“Sounds like a real-life knight in shining armor.”
“He was—though I really wish he’d had the armor on,” she said absently. Memories of being held in his strong arms replayed in her mind. She should have at least gotten his phone number...to make good on her offer to replace his shirt, of course. His information was in the system, so she could get it that way. But...
A touch on her hand broke into her musings.
“Simona,” Eve called.
“I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
Eve smiled. “Mmm-hmm. I was asking about your knight, and you drifted off into fairy tale land. He must have been something.”
Fine as all get out, rock hard body, and seemingly an all-around good guy—yep, he was something.
Eve laughed.
“What?”
“You’re daydreaming again. What does he look like?”
“A little over six feet, handsome, muscles—”
“In other words, fine as hell.”
Simona smiled and nodded. “Yes, he is.” She pushed to her feet. “I’m wiped out. I need to hit the shower and go to bed. Did you have any problems tonight?”
Eve stood. “Not a one. She’s an angel. Woke up an hour ago for a few minutes but went right back to sleep.” She went over to the dining room table and gathered up her belongings. “I’ll see you later.”
Simona walked her neighbor to the door and waited until Eve went inside her house before closing her own door. Simona picked up the monitor off the table, turned off the lights and went down the short hallway to the first bedroom. A nightlight illuminated the baby lying in her crib. Simona stood staring at her niece’s small form for several minutes, the covers rising and falling in rhythm as she slept.
Yasmine had been born two months prematurely to Simona’s twenty-two-year-old younger sister—her namesake—who had died in childbirth as a result of injuries she’d sustained in a car accident. Although they were able to save the baby, her sister and her sister’s fiancé hadn’t been as fortunate. Simona still couldn’t believe that her sister was gone, but her niece reminded her of that fact daily. Yasmine had spent six weeks in the NICU after birth and was on a ventilator for the first two. So far, there hadn’t been any more problems, but Simona kept a close watch on her.
Simona’s grandmother had wanted to raise Yasmine, but taking care of a small baby was too much for Nana, so Simona had driven to Oakland two months ago and brought the baby back to LA. Fortunately, after Simona explained her dilemma, Mrs. Battle, the charge nurse, allowed her to change her schedule to four eight-hour days a week.
Simona stood a few minutes longer, smiling at the miniature version of her sister as sadness rose up once again. Seven years Yasmine’s senior, Simona had been close with her baby sister, and she missed Yasmine’s infectious laughter and zeal for life. Looking down at her sleeping niece, Simona vowed to raise the little girl with all the love in her heart, just as Yasmine would have done. She leaned down and brushed a soft kiss on her eleven-month-old niece’s forehead, checked the baby monitor to make sure it was on and continued to her bedroom.
Thirty minutes later, freshly showered, Simona pulled back the bed covers, laid her worn-out body down and groaned. She was exhausted, and with any luck, she’d be able to get a few hours of sleep before Yasmine woke up.
Automatically, her mind went back to Donovan. His hands on her had created sensations she hadn’t felt in a long time, and she wished she could have stayed in his arms all night. Her eyes snapped open. Where had that thought come from? She’d spent the past year purposely staying away from men, and now she lay fantasizing about one.
“You’re just exhausted, Simona,” she mumbled to herself. Given the circumstances, it was natural to have these types of feelings, she assured herself. She closed her eyes again, but Donovan’s handsome face wouldn’t leave her. It took a while, but she finally drifted off.
* * *
Time seemed to accelerate, and before she knew it, Simona was walking across the hospital parking lot Tuesday to start her shift. Dealing with the fast pace of an emergency room at only twenty-nine, Simona thought she had good endurance. But adjusting to Yasmine’s routine and working four days a week was proving to be more of a challenge than she’d envisioned.
The first few hours went by in a blur, and she was more than ready to sit for a minute when her lunch break came around. Yet no matter how tired she felt, somehow Donovan always worked his way into her psyche. Would she ever see him again? She told herself she only wanted to see him to make sure he was okay, but knew she lied. His concern for her well-being had gone far beyond the call of duty and was truly touching. While eating, her thoughts strayed to Donovan. Again. As much as she wanted to call him, she didn’t feel right about getting his information from the hospital records. So she would have to be content with the memory of her knight.