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“What did he do now?” Her voice hardens.
“I slept at the office three times this week, and he threw my lunch in the trash and made me hold his towel at the gym.” My face heats as I talk, because it’s so shameful—the way I’ve mortgaged my self-respect to save my paper.
“He’s just trying to get to you. You have to rise above. Everyone loves you. You have to make him love you too. That’s the only way to win.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “I’m attracted to him, Luz. Like really attracted. It’s so fucked up.”
“Oh no. Okay. That is bad. And not what I expected you to say. You cannot sleep with him, Cal.”
“I know. I know. He’s just so ugh.” Beautiful, and brooding. Seething with rage and anger. Layered, I think. Strong hands and rippling muscles and feral intelligence.
“Don’t even think about it,” she warns. “I know you. You like the bad boys. You think you can change them. You’re too softhearted. You cannot change him. He hates you.”
“I know. I know.” I press a hand to my forehead. Luz is right. Eric was a bad boy. Though definitely a boy, not a man. His social media was full of photos with his arm slung around models, in dimly lit Lower East Side restaurants where they let you smoke cigarettes if you know the owner. I’m so weak. And I’m no good at separating sex and attraction from feelings, but I need to do exactly that.
“This is why I called. What would Adriana do?”
Luz thinks for a second. “She’d fuck someone else and forget about him.”
“Exactly. Which is where you come in.”
“It is?”
“Yes. You’re always saying the hospital staff is looking to mess around. You work long hours and have to let off steam. I could use a distraction.”
“Like a date? I thought you were done dating after Eric.” She sounds skeptical.
“I’m definitely not dating. I don’t need another work-obsessed man who sucks me into his life and makes me forget about my hobbies.” Like I did with Eric. Shame burns hot. I hate thinking about the way I forgot about my dreams. I even saw Luz and Adriana less. Never again. “I don’t need a date, just a good time. Find me a nice nurse with capable hands. Or maybe a surgeon. You always say those are the crazy ones.”
She laughs. “Surgeons are all egomaniacs.”
“Sounds great.” I can’t keep the eagerness out of my voice. I have to forget about Jonah and the way he makes my blood rush. “I’m sure it’s just that I haven’t been with a guy in a while. If I sleep with someone else, I’ll forget all about my asshole boss.”
“Let’s hope so,” Luz mutters.
14
Jonah
“Are you even listening to me?” Miles’s brows go up.
“Of course,” I respond.
“What was the last thing I said?”
I glower at him. This is a ridiculous exchange. I’m known for analyzing information and making decisions quickly, and yet, today, I feel off.
The workout did nothing to make me want Callie less. I’m turned on and on edge. She’s sitting right outside my office, and it’s getting to my head. Miles is talking to me about an acquisition, and I can barely focus. That never happens.
“I don’t know,” I admit and scrub a hand over my face. “I think my workout made me too tired. I need to eat.”
Miles eyes me like I’ve had a personality transplant. “I’ve never seen you like this. Maybe you’re sick.”
“I don’t get sick.”
“There was that one time during the conference in London.”
“Five years ago.” I shake my head. “No. It’s something else.”
