Page 12 of Prince of Carnage

I give him a look full of sarcasm and sass. "I don't know what you mean. There's nothing under your wristband."

He lifts his hand and pats me on the cheek a few times. "Good girl."

I reach up to pull his hand down, acting disgusted by the movement and his touch. But deep inside, I can't deny the electric currents flying through me. "Don't touch me," I say to him.

"Oo, the doctor's testy," he chuckles as he takes a step back.

I sigh. "Just sit down. Since you're here, I might as well check your wound."

He grumbles but sits down anyways, not on the patient table, but on the doctor's chair. This man may be attractive, but he's highly infuriating. "Can you loosen your shirt?" I ask him.

He gives me a devilish grin and shrugs. "Hurts to move my shoulder. Maybe you can do it for me?"

I can feel my palms begin to sweat, which is weird because I never get nervous when I'm working on patients. I try and undo just a few of his buttons, but the shirt is so tight on his shoulder that it's not enough. He's smirking the entire time as I keep undoing one button at a time, trying to keep him dressed but failing.

By the time my hands have worked all the way down his torso, revealing sculpted and tattooed abs, he's grinning at me. "Now, is that really necessary, Doctor?"

"Shut it," I say to him as I finally get the shirt over his shoulder to reveal the wound. "Where is the gauze I put on top of this?" I ask him.

"It didn't go with my outfit," he says. I give him another death glare.

"Are you serious? You could get it infected."

"Not afraid to die," he says nonchalantly.

"Ugh, you won't die," I retort. "You'll just get gangrene, and your shoulder will start pussing and oozing. The infection will spread, rotting your flesh until the only option is amputation."

"Sounds like a good time," he says, acting as if he's called my bluff.

I grab an antiseptic spray from the drawer and some gauze pads. I spray it on his wound, and he hisses. "You're quite the sadist, Doc," he says as I redress his wound.

"Don't take this off," I bark at him. "I'll text Teddy about how to change the gauze each day. And here," I say, holding out the spray, "take this with you and give it to Teddy."

He doesn't take it. He just looks at me and grins. I grit my teeth and take the small bottle, shoving it into his pocket, which only makes him grin more. "Maybe I should visit the hospital more often if a beautiful woman is going to touch me this much."

"Save it," I say to him, trying to keep my cool. "We're done here."

Chapter Seven

I force myself to take my hands off Constantino, feeling like I've been touching something forbidden. I turn away from him and go to the sink, washing my hands obsessively. It's like his eyes are lasers on my back, drilling holes into me. He's not the sort of guy I should actually turn my back to, to be fair. He feels more like a watch-every-moment sort of man.

I glance over my shoulder to see him slowly buttoning up his shirt, leaving a few more buttons undone compared to when he came in. I'm about to roll my eyes when the door to the room we're in opens up.

We both turn to face the new visitor and my stomach drops. It's Linda Mitchell, the hospital administrator. "Doctor Moretti, a word?" she says to me. I cringe, knowing what this is about. It's obvious that Sam complained about the crash kit.

Constantino steps in front of the woman and addresses her. "Anything you have to say to her you can say in front of me."

Linda scoffs. "That's not really how this works around here," she says.

Constantino stands taller in front of her. "I don't give a damn about how things work in your world. Right now you're addressing the woman who saved my life not 24 hours ago. As I said, anything you need to say to her, you can say in front of me."

I'm about to step in and tell Constantino that it's okay and I'll take my lumps, but something stops me. I actually like the feeling of someone standing up for me. I've never had something like this happen before. Sure, it might put my job in jeopardy, but I'm pretty much already halfway there so, at this point, I might as well enjoy the attention.

The administrator's face turns a shade of red I've never seen before, her eyes narrowing as she tries to hold her ground against Constantino. "Fine," she says through gritted teeth. "It was reported that on your shift yesterday night you came in and stole a crash kit from our supplies. You're being issued a formal reprimand."

Before I can even open my mouth, Constantino barks at the woman, making her flinch. "Bullshit! She grabbed that kit to save my life. Go ahead and rip up that fucking reprimand you're holding."

Linda tries to stare him down, but fails miserably.

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