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  He nods and starts to walk away. I can’t help but watch him go, and I feel a little delighted flutter when I see him give me an extra glance over his shoulder before he disappears into Eli’s room.

  I hug Dixie as soon as she’s within arm’s reach. “He’s okay.”

  “He was knocked out!” she explains in a strained voice. “As in completely unconscious!”

  “He was alert and talkative when they brought him in,” I reply and give her another squeeze. “We’ll do tests.”

  “Do all the tests. Whatever it takes to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion or a brain bleed or an aneurysm or—” Dixie replies and pulls back from me.

  “You need to stop watching medical dramas, Dix,” I tell her softly. “We will do all the tests. MRIs, blood work, x-rays, hell, we’ll even check his cholesterol if you want.”

  She almost smiles at that, but the look in her light blue eyes is still filled with worry. “I need to see him.”

  “Of course.” I keep my arm wrapped around her waist as I guide her toward the hall leading to the rooms. “His new goalie coach came in with him. He’s kind of delicious.”

  Dixie’s eyebrows rise. “Really? He must be downright stunning if you’re able to see it.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask as we turn the corner and make our way to Eli’s room.

  “You haven’t noticed a guy in years,” Dixie replies. “I was beginning to think your libido had died an early death or something.”

  “Oh, come on, it’s not that big a deal,” I reply a little defensively. “I just haven’t exactly been getting out and meeting people.”

  “You work in a huge hospital. I’m sure there are hot doctors here,” Dixie retorts. “Like at least one McDreamy or McSteamy.”

  “Again, lay off the medical dramas,” I snap back. I usher her into the room. Her eyes land on Eli, and any thoughts about my lack of a love life are forgotten. She rushes to his bedside, and tears tumble from her eyes.

  “I’m okay,” Eli promises, reaching up and caressing the side of her face. “I swear, this is just protocol.”

  “You weren’t moving at all,” she counters softly.

  “I was napping,” Eli jokes and winks. “You kept me up too late last night.”

  “Okay, you two…” I interrupt and glance at Griffin, who is in the corner of the room looking amused. “I’d bet money you have a concussion, but the doctor will be able to tell us the degree of severity. I’ll call Dr. Luongo in neuro for a consult.”

  “Thanks, Sadie,” Eli says.

  “Yes, thank you,” Griffin adds, and Dixie looks up and sees him there for the first time. Her eyes do a quick sweep, and then her head immediately swivels to me and widen in approval, as if to say You’re right. He’s hot. It’s about as smooth as a cactus. I’m mortified by her obviousness.

  “Dixie, this is Griffin Sullivan, Eli’s goalie coach,” I say.

  “Hi. I’ve seen you around, but we haven’t officially met. Eli has said a lot of positive things about you,” Dixie explains and walks around the bed to shake his hand. “I’m Dixie Braddock.”

  Griffin shakes her hand, but his eyes dart to me quickly as he adds, “Braddock? Like Jude Braddock?”

  His deliciously dark eyes find mine again, and I shrug. “Yep. The Thunder’s little superstar is lucky enough to call us his sisters.”

  Griffin laughs again. “And the plot thickens.”

  There’s a vibe between us so strong it’s electric. At least it feels that way…But maybe it’s only wishful thinking. Man, he is seriously handsome. And charismatic. And sexy. I love the easy smile parting his lips and the warm glow in his eyes, the five o’clock shadow shading his strong, angular jawline, the way he is filling out that suit…

  “So the tests?” Dixie’s voice pulls me away from the list I’m making. “All of them? Now.”

  I blink, trying to ground myself in reality again, and nod. “I’m on it. I’ll send Shelda in to get his vitals while I call for the consult.”

  I turn and leave the room. Shelda is walking toward me. “I heard your sister’s boyfriend is here?”

  Of course she heard already. Shelda is that little birdie that flutters around the hospital hearing and seeing everything. She’s not a gossip or busybody, by any means; she’s just been working here since she was sixteen, first as a candy striper and now as a nurse, and everyone knows her, loves her, and talks to her about everything. She’s my favorite head nurse in this place and a dream to work under.

