Nerds on Fire (48 page)

Chapter 1

“
You belong to me.
He
can’t have
you
.” His voice was so sincere. So serious
it sent her heart racing. His eyes didn’t show crazy, but since his
words were, fear shot through her.

She had to run fast in the other
direction.

Screaming as she tried to lunge away,
terror blasted through her because her limbs were leaden and
wouldn’t move.

Katy Greene awoke with a gasp. Her
heart beat far too fast and a clammy sweat stuck Leo’s t-shirt to
her back. She took several deep breaths as the vestiges of the
nightmare were replaced by reality.

Reality was definitely preferable,
Katy decided before she realized the phone beside her bed continued
to blare.

Snatching it up, she
answered.

The call to work could not have come
at a better time. With the insidious whispers of doom and gloom
still taunting her from the fringes, she wouldn’t have been able to
sleep again anyway. Instead, she shoved the covers away then raced
into the shower to rinse off the nightmare induced
sweat.

It took her ten minutes to change
clothes and climb into her car, thankful she was heading to work.
This way she would be far too busy to dwell on the awful nightmares
that had begun plaguing her. They were bad enough she thought about
telling one of her two best friends. Either Trixi Duvall, who was
her former roommate, sister, best friend and someone she adored, or
Leo de Vosse who she had only recently met but who was a kindred
spirit if there ever was one, and who she also adored.

Yet she hesitated. Neither
of her best friends would offer bad counsel. Both would
offer
plenty
of
advice.

Perhaps that was the very reason she
kept silent. It wasn’t advice so much she was seeking. Once she
figured out what she needed from them, then she’d say
something.

Later that morning, she ran into Leo
and as usual, a little spurt of happiness zinged through her when
she realized he was nearby. She could always find him in a crowded,
noisy room. Her senses rushed forward and pointed straight at him,
drawing her into his orbit like they were two magnets.

His face lit up when she hurried
toward him.

“
You look terrible,” he
stated as his blue-green Morrison eyes swept over her. His square
jaw and tussled brown hair were so familiar that she relaxed,
despite his statement.

“
Thanks,” she said but
didn’t mean. She did step into his personal space though, because
she was feeling a bit chilled and Leo always managed to suppress
the chills. Above average in height, and lean, he sported wide
shoulders and lean hips. And plenty of heat, thankfully.

He handed her his coffee as he wrapped
his other arm around her. “How long have you been here?”

“
Since about two-thirty.”
She drank his coffee with relief.

“
That pileup on
81?”

“
Yeah.” It wasn’t the
traffic accident that had caused her weariness though. It was that
blasted dream. She sucked down more of Leo’s coffee and then handed
it back. “I need more coffee than this. Infused with
chocolate.”

He shook his head at her. “Trixi just
mumbled something about that.”

Katy perked up. “You’ve seen
Trixi?”

“
Yeah, she and Mark found
each other in about three seconds when they arrived
today.”

“
Her guest wing still isn’t
finished?” Mark, Leo’s older brother, had been renting Trixi’s
guest wing, but a fire swept through and destroyed part of it. Mark
had since moved back in with Leo until Trixi’s overwhelming, but
really nice, inherited estate underwent the necessary
repairs.

“
No, but they think by the
end of the week.”

“
So you’ll have your one
working bathroom to yourself again soon?”

He brightened. “My cousin is planning
to work on my bathroom situation this week.”

“
Right.” She had heard this
story before. He always had something else come up.

“
I’m pretty sure Mark
threatened him with a lobotomy if he didn’t fix at least one more
bathroom.”

Mark was a neurosurgeon so that was
possible. “A good inducement.”

Leo cocked his head and stroked his
chin. “I might have also mentioned that you’re a
surgeon.”

“
Have I met this
man?”

“
Of course.” Then he
frowned. “Maybe not.”

Leo and Mark were Morrisons on their
mother’s side. That meant they had eight hundred relatives, at
least. It was hard to keep them all straight.

“
It’s not nice to threaten
people.” Her scold fell flat though because as usual, her and Leo’s
humor were far too alike.

“
I
alluded
to the fact that you’re
really good with a scalpel.”

“
You don’t know that for
sure.”

“
Janine said you’re
good.”

That sent warmth and
happiness through her, because everyone knew Leo’s cousin, Dr.
Janine Morris, was the real deal when it came to trauma surgery.
She had two tours in a military hospital under her belt and a stint
in Johannesburg. The woman knew what she was doing. If she said
Katy was good...
wow
.

“
Don’t you two have better
things to do than stand around and talk?”

“
Speak of the devil,” Leo
said as he turned them toward Janine, who joined them.

“
I’m on my way for coffee,”
Katy told her. Then her stomach growled.

“
Yes, and breakfast,”
Janine decided.

Leo squeezed Janine and then her
before he headed toward the elevators. Katy waved and then she and
Janine headed toward food and liquid stimulant.

“
Do we still have
additional patients?”

Janine shook her head. “Not from the
accident. That can all change, of course.”

“
Of course.” Since Katy was
on duty today, she wasn’t going home anytime soon. “Why were you
here during the night? You were supposed to be off.”

Janine rolled her beautiful amber
eyes. “Because I had just finished my last surgery and was getting
ready to go home when this pileup happened.”

“
I thought Dr. Ferguson was
supposed to be on duty last night.” Katy selected a coffee cup and
then decided on the breakfast blend. She and Janine filled their
cups and she doctored hers up before they headed to the
food.

“
He was supposed to be, but
apparently he was in that pileup.”

“
Oh no,” Katy said as she
turned in alarm to Janine. “Is he okay?”

Janine’s mouth turned grim. “After a
stint on my operating table, I think he’ll live, but he’s in no
shape to work.”

Katy’s heart dropped. “So we’re one
surgeon short now.”

“
At least until he
recovers.”

“
There is hope that he will
recover?” Katy paid for her breakfast and followed Janine to a
table.

“
Of course. He’ll be fine,
but he’s going to need a few weeks to recuperate.”

The thought of that empty position
caused utter panic to surge.