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“Who says I don’t?” Grant laughs, and the guys lose it.
“At least he’s self-aware!” Nick says.
There’s a muffled conversation on their end of the line, then finally Grant’s voice returns. It’s quieter now. He’s found somewhere private to talk. That, or he’s killed his friends.
“Sorry about that.”
I laugh. “It’s fine. They’re just being silly.”
“To be clear, I talk about you a normal amount,” he assures me, trying to play it cool.
My grin stretches from ear to ear.
“It’s okay. Sophia said if I bring you up again, I have to find a new place to live.”
He laughs. “That’s fine. Move in with me.”
“Not funny.”
“I wasn’t really kidding.”
Tell me why I’m embarrassed by how hard I’m blushing even though he can’t even see me.
“What time do you get in tomorrow?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Flight leaves at 6 AM.”
I hiss. “That early?”
“None of us mind. We have people we want to get back to…”
Me.
ME!
“Unfortunately, I work until 6 PM tomorrow.”
“Let’s plan to meet after.”
“Ugh, wish I could…I’m busy. I’m going—”
“Tate,” he cuts in with a sharp warning.
“What!? I was kidding. You didn’t even let me finish my joke. It was going to be funny, I’m sure.” I sigh like I’m really put out. “Now we’ll never know.”
“I’ll see you after work.”
He says it with so much conviction I shiver.
I’m extremely relieved by how light my workload is the next day. My focus is admittedly shot, but I take my time with the few important things I need to get done and double-check my work a dozen times just to be sure I don’t let anything slip through my fingers.
I’m in such a rush to leave at the end of my shift that I make it all the way downstairs to the main lobby before realizing I forgot my hospital bag upstairs—phone, keys, wallet…yup, I was just going to walk out without any of it.
I race back toward the elevators and press the up arrow about a hundred times in a row. Just in case it wasn’t already broken, it is now. The elevators are notorious for taking forever, but one finally comes just as two nurses from another department join me.
“What floor?” I ask.
“Six,” one of them says before turning to her friend and whispering (not all that quietly), “Oh my gosh, that was really him. Did you get a picture?”
“Yes, but I didn’t want to be too obvious…” She angles her phone so her friend can see what she got.
“Girl, why not?! Everyone else was being obvious! They were getting him to sign autographs! Man, that picture is blurry as hell—you can’t even tell who it is! No one’s going to believe you if you share that.”
“I know! I froze. It’s not my fault. He was so much hotter in real life. Should we go back out there?”
“We’ll be late for our shift.”
Her friend acts like she’s tipping scales back and forth with her hands. “A paycheck versus a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Grant Navarro.”
I freeze.
The nurse laughs and shakes her head. “Leave it. We had our chance, now we’ll just have to regret it for the rest of our lives.”
I’m smiling so deviously I’m surprised they can’t tell, but they’re off in their own world. Back on my floor, I race over to grab my bag from the desk. Kara, the nurse on duty after me, winks. “I was just trying to figure out how to call you to let you know you left your stuff here.”
“Cell phone and all,” I say with an eye roll.
“Knew you’d be back.”
I laugh and grab my bag, hauling it over my shoulder as I race toward the stairs rather than relying on the elevators this time. I have absolutely no chill as I take the steps two at a time. I only slow down after I nearly wipe out not once, but twice. On the ground floor, I whip open the door so fast and with so much force I nearly take out a man walking with his head down.
“I’m sorry!” I shout over my shoulder as I walk-run through the front lobby.
My heart soars even more the moment I see Grant. There’s a swarm of people around him. I can’t believe he’s here! Is he crazy? With the way he’s been playing this season, he’s too conspicuous for public life. It’s not just him either. Dustin, Luke, Josh, Nick—they need disguises and aliases at this point.
I love how nice he’s being to everyone. I highly doubt he planned on taking pictures and chatting with strangers like this, but he’s not the least bit rude about it. That is, until he looks up and catches me walking through the revolving door out onto the sidewalk. I smile, but I don’t step any closer. I’m not sure of the protocol here. In the two weeks we’ve been official, we’ve somehow neglected to discuss how we were going to deal with being in the public eye. For all I know, Grant wants to keep things under wraps, which is fair. There are a whole host of reasons why that could be the better option for us, but seeing as how Grant politely extracts himself from the group and confidently makes his way toward me, I don’t think we’re aiming for subtlety.