  “I hope that handsome devil isn’t too banged up,” Shelda adds, and I smile.

  “He’s probably got a concussion. I’m going to call for a consult. Can you go in and take his vitals?” Shelda nods. “Oh, and if Dixie gets too…Dixie-ish, feel free to kick her out. She’s a bit of a bossy control freak in a crisis.”

  Shelda lets out a breezy laugh. “No worries, sugar. I can handle overbearing girlfriends and wives in my sleep.”

  She pats my shoulder as she passes by on her way to the room.

  I head to the desk and call for a consult, mentioning it’s also a personal favor if they can get here as soon as possible because it’s a family member. Dr. Luongo shows up less than five minutes later. He’s one of the first doctors I met here, and he’s one of my favorites. Tall, lanky, with curly salt-and-pepper hair, a friendly smile, and a quick wit.

  “Hey, Sadie, is it your dad?” he asks, concern flooding his deep voice.

  “No. My sister’s boyfriend,” I reply. “He’s the goalie for the Thunder and he got knocked out during the game.”

  “Ah,” Dr. Luongo sighs. “That definitely sounds like a concussion, but let’s see how bad it is. Room?”

  “Four.” I point and force myself not to follow. Although Eli’s not technically family, he’s close enough that I wouldn’t be considered unbiased so I shouldn’t get involved in his case. I’ll let Shelda handle it.

  I walk down the hall to check on the elderly patient in room two. He’s asleep and his vitals are stable, his IV full. As I make my way out of his room, Griffin is standing in the hall outside Eli’s room, his cell phone to his ear. I can’t hear what he’s saying, but he looks pissed. His jaw is clenched, and his brow is pinched. Still gorgeous, though. I bite my bottom lip to keep myself from laughing at my reaction. Seriously, it’s like I’ve never seen a hot guy before.

  He glances up and sees me, and I quickly wipe the smile off my face and head around the corner to the front desk. Hopefully I didn’t look like a weird stalker or something, just standing there staring at him. A second later, he’s standing on the other side of the desk.

  “The doctor’s been in there a while,” he says to me, clearly concerned.

  “Don’t worry, he’s probably being extra cautious because I told him Eli was family,” I explain and smirk. “Or else my little sister is asking him a million questions and demanding a million unnecessary tests. It’s probably a combination of both.”

  He laughs. “I think it’s sweet that she’s so…”

  “High-strung? Dramatic? Intense?”

  He grins at me, clearly delighted by my adjectives, and I swear the room gets brighter. And I get warmer. “I was going to say in love,” he says. “She loves him very much to be that concerned and it’s beautiful. Eli’s a lucky man.”

  “Huh…a sensitive, insightful hockey player.” I give him a sassy wink. “Now that’s a real plot twist.”

  Dr. Luongo turns the corner and joins us at the nurses’ station. “I’m going to have him sent up for a CAT scan, and you can get him a room. He’s definitely spending the night. It’s precautionary, but he started getting nauseous so we should keep him here, wake him up every hour and keep him hydrated.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Dr. Luongo.”

  He leans on the desk and smiles. “I’ve told you before. It’s Bob.”

  “Thank you, Bob. I owe you one.”

  “You can get me one of those fancy lattes next time we run into each other at the diner
next door,” he tells me with a grin. “I think they’re ridiculously overpriced and won’t pay for them myself, but I do accept gifts.”

  I laugh as he heads toward the elevators. I turn back to Griffin. “He’s the best in city and he isn’t all the worried about Eli, so you don’t have to be.”

  He nods, but he seems like he has something more to say. I wait and watch as he dips his head a little and he rubs the back of his neck, but what comes out of his mouth isn’t what I expected. “The best doctors are paid in fancy lattes. Who knew? Of course I’d take my pay in lattes too if they were delivered by you.”

  A blush blooms on my cheeks, and I suddenly realize I must look so dowdy right now. I never wear makeup to work, and my ash blond hair is always pulled back into a ponytail. I smooth the sides self-consciously and react the only way I know how to a compliment, with a joke. “I should tell the Thunder you said that. They could use your salary to increase my brother’s paycheck or Eli’s.”

