Ignite On Contact (Brotherhood by Fire #2) -Jaci Burton Page 0,1
friend and fellow nurse Tess Blackstone stopped by. “The patient in room seven is ready for discharge according to Dr. Lange. Scrip for pain meds and a follow-up with his personal physician in a week. Room six is still waiting for someone to take her up for a CT scan. I just administered another bolus of morphine to room eight with Dr. Chan’s approval.”
Carmen nodded and updated the patient charts, signing off on the discharge for room seven. “Call CT—again—and tell them we’ve been waiting an hour and a half for that scan. What’s the status on the patient in room three?”
“Waiting to be taken up for an angiogram.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“I’ll see what’s up with CT—again,” Tess said, picking up the phone and rolling her eyes at Carmen.
Carmen grinned, confident Tess would do her job well. All her nurses did. She had the best staff in the hospital, in her opinion. As triage nurse and supervisor of the department, Carmen had her hands in everything in the ER, which meant she was always managing chaos. Just the way she liked it.
EMTs rolled in with a firefighter strapped to a stretcher, bringing Carmen to instant alert. She recognized Rafe right away since he and his brothers lived in the house next door to hers. As a nurse running an ER, she never panicked, but she hated seeing someone she knew on that stretcher.
His face was covered with ash and grit, but she was happy to see he was awake and seemingly alert as she directed the paramedics to take him into room five.
The attending physician came into the room at the same time to do an assessment.
“Explosion at a house fire,” EMT Miguel Acosta said. “He took a pretty good blast that knocked him unconscious.”
Acosta and his fellow EMT Adrienne Smith unstrapped Rafe and moved him from the stretcher onto the ER bed.
“But as you can see,” Rafe said, “I’m not unconscious now.”
“Patient was down for approximately three minutes but roused quickly,” Miguel said.
“And then he was a royal pain in the ass in the ambulance all the way here,” Smith said, glaring at Rafe. “So he’s alert and oriented times three.”
“Any vomiting?” Dr. Lange asked.
“None,” Smith said.
“Thanks, Adrienne,” Carmen said. “We’ll take it from here.”
Miguel smiled at Rafe. “Behave yourself.”
Rafe tried to sit up, but Carmen laid a firm hand on his shoulder. “Nope. Stay put until we assess you.”
Dr. Lange did a physical and neurological exam.
“No burns, but he does have a bump on the head. No external injuries. Get him set up on an IV and EKG and do his vitals and blood work,” Dr. Lange said. “Let’s order a CT scan.”
She nodded and Dr. Lange stepped out. Carmen went to the cabinet to get the leads and everything else she’d need, then alerted one of the other nurses to bring her IV fluids.
“I shouldn’t even be here,” Rafe said.
“You know the protocol, Rafe,” Carmen said, giving him her standard nurse stare. No one ever argued with her stare. It was pretty fierce.
Rafe, apparently, wasn’t fazed by her glare.
“Whatever, Carmen. I’m fine.”
“Sure you are. Let’s get you out of that turnout gear.”
He grinned. “Getting me naked. Now we’re talkin’.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Can you sit up?”
“Yeah, sure.”
She held out her hand. He grasped it and sat up, much too fast for her liking.
She noticed he winced, and then he wobbled on the table a little.
“Head hurt?”
He reached for his forehead, cradling it in his hand. “A little. Damn backdraft caught me unaware, and the door knocked me backward. And out cold, I guess.”
She’d known Rafe and his brothers since they moved next door to her four years ago. Rafe helped her all the time with her grandfather. Over the years, they’d grown close, and the thought of him being hurt made her hurt.
She helped him unlatch his jacket and slide it off. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
He shrugged out of his coat, and Carmen couldn’t help but admire his broad shoulders encased in his tight T-shirt, something she shouldn’t be noticing right now.
“Can you stand so we can get the rest of your turnout gear off?”
“Yeah.”
“Hold my hand.”
His lips curved, revealing his amazing smile. “Carmen, I never knew you were interested.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Up. Hold my hand.”
He took her fingers and dropped his suspenders, letting the pants fall while he stepped out of his boots.
The hottest man she knew was undressing in front of her. At least partially undressing. Even in his T-shirt and