Chapter 20
Twenty
I’ll eat a bowl of water with a fork before I give a fuck about your opinion of me.
—Bernice’s secret thoughts
Bernice
My birthday had gone downhill once I’d gone back to work after lunch.
Not even the small present my brother had delivered after I’d left Hux’s place had fixed the bad day.
I’d seen eight patients, and five out of the eight patients had the flu.
I just somehow knew that I wouldn’t be getting away from contracting it, either.
Which would fuck with my asthma, and I’d be a miserable woman for two weeks until I got it set straight.
The lethargy that overtook me the moment that I walked out behind Odin and Sage was palpable.
Both Odin and Sage commented on it as they walked with me to our vehicles.
“You look rough, girl,” Sage pointed out. “You doing okay?”
“We need a new nurse. Two new nurses,” I admitted.
Odin snorted. “And an office assistant.”
“We have one of those coming, thankfully.” Sage fist-pumped before she reached her vehicle. A new SUV that her man had helped her get after she’d traded her old one in. “The nurses are coming, too. By Friday. We worked with that temp agency, remember?”
We had.
The agency paired us with two men who would hopefully be starting later in the month.
“I still think that one is fishy,” I admitted, thinking about the forty-five-year-old male with the list of accolades in his background.
“I mean, what kind of decorated man, that was used to making bookoos of money, would want to work in a small Montana town after working in only big cities? I mean, he has a doctorate for Christ’s sake.
He should be working as a doctor. Not a nurse. ”
When I’d looked over the possible applicants with Odin and Sage, I’d been stunned. I’d worked my ass off to become an NP. There was no way that I’d go back to being a nurse’s aide that I’d held in the very beginning of my career.
“One that is getting older and tired of the bullshit that large cities bring,” Sage pointed out. “I came from a big city, remember?”
“You were lured here,” Odin pointed out. “I do tend to agree with Bernice. I can’t afford to pay him what he was making. He went from making damn near eighty-five dollars an hour to a fraction of that with us.”
“Cost of living is less here.” Sage shrugged. “Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. And he had glowing reviews from all of his bosses, remember? Everyone loved him. His face is painted on his old hospital’s building, remember?”
I had.
He’d come from a city not far from where I’d once lived. His face had been memorialized on the side of the hospital along with a patient who had passed away from liver failure.
“Okay, I’ll stop looking gift horses in the mouth,” I teased. “Have a good night. Are we sure we aren’t opening tomorrow?”
“It’s a holiday,” Odin grumbled. “We’re not expected to be open on holidays. Plus, Wendy is off, and I want to hang with her since Constance is busy.”
Wendy and Odin were so cute together.
Constance was great for the two of them.
“I’ll agree with that.” Sage sighed. “I had all weekend off, but I’m still exhausted. I’m going to use the time to get caught up on a few charts. Y’all should do the same.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Odin grumbled again as he opened his truck door. “Y’all get in your vehicles so I can leave already.”
We did.
Odin left the moment we were securely inside.
Sage took a left out of the small lot, while I took a right.
I went straight home and changed, then caught the key off the counter that would let me into Hux’s place and hurried across the street and a few doors down.
I let myself inside to check on things, then grabbed the frozen chicken out of his freezer, along with the milk and some cookies that were in the fridge.
When I made it back over to my place, I was freezing.
I should’ve gone with the shower, but Hux was on his way over to get me, and I figured we were about to get dirty again.
Plus, I found that I really liked showering with him.
Not only did I feel all warm and snuggly, but he made me even hotter with his hand, mouth, and cock.
I’d spent every second of my free time with him since Friday night, and I found that he was all I could think about while I was at work, too.
I agreed with Sage about the day off.
I was excited to spend it with Hux, even if I was spending it helping him work.
“Can I help you get the door, beautiful?” one of the Hubers called out from across the street.
I didn’t turn around and acknowledge that I’d heard a single thing.
Instead, I practically shoved my door open and slammed it.
I dropped everything onto the counter once I got inside, then breathed a sigh of relief.
The sound of a truck door slamming had me returning to the window in the front door, and I flipped the curtain aside so that I could see Hux as he walked up the path to my house.
I opened the door just as one of the Hubers called, “…sweet piece of ass!”
Hux’s jaw was fixed as he reached for the screen door between us and let it slam closed behind him.
“They’re assholes,” I found myself saying.
He grunted, then bent down and kissed me.
He didn’t touch me with his cold hands, though.
He was always careful to keep them off of my bare skin.
But that hand did find its way to my ass as he pulled me in tight against him.
When he pulled away, we were both breathless.
“Left the truck running. You want to go to my place in town?”
I smiled. “I’d love to. I just need to pack a small bag.”
He let me go. “Pack your whole closet.”
I raised a brow. “A little early to be moving in, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “If you need a week to make you more comfortable with it, I’ll give it to you.”
I snickered. “How magnanimous of you.”
He winked. “Go pack your bag, gorgeous.”
I packed my bag.
Then packed all my spare essentials so I could surreptitiously leave them underneath the counter in his bathroom so I wouldn’t have to pack such a big bag next time.
Maybe I’d leave my dirty clothes at his house, too, so I wouldn’t have to have a bag at all next time.
By the time I was finished with my bag, Hux had gathered all the stuff from his place and was waiting by the door glaring out the front glass.
“What is it?” I asked as I came up behind him.
“The Hubers,” he grumbled. “All watching your house like the fucking creeps that they are.”
I bumped his hip with mine. “Let’s go.”
He opened the door for me and held it open for me to precede him outside.
He had the door locked and the truck door open for me before I’d made it to the bottom of the walk.
“Getting your snow legs?” he teased.
“This walking and not falling on your ass thing is kind of scary,” I admitted. “I’ve never had to deal with snow like this. Maybe I should get home early and shovel my walk.”
“No,” he muttered. “I’ll do it.”
I snorted. “You can’t shovel my walk for me, Hux.”
I climbed up into the truck, but he caught me before I could close the door, leaning in close before saying, “Says who?”
Then he pecked me on the chin and closed my door, but only after ensuring I was safely buckled in.
He said something to the Hubers as he rounded the hood, then he was leaving before he’d had the chance to put his seat belt on.
“What’d they say when you were leaving?”
His jaw worked. “Comments about your ass that I’d rather not think about, lest I turn around and shove my steel-toed boots down their throats.”
My lips quirked. “They can’t even see my ass.”
His face turned toward me for half a breath before saying, “If I can, they can.”
The drive to his place was uneventful.
He never put his seat belt on the entire time, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“Hey,” I said after a while. “Why does your seat belt not ding and mine does? We have the same truck, only a few years difference.”
“Because I turned off the sensors in the seat belt.” He winked. “The dinging drives me insane.”
I gasped. “Can you do that to mine?”
He pulled into the covered parking spot next to the warehouse before saying, “No.”
I pouted. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want you driving without your seat belt,” he said. “If it dings, it’ll annoy you, and you’ll put it on.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Isn’t that a little bit hypocritical?”
He shrugged. “I care about you a little more than I care about myself.”
I harrumphed. “Let’s get inside. It’s cold.”
It was cold.
The short drive to his place hadn’t warmed the air up enough in the cab to make it comfortable.
I shivered when I opened the door, but I wasn’t in the cold for long. He had the door open and he was ushering me inside in moments.
“It may not be snowing, but it feels like it should be,” I admitted as I ran my hands up and down the length of my arms.
“Montana fall for you,” he joked. “Are you sure you can handle it here?”
I lifted my chin. “I can handle it anywhere.”