It was a wonder his blood pressure wasn’t through the roof, considering the dirty direction of his thoughts. His pulse thrummed at his neck and his skin suddenly felt like it didn’t fit his body.
She turned back to him, this time holding out a thermometer. “Open your mouth, please.”
He parted his lips and tried not to jerk when he felt her thumb brush his bottom lip as she placed the thermometer inside his mouth. Her face flamed bright red and he knew touching him sure as hell wasn’t deliberate on her part. They both held still, two frozen statues as they waited for the damn thing to finish its reading.
It beeped and she quickly pulled it out from his mouth. “Ninety--eight point two.”
Again, as hot as he was feeling from his interaction with her, it was a wonder he wasn’t running a fever. He really had a problem being this close to her, which only made him think about every other poor bastard she came into contact with here. All the others who struggled with low impulse control. Which was essentially everyone.
“Couldn’t get enough of this place, you had to come back so soon, huh?” he asked softly. Her hands shook a little as she presumably typed in his temperature.
She was still frightened. Of him. This place. Maybe both? He didn’t know and the source of her fear didn’t matter. Fear was fear. “Why are you here?” he demanded, inexplicably angry but wise enough to keep his voice low. He would feel a whole lot better if she quit. Not that it mattered how he felt. Not that she cared.
Her gaze snapped back to his face. Flags of red stained her cheeks. He’d never seen a woman blush so much. Even before prison, girls were always comfortable in his presence. You weren’t a criminal then.
Yeah, there was that.
“You don’t want to be here.” He sent a quick glance around the infirmary as if assessing their surroundings. “God knows I wouldn’t be here if I could help it.”
“Couldn’t you help it?” Briar quickly countered, suddenly finding her tongue. “I mean, you made whatever decision that landed you in here. It’s about choices, isn’t it?”
He shook his head and felt a flash of annoyance. She didn’t know him or what he had done. Or maybe she did. Had she gone home and nosed around on the Internet? His crime was no secret. It was open for public consumption. He swallowed back a snort. He was giving himself too much credit. She probably went home and had sex with her boyfriend without giving him another thought. She was just a judgy little shrew. Nothing more, nothing less.
He shrugged as that bitter pill washed down his throat. “Self--righ-teous little thing, aren’t you? Gotta tell you. It’s been a long time since anyone thought I was worth the trouble of a lecture.”
There went that blush again. “Forget it. It’s not my place.” She inhaled. “In answer to your question, I’m here because it’s my job. And speaking of my job,” she said pointedly. “Can we get back to the matter at hand?”
God, she was so correct and proper. She had the stern nurse act down to a T. And it hit him like a punch to the gut. Who knew he liked that type? That he would ever think it was so fucking hot? She held up a light and checked his eyes. Her breath mingled with his. It would be so easy to lean forward and take her mouth, taste her. Christ. He was sick. As if she wanted anything to do with scum like him.
“How’s your head?” she queried.
“Fine.”
“Any dizziness?”
“No.”
“Headache?”
“A little. I’ve had worse.”
She made a noncommittal sound and returned to type some more into the laptop.
“You can’t be a nurse anywhere else?” He jerked his head toward the doctor. “He blackmailing you into doing this or something?”
That nose of hers went up a notch. “Not everyone is a criminal.”
The kitten had claws. He stared at her for a moment, studying her stoic face with the faintly pink cheeks. She blinked and looked down at her laptop again, clearly flustered.
“Why are you so nervous?” he asked.
“I don’t hang out with a lot of felons. I don’t know how to act.”
She was cute. Annoying, but cute. And not because she was female and there was a decided shortage of those in his life. She was cute, he decided, because she was cute. Feisty. He scanned her in her purple scrubs. Hard to tell for certain, but there was a banging body under there.
The door buzzed open. Chester and another bull entered the room.
He exchanged words with the guard near the door, his cagey, squinty eyes looking beyond the old man to survey the room. His gaze landed on the nurse and he actually licked his lips. Something ugly curled up inside Knox knowing that assholes like him could stare at women like her all they wanted. He could lick his lips and hit on her and be his general asshole self and it was okay. The world was okay with that. And that just summed up what a screwed--up planet they lived in.
As if sensing his stare, the guard looked his way. Chester’s lips twisted into its usual sadistic shape. Knox released a breath, knowing his time in the HSU was up.