Page 7 of The Exception

Sonya grinned. “I’ll do my best but it wouldn’t be my fault if he can’t take the heat.”

She could hear Abi chuckling as she left the office and stepped into her new role of mentor. This was going to be a good thing for her, she could feel it. Even though she would’ve liked to have time to read her intern’s file so she could get a sense of what she was taking on, she could handle it.

She rounded the last corner leading to the nurses station, and when she didn’t see anyone looking lost, she was both slightly annoyed and relieved that her new intern was late.

Until she noticed a man she didn’t recognize in dark blue scrubs leaning across the counter talking to Nurse Sullivan. He was tall with a head full of dark blond hair and a back so sculpted that even his scrubs couldn’t hide the muscles.

She blinked a few times to stop her eyes from traveling the rest of the way down his body but she had to admit that it was a nice view. From the way Heather was beaming up at him from behind the desk and flipping her hair around, the front view must’ve been just as good.

All the more reason to pick up her pace. Someone needed to stop Heather from turning the ward into aGrey’s Anatomyepisode. If this guy was her new intern, she’d have to lay down the law about keeping extracurricular activities off the clock. Most of the hospital hookups she’d seen had ended badly, and the ones that didn’t were the result of a perfectly timed transfer. None of it was worth the additional stress in an already stressful job.

She’d almost reached them when Heather’s eyes went wide before pointing over the counter at her. He raised one of his toned arms, running a hand through his deliberately messy hair as he turned around.

Sonya skidded to a stop as her world was upended for the second time in less than a week when she locked eyes with the man she’d hoped she’d never see again.

She could tell by the way his eyes narrowed just before his cocky grin tumbled off his face, he felt the exact same way.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

Five

No fucking way.If it wasn’t for making it home in one piece after three tours in Afghanistan, Trav would have marked this moment down as hard proof that he must be the most unlucky son of a bitch on earth.

The nurse from the plane glared at him, arms crossed and a look of pure hatred on her face. Flashbacks from boot camp had his spine straight and his hand twitching to salute, though he had the distinct impression he’d take a drill instructor over Nurse Ratched as his preceptor any day.

Most annoying out of the entire experience—while his gut twisted in indignation, he’d already noted that the dress she had on gave him another view of those legs.

Just as nice as I remembered.

“I guess we can add your name to the list of lies that have come out of your mouth?” she asked.

His gaze jerked back to her angry face. “What’s that mean?”

She looked at a file folder, then back at him. “You told me your name was Trav when you were pretending to be a doc—Hey!”

He hooked his arm through hers and tugged her around the corner, waving sheepishly at the nurse at the front desk. The last thing he needed was that story floating around the hospital. Especiallythishospital. “Can we keep it down?Please?”

“I will not! You know, I wondered why you went by Dr. Travis, but it worked for Dr. Phil, so I let it go.” She yanked her arm free and shook it like he’d given her cooties. “If you think I’m going to sit here and pretend that you haven’t already established a reputation for dishonesty, you can forget it…” She looked down at the file in her hand. “Ben.”

“Hold on. Just…wait.My name is Ben Travis. Everyone calls me Trav. I didn’t lie about my name, so can you please just calm down?”

Her eyes narrowed even more. He was beginning to wonder if she could even see him. “Well, either way, this is obviously not going to work. I’ll call the ED myself. You can’t work here.”

“The hell I can’t.” He paused and pinched his nose bridge. “Look, nurse…”

“Pope. Sonya Pope PMHNP.”

Okay, that was impressive. Of course she would have an alphabet of qualifications to her name. “Look, Nurse Pope, I need this internship to finish my degree by summer. If I have to wait for the ED to take me, I’ll miss my chance to make the city’s next hiring. I need a job. Now.”

“Absolutelynoneof that is my problem.” She turned on her red high heel—hot—and started marching back to the desk.

“Wait.”

“What?” Her voice was oddly high-pitched. This was obviously an emotional response, though he had no idea why. From the quick interaction they’d had so far, he hadn’t pegged her as the type to get flustered. Either way, he wasn’t going to out negotiate her.

Time for a new tactic.

He pasted on his sweetest smile, the one that made his dimples pop. “You and I got off on the wrong foot and I apologize for that, but this is my career we’re talking about. At the risk of sounding unprofessional, you’ve got me by the balls here and we both know I deserve it. So what do you say? Here’s your chance to make my life miserable three days a week. Karma’s a bitch, right?”

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