Devil May Care by Patricia Eimer Read Free Book Online Page B

I was now stuck talking to my Chatty Cathy ex-fiancée who couldn’t remember having ever met me in the first place.
    “Fifth.” I opened the door to the locker room and then looked back at him. “Pediatric ICU. Why?”
    “Really?” He gave me a bright smile.
    “Yeah. Why?” I tried to keep my voice from sounding too wary. It wouldn’t be good for Dan to think I specifically didn’t want to talk to him. That would make me stick out. Instead I needed to persuade him that I was a total bore. An absolute nonentity on the personality scale so that he forgot I existed.
    “That’s the very first group I want to scan. That’s where the MEDTECH problem started so that’s where I’m going to open up shop. Trace the problem from the source if I can.”
    “Great.” My voice wavered. “Come on. Let me show you upstairs so you can get started.”
    “Thanks.” Dan followed me out into the hallway, oblivious to the fact that Malachi was hovering over his shoulder. Dan had never been very spiritually sensitive so he’d never noticed Malachi before, but I was still worried. Before the Alpha had wiped his memory, he’d seen my father morph into his large, black demon manifestation and rain hellfire down on one of my mom’s short-term boyfriends, and he couldn’t ignore the creatures hidden in the corners of his eyes. He’d earned five years in an inpatient facility for that and if it wasn’t for the Alpha’s intervention last month he’d still be there, claiming that the monsters under the bed were not only real but very, very pissed off.
    We reached the elevator and I hit the button, intent on ignoring my paranormal companions while taking part in perfectly normal, mind numbing, social chitchat. “So, Dan, is this your first time to Pittsburgh?”
    “Yeah.” Dan, completely oblivious of our eavesdroppers, rocked back and forth on his heels. “I don’t normally handle the service calls or any of the sales work. I work in the research division but they sent me out because this is my system.”
    “Well, yay for him.” Malachi floated between us and flipped the engineer standing next to me a bony middle finger. “It failed. They should be firing him and not sending him out to make more mistakes.”
    “Why does it matter who designed the system?” I asked, ignoring Mal completely.
    “I know that system inside and out. If someone cracked it I’m the best person to figure out who was behind it. I’m going to tear into the system, find out what failed, and then find out who caused it to fail. Sure, someone else could probably do it but I can do it faster, more effectively, and if there’s some sort of new bug in there that we haven’t seen before I’m your best chance of fixing it on the fly.”
    Yep, still the same Dan. Still intense and passionate about his work. Still determined to be the very best. Still cocky as hell when it came to how he did his job. And the way his eyes flashed when he was fired up still made me quiver.
    I was desperately trying to ignore that, though. Even if he did make me weak in the knees it wasn’t like anything would come of it. I had Matt and, even if Matt wasn’t in the picture, Dan had his sanity—and his life—back. No amount of knee jelly could make me steal that from him again.
    “Quit looking at him and trying to figure out what might have been,” Malachi ordered. “Remember Angel Boy? Dark hair, big white wings? Lives next door? Will not go crazy from having dinner with your parents?”
    “If you’ll excuse me for a second,” I said to Dan, and pointed down the hallway. “The main desk is right there, but I need to use the bathroom before I start my shift.”
    He gave me a quick nod. “I’ll just go let the charge nurse and the attending on duty know I’m here.”
    I hurried into the women’s room next to the elevators before he could say anything else.
    Harold floated over the bathroom stalls and came to rest on the diaper changing station. “Coast is