  “Are you a nurse or a sports agent?”

  “Last time Jude signed a big contract, he took the entire family to Bora Bora, so really I’m just a selfish sister,” I reply and wink.

  “Well, I think—” He stops as his cell phone buzzes in his hand. He glances at the screen, silences it, and shoves it in his pocket. “I wish I could stay, but I have to get going.”

  “That’s okay, like I said Eli is in good hands and he’ll likely be fine,” I assure him, but I’m disappointed he’s leaving.

  “I’m sure he will be.” Griffin nods. “He’s not the reason I was hoping to stay.”

  Dixie comes running down the hall. “He just threw up! All over himself.”

  She slaps a hand over her mouth because it must have made her nauseous too, but despite that the look in her eyes is pure fear. I step out from behind the counter. “Nausea is a symptom of a concussion, Dix. It’s okay. I mean it’s gross, but he’s not dying. I’ll go clean it up.”

  I head toward the supply room to grab new sheets and the plastic receptacle I lovingly call a barf bucket. I glance over my shoulder at Griffin, and he walks toward me. “I don’t want to keep you, but is there any way I can get updates on him? Since I have to go. I mean, I’m not family but—”

  “We can call you,” Dixie offers, interjecting herself into what feels like our moment.

  “Dixie will probably just spend half the night snoring by his bedside, so it’s probably best if I keep you updated,” I volunteer and Dixie, who was on the brink of looking offended, suddenly clues in and smiles.

  “Totally. Good idea,” Dixie agrees and turns to Griffin. “I’ll give you her number while she goes to clean up the love of my life and then you can text her so she has yours.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Griffin says and looks at me again, pinning me with that lovely, intense stare of his. “I look forward to hearing from you.”

  I just smile and force my legs to take me down the hall. The last thing I want to do right now is clean up barf, but at least I got his number…even if it’s for professional reasons…Technically.

  3

  Griffin

  Despite the fact that my star goalie is in the hospital and might be out of the lineup for a while and my ex has sent me not one but three angry texts since I left the hospital, I’m grinning. I walked into that hospital with nothing more on my mind than getting my player treated. Now my mind is filled with thoughts of a very pretty, very charismatic nurse. It’s been a long time since my mind was on anything other than my work and my kid, but Sadie Braddock made one hell of an impression.

  Sure, she was pretty, with her bright blue eyes, high cheekbones, and sexy curves not even her scrubs could hide, but her looks aren’t why I’m still thinking about her. It was her warm smile and the effortless way she balanced being a calm, professional nurse and a concerned sister and was witty and sassy the entire time.

  I pull into the marina parking lot, and my smile disintegrates when I see my ex-wife’s car in one of the visitor slots. My chest instantly tightens and my jaw locks. I do not want to deal with her tonight. I jump out of my Range Rover and rush toward my houseboat. Even as I unlock the gate to the dock, I can see her silhouette standing on my front deck next to my front door.

  “Lauren.” I say her name as passively as possible. “What are you doing here? It’s my night with Charlie.”

  “If it’s your night, why aren’t you spending it with her?” Her face, which I used to think was pretty stunning, is twisted into a tight, angry snarl.

  “I had a game and she didn’t want to come, so I had Hunter stay with her.” I’m completely pissed that I have to explain anything to her. I don’t report to her or need to tell her my plans when Charlie is with me. We have joint custody of our six-year-old daughter. Our agreement is simple, and we used to get along and work with each other, but now…the last few months, she’s been like this. And I am at the end of my fuse. But I know, as much as I want to tell her to fuck off, I have to work as hard as I can at keeping things between us civil for my daughter’s sake. God, it sucks, though.

  “The game ended over two hours ago, Griffin,” she snaps. “I’m here because Charlie had a nightmare and wanted to talk to me. I asked why she wasn’t talking to you, and she said you weren’t home.”

  “My goalie had to go to the hospital.” I move past her and punch in the code for the lock on the front door. “I’m here now, so you can go.”

  “I’ll go with my child.”

