by Ashlyn Kane
“Looks like the doctors think that could be as soon as tomorrow.” Leo checked her monitors, temperature, pulse. “Pain still bad, I’m guessing.”
Susan’s flat stare spoke volumes.
He wondered if Cole had anything for that. “Adult tonsillectomies suck, I know.”
“At least I can be here now,” Dolly said, a bit misty-eyed. “If this had happened when we were younger… well, I doubt we could have sneaked under her mother’s radar back then. Not if I was at the hospital all day and night.”
Work, Susan reminded her, but her eyes were soft.
“It must have been hard for you both.”
“Well, it wasn’t easy.” Dolly turned a soft, affectionate gaze on Susan. “But it was easier than being apart.”
Leo’s heart gave a definite pang as he made his notes. When he looked up again, Susan and Dolly were still staring at each other, still holding hands. Still so obviously in love. Leo had never dated anyone he’d want to visit him every day while he recovered from a tonsillectomy. “You’re lucky to have each other.”
Susan squeezed Dolly’s hand and nodded.
“What about you, Leo?” Dolly asked. “You’re a handsome fella. You must have someone waiting for you to come home tonight.”
I hope so, Leo thought. Until Cole broke the curse, though, Leo wouldn’t know for sure. “It’s complicated.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Dolly shook her head. “Life’s too short for that.”
Tell me about it. He finished his notes and set the chart down. “Everything’s looking good. Any concerns?”
“Just how I’m going to stay awake on the drive home.”
Well, that Leo could help with, at least. “Come with me and I’ll get you a shot of caffeine sludge.” He needed to go back to the nurses’ station anyway.
When he got back to the station, Jimmy was nowhere to be found. Leo poured Dolly a paper cup of industrial-strength coffee.
“You’re a lifesaver,” Dolly proclaimed, cradling the cup. Then she smiled impishly. “Probably literally too, in your line of work. You have a quiet evening, you hear? You deserve it.”
Leo repressed a horrified shudder. That had to be some kind of jinx. “Looking that way,” he said as cheerfully as he could, and sent her on her way. The industrial lighting flickered over her head as she stabbed the button to call the elevator.
For a second Leo thought he saw something, a shadow in the stairwell at the end of the hallway.
But it must have just been a trick of the light. One of those night shift quirks. Leo put it out of his mind and went back to work. Less than an hour to go on his shift. Where the hell was Jimmy?
By now most of the patients were asleep. Leo checked the monitors, made his notations, and exchanged tired glances with Deborah, the orderly. “You see Jimmy anywhere?”
She shook her head. “Haven’t seen him in an hour, maybe. Check the bathroom? That takeout he had in the fridge smelled questionable.”
Ugh. Leo winced. “I’ll check the bathroom.” He hoped he wouldn’t have to get Jimmy admitted. He’d never go home on time.
Back to Cole’s on time, rather.
But the bathroom was empty, so that was a bust. Well, if Jimmy wanted to risk his job, that was his prerogative. The next shift was starting to come in, so Leo didn’t feel at all guilty finishing his paperwork and preparing to leave.
Downstairs in the locker room, he grabbed a towel from the stack and opened his locker to get his flip-flops for a shower. He didn’t want to wake Cole when he got home, and if he didn’t shower before bed, he’d wake up smelling like hospital. He left his clean clothes in a pile on the bench, tossed his scrubs into the laundry bag, and toed on his shower shoes. Yawning, he hung his towel around his neck and stepped into the shower room. Steam already filled the room—Leo had never known this place to run out of hot water—and he breathed deeply, feeling the tension begin to release from his shoulders.
At least, until he saw the feet.
They were clothed, wearing the sort of comfortable, functional sneaker nurses preferred. Swallowing, Leo took a step closer. Scrub bottoms—had Jimmy been wearing blue? Leo couldn’t remember. These were soaked through with warm water.
Leo pulled the towel from his neck and tucked it around his waist. He didn’t think he wanted to be naked for whatever happened next.
Jimmy slumped against the wall under the spray of the water, his skin pink from the heat, except for his cheeks, which were pale. He was clothed, and his eyes were open, but he didn’t answer right away when Leo called his name.
