As Carrie leaned over the counter at the nurse’s station, she was so bubbly with excitement that Piper thought she might spill over. “What on earth are you so giddy about?” she asked, slightly amused.
“Well, Tami was talking about this biker club where she and her friends were hanging out last night. Sounds like they had a lot of fun. Anyway, they just transferred a double gunshot wound from upstairs, and he’s just down the hall. Tami went in there and came out bright red in the face because he’s the one she was all dreamy-eyed about last night. She couldn’t tend to his bloody hip because they tore his jeans off.”
The story was outrageous. Piper bit her lip. “I’ll include him in my rounds. Tell Tami that she can take Mr. Colfax in 415.”
“I’d be more than happy to handle the biker, Piper. He’s drop dead gorgeous.” Carrie looked like she wanted a lot more left in her hands than just his medical care, and that was the last thing Piper needed to worry about managing right now.
“No, it’s okay. I got it.” She picked up his chart and walked towards room 440, where a Mr. Jace Dawson lay in wait. Knocking and entering, she stopped abruptly, eyes roaming over his tanned skin and gorgeous, dark features. While the man in the bed was a little haggard, looking like he needed sleep and a good shave, the angles of his face were sharp and alluring, and his mussed brown hair set off those perfectly brilliant eyes, a dark shade of grey, the color of the sea just before a storm. He lay there, shirtless, the hair on his chest doing nothing to hide the hard muscles underneath, trim and cut to perfection.
It was enough to send a powerful wave of uncontrollable desire through her body, and she let out a quiet whoosh of air between clenched teeth.
The man glanced over the room and his eyes landed on her. The intensity of his gaze was more than enough to make her pulse quicken and she blinked, evading the danger of getting lost in the perfection of his chiseled, masculine face. “Mr. Dawson?”
Jace stared at the nurse who’d just entered the room and somehow knew she was going to be trouble. Not that he cared. She was a sight to see, even with her long chestnut hair pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her neck and the scrubs that tried to hide perky breasts and a firm, round backside. Her glittering green eyes were filled with questions, and Jace really didn’t want to answer any of them.
With a nod, he responded, “Yes, ma’am.”
Piper narrowed her gaze at him. If this was a biker, he was certainly a charming one. Trying not to let her nerves – or her misplaced attraction to him – cloud her judgment or prevent her from doing her job, she moved toward the bed, setting down the chart and taking an assessment. He had a bandage on his left shoulder and, according to the chart, a total of twenty-nine stitches on his upper right hip.
“My name is Piper Reece, and I’ll be your nurse today. I understand you were shot?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, keeping it short. He wasn’t going to give her anything she didn’t ask for.
Pursing her lips at his short answer, Piper crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him carefully. “Mr. Dawson, how exactly did you get those bullet wounds?”
With a heavy sigh, he repeated the same story he’d given when he’d first arrived at the emergency room, which he knew was noted in his file.
“I was running an errand downtown, and I was caught in the middle of a drive-by shooting. I have terrible luck, that’s all. I’m just glad they didn’t hit anything vital and didn’t damage my bike.”
He seemed to be trying to make light of the situation, but there was something off about his story. The strain in his voice was obvious as he told it. Piper wasn’t sure she believed him, but it wasn’t really her job to investigate. She was the medical consultant who would look after him in between doctor visits, and it was likely that he’d be out of here by tomorrow.
“Okay,” she said, backing off. “So, does everything feel alright? I’m sure there’s a bit of discomfort, but on a scale of one to ten, how bad is your pain?”
He shrugged and winced, forgetting about his shoulder. “They shot me up with morphine, so right now it’s about a two. I’m pretty sure it’ll be tolerable without the pain meds though, so whenever the doctor gets tired of looking at me, I’m ready to get out of here.”
“I’ll let the doctor know, Mr. Dawson. In the meantime, is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?”
Jace couldn’t help but chuckle. There were many things that he’d love to ask her to do to make him more comfortable, but he thought better of it and instead, he let his head fall back to the pillow, blowing air through his lips.
“No, thank you, ma’am. I haven’t spent much time in the hospital since I was a kid, but I assume these little red call buttons work the same way they always have. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
“Very well. Try to get some rest, Mr. Dawson. You’ll heal faster.” She left the room, her face flushed and her heart beating wildly in her chest. The man in the room behind her was a dangerous biker associated with some sort of gang, and while he claimed he got caught in the crossfire of some random shooting, something about that didn’t sit right with her. There was more to the story, and she wanted to scold herself for the fact that, instead of being frightened, she was intrigued and curious. She was acting way too much like Carrie right now, and it made her feel careless and irresponsible.
Sighing, she returned to the nurse’s station, logged the notes, and went back to what she’d been doing before. But she couldn’t seem to concentrate and when two men in suits arrived, she looked up, her heart seizing.
Offering them a shaky smile, she greeted them cautiously. “May I help you?”
The taller of the two nodded. “Yes, ma’am, my name is Paul Resner and this is Jason Morris. We’re looking for a Jace Dawson. We were told he’d been moved to this floor?”
Swallowing hard, her trepidation running rampant, Piper nodded. “Yes. He’s just down the hall, room 440.”
They simply nodded as they made their way down the corridor without another word.
Anxious, she looked around for Carrie, but she was nowhere in sight. What on earth is going on? she thought. Picking up his file, she made her way down the hallway, posted herself just outside the door to Dawson’s room, and listened in.