  The front door swings open, but I don’t step inside. I turn to face her again. “Your child?”

  “If she’s yours, why are you not spending more time with her?”

  “I had to work, Lauren,” I say in a low voice through gritted teeth.

  “You’re home!” Hunter says from behind me, and I turn to see him walking toward me.

  “You know he let me stand out here and knock for, like, ten minutes,” Lauren complains to me and glares over my shoulder at my younger brother. Hunter gives her a dazzling passive-aggressive smile.

  “I don’t have to open the door. It’s Griff’s night. Being his lawyer and all, I am well aware of the custody agreement, but if you’re confused I can print you off another copy.” His smile widens, and it makes her scowl deepen.

  “How’s the wife, Hunter? Did she smarten up and leave you yet?”

  “Nah. She believes in love and commitment, unlike you,” he retorts. He winks at her. “Also most sane people consider me quite the catch.”

  As much as I enjoy watching my kid brother take her down a peg, I’m worried Charlie might overhear, so I put an end to it. “It’s late. You should go home. Now.”

  Lauren just crosses her arms and glares at me from the threshold of my front door. I cross my arms too. I’m not giving Charlie over early. We have a Sunday morning apple pancake thing that I am not giving up. Hunter stops being my snarky younger brother and goes back to being my counsel. “All hate aside, Lauren, you can’t legally just show up here and take Charlie on days when Griffin is legally entitled to her. You get her back at noon tomorrow, so you need to go. And if you don’t go, I can and will call the police, and we will end up back in court.”

  She looks like she’s about to have steam whistle out of her ears. I can literally see her swallow down her rage. “You know what? I’ll go, but I’ll see you in court anyway. This isn’t working out for me.”

  She turns and starts stomping down the dock.

  I walk over and close the door behind her, locking it, and since it’s mostly just a glass pane, I also pull down the shade to block any last part of her retreating presence. “It’s not about you, you selfish psycho nightmare,” Hunter mutters and heaves out a sigh and rubs a hand over his face.

  I lean on the peninsula part of the counter in the kitchen. “She’s just venting, right? She doesn’t want to drag this into court again.”

  “She’d be an idiot if she did,” Hunter replies, walking past me and opening the fridge to grab two beers. He hands me one an
d twists the cap off his. “It’s a fair agreement, no one has violated it, and Charlie is happy. So a judge is going to be pissed she is wasting his time if she does.”

  I try to relax a little and take a sip of the IPA. “I take it she’s okay? Why didn’t you call me?”

  “Because it really wasn’t a big deal,” Hunter replies and drops into a chair at the small, round dining table that separates the kitchen from the living space. “She woke up a little freaked out about some dream and wanted to call her mom. I figured if I didn’t let her, it would be a bigger deal. I know you’re trying to keep things Zen in front of her. Plus I didn’t know Lauren would show up here in evil bitch mode.”

  “I just wish I had been here so she couldn’t find another thing to blame me for.” I swallow down another gulp of beer and put the half-empty bottle on the counter. “Charlie’s asleep now?”

  “Yeah, she had a few tears, called Lauren, calmed down, and was out like a light again,” Hunter explains, and before he can say more my phone dings.

  I look down and see the number Dixie gave me and smile. I smile a lot, especially around my daughter and my family, but this one must look different, because as I glance at my brother he has an eyebrow raised. I turn my shoulder toward him so the nosy bastard can’t read what’s on the phone as I open the message.

  Sadie here! Eli went down to neuro for the CAT scan.

  He’s still pukey, so we pumped him full of anti-nausea meds.

  I promise not to text again unless something is wrong.

  Wouldn’t want to keep you up.

  I type back quickly.

  Thx Sadie. Please text no matter the time.

  I won’t mind being woken up by you…even if it’s only to talk about Eli.

  Also, is ‘pukey’ an official medical term? ;)

  “Why you smiling at your phone like it’s a Victoria’s Secret angel?”

  I look up at Hunter and decide to share because he’s been bugging me lately that I need to “get back out there” when it comes to women. “Because she’s hotter than those angels. And kind of a real one. She’s a nurse.”