The Nurse's One Night to Forever

His gaze searching hers, he raised his glass back.

In unison, eyes locked, they took a drink.

Riley swallowed, wondering if she’d had too much as her head felt dizzy. This glass was her third and would be her last.

She rarely drank, so three glasses of champagne had to be why her insides felt so topsy-turvy. If she wasn’t careful she would soon be quite tipsy. She’d only ever been drunk once—and, really, did that night even count?

Ha. That night counts for everything, the nagging voice that reared its ugly head from time to time reminded her.

That night had been the end of what she’d thought the rest of her life would be and the beginning of a very different reality.

A better reality, she reminded herself. She was strong and independent, with a job she loved, a home and dog she loved, and a good life. It was no big deal that she was faking smiles and just about everything else.

Sighing, then realizing she’d done so for real rather than just in her head, Riley jerked her gaze away from Justin, emptied her glass, and took in the partygoers around her.

Most everyone was paired up. Anywhere she went, she was one of the few singles. She’d known the engagement party wouldn’t be any different. What she hadn’t known was that Justin would attend alone.

On the few times she’d seen him outside the hospital he’d always had a beautiful woman on his arm.

Ugh. What good was it to not be looking at him if she was just going to keep thinking about him? She needed to stop.

She didn’t know which was worse: the flashbacks to her almost-wedding or making googly eyes at Justin. One had left her battle-scarred. The other was like stepping into the line of fire, begging to reopen wounds better left alone.

“You okay?”

Riley choked on the champagne that hadn’t gone down yet. She tried to look as if the liquid wasn’t clogging her airway, but quickly gave up when doing so meant not breathing. She coughed repeatedly, attempting to clear the gurgling from her throat.

“I was before you came over here and startled me,” she accused, once she could form a sentence, hoping her watering eyes wouldn’t ruin her mascara. “Why did you sneak up on me that way?”

Watching her closely, no doubt wondering if he needed to do some kind of medical maneuver to clear her throat, he quipped, “You mean in that walking across the terrace in plain sight way?”

She coughed one last time, took a deep breath, and appreciated it when it didn’t trigger further hacking. “Yeah, that would be the way.”

“For the record, my question referred to before your excellent dying from pneumonia impersonation.” His lips twitched. “Glad to see you made a quick recovery.”

Riley rolled her eyes. She might enjoy their banter at the hospital, but at an engagement party, with three glasses of champagne flowing through her, thinning her protective armor, not so much.

“No thanks to you,” she complained, reminding herself to keep her eyes focused on his face and not let them drop to that sexy V revealed by those loosened buttons. “You could have at least slapped my back a few times.”

“And have you accused me of drumming up business by cracking a few ribs?” His grin was infectious, making his eyes twinkle. “I don’t think so.”

Why did the man have to be so good-looking? So—so everything?

“I said slapping my back, not breaking bones.” Although she was fighting against smiling, she gave him a stern look. “Jeez, men and their having to flex muscles every chance they get...”

He was unfazed, and his eyes danced. “You don’t want to see me flex my muscles, Riley?”

Um, yeah, she’d like to see him do that...

“Not that way,” she denied, gulping at her big fat lie and wondering at what she even meant. This party, maybe him, too, had her so flustered she was making no sense.

“Is there some other way you’d like to see my muscles flex?” He pounced on her goof. “I’d be happy to oblige.”

“I’ll pass, since I see all the muscle-flexing from you that I want to see in the operating room, when you’re pulling and tugging on patients.”

“My talents extend beyond surgery.”

Heaven help her, she was about to go into a coughing fit again.