Page 92 of Sweet Heart

“Do you have something to say, Nurse Wilder?”

She blinks at my sudden confrontation, and the sharp tone makes her recoil a hair before she regains her composure. Her grin turns into a snarl, and her eyes narrow into small, hateful slits.

“I don’t know, Doctor,” she taunts, and Mary’s hand twitches in mine at the tone. “Do I?”

“You seem to have a lot of opinions on situations that are none of your business,” I deadpan, my voice low but cutting.

“When you start sleeping with patients, you make it my business,” she snaps now.

Our sharp words have drawn the attention of multiple staff members, but fortunately, there are no patients nearby who can hear us. The blood in my veins turns to ice at her words, and I feel a flash of pure, unadulterated rage rush through me.

“¿Cómo?” I hiss heatedly, but Mary’s fingers press against my forearm, pulling my attention toward her instead.

“Don’t, Cat. This is what she wants you to do. Don’t let her tempt you.”

I stare at her. Not because she is wrong, but because she is right. Wilder threw down the gauntlet, and if I don’t address it directly, it will seriously affect my position. Hospital politics are petty like that. But how this plays out depends on how I handle it. I don’t have to play her game. I take a deep breath in through my nose as I look into Mary’s blue eyes. My world, my anchor.

“Yeah,” I say, smiling softly, and raise my hand to cup her cheek. “Thank you, mi amor.”

She blushes a little when I run my thumb over her bottom lip, and the sight of it has me smiling fully. Before I can stop myself, I lean forward and press my mouth against hers. Our lips brush, and I breathe in the smell of her. Mary’s hand instinctively comes up to my hip, and she curls her fingers in the fabric before sighing softly. The moment ends far too soon for my liking, and I press my forehead against hers for another beat, wanting to prolong it.

When my eyes blink open again, the reality of what I just did dawns on me. It should frighten me because I just made things so much harder on myself. But it doesn’t. It only makes me feel more certain. I will never hide Mary again. Ever.

Neither of us bothers looking back, even though the gasps are loud and Wilder storms off in a huff. Mary just laces her fingers with mine again, and we walk toward the exit. Together.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Carmen howls the moment she enters the apartment, with Isa hot on her tail. Did they ride in together?

Riley and Celeste exchange a quick glance, a glint of amusement sparking between them as they silently pass the same question back and forth. But Carmen is completely oblivious to it, or she simply doesn’t care.

“Wilder was furious. You were all she could talk about. For hours!”

“I didn’t do it for Wilder,” I say calmly, finding Mary’s knee under the table and softly squeezing it.

“Sí, sí, pero it was highly entertaining for me.”

“¿Cómo?”

“Claro, Kitty Cat. The other staff members who saw the whole thing… Well, they say you were smiling. That you looked happy. There are more people rooting for you than you know.”

She raises an eyebrow at me and wiggles it. I roll my eyes, but can’t help letting a huffed laugh escape me. She did warn you about the smiles.

“Wilder tried to call it perverse and blow it up. Reginald, the new guy, told her to zip it since she was the one provoking you. And guess what, Cat?”

She grins like a cat that got the cream as her eyes glide from me to Mary, then to Riley, and finally to Celeste, her face beaming with unadulterated joy.

“Every single person walked away from her after that.”

She pulls back her chair and grins at me some more before turning her head toward Isa and nodding softly. A light pink blush crosses the woman’s features, but she slides into the seat. Carmen helps adjust it before she sits down next to her like it’s any other day. None of us say a word. We don’t need to.

“You are aware that you’re going to have a rough time, yes?” Celeste turns to me, her voice calm and steady. “There might be people on your side, but there will also be people who think that you should’ve stepped down. There will be friction because people like that will challenge your authority.”

I tilt my head a bit. Every surgeon knows this. We’ve all seen cases where it happens, but there is something else in her tone that draws my attention. Celeste holds my eyes for a long beat, and everyone stays quiet. When her wife squeezes her bicep, she nods once without breaking her gaze.

“When Riley and I just started dating, she worked at the hospital. We tried to keep things professional, but we were in each other’s space so much…” She trails off. “Well, you know how it is.”

I smile because I do. Mary puts her hand over mine, lacing our fingers, and my smile widens. I really do know.

“That’s when Riley decided to take another job.”