“So, these are the types of books you read?” he asked with a mischievous expression.
I sipped the water. “Eva brought them. I usually prefer a good thriller.”
“Oh, this book seems thrilling,” he said, stroking his beard. He glanced over at Jessa, who listened curiously. “But let’s not talk about Eva’s smutty book collection right now.”
Jessa stood and handed me a stuffed armadillo. “We got this for you. I’m glad you’re OK. And that you’re moving in with us. I always wanted a sister, and now it’ll be like having one with you around.”
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. “I always wanted a sister, too,” I whispered.
* * *
After a few days, Dr. Patel sent in the big guns. Nurse Natasha ambled into my room.
“Up,” she said, yanking a dark romance about a masked stalker from my hands and tossing it behind me.
You didn’t argue with Nurse Natasha. The tall woman with a stilted Russian accent didn’t give a fuck about how much you whined. With thirty years of nursing under her belt, she’d seen and heard it all.
I swung my legs over the side. “Has anyone ever told you your bedside manner sucks?”
“Cry a river. You’ve gotten to the bathroom just fine. Today, you’ll walk to the nurse’s station and back, or else I’ll tell Dr. Patel to keep you for another week.”
“You wouldn’t,” I seethed as I stepped forward, despite feeling like someone had wrapped barbed wire around my abdomen.
She shoved a walker in front of me. “Stop being a baby. Do you need this?”
“No,” I grumbled. “I can use my own two damn legs.”
Each step pulled at the incision, causing a deep ache to radiate through my core. “Fucking hurts still,” I whined.
“Pain means you’re alive. Be happy you’re in pain.”
I rolled my eyes. I was never going to ask her to help a patient again. At least any patient I liked.
The elevator at the end of the long floor dinged. The doors slid open, and there he was. Hatchet’s face split into a grin. He stalked toward me, but then stopped when he hit the nurse’s station, like he knew it was the end goal.
“Look at you, Hellcat. You’ll be back to causing havoc in no time.”
When I reached him, Natasha stepped away and appraised me. He pressed a kiss to my lips and looked conspiratorially at my now-least-favorite nurse.
“She pass the test? Do I get to take her home?”
Natasha sniffed. “She walked. She did not faint. Did not curse at me more than usual. I suppose she can go.” She gave me a pointed look. “Rest. You try to lift anything heavier than a cup of water, I’ll tie you to the bed.”
Hatchet chuckled. “She might enjoy that.”
Natasha narrowed her eyes and pointed at Hatchet. “You. Keep it in your pants. No funny business.”
Hatchet held up his hands. “Wouldn’t think of it.”
Her glare hardened.
“Well, I’ll certainly think of it,” he clarified. “But I won’tacton it.”
“I’ll get the discharge papers.”
Back in my room, I traded my gown for a loose, comfy dress that Hatchet helped me slip over my head. He’d shockingly even brought me cotton panties, claiming he’d chosen the least sexy pair he could find to keep his imagination from running wild.
I hated the wheelchair ride down the hall, people seeing me as a helpless patient rather than a competent doctor.
