Night Is Darkest by Jayne Rylon (books recommended by bts .TXT) 📕

Remembering how he’d filled her, she shot, “Right back at you. You’re downright…hefty.”

Now it was Ty’s turn to laugh. “Isn’t that the truth?”

Mason propped one elbow under him then laid his head in his hand while he took stock of the various signs of their loving. When he saw the bright red marks on her hips, he frowned. With one finger, he traced the outline of his hands where they’d clenched her with bruising force.

He tensed along her flank. “Did I hurt you, Lacey?”

“Not enough to dissuade me from coming back for more.” She rolled over and met his worried gaze head on before giving him a quick, smacking kiss. She knew the time hadn’t yet come to confess how she truly felt so she kept things light. “I loved every second. Now, will you please hold me so I can sleep for a few hours? I talked Dr. Joy into taking me back at the hospital right away as long as I stay put, manning the nurse’s station, for the remainder of the hiatus.”

“I’ve got you, doll.” Mason tucked her against his side.

Ty patted her ass. “Sweet dreams, little one.”

Chapter Ten

By the time Lacey parked her hand-me-down Civic in the hospital’s employee parking lot late the next afternoon she could have yanked her hair out. Between Mason and Tyler they’d almost managed to drive her insane in less than twenty-four hours. If she’d thought they acted overprotective before, they’d redefined the concept for her this morning.

Before she could get up and make a pot of coffee, they’d snuck down the stairs like Rambo or maybe a pair of overgrown ninjas on the prowl. When—as she’d assured them prior to the theatrics—they’d discovered nothing had gone awry while they slept, they then started in on making her eat a healthy breakfast.

They’d outright refused to listen to how much she despised having eggs at lunchtime on her skewed, late night schedule and proceeded to make her fork an omelet past her gag reflex before they cleared her to take a shower.

In her own damn house.

She’d had to put her foot down when they tried to insist on chauffeuring her to St. Ann’s. Enough was enough, already. At least they’d listened to reason when she admitted she’d rather they spend their time figuring out who had jacked up her computer.

Lacey grabbed her oversized, quilted bag containing her scrubs off the passenger seat. She began the hike, through the crisp afternoon air, to the massive concrete building she spent a good portion of her time in. The bustling line of cars and ambulances pulling under the portico brought some semblance of normalcy back to her life as she faced the truth.

The rest of the world continued on as it always had, no matter how much had changed in her microcosm this week. Somehow, that made it all a tiny bit easier to bear.

Though glad to be back to work, she also dreaded the sympathetic looks and infinite retellings she’d have to endure from well-meaning friends and coworkers. At least she could spend some of the forced downtime helping people at the notoriously short-staffed nurse’s station.

Taking one last deep breath, she stepped into the automatic revolving door that swept her into the hospital each day. She darted through the little used stairwell, up the three flights to the general ward she’d be assisting.

The route took her past a row of administration offices. She paused by one to read the brass nameplate, Dr. Joy Roach. Before she could change her mind, she knocked three times in quick succession on the cherry finish.

“Come in!” The distinctive melody of the Caribbean sang through the occupant’s accent.

“Hey, Dr. Joy.” She didn’t have to fake the smile that crossed her face when she saw the attractive woman behind the desk. Dr. Joy treated all the nurses like her own children.

“Lacey.” The standard mega-watt grin she sported dimmed a notch or two as she rounded the sitting area and put out her arms. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. You don’t have to say anything, just let me hug you for a second.”

“Thanks.” Lacey blinked back the tears she’d tried to convince herself she wouldn’t shed today.

“Are you sure you’re ready to come back, even on the desk?”

“Yeah, I’m going crazy at home.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn you away. Theresa is on vacation, Angel’s got the flu and Sandie has a new grandbaby she wants to take off to play with for a few days.” Dr. Joy tucked a strand of hair behind Lacey’s ear before patting her cheek. “Go ahead, get to it. If you need anything or decide to make it a short day you just let someone know before you skip out. No need to overdo it.”

“Really, thank you.” With nothing left to say, she accepted the other woman’s gracious nod and slipped out of the office.

When she got to the station, no one else seemed to be around. A nurse shortage made non-essential coverage sparse. She flipped open the schedule, glad to see she’d be sharing shift with Jambrea and Valerie. Though she now worked in the ER, she’d started out at the general desk while earning her specialty degrees. The women had taught her most of what she knew about how to handle ornery patients.

Lacey thumbed through the case files to familiarize herself with the individual needs of the patients then organized her planned check-in times for rounds. She also dug out the giant binder of useful info the ladies stashed in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet for newbies or temp help. Within minutes, status calls from family members, instructions from doctors, patient demands and the usual chaos of the ward cleared her mind of anything other than the routine of the job.

An hour or so later, Valerie flew down the hall pushing a cart of empty medicine dosing containers. “Lacey Daughtry! What in the world are you doing in this hellhole?”

“Nice to see you, too, Val.” She