Prologue
Dani Hart was drunk enough to think flirting with the hospital administrator was a good idea. That alone should’ve been her first warning sign. The ballroom at the downtown hotel glittered with expensive lights and polished smiles as doctors, nurses, and administrators from St. Jacobs Medical Center mingled during the annual charity fundraiser. Music drifted through the room while waiters carried trays of champagne and tiny appetizers around like they were feeding royalty. Dani hated events like this. There were too many rich donors, too many fake smiles, and way too many people pretending they weren’t judging everyone around them. At least the open bar made it tolerable.
“Okay,” Aliza said from beside her. “You’re staring again.”
Dani immediately looked away from the man across the room. “I’m not staring,” she lied.
“You absolutely are,” her friend insisted. Dani groaned into her champagne glass as Aliza laughed softly beside her. Unfortunately, her best friend wasn’t wrong, because Jonnas Black stood near the donor table looking unfairly attractive in a black suit that probably cost more than Dani’s rent.
He was tall with broad shoulders and dark hair that was always slightly messy, like he’d already been running his hands through it all night. And those eyes. God, even from across the room, she could feel them when he looked at her.
“You need to stop doing that,” Aliza muttered.
“Doing what?” Dani feigned innocence, even though every dirty thought she ever had was running through her overheated mind right now.
“Looking at my husband’s best friend like you want to eat him alive,” Aliza said, spelling it all out for her.
“I’m not looking at him like I want to eat him alive, Aliza,” Dani insisted, keeping up her lie, even though she knew her best friend could see right through it.
Aliza grinned. “Honey, I watched you almost walk into a waiter because “Hospital Daddy” smiled at you.”
Dani nearly choked on her drink. “Oh my God,” she hissed. “Do not call him that.”
“Why not? It fits. Plus, if I have to put up with everyone calling my husband, “Doctor Daddy,” then I can call Jonnas whatever I want,” Aliza said.
“No, it really doesn’t fit,” Dani muttered under her breath.
Aliza leaned closer conspiratorially. “You know he’s been watching you, too, right?”
Dani’s stomach flipped instantly. “No, he hasn’t.”
“Yes, he has.” Her friend was relentless.
“I’m sorry, weren’t you the one who told me to stop looking at him. And now, you’re telling me that he’s been looking at me. I’m picking up mixed signals here, Aliza,” Dani said. “Plus, you’re wrong. He’s not looking at me.”
“Well, if you don’t believe me, just take a look for yourself,” Aliza insisted. Dani risked another glance across the ballroom and immediately regretted it, because Jonnas was alreadylooking at her. Heat flooded her cheeks, and the bastard smirked.
“Oh my God,” Dani whispered, mortified.
Aliza burst out laughing. “You’re in trouble.”
“No, I’m drunk,” Dani slurred. She should have stopped drinking about two glasses of champagne ago, but she hadn’t.
“Same thing,” Aliza insisted. Dani downed the rest of her champagne in one swallow, and that turned out to be another mistake, because ten minutes later she found herself standing beside Jonnas Black at the bar while her entire body buzzed with alcohol and nerves.
“How many of those have you had?” he asked, eyeing her drink.
Dani shrugged. “Enough.”
“That’s not a number,” he breathed.
“Why? Are you my boss right now or just a friend who’s concerned about me?”
His mouth twitched slightly. “Maybe a bit of both.” The deep rumble of his voice slid straight through her, melting her girl parts. Everything about this man felt dangerous—not in a bad way, but like he could charm just about any woman in the room right out of their clothes. Dani blamed the alcohol for the way her body reacted to him, but she knew that was a lie. For some crazy reason, she had been thinking about him since Aliza and Elias’s wedding a few months back. Hell, Jonnas played through her nightly fantasies, and then, she’d have to come to work and face him and pretend that she hadn’t just been shouting out his name in her dreams all night long.
“I thought administrators were supposed to be boring,” she blurted. “But you look like you’re having a pretty good time tonight.” She nodded at the glass in his hand.
One dark eyebrow lifted. “And I thought nurses were supposed to have filters, and not get drunk at company parties,” he said.
