Until Autumn

Autumn takes another step back, horrified by her excitement and lack of filter, but they’re not the things she should be concerned about right now. I raise my chin, ready to hand her ass to her, yet the words that come out of my mouth don’t only baffle me, but they baffle her too. “You’ll be on my service until further notice.”

Her eyes bug out of her head as I try my hardest to keep my composure. What the fuck did I just say to her? On my service? Shit. How’s that supposed to help keep this chick away from me?

“I, umm … yes, of course. I’d be honored,” she says, beaming up at me as though she must have done something right. Little does she know that she’s in a world of trouble.

On my service? Fuck me. I’ve said it now. I know I haven’t exactly got the kindest reputation around here, but I can’t exactly take it back. That would be a dick move, yet for some reason, the thought of being a dick to this girl kills something inside of me. But why? She’s just some random girl who’ll stick around for the next few years and then be out of here after her training.

Why do I feel the need to protect her? It’s got to be the innocence shining out of those big hazel eyes. It’s almost as though she’s never been hurt before, and for some reason, I have this overwhelming need to keep her safe.

I need to step away from this chick. I don’t understand this. The only question now is, how am I going to make it through the day with her running around clueless on my service? I’m going to have to do something to keep her busy and far away from me so I can somehow find my balls again. Did I just hand them over to this chick without even realizing?

“Good,” I say with a nod before stepping back. “I need to go and check on my patients. In the meantime, go and get yourself cleaned up and then report to your supervising midwife to sign in for your shift.”

Autumn nods before glancing down at herself and cringing in disgust. “Crap, I didn’t even notice,” she says with a sigh, looking back up at me with a slight blush on her cheeks that has my hands twitching at my sides, desperate to reach out and touch them. How fucking inappropriate would that be?

“Right, go. I expect you to report back to me in thirty minutes. Don’t be late.”

With that, Autumn’s eyes widen, and she takes off like a rocket, leaving space for the cleaning crew to take over the elevator and return it to its former glory.

I shake my head, trying to remember where the fuck I stashed my balls. What was that? Why did she have such an effect on me? That was insane. I’ve never had a chick render me speechless like that, and I’ve certainly never allowed a nurse under my training to get away with blue murder.

With too much work to get through, I put it to the back of my mind and turn on my heel, ready to make my way down to November’s room, only Asher stands right before me, blocking my way. “Wow,” he says, with an amused laugh. “The Thorne I know would have had that chick running scared for putting us into that elevator so close to giving birth.”

I shake my head, just as stumped as he is. “I … I don’t know what the fuck that was,” I tell him honestly. “I should have yelled at her. I should have put her in her place. That was unacceptable. We value ourselves on a much higher standard here. The last thing I should have done was reward her by putting her on my service.”

He grins as though he’s in on some kind of secret that hasn’t been shared with me yet, but as he meets my eyes, it finally clicks. “No,” I say, holding up a hand to stop the bullshit that’s about to come spurting out of his mouth. “That’s ridiculous. There’s no such thing as the fucking ‘BOOM!’ You guys just got lucky with a bunch of awesome chicks.”

“Uh-huh.”

I shake my head, unable to let it go, because honestly, it’s hitting me a lot harder than it should. “You realize that it’s just some bullshit family story that got passed down?”

“Is it though?” he questions, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

I roll my eyes and walk toward him, giving him a pointed stare. “Don’t you have something better to do right now? Wait, what was it? Hold on … it’ll come to me. Oh yeah, your wife and newborn baby down the hall in a birthing suite.”

Asher scoffs. “And miss this? You know just as well as I do that November would have my balls if she found out that you experienced the BOOM and I didn’t stick around to get all the juicy details.”