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Corey nods slowly, soaking up my words as her husband sets another drink in front of her. The movement snaps her out of her thoughts, and she plants a smile on her face.
“Any time you want some blackmail on this guy, you come to me.” She juts a thumb in Ryan’s direction as he comes to wrap his arm around my shoulder. “I know all of his embarrassing secrets.”
“Jokes on you, Cor. I already told her about the spelling bee.”
Corey grabs my arm and laughs. “He told you about pissing his pants? Damn, that’s my favorite story!”
I turn towards Ryan to see the flush cross his face. He may have mumbled his most embarrassing moments in the quiet hours of the night, safe under my bedding and in my arms, but I’m sure he wasn’t expecting his sister to bring it up in front of me.
Corey opens her mouth to say something else but is interrupted by a scream and someone coming up behind me, pressing their face against my cheek. I’m about to panic,questioning who has the guts to come up to a perfect stranger like that when my vision is blinded by wild blonde curls.
Jenna.
She wraps an arm around my shoulder and hip-checks me.
“Well look what we have here! My little Lainey has been keeping secrets from her best friend.” She turns to look over her shoulder at her husband, Emmett, standing close behind. “Honey, have I introduced you to Dr. Ryan?” She ushers with a hand in front of me to point at Ryan. “Lainey and I work with him. Maybe Lainey has been working under him as well.”
To my utmost surprise, Ryan throws his head back and laughs. We hadn’t talked about telling coworkers, and we didn’t show any affection or special treatment towards each other in front of others. There certainly isn’t a hospital policy that prohibits coworkers from dating, but it seemed unspoken that we weren’t ready to bring this out in the open. He throws an arm around my shoulder and lets it hang, raising a brow in Jenna’s direction to taunt her.
“I fuckingknewit,” she shouts. “I knew something was going on! You have been defending his dumb ass since day one.Oh, Dr. Ryan is nice, just give him a chance. Next, I’ll be finding out you guys fool around in the dictation room.”
The dictation room.
Ryan and I peek our eyes up at each other, both remembering exactly how hot the dictation room can be.
Jenna fake wretches. “Okay, gross. We don’t need details but please sanitize the counters when you are done.”
Corey, who has been shocked still this whole time, finally speaks. “Okay, who is this broad,” she asks, pointing to Jenna. “Because I like her.”
I introduce Jenna and her husband to everyone and overhear Ryan shake Emmett’s hand and commend him for being able to put up with Jenna. Emmett laughs because he’s kind, butanyone who knows them knows how obsessed he is with Jenna, every crazy part of her.
“Did you see Kelly is here tonight?” Jenna ushers to the bar seats and Ryan groans. He may be warming up to a few people at the hospital, but Kelly isn’t one of them. I don’t mind her, but on some level, she is more irritating than others. I’ve attributed it to the amount of growth that someone goes through in their twenties, and while she is new to her twenties, the rest of us are towards the end. Or in Ryan’s case, much, much older.
I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but something inside makes me feel I shouldn’t trust her with my darkest secrets.
As if hearing the sound of her name, Kelly turns mid-sentence, spies the group of us together and her eyes widen with excitement.
With a squeal loud enough to turn heads she jumps up, knocking her barstool backward, and grasps the wrist of the girl next to her, pulling her off her stool and towards us.
Ryan spies them pushing through the crowd and reaches to wrap his hand around the base of my chair, giving a sharp tug to pull it right next to him. “It’s a fucking family reunion,” he mutters through gritted teeth.
I reach a hand up to gently tap his cheek. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?
He grumbles incoherently, leaning down to rest his forearms on the bar table.
I pull him the remaining inches closer, so we are nearly lip to lip and tilt my head back to reach his ear. His smell invades my senses, the shampoo, his cologne, simply him, and I can’t get enough. “If you promise to be nice,” I tease. “I’ll make itveryworth your while later.”
His head rears back, a brow lifted as he smirks. “Deal.”
“You guys!” Kelly coos, finally arriving at our table. “You didn’t tell me you were going out tonight!”
“We decided to come have a drink after dinner,” Jenna says, ushering to Emmett still standing behind her. “I’m slowly showing him all the somewhat sketchy places I used to go to before he moved back. We just, um … happened to run into the group here.”
“That was my next question,” she starts, leaning forward on the table so Ryan and I are in her direct sight. “Are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend?”
Ryan snorts, taking another drink from his beer as he dodges the question.
“Oh, my God. Sorry if I made this awkward. Are you guys just having sex? Or is this a first date and I made it awkward by asking for a label already?”
