“Slander!”
Tito grabbed the sudoku book and smacked Felix on the arm with it, which hurt more than it should from the pencil sticking out the top. Felix let out an indignant cry, and Tito gave him a smug look before dissolving into laughter.
And then Felix heard another laugh. Sharp, staccato, and loud enough to carry from somewhere out of sight. Felix sat up, ramrod straight. “Jo?” He got to his feet almost without thinking, driven toward the sound of her.
“Felix? Where are you going?”
“Un momento, Tito.” Felix crossed the room and went through the rear doorway that led to the private residences. A hallway ran parallel to the back wall of the lounge. Felix peered left and right, looking past a few people going about their days. He didn’t see Jo.
Had he imagined it? Had she become so entrenched in his mind that he was hearing her laugh out of thin air? What would she even be doing here anyway? She was supposed to be at—
Fuck, he was an idiot sometimes. Jo was supposed to be at work. As a nurse. He had made a completely unfounded assumption that she worked at Ashville Hospital, but it was just as likely that she worked right here at White Hills.
But then… where was she?
He stood in the hallway for an awkward moment. He couldn’t wander around aimlessly with Tito waiting for him, and calling out for Jo was undoubtedly a terrible idea. Yelling for a nurse could put the whole place on alert. He was about to give up and go back to the lounge when he heard her laugh again.
To his right.
He whipped his head toward the sound. A few feet away was a corner where another hallway seemed to branch off. His feet began to move, and it took all his willpower not to break into a full sprint. He turned the corner—and had to draw himself up short. He wasn’t in a hallway at all but a small alcove ending in an open door. Felix had nearly walked straight into a supply closet.
At the sound of stumbling footsteps and a hand slapping against the doorframe, Jo spun, arms out, ready to catch a falling resident. But the person stopping short in the doorway wasn’t a resident.
“Jo.”
“Sir, do you need assistance?” Jo’s co-worker Sharon asked with urgency. “Is there a medical emergency?”
“No, I’m sorry,” said Felix.
He didn’t take his eyes off her, and Jo stood frozen, like an actual goddamn deer in headlights. Something in the back of her mind registered that his stubble was shorter than she’d ever seen it, shaved down to the skin but still thick and dark enough to cast a shadow over his warm olive skin. She’d never seen him in the morning before.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded. Or, rather—tried to demand. It came out more like a breathy whisper. She blamed his heather-gray T-shirt and its obnoxious ability to show off his arms. The sleeves were skin-tight around his biceps, for Christ’s sake. She could not be held responsible for the tone of her voice under such conditions.
“Jo, is there a problem?” Sharon asked, looking between the two of them warily. Felix’s broad, tall body filled the doorway, effectively trapping the two nurses in the closet. And Jo’s stunned expression certainly couldn’t be helping Sharon feel at ease.
“I don’t know yet?” Jo said. Distractingly sexy arms aside, she still had no idea how Felix had found her at work.
“I heard you laugh.” Felix pointed his thumb behind him, almost in a daze. “From the lounge. I’m visiting Tito.”
Jo’s shock transformed into delighted surprise. She noticed the name badge now, read the name “Manuel Navarro” under Felix’s. “Your grandpa lives here?”
Felix nodded.
“Jo…?” Sharon said, drawing out the syllable.
“Sorry, Sharon, it’s all good. This is my friend Felix.” Jo put a hand on Felix’s upper arm, hoping the friendly touch would reassure Sharon that all was well. And for no other reason at all. “For a second there I thought he was stalking me. I told him I was working an extra shift today, but not where I work.”
Felix flinched back, leaving Jo’s hand hovering in midair. “You thought that?”
“I-I mean,” she stammered, “no, not really, but it entered my mind—briefly!—when you showed up in the supply closet at my job out of fucking nowhere.”
“Language,” Sharon warned. “May I get by, please, sir?”
With a mumbled apology, Felix moved aside to let Sharon out with a tray of supplies. Leaving Jo and Felix alone. In a closet. A big, walk-in closet, but still a closet.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” Felix said quietly. “I heard you laugh.”
“So you said.”
“I wanted to say hi.”
The sweet innocence with which he said it nearly melted Jo’s heart. She gave him a soft smile. “Hi.”
A matching grin came over his face. “Hi.”
And then it was as if an enchantment spell broke. Felix’s face fell, and he shoved his hand into his hair, gripping it in his fist, completely mortified. “Oh, God, Jo, I’m so sorry. You’re at work. I was not thinking at all. I’ll get out of your way. I’ll see you later.”
“Can I meet him?” she asked before he could run away. “Tito?”
Felix unclenched his hair and smoothed it out, taking a moment to respond. “Of course. If you’re not too busy.”
She shrugged. “Not really. I’m usually over in skilled nursing, not assisted living. My boss suggested I shadow the other team to see how they work. Sometimes we have to float back and forth if we’re short-staffed. I can’t take too long, but I’ll catch up with Sharon in a bit.”
She locked the door behind them and fell into step alongside him. Nudging his arm with her elbow, she stretched her neck up to whisper, “Question. I thought his name was Tito, but your badge says Manuel?”
Felix tilted sideways to whisper back. “That’s more a statement than a question.”
