Rage bubbled in my gut so hot I could barely hold it back. I took a step toward the door, but Dean put a hand on my hip, almost like he wanted to pull me back. I stopped, surprised at the touch. I thought he’d learned his lesson already, but he didn’t yank away. Instead, he stared at me, eyes warning, and I glared back at him.
We stood like that, locked in a staring match. It would’ve been almost hot, if I weren’t pissed as hell.
“I’ll see what I can do. For now, please take this small offering to your boss, and inform him that the rest will be coming shortly.”
“Very well, I’ll see what he says, but I can’t promise anything.”
More footsteps came and I stepped back quickly, pressing myself against Dean. I had nowhere else to go since the closet was so tiny and he was in the only good hiding place. I glared at him, aware that my breasts were pressed against his chest, and very, very aware that his hands were on my hips like we were slow dancing at junior prom. I clenched my jaw, and I could feel my cheeks turn red—and the smirk he gave me drove me wild.
Maria and the guy she spoke with passed by the doorway. Neither looked over, but I caught a glimpse of them: the guy was tall, lanky, with dark hair, a black leather jacket, and a pair of jeans.
They disappeared through the doors and were gone. I waited a few seconds, breathing fast, suddenly very aware that Dean was staring down at me with unrestrained joy, or maybe lust, and I pulled back suddenly, stumbling into the racks behind me.
He tilted his head. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, steadying the boxes before they could fall and make a racket. “What the hell were you doing in here?”
“Getting masks,” he said. “Then I heard that.”
“So you stuck around and eavesdropped?”
He shrugged. “Frankly, when Maria’s talking, I like to listen.”
“That’s really creepy.”
He gestured toward the door. “And yet you stayed and listened too.”
I threw my hands up, annoyed. “What was I supposed to do? You practically held me prisoner.”
“I don’t know about that. You seemed to enjoy pressing yourself against me.”
I gave him my best your-head-will-explode-now glare and stepped closer to him, but he didn’t flinch away. Instead, his smile got larger.
I was about to tell him to go shove one of those mask boxes up his rear end when I stopped myself and took a deep breath. Getting pissed at him was fun and whatever, but it was completely beside the point.
That overheard conversation ran through my mind again.
“What did I miss?” I asked. “From before you nearly ripped my hand off my arm.”
“Not much. They talked about money, mentioned some program Maria’s been running.”
I frowned and touched my chin. “Program?”
“I’m not sure, some trial maybe? They were pretty vague. Didn’t sound like a happy conversation.”
“Who the hell was that guy?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
I rolled my eyes. “I bet you think that, doctor.”
He laughed. “Oh, come on. We’re not all that bad.”
“Yes, you are.” I walked past him and into the hall. He followed, much to my immense pain.
“We need to talk about what we’re going to do.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to tell someone about that. If Maria’s stealing from the hospital, someone’s got to find out.”
“I agree, but we can’t tell anyone, not yet.”
I stopped in front of the elevator doors and turned on him. “Now why the hell would I keep this to myself?”
“Because nobody’s going to believe you.”
I glared at him, heart racing. I was exhausted and emotionally frayed from a difficult day. One of my patients passed away at the opening of my shift, and that set the tone for the rest of the day. It was never easy, losing a patient, and I took it hard every single time, no matter how often it happened—and it happened more than I liked. That was the ugly truth about hospitals. People died here, people died at my place of work, and I had to figure out how to deal with it or else it would all overwhelm me.
So I wasn’t being as level-headed and patient as I otherwise would have been. I was a very patient and kind person, after all.
“How about you fuck yourself, dickwad,” I snapped.
He laughed. “Don’t take it personally. I don’t think anyone would believe me, either.”
“So then what do you propose?”
“What we just heard sounded a hell of a lot like some kind of scheme to defraud the hospital. And it sounded like it’s been going on for a while.”
I hesitated, glancing down the halls behind him. “How do you know that?”
“The way they talked, like they knew each other. Someone else is involved too, whoever that boss guy is. We need to find out as much as we can before we take this to someone.”