Chapter 15
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The hospital was a big place. Six floors, endless corridors, and a maze of stairwells that smelled like disinfectant. All of which meant I’d successfully managed to avoid running into Sullivan Crowne for three whole days since the kiss that should never have happened.
Not only because he was my boss, but also because he wasn’t my type. I didn’t go for blazing hot billionaires who were as arrogant as they were infuriating. The man was the human embodiment of a hostile email dressed up in a tailored suit.
But also, he’d looked very, very good almost naked and I was only human.
For the last three days, I’d been telling myself that it’d just been the adrenaline that’d made me wrap myself around him like saran wrap.
That the absurdity of him standing there in a paper gown like a pissed-off Greek statue had made the room feel suddenly too small and that my body had reacted before my brain could get involved.
Although none of that explained how the kiss had instantly taken on a life of its own.
Electric didn’t even begin to cover it. It had curled my toes and sunk straight into my bones.
My stomach still flipped every time my mind replayed it all, his mouth, the heat of him, and the very unmistakable proof of how much he’d been affected too.
God, you could fly a flag off that thing.
I squeezed my eyes shut in the medication room and muttered, “Get it together, Bree.”
It’d been a one-time slip. That was it. A cosmic glitch. A lapse in judgment brought on by proximity, tension, and a man who had no business looking as he good as he did while wearing a sandwich wrapper.
Never again. That’s all I’m saying.
“Hey.”
I nearly jumped out of my shoes when Liana appeared out of nowhere. I hadn’t even realized that I’d left the medication room, but when I came to, I was beside the nurses’ station. She wore a smile that was entirely too perceptive for my comfort as she looked at me.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I wasn’t startled,” I said quickly. “I was… just thinking.”
“Uh-huh.” She glanced at the chart I only noticed I was holding upside down when I followed her gaze to it. “Deep in thought, I see.”
I flipped it the right way up and cleared my throat, forcing a smile I hoped looked relaxed and easy. “What’s up?”
She propped her elbow on the countertop, still smiling at me like she could see every thought racing through my head. “I saw my brother went back to the old gowns.”
My pulse hiccupped, but I kept my face carefully neutral. “Yeah. Yeah, I, uh, I noticed. The patients are much happier.”
“It was a full rollback,” she said thoughtfully. “The cloth gowns are back in rotation and the supply order has been reinstated. He even followed it up with a very dramatic internal memo to the entire Crowne Medical decision-making structure about patient comfort metrics.”
“Did he?”
She grinned. “I assume this was your doing.”
“Nah.” I shrugged. “I don’t know anything about emails or metrics.”
Liana laughed. “That’s not what I was asking about. I need to know your secrets, woman. Tell me how you convinced him. I’d love to know what to do the next time I need something that big from him.”
I snorted. “Trust me, you don’t want my methods.”
“Oh, now I definitely do.”
I shook my head. “Honestly? The gown did most of the work.”
“The gown.”
“The paper gown,” I said. “It turns out I was right about it being a nightmare against the skin. Who knew?”
She chuckled but studied me for a beat as the sound tapered off. “You’re being weird.”
“I’m always weird.”
“No,” she said. “You’re never evasive, but you sure are now.”
I met her gaze, my heart suddenly thumping. Does she know? Did he tell her? Do siblings talk about workplace kisses over dinner?
Suddenly, however, the glimmer of suspicion disappeared and she smiled. “Relax. I’m teasing. Whatever you did though, thank you. The nurses are happier. Patients are happier. Even Sully’s a little less sullen.”
I huffed out a laugh of my own. “I’m glad to be of service.”
“Was it threats?” she asked. “Blackmail? I need to know that, at least.”
“Please, I’m not a monster.”
“Pity,” she said cheerfully. “Blackmail works great on him.”
I smiled, but my stomach twisted because now I was wondering if the kiss had had anything to do with the decision to change the gowns. For me, it definitely hadn’t been like that. The kiss and the gowns were two entirely separate issues.
The gowns were practical, a matter of patient care. A mistake that needed fixing. End of discussion.
The kiss? That was me being a horny girl with self-control issues and a deeply unfortunate, brand-new attraction to arrogant men with broad shoulders and stupidly good mouths. That was biology.
It hadn’t meant anything, but sometimes, when I let my thoughts drift to where they absolutely should not go, I wondered if it’d meant something to Sullivan. Getting dangerously close to daydreaming about him while still in the presence of his sister, I snapped myself out of it and smiled.
“I didn’t blackmail him. Really. Scout’s honor. I just asked him to put on one of the gowns and he had no choice but to agree to change them when he realized for himself how terrible they were.”
