anyone,” Hunter said with a glare aimed at his wife.
“I see,” Nikki murmured, looking thoughtful as she reached back and pulled a large yellow envelope out of her bag. “This might change your mind, Mr. O’Mallery.”
At Hunter’s glare, Nikki said. “That’s so cute that you don’t think that I would know who you are.”
“What’s this?” Hunter asked, throwing her a questioning look as he reached over and picked up the envelope.
“On the house,” Nikki said with a wink as she tossed her crayon back in the bucket, grabbed a green crayon and returned to her chair.
Frowning, Hunter opened the envelope and
“If you’ll excuse me,” he murmured as his lips pulled up into a shit-eating grin before he walked off, but not before he threw a curious look toward the woman who was now absently humming, “Mmmbop,” as she filled out the rest of her application.
“We’re going to need you to fill out a volunteer application as well,” Ryan said, reaching over to grab a packet off the desk.
“Of course,” Sloane said, smiling as she accepted the thick packet that was going to take her most of the night to fill out.
“I’m not sure what Grey discussed with you, but we”
“I haven’t actually had a chance to talk to Grey about this yet,” Sloane said, glancing down at the packet.
“Well, you can make your own hours, decide what patients you work with, and if you need something, just let us know and we’ll get it for you. You can also feel free to use the facilities to work with Chase whenever you want.”
“That sounds fine,” Sloane said, nodding absently because this would actually be perfect. She could do the basics with Chase at home, but it wouldn’t be enough. The pool would definitely help, especially since Chase didn’t have one at his house.
“How long is your leave of absence?” Ryan said, drawing her attention. With a shrug, he said, “There isn’t much that we don’t know about you.”
“Six months,” Sloane said, unable to help but frown in confusion because she only sent the email yesterday.
“Shadow Security checks everyone before they’re allowed through those doors,” Ryan explained at her questioning look with a warm smile and a pointed look at the security doors.
“Good to know,” she murmured, guessing that’s how they knew that she’d worked at a physical therapist office to help pay for college. At one time, she’d hoped to become a physical therapist but–
“Grey gave his seal of approval and that’s really all you needed, but we like to be thorough. You’ll have a keycard next week and everything you need to access the rooms. Just let us know your availability and we’ll take it from there,” Ryan said, cutting off the depressing thoughts that she hadn’t had in a while as he handed her his card.
“Thank you,” Sloane said, forcing a smile as she accepted his card, absently noting that he was a lawyer.
“Just give me a call if you need anything,” Ryan said as she watched Chase roll into the foyer and
Kept going, shooting her a glare as he went. Resigning herself to the ten-minute glare-fest on the drive home, she threw Ryan and Kylie, who was already back to mumbling, “Why did they use this form?” a smile.
“I’ll get this done by next week,” Sloane said, holding up the application as she headed for the door.
“Sounds good,” Ryan said with a warm smile as she walked outside and
“Take me home,” Chase said hoarsely, drawing her attention to find him sitting near the car, staring across the street. Sloane opened her mouth to tease him about using the magic word when she saw his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, even as she reached into her bag for his pain medication, noting how pale he’d gone. Sloane followed his gaze and found a beautiful woman with long blond hair staring right back at him, looking like she’d seen a ghost.
“Just take me home.”
Chapter 19
“I don’t think this is going to work,” the small woman with incredible eyes said as Grey glanced up from the volunteer application that she’d filled out with a crayon.
“And why’s that?” Grey asked, leaning back in the incredibly comfortable chair that Kylie helped pick out for him.
With a heavy sigh and a sad shake of her head, she gestured between them, “This thing that’s going on between us.”
Nodding solemnly, Grey said, “I was afraid that was it.”
“You felt that too?” Nikki James, the small woman who’d been ordered to serve community service for walking up to