eyes as she muttered under her breath. "You know, I didn't think it was possible, but you seem even more hardheaded now than you did in the hospital. And that was some next-level stubbornness. That was so stubborn they called in psychiatry."
Dante smiled at that. Her frustration amused him. "What can I say? I'm full of surprises."
"So I've heard," she said. "More than what meets the eye. That's what they say about you. A wolf in sheep's clothing."
"I guess my reputation precedes me."
"That it does."
Dante stood up from the bench then, lingering in front of her. He almost defended himself, but it seemed pointless.
"Look, Nurse Russo…"
"Gabby," she corrected him.
He hesitated before nodding once. "Do you want to, I don't know, grab a drink or something?"
She gaped at him. "A drink?"
"Yeah, I mean, I'm guessing you're old enough…"
"I'm twenty-six," she told him. "Which makes me older than you, but that's beside the point. You're asking me to get a drink with you, at seven o'clock in the morning, when you just got out of the hospital. Literally, just hours ago. You shouldn't even be on your feet right now. And you want me to go with you to get a drink? Are you insane?"
"I'm not sure. I didn't bother to read the psychiatrist's report."
"You should've. It said you suffer from a personality disorder, but you otherwise seem mentally fit."
"Huh, good to know. Did it give a name to the disorder?"
"The doctor was leaning toward Antisocial."
"Antisocial," Dante repeated. "So a sociopath, basically."
"Basically."
"Do I seem like a sociopath to you?"
She hesitated before mumbling, "I'm not a psychiatrist."
"I know you're not. I'm not looking for a medical opinion. I'm asking for your personal one."
"My personal opinion is that he knew your reputation and had you diagnosed before he even stepped in the room."
"So no, then."
"No," she agreed. "What's wrong with you isn't a disorder. I think something else."
"Like?"
"I'm torn between stupidity and grief."
Despite himself, Dante laughed at that.
"So," he said, drawing out the word as he cocked an eyebrow. "About that drink?"
"Aren't you on medication? Didn't they prescribe you stuff? Do you really think it's wise to drink under those circumstances?"
"Wise? No. But that's never stopped me before."
She shook her head, running her hands down her face in exasperation. "This goes against everything I stand for. I'm a nurse, for crying out loud. You were my patient."
"I'm not your patient anymore," he said. "Besides, I'm not asking Nurse Russo to have a drink with me. I'm asking Gabriella."
He expected to be shot down. The odds were stacked against him. She was her and he was him, and they existed in different worlds, and she didn't really know him. She'd been acquainted with the reputation. She'd been introduced to someone who didn't exist, as far as he was concerned. But yet, she'd somehow seen through that, she'd seen a part of the real him in that hospital, and that was what gave him the courage to ask.
Still, though, he expected a flat-out refusal.
So when she hesitated, something stirred inside of him. Son of a bitch. She was considering it.
"One drink," she said finally.
"One," he agreed.
"And then you go home," she said. "I'm dead serious, Dante. If I have a drink with you, you have to promise that afterward, you'll go home, and you'll rest. You'll let yourself heal. None of this hanging out around hospitals to pick up nurses nonsense, like this is Pearl Harbor and you're about to be shipped off to war. You're charming, but not that charming. I'll give you this, but it's not going to work any more."
A smile touched Dante's lips. "You think I'm charming?"
"Right now, I think you're an idiot," she said. "Even more of an idiot than I am for going along with it."
"Yeah, well, you only live once, right?"
"Or in your case, twice. You've been given a second chance."
"A third, technically," he corrected her. "This wasn't the first time. I escaped death once before."
"You must have a Guardian Angel."
"Maybe," he said. "Or maybe the Grim Reaper hasn't caught up with me yet. Someday he will, though. But until then..."
"Maybe the third time's the charm."
"I guess I'll find out."
She offered him a tentative smile then before glancing around the neighborhood. "So, where are we going to get that drink?"
"Where do you want to go?"
She shrugged. "Surprise me. You're full of surprises, right? Just... make it a good one."
"Right." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. "I can do that. My car's parked just down the