Tame his Beast - Claire C. Riley Page 0,36
and down with wide eyes and giving me a long whistle that made me blush.
“Nurse,” he said, biting down on his bottom lip and grinning. I hated that I enjoyed the attention.
“Prospect,” I replied, feeling confident.
“Where’ve you been hiding that sweet body of yours?”
I tried to stop my smile from growing wider at the compliment. “How’s the patient tonight?”
He clapped his hands together. “Real good mood, actually. Talked about helping out at an animal sanctuary when he gets out, maybe adopting a cat.”
“Wow, really?” I said, stunned.
The prospect laughed. “Fuck no. He’s grumpy as shit and he’s gonna be even grumpier when he sees your fine ass in that outfit. You goin’ on a date or some shit?”
The prospect was only young—a kid, really—but he had the eyes of a man and the way he was looking at me told me everything I needed to know about his young mind. I felt self-conscious under his lustful stare, but then I remembered Jenna’s words to own it and I forced my blush to retreat.
“I am actually—right after seeing to the big man baby in there anyway. He better not keep me too long tonight,” I said with a grin.
“Nurse, I think if he sees you in that get up you’re going to be there all night long. I know I wouldn’t let you out of my room.” He bit his bottom lip again and this time the blush won out, flushing into my cheeks.
“Well, good thing he won’t be able to chase after me then, huh?” I laughed and the prospect laughed too. “I better get in there.”
I turned the handle on the door and pushed it open before going inside. With my shoulders back, my head high, and Jenna’s words in my head, I felt good, pretty, confident, and I was determined to own it.
He was sitting in bed, as usual, scowling at something on the TV, and didn’t bother to look up as he started to yell at me for being late.
“Should have bene here twenty minutes ago, Belle. This shit ain’t good enough. We pay your wages you know, you can’t just fucking turn up whenever you feel like it. This isn’t fuckin’ Hooters,” he snapped, finally tearing his eyes away from the TV as he automatically clicked it off. His mouth clamped shut when he saw me, and I felt his heated stare on my body as I strode across the room trying to act completely casual.
“Listen, first, Thursday is my day off, as you well know, and second, I wasn’t going to come in tonight at all, but I did because you requested me to, so stop yelling at me or I’ll just leave you here in pain,” I replied as calmly as I could.
Walking to the cupboard, I used my key to unlock it and get out the meds I needed and then I loaded them onto the cart. I began to pull it over to the side of his bed, still not meeting his gaze but feeling it with every move I took. He hadn’t said another word since I’d answered him back, but he also hadn’t stopped staring at me, so I was taking that as a win. I refused to look him in the eye, instead focusing on putting on some gloves and opening the tub of ointment.
I peeled back the sheet to his waist. “These are looking really good, Beast,” I said, scooping out some of the cream. And they were. Like really good. The bruises had all but gone and his skin had healed really well. He was still hugely scarred, obviously, but he was definitely on the other side of healing now. He still hadn’t spoken so I chanced it and finally looked at him, automatically wishing that I hadn’t.
Beast was scowling, which wasn’t really unusual for him, but there was something fiercer in his expression than usual. His mouth was set in a thin, hard line as I set about my business, choosing not to bait him anymore, and it seemed like he was happy enough to give me the cold shoulder too. Instead, I ignored the deafening silence in favor of applying the cream over his burns, and for once he was silent. No grumbling. No complaining. No hissing in pain. He was just silent. Watching me move around the bed, applying the cream to his various burns. When I was done, I screwed the lid back on the cream and placed it back on the cart.