Ignite On Contact (Brotherhood by Fire #2) -Jaci Burton Page 0,12
The man had a typical God complex. She’d seen it countless times over the years. Some doctors would come in, do their jobs and get along well with everyone. But every now and then there’d be one like Forrest Ventura who thought he was owed something. He had a connected family, came from money, and because his father was a big name in the city, he thought everyone should bow down to him.
To Carmen, the only way you earned respect in the ER was to do your damn job, just like everyone else. If you cared about the patients, if you worked as hard as everyone else, you were appreciated. If you didn’t, you needed to get the hell out of everyone else’s way.
Her responsibility was to monitor what her nurses were doing, which included all the patients on her wing. Because she hired exceptional nurses, she rarely had anything to worry about. Today, everything was running smoothly, which meant she had more time to concentrate on the one patient who needed extra care—Mr. Anderson.
“Front desk said someone’s asking for you,” Bonita, the unit clerk, said.
She frowned. “For me?”
“Yes. Some good-looking guy in a firefighter’s uniform.”
He wouldn’t . . . Well, maybe he would. “Okay, send him on back.”
She would have gone out to the front, but she wanted to stay close to her patient in case anything changed.
Rafe walked through the double doors a few minutes later. He looked amazing in his dark blue firefighter pants and T-shirt.
“Back to work?”
“Just left the doctor and got a clean bill of health, so I’m released to full duties. And since I was next door at the medical offices, I thought I’d stop off here and say hello.”
She pushed back the giddy sensation in her stomach. “I’m kind of busy.”
“I know you are. But I wanted to take a few seconds to ask you out to dinner tomorrow night.”
“Rafe, I already said—”
“Just as a friendly thank-you for being there for me the night I got hurt. It gave me peace of mind to have you taking care of me. You made me relax.”
“I just did my job.”
“But I knew you. If you hadn’t been there, I’d have fought the whole thing.”
“Still, I—”
“Just let me take you to dinner to thank you. Kind of like you make me casseroles when I help take care of your grandpa? Only I’m not cooking.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Well, she could, but what harm would a thank-you dinner do? “Okay, sure. Dinner tomorrow night.”
“Great. Are you on shift tomorrow?”
“Yes. I get off at six.”
“You just let me know what time I can pick you up.”
“Seven thirty?”
He gave her a grin that made her tingle all over. “Sure. Seven thirty sounds great. I’ll see you then.”
“I didn’t get a report thirty minutes ago, Ms. Lewis.”
Just the sound of Dr. Ventura’s voice sent electric rage surging through her nerve endings. But she turned and smiled at him. “I’ve sent you two reports in the past thirty minutes, Dr. Ventura. Mr. Anderson’s vitals are stable, and the blood reports are in.”
He looked at her with a tight-lipped expression. “Fine. But you can entertain your boyfriends on your own time.”
He walked away.
Rafe frowned. “Who’s the dickhead?”
“Chief resident and resident pain in my ass.”
“Want me to go kick the shit out of him?”
“No, thanks. I can handle him.”
Rafe gave her a knowing smile. “I’ll just bet you can. I gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay. See you, Rafe.”
She leaned against the nurses station desk and watched him walk away.
That man had a very fine ass.
“Did I hear right?” Tess asked, coming up to stand next to her as Rafe disappeared through the double doors. “You have a date with hottie McFireman?”
Carmen shook her head. “Not a date. Just dinner.”
“He asked you out to dinner, right?”
“Yes, but just to thank me for taking care of him when he was here in the ER.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Very nice of him. I hope he takes you to a good place for dinner.”
She knew Tess. And the one thing she knew was that Tess always spoke her mind. She definitely had something to say, and whatever it was, she wasn’t saying it.
“Okay, spill.”
Tess looked around. They were currently alone at the desk. “Fine. He likes you, Carmen. It’s obvious. So why not enjoy him? Go out to dinner, and then see what happens.”
“Nothing’s going to happen.”
“Why not? You don’t have to make him your forever and ever. No commitment required. But aren’t you tired