“Jimmy,” Leo repeated, and finally Jimmy turned to look at him, blinking slowly.
Jesus.
“Come on,” Leo said, reaching down. “Let’s get you off the floor.”
“I….” Jimmy looked down at his hands as though perplexed.
Leo followed his gaze. What the hell? “Jimmy, you decide to shower with two hundred bucks?”
He seemed to come back to himself. “That’s my money. I found it.”
“Uh-huh,” Leo said. “You can keep it, come on. Get up.”
He helped Jimmy back to the locker-room bench and grabbed him a towel. “I just couldn’t get warm, you know?” Jimmy said as Leo wrapped him up. “I thought the hot water would help.”
“Smart,” Leo said, because hey, he’d been treating himself for shock. All that nursing training paid off. Sort of. “What made you so cold in the first place?”
Leo had his suspicions. And when he saw the two neat puncture wounds on the side of Jimmy’s neck—no longer bleeding, because Roman, or whoever had bitten him, wasn’t a complete asshole—that cemented it.
“Don’t remember,” Jimmy said, wiping water from his face. “Someone came to the nurses’ station and we were talking. And then I couldn’t get warm, so I came down here.”
A vampire bite after what Leo reckoned as ten straight twelve-hour days. No wonder Jimmy had reacted poorly, especially if he hadn’t known to eat and drink after. “I’m gonna go grab you a Gatorade.” He hastily put his scrub pants back on. “Hang tight, okay?”
It took just a few minutes to get the Gatorade, and another five to get Jimmy to drink it while Leo monitored his vitals as surreptitiously as one could do to another nurse. Then Leo took the world’s fastest shower and scrambled into his home clothes. “Hey, Jimmy. Can I drop you at home? I don’t think you should be driving right now.”
Jimmy nodded.
Getting organized to leave the hospital took longer than Leo would have liked, mostly on account of how slowly Jimmy moved getting into his dry clothes. Leo stopped at the McDonald’s drive-through on the way to his place and ordered him a couple of cheeseburgers, which Jimmy inhaled as though he’d been fasting for a week. And then he got Jimmy inside, checked his vitals again, and recommended he call in sick tomorrow.
“’M off tomorrow,” Jimmy murmured, so small mercies.
Leo let himself out of Jimmy’s rented bungalow and stood on the concrete steps in the autumn chill, looking up at the moon. A hazy circle surrounded it. Leo’s mom had once said that was a bad omen. He wondered if she knew she was right.
Roman had liked to go for walks with Leo after he got off shift. Leo couldn’t see much outside the halo of a streetlamp, but Roman never had any trouble peering into the darkness—he’d navigated them around skunks and deer and, once, a coyote. And who knew how many other creatures of the night whose secrets he’d kept.
If Roman was watching now, Leo couldn’t tell. But he wouldn’t be cowed. “So you’re stooping so low you’re buying meals from exhausted nurses,” he said, shoving his hand into his pocket. It closed around a lemon fizzy. “Maybe make sure it’s not one who’s been skipping meals and picking up extra shifts next time. You could’ve really hurt him.”
Not the way he hurt Leo, though.
“And don’t follow me, or I’ll sic my witch on you,” Leo added as he opened his car door. There. That should take care of it.
Unless, of course, the vampire who’d bitten Jimmy wasn’t Roman at all. But he didn’t think of that until he was snug on Cole’s couch, Niamh trilling softly on her perch next to him, and as exhausted as he was, the thought didn’t keep him awake.
“YOU were late last night.”
Leo turned over on the couch and fell onto the floor.
Very late, apparently, Cole thought, taking the coffee out of the cupboard. He hadn’t meant to wake him. “Sorry. Thought you were awake. Well, awake-er.”
“S’okay.” Leo sat up, shirtless—damn him—and with his hair in total disarray. It had grown enough now that it almost flopped into his eyes without product to keep it in place. “Didn’t mean to wake you up when I got in. Weird night.” He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. “Time’s it?”
“Noon. Danielle’s opening for me today. Everything all right?”
