“No!” Carina Murphy massaged her temple, her eyes shuttering. “I’m sorry, I just…I only started the job a week ago.”
Her fingers wrapped so tightly around the phone that she was sure her knuckles were white. But, dammit, she couldn’t help it. She’d already withdrawn her application at the hospital, and there were no other nursing jobs available in the small town of Cradle Mountain. If she lost this one, how would she pay for rent and food and every other usual adult expense?
Barbara sighed. “I know.”
She knew? That was it?
Sweat beaded Carina’s forehead. “There was another job I applied for when I got here, but when you hired me, I withdrew my application. If you let me go, I’ve got nothing.”
So, she was screwed. If they fired her, she was utterly and completely screwed. And maybe homeless.
“I’m sorry, Carina, our hands are tied. It’s not our choice.”
She scrubbed her eyes, trying to decipher Barbara’s words when they made no freaking sense. The older woman worked admin for the Home Care Agency, so Carina knew this wasn’t her doing. But then, whose was it? “I just… I don’t understand. Did I do something wrong?”
“We received a call from a family member requesting a different nurse.”
Carina frowned. “A family member…” Patricia Talbot only had one living relative. Wait, that meant— “Her son. Flynn.”
She went back to rubbing her head, already feeling a gigantic, the-world-hates-me headache coming on. She’d just met the man yesterday, and they talked for maybe two minutes. How could he already hate her?
What the heck had she done to piss him off?
“Yes,” Barbara said, confirming what Carina already knew.
Carina scrambled to come up with a solution that didn’t leave her jobless. She’d never gone down without a fight, and she didn’t intend to start now.
“What if I talk to him? Convince him to let me stay? I mean, I only replaced Joy Anderson on such short notice because you had no one else in the area and needed someone immediately, right? So, won’t it take you time to find another replacement now?”
She already knew the likelihood of Joy returning was slim to none. They’d been friends since college. The other woman was older and had decided to become a nurse later in life, but they’d clicked. And she’d told Carina she’d probably be staying with her sick father in Florida.
Barbara’s sigh was heavy across the line. “Yeah, I’m going to have my work cut out for me getting someone down there in the next couple of days.”
“Give me an hour before you start looking,” Carina said quickly. “Maybe two. I swear, I’ll change his mind about me. I can be very persuasive.”
Desperate. She could be very desperate. And that desperation often came out as persistence.
“Maybe it’s my age,” she mused. “I’m a lot younger than Joy. Maybe he thinks I can’t handle the job.”
In actuality, she’d handled a lot worse in her ten-year career. She was totally capable of providing adequate care for his mother. No, not adequate. Better than adequate. She was damn good at her job. Something Flynn Talbot obviously needed to learn.
Another beat of silence. Carina bit her bottom lip, hoping and praying the woman took pity on her and agreed.
“Okay.”
Thank Christ. Carina sagged in relief.
“But if he doesn’t agree by early this afternoon, I’ll need to reach out to other nurses.”
“Yes. Of course.” She shot a quick look at the time. It was nine in the morning. That gave her a minimum of three hours to convince the man. That was enough. It had to be.
She grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter. “Thank you, Barbara.”
The second she hung up, she was running out of the house, dodging boxes left, right, and center as she went. Boxes that held a million and one things that needed unpacking but she hadn’t gotten around to. Boxes that had been sitting there for a good week and a half.
That had been today’s job. But if she wasn’t successful in this chat with Flynn Talbot, she might not even need to unpack them.
Argh.
She slid behind the wheel of her car, her stomach convulsing at the thought. Quickly, she typed Blue Halo Security into her GPS before pulling onto the road. Blue Halo was where he worked, and she only knew that because Patricia hadn’t stopped talking about her son. How he was a former Delta Force soldier. How he saved people. She’d also mentioned him being really fast and strong, but hell, all a person needed to do was look at the guy to know that.
He was ridiculously tall and sexy, with these crazy-wide shoulders. His intense, smoldering gaze went perfectly with his chiseled jaw. Then he’d spoken to her, and holy Christmas, she thought she’d pass out on the spot. His voice was deep and husky and basically what every woman heard in their sexiest dreams.
Carina’s thoughts stayed on Flynn as she drove. She didn’t live far from Blue Halo. In fact, everything seemed to be close to everything else in Cradle Mountain. Joy had raved about this small town. About the wildflowers that hedged the paths and scented the air. The coffee shop with the funny mugs and colorful walls. She’d mentioned a place called Perry’s Desserts. Apparently, it had the best chocolate mousse and ice cream in Idaho.
Carina needed that. Her soul needed that. All of it. Especially after the hell she’d lived through in Michigan. But now, her fresh start was in jeopardy.
No. She could turn this around. She would.
What had she done wrong? One time. She’d met Flynn one time. And for what? Two seconds? The man had been like a big, broody tower of muscle, and he’d barely spoken to her. He’d basically just asked her name and why she was there.
Could Patricia have instigated this? Told her son she didn’t like Carina?
The second the thought entered her mind, she dismissed it. The older woman had advancing Alzheimer’s, but she still had good days. And on her good days, Patricia was coherent and kind and talked nonstop about Flynn and her late husband. Carina hadn’t sensed a single thread of animosity or dislike.
She turned the corner, and that’s when she saw them—three men. None of them were Flynn, but holy mother of God, they were all just as big, muscled, and beautiful.
Her jaw dropped open.
Patricia had told her that Flynn owned and ran the security business with seven of his friends, all of them former military. And, yeah, this definitely had to be three of them. They all had the whole bulging-biceps, tight-shirt-pulled-across-a-big-chest thing going on. Were they all Delta Force?
Just as she thought, the three guys pushed inside a building with a sign for Blue Halo Security.
