Nash (Marked Men #4)(28)

“Stop it. You’re being too hard on yourself.”

“Maybe. Hey, I’ll see you this weekend, okay?”

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

I wasn’t, but that wasn’t her problem. Suddenly the idea of being alone on Christmas, the thought of sitting in my apartment sad and depressed, overran my usual hesitancy and sense of self-preservation. I was headed back to Denver with a plan, and I wasn’t going to back out of it. Now I just needed to get back to the city in one piece because the driving conditions were terrible and the things running around my head had my concentration all over the place when it should be firmly on the road.

Traffic was moving at a snail’s pace even with the snowplows out, and it seemed like there was an accident or car out of control every half mile. It took me almost three and a half hours to get back to the city and then another half an hour to get to the hospital because rush-hour traffic was at a standstill. When I finally reached the giant building on the cusp of downtown, I parked and ran inside. I felt kind of breathless, a little out of control, and I had to say it was exhilarating.

I hoped no one would notice that I was there on my day off, or notice that I was operating on a heady mix of panic and adrenaline. Of course I wasn’t that lucky. Sunny was walking right across the entrance to the ER and stopped short when she saw me.

“Aren’t you off today?”

I shrugged and shifted uneasily. I was a woman on a mission and didn’t have time to stop and chitchat. I was worried that if I waited, all my nervous energy would fade and I would rationalize my way out of doing what I was about to do.

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing here? Didn’t I just tell you that you needed to get a life outside of this place? You’re going to run yourself into the ground, Saint. I know you had a difficult time with that case yesterday, but you have to leave that here and not take it home with you.”

I gave her a wan smile and tucked some of my long hair back behind my ears. When it was loose it curled and twisted all over the place and tended to be uncontrollable, so I just let it do whatever.

“I’m actually here looking for someone.”

She lifted a black eyebrow at me and shifted the paperwork she had in her hands.

“Dr. Bennet? He was talking about you again this week.”

I was opening my mouth to tell her no when the person I was actually looking for came strolling through the door. He had that black wool hat on and dark pea coat over his always-present hoodie. His eyes flickered over me and he gave me a grin. There was just something about him that was so magnetic. He always seemed to be the only thing I could focus on when we were in the same room, and it wasn’t just because he was so big and interesting to look at … it was something polarizing that came from deep inside of him.

“Hey.”

Sunny made a noise in her throat and looked between me and Nash with big eyes.

I didn’t give him a greeting back, didn’t introduce the two of them, I just blurted out, “Yes, I’ll go with you!” In a rush like the words couldn’t get off my tongue fast enough.

I sounded like an idiot and I could feel a scalding blush burn up my neck and flood into my face. He lifted his dark eyebrows up but didn’t say anything, or ask any questions that would have made me feel more awkward. He just dug his wallet out of his back pocket and handed me a business card. It was covered with bright ink and looked like the graffiti that covered the sides of trains and buildings in town. It was far more interesting and visually captivating than any other business card I had ever seen. It had his name on the front and the name of a tattoo shop. Of course he was a tattoo artist. What other job could he have that let him have yellow and orange flames inked on his scalp? It fit.

“The shop number is the one on the top. My cell is the bottom. Just hit me up and we’ll figure it out as we go. They’re getting married at the clock tower downtown on Arapahoe. I’m glad, Saint, really glad you decided to go with me.”

He didn’t draw it out, didn’t make me scramble for an explanation or ask why I sounded like a crazy person with the way I accepted. He just gave me a little wink and continued on his way to the elevator. I watched him walk away and curled my hand around the card like it was a lifeline.

Sunny gave me a wide-eyed look and cocked her head to the side.

“So you have a handsome, successful doctor interested in taking you out and you are actively avoiding accepting his invitations out, but a guy that looks like a miscreant comes strolling in and you practically jump out of your skin in your eagerness to go out with him. Wanna explain that to me, Saint?”

I couldn’t explain it to her. The desire to not be alone on Christmas outweighed any reservations I had about spending time with Nash. Plus she was my boss; I didn’t think it was appropriate to tell her that kissing Nash made my brain turn to mush and being close to him melted the typically frozen barriers I had in place when it came to interacting with the opposite sex.

“He’s a tattoo artist not a miscreant. We went to high school together. Plus he doesn’t make me nervous and anxious the way Dr. Bennet does.” Oh no, Nash made me nervous and anxious in an entirely different way that had all my bits and pieces reminding me I was a girl and he was a boy.

She clicked her tongue at me. “I think it has more to do with the type of guy you think you can get. It ties back into that whole you not being Bennet’s type. Well, you are his type and so much more than you give yourself credit for. You don’t have to settle for a guy with a ring through his nose.”