“Not really.”
Cole paused in scooping out the coffee beans and turned to the living room. Leo had discarded the blanket and was standing in Cole’s living room in his boxers, showing off his broad shoulders and defined chest. A fine trail of golden-blond hair led to things Cole couldn’t afford to think about. And with bedhead and pillow creases on his face, Leo looked deliciously like he’d just rolled out of Cole’s bed instead of off his couch.
“What happened?” Cole finally managed to convince his brain to say.
“Roman happened.”
Cole’s blood froze. “What? He came after you at work?”
Leo shook his head, padding into the kitchen. Cole didn’t know that there was room enough for both of them when Leo was dressed like that. Undressed like that. “Not for me. At least, I didn’t see him. But someone bit my coworker. I found him in the shower after my shift, trying to get warm.”
“Oh hell. What does he want?” Wasn’t the curse enough revenge?
Unless Roman wasn’t responsible for the curse at all. But then why—
“Blood, apparently.” Leo lifted a shoulder and every single muscle in his body moved at one time, each clamoring for Cole’s undivided attention. “He told me once hospitals were good places to grab a meal. Most of the staff aren’t squeamish about blood. But Jimmy’d worked ten in a row and had a bad reaction.”
“He was lucky he had you.”
“Maybe. Or maybe, if it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have been bitten at all.”
Cole crossed his arms, about to take Leo to task for assigning himself blame he had no business taking, but then Leo continued.
“Then again, it’s entirely possible he went into the whole thing with his eyes wide open. He did get two hundred bucks for his trouble.”
Cole whistled. “Your ex must be flush.”
With a shake of his head, Leo deadpanned, “Nah, he’s about as pale as you’d imagine.”
They exchanged grins over that, and their eyes met and held until Cole’s whole body went pleasantly warm. But then it went on a beat too long, and he remembered he had a task here. “Coffee?”
Only he forgot to break eye contact, so he was still staring into Leo’s fathomless baby blues when Leo said, “Please.”
Cole’s brain went to the bad place. He swallowed, paralyzed. Maybe he should avoid the kitchen if this kept happening. He was only human. One of these days he’d give in and….
And he didn’t know what would happen then, so he turned and picked up the coffee beans. Grinding them gave him an excuse to turn his whole body away from Leo and get his heart rate under control.
Without the proximity of Leo’s chest to distract him, reality came crashing back. “Is it safe for you to go to work? Maybe you should take a leave of absence.”
Cole was reaching for the canister of the coffee grinder when something brushed against his arm. He looked over… and immediately regretted it. Because Leo was leaning back against the counter, stretching his lean, muscular body as though he were about to jump up and sit on the counter. The pose pulled his boxers tight across his front, almost as though he were inviting Cole to look.
Cole filled the canister and set it back on the grinder perhaps a little harder than necessary.
“Can’t,” Leo said. “The hospital’s understaffed as it is. That’s part of why I moved here. They need me. There’s a reason Jimmy could pick up work ten days in a row.”
Damn. Cole gritted his teeth and hit the button on the grinder to give himself a chance to think of something else. “Maybe Danielle can work some extra shifts this week. I could come with you.”
“That would almost definitely violate hospital policy and my patients’ privacy.” Leo raised both arms over his head and went up on his tiptoes to stretch. A wave of warm air carrying hints of soap and sweat and skin wafted under Cole’s nose. “But I appreciate the offer.”
You’re killing me, Cole thought. It took two tries to get the coffee canister off the grinder. He did better scooping the coffee into the french press, at least. How was he supposed to keep Leo safe without his cooperation?
“Anyway, Niamh already offered.”
Cole corrected carefully before he could accidentally pour boiling water all over the counter. “She did?” he asked as he set the timer on the microwave.
“Night before last.” Leo turned and stretched on his tiptoes to take some mugs from the cupboard—unnecessary; he was taller than Cole. And had better musculature in his back and ass. “I turned her down, but I might take her up on it after all.” His arm brushed Cole’s again as he set the mugs on the counter.
This time Cole couldn’t make himself move away.
