My entire body hummed in response.
“Well.” I grinned, rising and holding my hand out to him. He stood up, pulling me in close. “Let’s go enjoy our party so I can enjoy you later. Every inch of you,” I added, my lips ghosting his neck.
I relished his intake of breath, the way his arms tightened around me.
“Come on, lovebirds! If I can’t drink, you’d both better!” Connie hollered with a grin.
Cal swatted at my backside as I broke away and walked toward my girls. “Not too much, Jill. I want you aware of every second we have together later,” he called, a heated promise deepening his tone.
I blushed with a nod.
As if there were anything I could ever forget when it came to Cal.
Chapter 32
“Ican’t believe it’s your last day already!” Laurie pouted.
My last shift at the hospital had come quickly, not two weeks after I’d made my decision, but I was ready. I was sure the guys were ready too. Having one of them escort me to and from work every day had to be a pain. Poor Ram was on deck today and was currently posted up in the waiting room. Then again, maybe he didn’t mind judging from all the fluttering eye lashes he got from the nurses.
I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It’s not forever,” I assured her. “Hell, maybe when I get back you’ll be head nurse.” I winked.
With Laurie’s determination and intelligence, it was entirely possible.
Her eyes lit up at the thought as we caught up briefly in the hallway in between patients.
“How’s your not-so-secret admirer?” I asked, shifting topics with a lifted brow. She’d confided that Tag had continued to express interest but had been mum on the details.
A pink blush covered her cheeks. “I don’t know about admirer,” she protested. “He’s walked me to my car a few times after a late shift, but that’s it. There have been a few texts...,” she admitted.
“A few?” I prompted, nudging her suggestively.
She rolled her eyes. “All right, fine. More than a few. But he hasn’t asked me out or anything. I’m not sure if he thinks of me that way. He’s so intimidating and so…” She searched for the right words. “…male.”
I grinned. I could relate all too well.
“And I’m just me.” She shrugged.
“Yes, gorgeous, intelligent, thoughtful you,” I replied firmly. “He’d be lucky to have you.”
She bit her lip and after a moment nodded, just as a paramedic I’d never seen before came bursting frantically through the emergency room doors.
“I need a nurse!” he cried, pulling at my arm.
Laurie gave me a confused look. It was highly unusual for us to not have been notified a bus was coming in, but we both scrambled to comply and rushed out front. The ambulance was pulled haphazardly to the curb, its lights flashing.
“We just need one nurse,” the paramedic told Laurie as I jumped up into the ambulance to examine the man lying on the gurney.
His words sent alarm bells ringing and in that moment, I knew. I turned to warn Laurie. “Laurie, no!” I shouted, desperately trying to get her to run.
I was too late.
She’d already stepped inside.
The man posing as a paramedic shoved her the rest of the way in and shut the doors. I immediately tried them, panicking when I discovered they were locked from the outside.
The man pretending to be a patient sat up, gun in hand. “Guess we get two for the price of one today.” He grinned.
The ambulance took off at alarming speed, sending Laurie and me flying. I landed roughly on my side before quickly scrambling to a seated position as Laurie did the same.
