was because that night that my entire world had nearly ended, he’d looked at me with those gray eyes and told me that I would be okay. And I’d fully believed him.
They were a sense of comfort for me.
Seeing them was like coming home.
“Can I offer you one of my cookies, Gentry?”
I didn’t mean to, but the hand that I’d somehow latched onto his arm with clenched. I dug my nails into Gentry’s bare arm and he dropped his head to look at where I was latching onto him.
“Sorry, the only cookie I’m interested in eating is my wife’s.” Gentry didn’t spare her a glance, keeping his eyes on my hand.
I trembled and he caught it.
His grin went just a little bit more wicked when he lifted his gaze to meet mine once again.
“Oh, they’re for everyone,” Tanny tried again.
I might’ve lost my grip on reality because I snarled, “He said he didn’t want your fucking cookies, Smith!”
I used her last name because I knew that she hated it.
Apparently, her brothers liked to call her ‘Granny Smith’ instead of by her actual name and never missed a moment teasing her. She never went by her last name.
Tanny reared back as if I’d struck her. “I was just trying to be nice!”
This lying sack of dog shit…
“He doesn’t want your fucking cookies. He doesn’t want your used ass vagina. He doesn’t want your stupid anything. Go fuck yourself.”
A solid arm locked around my waist and then I was being moved toward the nursing lounge despite not moving myself there.
I could hear Tanny loudly telling her friends what she was going to do to me as we turned the corner and pushed through the door.
The door shut, and her annoying voice cut off.
Then I was being shoved up against the door again and a mouth was once again on mine.
There was no audience this time—at least I didn’t think there was—as Gentry’s mouth came down on my own.
I’m not sure why, or how, or when this change came over Gentry, but I might or might not be taking advantage of it.
I was grabbing life by the horns and then…
“Excuse me.”
I ground my teeth and latched onto the Kevlar vest straps up by Gentry’s collarbones with both hands.
Gentry reluctantly pulled away and looked behind him. I looked over Gentry’s shoulder and saw my supervisor staring at me.
For the life of me, I couldn’t remember her name, though.
My brain was short-circuited.
“Oh, uh, sorry,” I stuttered.
Gentry moved me away from the door.
My supervisor smiled and slipped out, leaving us actually alone this time.
I reached up and pulled his stupid glasses off his face, likely getting tons of fingerprints on them.
His eyes were full of excitement as he said, “I get the feeling Tanny is a bitch.”
“More than.”
He opened his mouth to reply when the door was slammed open, hitting Gentry in the side.
He barely reacted as he moved to shield me from any blow.
When the door stayed open and my name was called, this time by a much less amused supervisor, I knew that I’d just fucked up.
Tanny was top dog here, and everyone seemed to love her.
Even the supervisor.
Which likely made my life infinitely harder than it needed to be.
Son of a bitch…