Liana nodded, easing from there into the friendly kind of conversation people had when they were still trying to get to know someone. “I know my brother has been making things difficult around here recently, but he’ll come around. He’s not a bad guy. I promise.”
I chuckled. “A few more decisions like bringing back the proper gowns and I might just believe you.”
“You’ll see.” She grinned. “How’s work going otherwise? You only recently started here as a nurse practitioner, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, Sullivan’s first day was actually mine too. I did my fellowship here last year though, and I’ve often worked in the hospital. I just never worked for it before.”
“Right. I’ve noticed you look pretty settled here for someone so new.” When she looked at me again, I saw that same flicker that made it look like she saw more than she was saying.
I arched an eyebrow at her, my head tilting slightly as I held her bright green gaze. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just that you have a way of making people better. Even when they’re difficult.”
I snorted. “Especially when they’re difficult.”
“My brother included?”
“Nope.” I rolled my eyes. “Your brother is a special category all his own.”
As she kept studying me in that overly perceptive way, I didn’t know if it was just paranoia, but I got the feeling she either knew or thought there was something going on between Sullivan and me. Then I thought about the cake tasting and how she’d invited me knowing her brother would be there too.
Is she trying to play matchmaker? And why I am not sure if I’m upset or excited about that?
The idea of Liana nudging her impossible brother toward me sent a confusing spark straight through my chest. Equal parts panic and anticipation.
Before I could even begin to make sense of it, she clapped her hands and smiled as if she hadn’t just upended my entire emotional balance. “Oh! I’ve been meaning to ask. My wedding is this weekend.”
Both of my eyebrows lifted. “This weekend? Wow. That’s sooner than I realized. Are you all set?”
“Yep, and you’re coming,” she said, glowing as she let out a contented little sigh. “Please come? You have to. I really want you there.”
“I haven’t even met your fiancé,” I pointed out.
“You’ll meet him. Technically only after he becomes my husband, but details.” She laughed, utterly unbothered. “He’s wonderful. Busy, but wonderful.”
The excitement in her voice made it impossible to say no. Impossible to dampen that joy with my own tangled thoughts.
“I’d love to,” I said.
“Awesome.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. “I’ll text you the details.”
When she left, I leaned against the wall and exhaled. Great. A wedding. With Sullivan Crowne. Well, that’s just… perfect.
Two days later, I was standing in the dressing room of a boutique, trying on a dress I didn’t need, with Ellora and Mercedes flanking me like deranged fairy godmothers. I tried another protest, but the previous half-dozen had fallen on deaf ears.
“Seriously, guys. I have dresses. I don’t need a new one. It’s not like I’m in the wedding party. I can wear anything appropriate and no one will even notice me anyway.”
“You have to look good if you’re going to a wedding with Sullivan Crowne,” Mercedes declared, her gaze sharp as she assessed the dress they’d just bribed me into trying on with promises of pizza and margaritas later.
“I’m not going with him,” I said for the fifth time. “He’s just going to be there too.”
Ellora raised a brow. “Uh-huh.”
“I’m sure he’ll have a date,” I said. “Not that I care. At all. The point is that I’m not getting dressed up for him, because I’m not going to be there either with or for him.”
Mercedes smirked, shaking her head. “You care.”
“I do not.”
“You super care, and you’re totally getting dressed up for him.”
Ellora leaned in conspiratorially. “We’re not saying you want to marry him. All we’re saying is that you want to look devastating while existing in the same room.”
Mercedes nodded as if Ellora had just taken the words right out of her mouth. “That’s just self-respect.”
I sighed. “You guys are impossible.”
“That’s why you love us,” Ellora said sweetly.
“On that note, this dress is a hard no,” Mercedes said, dismissing it from her gaze. “Let’s try that one.”
She pointed at a lacy garment that ended up making me look like a bridesmaid from a historical reenactment. The next was extremely beige, but they kept going, undeterred by the disastrous choices and encouraged by the decent ones.
There was laughter and commentary shouted through the curtain, Mercedes handing me dresses like weapons while Ellora vetoed anything that didn’t make me look powerful.
“You want something that says, I am calm, competent, and not afraid of you,” she said.
Mercedes smirked. “It also needs to say my boobs look amazing.”
Finally, I stepped out in a dress that made all three of us go quiet. It was simple and elegant, a deep blue that clung to my curves and actually allowed me to breathe at the same time.
Mercedes grinned. “Even the priest will fall in love with you if you wear that.”
As I looked at my reflection, I didn’t see confusion anymore. I saw confidence. Someone who knew exactly who she was, even if she didn’t know what she wanted yet.
“Okay,” I said softly. “This one. It’s perfect.”
I might not be going with Sullivan, but I was walking straight into his orbit again, and this time, I wasn’t sure I wanted to avoid the collision.