Big White Lie (Storm's Soldiers MC) Read Online Free Page B

took another minute for me to realize what I’d been feeling.
    And then I remembered what I was thinking, harder and deeper than before.
    What the hell are you doing, Calix?
     

CHAPTER THREE
    Rosa
    I’d never gotten butterflies coming into work before. Stomach aches and ulcers, yes. In fact, I had a bit of that when I caught Lem giving me a smarmy smile from across the nurse’s station.
    But as my rounds edged me closer and closer to the last room on the west wing, my breath started to stall out altogether. I read the vitals for the last few patients on full auto-pilot, while my brain prepared for another sight of that rugged face.
    He was still here. I knew that. I’d checked the patient logs the moment I’d got in.
    In fact, I’d checked up on a lot more about him. The police had handed off a report deeming him not a threat. He was a soldier based in south Atlanta. I’d figured from what he showed up wearing, but the fact he was still active duty was new.
    It meant that, maybe, for the first time, it wasn’t so nuts to fall for a man I liked. He wasn’t some lost cause - just a good guy who’d had an accident.
    Today, I’d get to find out why. I didn’t imagine I’d get an awful lot. He didn’t talk so much as rustle his lips once in a while. Still, I didn’t mind watching him and waiting. Those deep pulses of his voice were something else. Every word rumbled down my spine like thunder.
    I paused outside his room to primp my hair and smooth my frock. It was useless - I might as well have tried to make overalls look sexy. But the insane often did things that make no sense, and I always got a little bit nuts when I met a man I liked.
    Lilly chose that effing second to pass by me in the halls. She stopped and squinted at me from the other side of the door.
    “What are you doing?” she asked. “Was one of your patients traumatized by a slightly disheveled woman?”
    “I just had a really tough round,” I said. “Calming myself down.”
    “I saw the rooms you got. Half of them are just flu cases.”
    She started thumbing through the patient sheets by the door.
    “Stop that,” I said, completely regretting booking every shift together with this girl.
    “I’m guessing it’s not seventy two year old Lee Rimes that’s got you so hot and bothered. Which leaves Mr. Six foot three Calix Black.”
    Even through her high, annoying voice, the name sent shivers down me.
    The curtains rustled inside the room. I remembered that air did little to nothing to block sound.
    “Ok,” I hissed. “I’ve got a cute patient. Happy?”
    “Cute patient with a bullet wound…” Her eyes tightened as she read the report.
    “He’s an active duty soldier,” I whispered.
    “A clumsy one.”
    Somehow that idea had never entered my brain. Calix, clumsy? I could only remember the stiff purposeful way he’d walked into ER. Even with a bullet in his leg, he moved in a solid way. The police had reported his injury as non-criminal in nature. But maybe there was more to it than that.
    “Accidents happen to everyone,” I said.
    “Hmm. Well, lucky for you then.” She cupped her mouth and yelled, “He’s certainly your type.”
    I grabbed her by the shoulder and hurried her down the hall a couple feet, before setting foot in the room.
    My heart pounded and my stomach felt like a brick. So much for being composed.
    I clipped over to check on Mr. Rimes first. He was a sweet, black gentleman that kind of reminded me of my dad, though they looked nothing alike. His TV was tuned to some game show, and he had a big dopey grin on his face. Seeing that loosened me up a bit.
    I shut my brain off, turned and crossed the curtain to Calix’s side.
    He’d been peering high out the window, like he was trying to see over the buildings. He lay with his hands clasped, looking serene and powerful like a cliff wall. His blue patient gown looked way out of place. He would be better off naked. Or maybe that was just me.
    I knew he had noted