"Well, it's their loss, Sage, and our gain," Spence said as he reached across the table and took her hand.
For a moment, she was unable to speak, unable to look away from his beguiling gaze as his thumb rubbed across her knuckles. Every moment she was in this man's presence another chink in her armor was chipped away. If she believed this was all real, she would gladly climb into his lap and beg him to take her. But how could it be real? All the rumors spoke of him being nothing more than a playboy, that he liked the conquest and then lost interest. With how intensely she already felt about him, she didn't think she would be able to emotionally handle being one of his castoffs.
"I'm not worried," she finally said, firmly tugging on her hand as she tried to regain her equilibrium. She couldn't keep having these intense moments with Spence. If she continued to get lost in his eyes, he'd never take her word that she wasn't interested in him. His next words proved that.
"Why fight so hard against it, Sage? It's obvious we're attracted to each other. We can keep it professional at work and . . . not so professional afterward. I think we have just the right amount of chemistry to set off some explosions."
She was melting slightly at his words until he finished his last sentence. Then she was fighting a grin. "Explosions? Really, Spence?" It was exactly what she'd needed to hear to clear her head.
"What?" He looked confused.
She finally got her hand free and felt slightly superior. "I have to admit that you were pulling me in there with your suave talk-just a little-and then you said ‘explosions.' If that hadn't been such a cheesy line, with little to no imagination, you might have just had my heart racing," she said with a saucy smile.
"I wasn't being cheesy."
"Oh come on, Spence. You're a surgeon, for goodness' sake. Your ego is the size of a small country-no, scratch that, we're talking Russia. I'm amazed you manage to fit through doorways with such a big head. To top that off, you're wealthy and gorgeous, and you have a body that should be illegal to display in public. You can wipe the grin off your face. I'm in no way complimenting you. I'm just saying that with all that going for you, you certainly don't need to chase me to get your rocks off, and you really don't need to use cheesy pickup lines. Why don't you just go stand on the street corner and smile? You'll most likely cause a car to crash into you and then be lucky enough to have female paramedics stripping you down to give you a full exam."
His mouth was hanging open as she stood up from the table. She gathered her packages and leaned down to encroach on his space. It was nice to feel in charge for the first time since he'd taken the job as her boss.
Shock therapy. If only she'd realized that sooner.
"I have to say that you look even better all wide-eyed and speechless," she whispered huskily before turning and walking from the food court with a self-satisfied smirk. She would give herself ten points for ingenuity and a hundred points for leaving the oh-so-popular Spence Whitman dumbstruck. Surely that was a first.
As she climbed into her car, her smile faded just a tad. She'd doubtlessly face retribution when he had a second to catch his breath. Still, her moment of victory had been well worth it.
The heater actually turned on in her car, and Sage found herself whistling as she made the drive back home. And to top it all off, the roads were clear.
"Sage, can you come in here please?" Mo always had a way of making things sound like an order, even when phrased as a question. That was probably why she was so feared and respected at the same time. The thing was that most of the time the woman was right, and had a killer gut instinct about people in general. It was either because she'd been a nurse for thirty-plus years or because the woman was a psychic, or maybe she was just a freaking genius.
Upon entering the room, Sage noticed that Mo had the new male nurse with her who had a habit of knowing everything even though he was just beginning in his profession. He'd graduated top of his class and therefore didn't think he had anything to learn. Sage almost felt sorry for the boy, because she knew that Mo was now taking him under her wing and before long, he would be sobbing at the woman's feet.
"Sage, have you been formally introduced to Brian?" Mo asked with her knowing smirk.
"No, not yet," Sage said as she came closer.
"Nice to meet you, Sage," Brian said as he shook her hand a little longer than necessary. Then the boy, who in actuality was only a couple of years younger than her, took it a step too far and began openly undressing her with his eyes. Her sympathy for him washed away as she sent a look to Mo that told the woman to give him everything he deserved. Mo sent Sage a wink.
"If I had known they made doctors as sexy as you, I would have certainly gone to medical school instead of taking the nursing program."
Apparently undressing her with his eyes hadn't been enough. Sage sent him a syrupy sweet smile, and then patted his head before speaking.
"Honey, you couldn't have handled medical school." He looked confused for a moment when the tone of her voice didn't match what she was saying, and then his eyes narrowed the slightest bit before his lips turned up in an arrogant smile.
"Ah, I love a woman with a sense of humor," he chortled, making her want to kick him.
"And I love a man who knows his place," she said back, beginning to lose her cool just the tiniest bit. This kid was a punk.
"Brian, this is John Duncan," Mo said, interrupting what soon would have been an entertaining tirade by Sage. "He's a patient who comes in here frequently after overdosing on narcotics."
"Looks pretty harmless," Brian said as he looked disdainfully at the guy on the table who was in a narcotic-induced slumber.
"Sage, I was thinking we needed to reverse his overdose with Narcan."
It took a moment for Sage to realize what was going on, and then it took everything inside her not to give away what she knew what was about to happen.
"Yes, I agree," she said with a straight face. Any of the staff who had been at the hospital for even a month knew John well as a frequent patient to the ER. It was also well known that he was very sensitive to Narcan, and when it was administered he would wake up suddenly and start swinging at whoever was closest to him.
Although Sage's disdain for Brian was growing by the second, she felt guilty about throwing him to the wolves, so the least she could do was give him a bit of a warning.
"Brian, John is very sensitive to Narcan, and when it's given too quickly it will reverse his sleeping state immediately and you may get hurt if you're standing too close." As she was warning Brian she saw Mo leaning up against the wall sipping coffee to hide her smile. Mo always did enjoy a good show, especially on a slow night as this one had been.
"Listen, I may be new, but I'm not stupid." Sage had to control her own temper as he looked down his nose at her before he took the syringe full of medication, walked confidently to John's bedside, and injected it into his IV hard and fast. Then he turned to smirk at Mo and send another leer to Sage.
That was his first mistake.
His second mistake was swiveling his head just in time to catch John Duncan's fist with his face. The sudden punch landed him hard on the ground and knocked him out cold.
Mo's laughter rendered her useless as she was doubled over, spilling her coffee. Sage simply looked at the entire scene in disbelief and then took the next few moments to reassure John that everything would be okay before she decided she'd better check on Brian.
"Mo, that was mean," she said as she kneeled next to the unconscious nurse.
"He was asking for it. The pompous little twerp won't let me teach him and acts like he knows everything. Besides, you did give him fair warning. He ignored you," Mo said between fits of laughter.
"You know, one of these days, you're going to get in trouble," Sage warned, but her own lips were twitching as Brian slowly began to come to on the floor.
"Ah, girlie, I don't do it to the good ones," Mo said, not at all remorseful.
"Wait a minute. Did you do anything to me?" Sage asked as she tried to recollect any mishaps while with Mo in the very beginning.
"That's something you'll never know," Mo said with a wink as Brian awoke fully and sat up, still in a daze.
"You're a terrible woman," Sage said, her words carrying no bite.