She scanned the building. She hadn’t researched the company. In fact, she rarely got on a computer. She never watched TV or listened to the radio. And the second everything had gone down in Michigan, she’d deleted all her social media accounts.
These days, she was more of a Chardonnay-on-the-back-porch kind of gal. It was better for her peace of mind.
The second the car was parked, she took a moment to breathe. You can do this. You’ve done nothing wrong, and you’re great at your job. Convince him.
She repeated that three times in her head. Then she slid out of the car and through the door, stepping inside a small hallway and, following a sign, moving up a set of stairs. When she reached a door on the second floor labeled Blue Halo, she pushed inside, only to quickly stop.
Empty.
Well, not completely empty. There was a desk with a computer and a phone and all the normal reception stuff…but no actual receptionist.
Carina stepped up to the desk, scanning the small space for a bell or something. She’d just come to the conclusion that there was no bell or any other obvious way to alert someone to her presence when a guy stepped into the room. Her eyes widened, and she jumped back like she’d done something wrong, even though she hadn’t.
“Hi.” Sweet Jesus, had her voice just hiccupped in the middle of a single-syllable word? She cleared her throat. “Ah, my name’s Carina Murphy, and I was wondering if Flynn might be here? I really need to talk to him.”
The guy shot a look over his shoulder. He was one of the men she’d seen walking in from outside. With his pouty lips and bright blue eyes, he reminded her of a dark-haired Brad Pitt. A lot of women probably got lost in those eyes.
But not her. No way. She was on a mission and would not be distracted by any of these sexy, too-hot-for-their-own-good men.
When he looked back to her, he smiled, and a dimple formed on his cheek. “Sure, he’s down here. I’m Tyler, by the way.”
Carina almost sagged. She needed that smile. It took the edge off her jagged nerves.
She followed him down a hall, and he stopped by an open office door.
The first thing she saw was the back of a woman sitting on the edge of a desk. She had perfectly straight hair tied up in the neatest ponytail Carina had ever seen. The woman turned her head, and of course, her hair wasn’t the only perfect thing. No, it matched her perfectly applied makeup and perfectly shaped brows.
Figured a man like Flynn would date a woman like that. She was probably ridiculously smart, too, with a doctorate in psychology or something.
Good. This was good. It would shut down that stupid fantasy she’d developed the second she set eyes on Flynn yesterday.
And it would definitely make her forget about that dream she’d had last night…
God, don’t think about that, Carina.
Her gaze flicked behind the woman to Flynn, and she swallowed. Yep. Just as good-looking today as he’d been yesterday. And just like yesterday, his eyes did that smoldering thing when they landed on her.
“You have a visitor,” Tyler said, almost sounding amused as he tapped the doorframe.
Flynn’s eyes narrowed on his friend as he walked away. Then he stood, reminding Carina of just how tall he was. Huge. The man was huge.
“I’ll chat with you later, Vic.”
The woman rose, then wrapped her arms around Flynn’s neck and lifted to her toes. Carina was sure the woman was going for Flynn’s lips, but he turned his head to the side at the last second, and her kiss pressed to his cheek.
“I’ll call you on my lunch break,” she said in a voice that was entirely too husky and sexy for this time of day. Carina received a tight smile from the woman before she stepped out of the room. And then it was just her and Flynn.
Her stomach did a little flip. One hundred percent of his attention was on her, and it felt…paralyzing. Intoxicating.
She swallowed, forcing a smile to her lips before moving forward. “Hi, Mr. Talbot. It’s good to see you again. I was wondering if you had a moment to chat.”
He nodded toward the seat across the desk. “Take a seat, Miss Murphy.”
The way her last name rolled from his lips in that deep, rumbly voice almost had her breath catching.
Keep it together, Carina. The man’s hot, but he also wants you fired.
She lowered into the seat, watching as he did the same. Suddenly, her throat felt ridiculously dry. “I need to talk to you about my position as your mother’s nurse.”
One small nod.
Jeez, the man was going to make her say it. He knew why she was here and what she was going to ask, yet he wanted her words. Fine. She could do that.
“I’m not sure if I said something to put you off yesterday, or if I gave you the impression that I wasn’t up to the job, or maybe you think I’m too young. I know I’m younger than Joy. But I assure you, I’m very experienced and my patients receive the best care.”
There was a beat of silence, and she tried not to squirm as he watched her. It was hard. Damn hard. Because the man studied her like he saw entirely too much.
“I’m sorry, Miss Murphy,” he finally said. “But I can’t have you working for my mother.”
A tense quiet followed his words. Was that it? He wasn’t going to expand on that little statement?
“Can I ask why?” Could she scream why? Could she walk over to the sex god of a man, grab his shirt, and demand answers?
He leaned back in his seat. “Because I can’t have a woman who’s been investigated for stealing drugs caring for her.”
Carina blinked. It was one of those slow blinks, where her mind scrambled to make sense of what had just been said. She frowned and opened her mouth but quickly closed it again. Then she shook her head.
“How exactly do you know that I’ve been investigated for stealing drugs?”
She knew the information wasn’t on her file at the agency. In fact, after she’d won her court case, it was specifically stipulated that she be allowed to practice nursing without restriction or sanctions on her license.
A small smile touched his lips, one of those you-should-know-the-answer-to-that smirks. “We’re a security company, Miss Murphy.”
They were a security company—so they got to dig into all her little secrets. Even the ones that were supposed to be locked away, never to be found again.
Flynn stood, all million and one feet of him, and walked to the door. “I appreciate you coming in, but my mind’s set.”
Then he placed his hand on the frame, waiting.
Did he think that was it? That she’d just accept what he said, lie down, and give up? Leave without a word, and yet again be punished for a crime she didn’t commit?
Hell no.
