Page 122 of Toxic Temptation
“I’m safe here.”
Pavel raises an eyebrow. “Are you? You just got manhandled in a brightly lit hallway. Also, this is the same hospital that hosted a literal shootout a few weeks ago, lest that fun little fact slipped your mind.”
“Right.” I cringe. “I forgot about that.”
“You forgot about armed gunmen in your workplace?” Pavel’s laugh is incredulous. “Jesus, you might actually be perfect for Kovan.”
That’s the worst thing he could’ve said to me right now.Perfect for Kovan—as if that’s even a possibility. As if it’s something I’d want.
Yeah, right.
“Please. There’s no woman alive who could make that man happy. Least of all me.” I stop outside the supply room and nod toward the door. “Could you get that, since you’re such a gentleman?”
He pushes it open, and I shove the cart inside. The bare shelves make my stomach clench all over again.
“Son of a bitch,” I mutter.
“Hey, I’m not that bad.”
Despite everything, I almost smile. “For once, I wasn’t talking about you.”
“I know.” Pavel blocks the cart with his body and holds out his hand. “Let me see your wrist before you start stocking.”
“It’s fine.”
“Don’t make me be the bad guy here, Vesper. I genuinely hate playing that role.”
Something in his voice makes me pause. For all his joking around, Pavel Krayev isn’t someone you want to cross. I extend my hand without another word.
He examines my wrist carefully, his expression darkening. “That bastard.”
“It’s just a surface bruise. It’ll fade in a few days.”
“A few days is a long time to hide this from Kovan.”
“Hide it? Why would I hide it?”
Pavel gives me a look like I’ve lost my mind. “Because if he sees this, he’s going to lose his shit. He’ll storm in here and tear Jeremy Fleming apart with his bare hands.”
The image of Kovan charging through the ER to defend my honor is annoyingly hot. Which is ridiculously annoying. I’ve said it again and again: I don’t need a man to fight my battles.
But if that man happened to be Kovan…
“I think you’re overestimating his attachment to me,” I say, pulling my hand back. “He made it clear where I stand. I’m just an employee. He does not care about me.”
“Trust me, Vesper. He’ll care.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.”
I turn away before Pavel can see how much the conversation is affecting me. “If you’re going to hang around, make yourself useful. Those surgical masks go on the left shelf. Stack them neatly.”
“Stocking shelves,” Pavel muses, grabbing handfuls of masks. “Is this what they taught you in medical school? That really took four years, plus residency? You must be a slow learner.”
I ignore his teasing and focus on organizing supplies, but my mind keeps circling back to Jeremy. “He’s doing this on purpose,” I mumble. “He’s trying to make my job impossible so I’ll quit.”
“The asshole with the Draco Malfoy hair?” He purses his lips. “Why not just fire you?”
“He can’t. Not without cause. He’s afraid of the lawsuit and the bad press.” I shake my head. “I don’t understand how he’smanaged to stay in power this long. He’s run this hospital into the ground. Any other board would have ousted him years ago.”
