Loving Him (Him Series Book 1)

Seven

Kyle never called.

A week later I was still feeling the sting of rejection. To my credit, I realized the foolishness of my feelings. He was healing from a serious injury, and his health took priority over socializing.

I pretended it didn't hurt as much as it did, but Katie knew. She coerced Izabelle into setting me up on a date without my knowledge with a pediatric surgeon named Stephen Hotchkiss.

My best friend and I had a heated exchange about that. She's lucky I love her to pieces.

Katie's reaction when she heard about the date with Stephen was comical. She hadn't known at the time he was who Izabelle set me up with.

"You're going out with Dr. Hot Kiss?"

Dr. Hot Kiss was what most of the women at the hospital called Stephen, and Izabelle had talked about him enough that Katie was familiar with the name, not that it was one anyone could easily forget.

"No. Stop looking at me like that." I inhaled a breath of determination. "I'm not out with anyone. If I want a date, I'll find one on my own. You go out with him." I was calm but firm.

"Izabelle says he's into you. Give the poor guy a chance."

"Izabelle can introduce you. You give him a chance." I threw her words back at her.

She tossed me the puppy dog look. I steeled myself against it, but in the end I agreed to one date. Still, I wasn't happy about it.

Since the day already had a rough start I wasn't expecting it to take a nosedive minutes after I arrived at work.

Seeing the printed name on my patient list, I snapped to attention. Blinking, I looked again but it hadn't been my imagination. Kyle Huxley.

Kyle. Huxley. He was my new patient. I sighed, leaning back into my office chair. I considered switching with one of the other nurses, but everyone was busy, and swapping another patient for Kyle would only disrupt recovery.

Flipping through his paperwork, I read it carefully. I didn't recognize his address and I wondered if he was staying with Ava. It would make it easier to squash any remaining feelings for him if that was the case.

"Hey, Lucy. Heard your new patient is a babe. Sandy went out to see him this morning and can't stop talking about him."

I looked up at my friend and co-worker, Samantha, and smiled.

"He's a military man. Sandy says he could easily land a job posing for a girlie magazine."

I jumped and coffee sloshed over the edge of my mug and onto my scrubs. I reached for some napkins on my desk.

"If he's as hot as she says, maybe I'll have to go with you to visit him one day," Samantha suggested eagerly.

"You're married," Sandy said, popping her head into my cubicle. "Even with that Ilizarov on his leg, he's a fine man."

"I know," I whispered miserably.

"You've already been out to his place today?"

I shook my head, still blotting coffee off my scrubs. "I went to high school with him."

"Think he'll remember you?" Samantha asked, curiously.

"I'm sure he will. His sister is one of my best friends."

"Lucky you. You should ask your friend to set you up with her brother or let your fabulous friend have him." She struck a pose, one hand on her head and the other propped on her hip.

"Hey, I saw him first girlfriend," Sandy laughed. "I'll fight you for him. We could get on one of those crazy daytime talk shows. I can see the headline Nurses Gone Wild!"