Raine laughed, easing back. “I’ll be sure to get you regular Coke, how about that?”
He didn’t respond, just curled back up, wrapping himself around the cup of soda. Raine wasn’t offended as she walked out of the room. She refused to feel slighted that he hadn’t told her goodbye. That man, that survivor, had responded to her more today than he ever had.
When she walked out of the room she grinned up at Noah, and he grinned back.
“I consider that a breakthrough,” she told him as they walked down the hallway.
When they got back to the nurse’s station Paul was there, typing something into the computer. He looked up when they drew close and he noted her expression. “What happened?”
Raine grinned. “He talked to me. Twice. And he took a cup of diet-Coke from me. After I tasted it for him.”
Paul’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. “No way.”
Raine nodded. Paul understood how… remote Haven had been since he’d come to their floor.
“Did you medicate him?”
Raine shook her head. “Didn’t have to.”
Paul shook his head, obviously at a loss for words. “Good job, lady.” He looked at Noah. “If Dr. Wilkes doesn’t know it already, Raine is an amazing nurse.”
“Oh, please, Paul,” she hissed, and she knew her skin had to be turning pink. “Noah doesn’t need to hear that.”
Gaze going sharp, Noah leaned his muscular arms on top of the station counter. “Oh, no,” he said, eyeing her deliberately. “Tell me more.”
Raine made sure her expression promised retribution as she walked away, deliberately. If she didn’t she was going to burn up with embarrassment.
Chapter Three
Noah watched the fierce, intuitive little nurse walk away, appreciating her lush female shape. He couldn’t see it as well in dry pants, but it was still really good. And the way she blushed… damn.
He turned back to Paul, the big orderly. “So, go on.”
Paul looked surprised, then a little sly. “She’s a cutie, isn’t she? As far as I know she’s unattached.”
Noah scowled, not sure he wanted the other man to know how interested he was. “I don’t know that we’re…It’s probably not smart since we work together.” He shook his head. “Tell me about her nursing. Are all of the guys on this floor like Haven?”
“That bad? No,” Paul said carefully. “At least not in the same way. Our guys on this floor are not as medically fragile. For the most part they can feed themselves and take care of themselves, but they might have some kind of mental or behavioral issue that they’re struggling with.”
“Okay,” Noah said, encouraging him.
“For the most part none of them knew each other so they all have individual rooms. They can be as self-sufficient as they want to be. We have occupational therapists come in for breakfast and lunch and sometimes the men work with them to cook. If they’re not eating we note it in their chart and give them gentle reminders.” Paul shrugged. “It’s taking them a while to come back to the land of the living, you know?”
Yes, he did know. Maybe that was why he hadn’t been on this floor much, because the men were a little further along in their recovery than those on the other floors. Some of them on the lower floors were still on feeding tubes and ventilators, fighting for their lives. He sat with a couple of those men every day.
“So, what makes her such a great nurse?” Noah asked, honestly curious.
Paul looked at him, brows furrowed. “You know, I thought she was a flake at first with that twang in her voice and the sweetness, but she is one of the most true-hearted, loving women I’ve ever seen in my life. She cares about these men like no one else, like they’re her own brothers. I’m so glad she’s my counterpart. And I don’t say that lightly,” he said, eyeing Noah sharply.
Noah appreciated that the guy was this protective of her. The two of them needed to have one another’s backs. “She hasn’t been here long, though.”
“Nope,” Paul agreed, “but it doesn’t matter. She has clicked like she’s meant to be here. Tomorrow she’s going out on her day off to shop for decorations for the rec room. She was even going to pay for them herself but Dr. Wilkes has promised to pay. Raine wants the best for these men.”
Yes, Noah could feel that too. He spoke with Paul for a few more minutes about inconsequential things before he excused himself.
“She likes to get stuff done early,” Paul called in a whisper-shout as Noah headed toward the elevator.
He paused. “What?”
“She likes to get stuff done early. I know you have one of those big SUVs. Maybe you can meet up and help her out. She wants to get a tree tomorrow but it won’t fit in her car.”
Noah gave him an odd look as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. With a final wave, but no promises, he climbed on.
It would be a very bad idea to go Christmas shopping with Nurse Raine Walters.
* * *
Raine didn’t know what to think when she answered her apartment door early the next morning and found a lazily smiling hot hunk in the hallway. Noah was leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed, looking way too sexy for seven-thirty in the morning.
Raine, who’d been just about to leave, fumbled to a stop, purse and car keys swinging from her hand. “What are you doing here?” she hissed.
Noah’s black brows lifted. “A little birdy told me you would be going shopping this morning and might need a truck. I’m here to volunteer my services.”
She stared at him dumbly for a moment, then her eyes slid down his muscular shape of their own volition. “You’re volunteering to be my grunt?” she asked, incredulous. “And driver?”
His golden eyes twinkled. “Well, I suppose I am.”
“What’s it going to cost me?” she asked suspiciously.
“Breakfast,” he said immediately. “Don’t care where, just soon.”
Laughing, she hoisted
