“Why?”
“To get her going, that’s why. I love to see her face turn red when I look at her across the office. One day I left a dildo in my top drawer.”
“You didn’t.”
“Yep, then I put it in long paper bag and held it while I asked her to cover the phone while I went to the bathroom.”
“Dildo in hand?”
Chrissy imagined the red-faced look on hypocritical Chloe’s face while she stared at the dildo in the paper bag as Jess innocently asked her to cover the phones. It must have been priceless.
“Yep,” said Jess with a smile. “What’s she going to say? That she was going through a locked drawer and found it?”
“I had no idea you were this evil. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Plausible deniability, boss. I didn’t want you to get in trouble for my pranks.”
“Well, now I know,” said Chrissy. “And officially I must tell you that I highly disapprove of your behavior.”
“Yes, boss,” said Jess, with appropriate solemnity.
“Otherwise,” said Chrissy with a broad smile, “good job.”
Her phone rang again, and because Jess wasn’t at her desk she picked it up.
“Chrissy Serafini,” she said.
“Chrissy?” said Charles. “Good news. He agreed to the assistant. So, where’s the dinner going to be?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Mr. Parks?” A young woman dressed in dark blue scrubs with a take-no-prisoners expression on her face approached him. “I’m Angelique, your CNA. How’re you feeling this morning? Do you want your head lifted?”
“Head lifted? Oh,” he said as he realized she saw him struggling to sit, “yes, please.” The sling on his arm made handling the bed controls difficult.
She moved the bed and then the wires that moved the bed control to the other side so he could use his good hand. “How’re you feeling this morning?”
“Like I was hit by a bullet.”
She gave a hard smile. “I’m sure it feels awful. Your nurse will be in shortly to bring you pain meds. You can’t shower yet, but how about a bed bath?”
Saks looked at the lovely young woman, and then at the probie, Hawk, who Oakie had sent to watch Saks’ back. He was a big bruiser who spent as much time in the gym as riding his Harley. He sat on a chair by the door, taking everything in. Saks knew he’d take ribbing for the whole bed bath thing from the Spawn. Hawk was sure to make a joke of it some night at the clubhouse. In Saks’ younger days he might have even thought the offer sexy. But now, with two holes in him, one in shoulder and the other in his heart from Chrissy leaving, he couldn’t even work up a good smile over the thought.
Angelique caught Saks’ glances to Hawk and pulled the privacy curtain to shield him from prying eyes. “Before we get started, did you order your breakfast?”
“No. I thought they just brought it in.”
“You get to pick and choose these days. We have the basic stuff, bacon and eggs and things like that. You have no diet restrictions from your chart, so you can have anything. What would you like?” She pulled a phone from her pocket.
“I guess scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.”
“Okay. Coffee? Juice?”
“Sure.”
“Helen, this is Angie on the seventh floor, Mr. Parks, room 501, needs breakfast.” She repeated the order and slid the phone back into her pocket. “Now, don’t you worry. We have this all worked out to a system. I’ll only expose what I’m washing and the rest of you will be covered with this sheet. And I’ve seen everything, so just relax, okay? I’ll be quick and you can tell any story you like about it.” She winked at him, and Saks relaxed as much as he could from the pain radiating from his shoulder.
Angelique laid out a towel under his arm and loosened the tie on his hospital go