“You’re not going in alone.”
“Which is it? I’m not going in, or I’m not going in alone? Because I’m sure as hell heading to her office right this second.”
“Do you want to get fired?”
He laughed and shook his head. “She’s in a departmental meeting right now, and those things stretch for hours. We have plenty of time.”
“What about her secretary?”
“She’s on her lunch break.” He checked his watch. “For exactly twenty more minutes.”
“How the hell could you know that?”
“I pay attention to things.” He frowned at me and stepped forward. I didn’t move, and we were inches apart. “We can stand here and argue as much as you want, but we aren’t getting another chance. You want to find proof that Maria’s up to something? Let me get into her office.”
I took a deep breath and steadied myself. This was truly insane, way beyond what I thought we’d be doing—but then again, I didn’t exactly know how we’d find proof without snooping around. My mind slipped back to that moment in the hall and I knew I had to do something, couldn’t sit around and let her get away with stealing from the hospital. I let out a frustrated grunt and stepped aside.
“I’ll keep watch,” I said grudgingly. “But seriously, at the first sign of anyone coming—”
“I’ll make sure to get the hell out of there.” He strode into the hall then toward the elevators.
I scrambled to keep up, heart racing. I didn’t know how he seemed so calm. We were on our way to break into the hospital administrator’s office, which was basically a death sentence if we got caught. She’d make sure we never worked anywhere else again, I was sure of that. I couldn’t believe Dean didn’t seem to care that he was risking his entire career for this, and yet he didn’t seem like he was joking around.
We passed the nurses’ station. “Be back in a few,” I said to Mary. She saluted me then winked and I got the feeling a new rumor was about to sprout up all over the hospital.
“She’s going to talk about seeing us together,” he muttered as he stepped onto the elevator and punched in the top floor.
“I was just thinking that same thing.”
“Maybe she’ll think we’re having an affair.” He looked down at me and another smile quirked the edge of his lips. “Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”
“Maybe not for you.” I looked away toward the polished metal wall and saw our reflection, bent and blurry in the chrome, and stared at his tall body. I pictured him stooping down to kiss me, his arms wrapped around my hips—and I had to push the daydream aside.
Nurses didn’t get a free pass like doctors. The hospital was a jungle and the doctors were the apex predators, which meant they got as much leeway as they wanted. If a young, handsome doctor slept around, well, boys will be boys. But if a nurse did the same thing, she’d be slut-shamed into oblivion and cast aside like trash.
I wasn’t about to risk getting a reputation like that. I worked damn hard to earn respect, and I didn’t want to lose it all on some fling with Dr. Asshole over there, no matter how handsome he was, or dedicated to doing the right thing, or smart, and gorgeous, and funny.
Well, shit.
The elevator reached the top and he stepped out first. The executive wing was quiet, more like a typical office than a hospital. The floor had a thin carpet and the drop ceiling muffled sound. I was so used to the blinding fluorescent lights and the echoes of the main hospital that I felt lost for a second as we walked past cubicles, mostly quiet during lunchtime, back toward the offices lining the far wall of the building.
He slowed and stopped, craning his neck to look around. Maria had the office in the far left corner. A small sitting area was set up outside, with her secretary’s desk right outside the door, and fortunately it was all empty.
“Sit there,” he said, nodding at a couch. “I’ll be a second. Pretend like you’re waiting and say your name really loudly if someone shows up.”
“Won’t that be really obvious?”
He shrugged. “If you’ve got a better idea, now’s the time.”
I clenched my jaw then sat down on the bouncy leather chair. “Hurry up.”
He nodded once, eyes serious, and walked to Maria’s door. The knob turned and he disappeared inside.
I sat on the edge of the seat anxiously bouncing my knee up and down. There were a few people in the office—I could hear someone talking on the phone in one of the cubes nearby, someone else typing away, someone coughing. I didn’t think anyone noticed him slip inside, and I could probably come up with some excuse if they did—he was looking for patient paperwork, or he had a meeting with Maria that got pushed but he didn’t realize, or something like that. Still, this was an insanely massive risk, and so far from worth it.