Would it be so bad? To find out once and for all if Leo was just pushing him, testing the boundaries of the curse, just horny, or if he might…? All Cole had to do was try to kiss him.
Try to kiss him, and hope the universe let him have just this one thing.
“Yeah, that’s… not a bad idea.” Cole gathered his strength and looked over. If he’d been winding Cole up on purpose, Leo gave nothing away now. “And you know you can always call me whenever if you need, like. Advice. Or a daring rescue.”
Leo smiled. “Yeah, Cole. I know.”
Cole’s heart thundered. He was going to do it. His eyes locked with Leo’s for a split second, and then Leo dropped his gaze to Cole’s mouth, and Cole wasn’t going to get a clearer signal than that. He licked his lips and took a breath—
Beep, beep, beep.
His coffee spoon would have made an unsatisfying projectile. Cole doubted it weighed enough to break the window, for example. So he set it on the counter and pushed down the plunger in the french press instead, using firm, steady pressure to strangle the caffeine out of the macerated beans.
Then, calmly, he poured two mugs of coffee, carefully keeping his eyes on his task. “Here,” he said quietly, sliding the mug toward Leo without looking up.
For a second Leo didn’t move, and Cole thought maybe he’d offended him, but then he took the mug. “Thanks,” he said back, no louder than Cole.
It sounded like it hurt.
Chapter Fifteen
FRIDAY afternoon Cole left Leo to his own devices to make his standing date at Gran’s. But instead of turning right out of his driveway, the most direct route, he found himself turning left, then left again. A minute later he parked opposite Peaseblossom and locked the car. He waved at Andre through the window of Caffeine and then jogged across the street.
Avery was standing on a ladder, retrieving some aluminum pots from a shelf above the register, when Cole walked in. “Cole,” he said cheerfully, handing the pots down. “Do me a favor and take these?”
Cole grabbed them and set them on the counter while Avery climbed down.
“Thanks. Hey, how’s your mundane? Did you find out who sent that vase?”
“Not yet.” Cole glanced into the refrigerator. No daffodils this time, but he’d make it work. “But I will. I’m actually here as a paying customer.”
“Oooh.” Avery slung his leg over the barstool behind the counter and leaned
forward, chin propped on his hands. “You gonna make an honest man of him?” he asked, fluttering his eyelashes.
Cole’s ears burned with guilt. He should bring Leo flowers. He wondered if he could, if the curse would let him. He could probably pick up a bouquet and bring it home, anyway.
But he hadn’t come here for that.
“I….”
Avery wrinkled his nose. “Read that wrong, huh?”
“No,” Cole said. “Not exactly. Just… not yet. I want to get some flowers for my grandmother, actually.”
“Well. You’ve come to the right place. Anything in particular?” Avery got off the stool and stood next to the refrigerator.
Cole looked at the flowers, considering. “Are those anemones?”
Avery gave him a sharp look. “Yeah.”
“I’ll take some of those,” Cole said decisively. “And the white chrysanthemums.”
Avery nodded and took out the flowers and a bucket of greenery to start an arrangement. “You want a couple of peonies in here too?” he asked, voice carefully neutral.
“That sounds nice,” Cole agreed, confirming nothing.
A moment later Avery finished the arrangement, but the anemones drooped a little. Avery frowned at them. “Sorry, they’re almost at the end of their life. Would’ve had to chuck them if they didn’t go today. Here, just let me….” He caressed the stems and the flowers straightened, the blossoms tightening almost imperceptibly. He smiled. “It won’t last, of course, so those are still half off.”
Cole paid him and got back into the car.
Gran was waiting for him on the porch when he arrived, Gran was waiting for him on the porch, sitting in the swing and sipping from a mug of herbal tea. Cole trotted up the steps, bouquet in one hand, gumdrops in the other. “Gran,” he said warmly, leaning down to peck her on the cheek. “I know, I know. I’m later than usual. But I brought you flowers!”
“Cole! They’re lovely.” Gran accepted the bouquet with a smile, but Cole watched carefully, and he saw the flash of recognition she tried to mask. “Let me go get a vase.”
