Page 39 of Deprivation

“Holy crap, Kat,” she hoots into the phone. “Do you think he’s going to be able to help you?”

“Well, he did bring up some shrewd observations I hadn’t considered. I think he’s probably very good at his job. If I could just stop waiting for him to say, ‘Alright, Alright, Alright.’”

“Oh, my God, you crazy woman. You really need to get laid. Have you bumped into dreamy Nick Barnes lately?” she teases, surprising me with the change in direction.

“Ha. Yeah. But I think he’s taken. He seems to be in a serious bromance with your husband,” I chortle. “Besides, I don’t need that arrogant guy in my life. He’d end up like all the rest, wondering why I wasn’t thanking him for giving me the time of day while he was sleeping with every woman in town.”

“Well, he seems like a guy who’s been hurt pretty bad. If he and Jake break up, I think you should at least consider it,” she giggles.

“Yeah, yeah. On that note, I’m heading to bed. I’ll catch you later, Mel.” I hang up the call, lie down in the warm, comfy bed, and grab my EarPods, deciding to let the phone’s shuffle feature choose my song tonight.Ah, Justin… he’s ‘bringing sexy back.’ As I smile and bob my head to the dance number, I wonder if I’ll be able to relax enough to sleep to this song. My toes have already joined the party like we’re on the dance floor of The Zone. I remind myself to relax into the fun lyrics so the sleeping pill can do its job.Do not think about your therapist tonight.

* * *

I feel strong arms pull me in and rock me from side to side. I revel in the sultry beat of the music as we sway. Oh! Those strong hands are gripping my ass now. He grinds my pelvis firmly against his groin, his hard cock pressing into that sweet spot that makes me weak. Suddenly, I feel his warm soft lips biting into my neck, just below my right ear. His tongue sears my skin as it trails down my throat. I always knew Matthew McConaughey would be a sexy kisser. I unexpectedly feel his hands move up to cradle my face, and I notice familiar strong forearms in my direct line of sight.Wait a minute?I glance up to see the recognizable hazel eyes of Nick Barnes.How did he get here?

* * *

The following day at work is a surprisingly uneventful one. There are no empty beds in the hospital, and over a third of the patients in the ER are admitted, just waiting to be moved upstairs. This dramatically reduces the number of available beds to place waiting room patients or ambulances. Administration has placed our hospital on diversion. This means ambulances have to reroute to another facility until the “diversion” order is removed. It’s just too risky to keep taking seriously ill patients from EMS with such limited capacity. The only patients we are seeing are ones who come in through the front door.

“Hey, sunshine,” Marty Street greets as he slides in next to me with his half-eaten slice of pizza.

“Hey, yourself,” I reply. “I don’t know how to handle it when it’s like this. I only have one patient right now. I need to call the surgeon for her but then I’m caught up. I’ve gotten used to how crazy it stays.”

“I know,” he speaks, his mouth full of dough. “The craziest thing that’s happened all day was the girl in the CT scanner.”

“Oh, Lord. What happened?”

“She came in complaining she was having the worst headache of her life after being in a minor rear end collision in the parking lot of a McDonald’s. EMS put a cervical collar on her because she was so dramatic. They didn’t want to take any chances.” He continues to tear into his greasy slice of pepperoni. “According to EMS, she was on the phone fighting with her boyfriend the whole way here. She wouldn’t let up about the headache, so I ordered a CT of her head to be on the safe side.” Having almost finished his food, he looks around as he holds out his greasy hand.

Handing him a tissue, I wave my hand, encouraging him to continue.

“Anyway, she goes over to CT, and the tech brings her back and says, ‘Thanks a lot.’” He mimics, shaking his head. “Apparently, she had her phone in her back pocket while she was having the CT. It rings,” he has to stop talking to laugh, “and this rocket scientist sits up in the middle of her scan to answer her phone so she can keep yelling at her boyfriend!”

“Oh, my God. No way?”

“You just can’t make this shit up.” He wipes his hands again, chuckling. “Oh well, let me go and use my time wisely. I can try and tackle some of my incomplete charts from the last few days. Man, it was a zoo in here yesterday.” He walks away as he usually does, leaving a smile on my face.

Picking up the phone, I attempt to reach the surgical service. “Hi. I need to page the general surgeon on call.” Luckily, the “indigestion” the woman in room twenty was experiencing was not a heart attack. However, it appears she has cholecystitis, or an infection of her gallbladder, and it’ll need to come out.

“Yes, I’ve put the page in for you, Miss Kelly. Dr. Weston should be calling you back shortly,” the kind woman replies.

“Thank you.” Wow. Hard to believe after all of this time I’m now consulting the very surgeon who fought so hard to care for Gran. At least I could reassure my patient she was in great hands. I continue to finish my charting and enter orders to prevent the patient from receiving anything to eat or drink in preparation for surgery when none other than ‘Bringing Sexy Back Barnes’ enters my breezeway.Whew, I really should avoid recalling that imagery while he’s here.

“Good afternoon, Katarina,” he acknowledges, sitting in the chair closest to me.

Hmm. Katarina?“Hello,” I answer guardedly. I watch as he logs onto the computer and begins to type, those forearms reminding me of my naughty rendezvous.Look away, Katarina. Suddenly, the desk phone begins to ring. Oh, good, Dr. Weston is calling quicker than I hoped. As I grasp the phone, I feel Nick’s hand reach out simultaneously, cradling mine. That same jolt from the night in the bar travels from my hand straight to my girl parts. The phone continues to ring, neither of us moving. I slowly look over to him and notice he is staring at our adjoined hands.Does he feel it, too?

Chapter Sixteen

Present Day

Nick

I sit completely transfixed, my hand cradling over Katarina’s like she’s the key to some unanswered question.What the hell is wrong with me? Am I having a stroke?Reality awakens my foggy intellect as the continued chirp of the phone ringing beneath us breaks through.

“Dr. Barnes?” a timid voice beckons.

“Yes. I’m sorry, what?”

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