It was just after eleven and past time for him to make his rounds, but every way he turned he was pulled to resolve another issue. His mind whirred as his nurses fired off questions. He still had to find out why the new beds he’d ordered hadn’t been delivered that morning. The last of the candidates would be arriving next week. It’d be terrible if they had to sleep on the floor.
“Sway. I can take Rebeca’s patients in two and five, if Sheryl will cover the one on her side, in room seven. Wilma glanced down at her clipboard and yanked one of her many colored pens from her scrub top.
“I can help you there, Sway.” RaShawn agreed.
Sway thanked them and looked back at the schedule, squeezing his temples. He really did have an amazing staff and they were already a kick-ass team. They worked hard, and they gave one-hundred percent. And, he appreciated how they didn’t mind covering for each other. He really wished he’d gotten some sleep last night then maybe today wouldn’t have been so hard to deal with. At least he was almost done with morning work.
Sway printed off the new schedules, came around the large desk and started to hand them out. They all stared at him as they listened to his instructions. He’d been in the middle of a sentence when all eyes moved to something behind him as if a ghost was creeping up on him.
“Oh my gosh. He is… who the… damn,” Wilma stuttered.
The murmurs got louder but Sway stayed on task. If he didn’t have the nurses on the floor soon, Dr. Dominick would come searching for him and that was the last thing he wanted.
“Um, Sway, there’s a guy…”
Sway darted his eyes up, exasperated. He really wasn’t interested.
“I think he’s looking at you,” Wilma failed to whisper.
Sway turned and caught on to the side of the counter, his legs weakening at the sight of Brian King, no more than a few feet away and making his way towards him. Sway stared, not knowing what to think, not knowing if Brian was there to simply surprise him or if he was delivering news. His expression was unreadable, until Sway raked his eyes up and down Brian’s huge body as he moved with the self-assurance of royalty and the grace of a lion. Only then did Brian’s hard disguise drop and the care Sway knew he held for him radiated from his gleaming onyx eyes.
“Do you know who that is?” Wilma hurriedly asked.
“Is he about to eat you?” Adam—an LPN—asked cautiously.
“I think he just might,” Sway chuckled, staring up at Brian’s handsome face when he stood over him.
‘Hello,’ Brian mouthed and leaned down to kiss Sway, completely ignoring the fifteen-person audience.
“Hi,” Sway breathed, ending Brian’s kiss quickly. They were in the middle of the unit in front of the nurse’s station. He wormed out of Brian’s tight hold and turned to face his stunned staff. “Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Brian King. Brian, this is everyone.”
Brian dipped his head, then focused back on him. The man had tunnel vision when it came to Sway. “I need to talk to you, if you have a minute,” Brian signed, causing the hushed murmurs to rise behind them.
Sway understood. He was always mesmerized when Brian communicated. Those big hands, making delicate, sometimes complex movements.
“My office is just around the corner, right before the exit doors. Can you wait for me in there? I’ll only be a minute.” Sway had to finish giving his team their duties and get them on their rotations. When Brian disappeared around the corner, Sway turned around to see a bunch of shocked and greedy-for-the-scoop faces. His nurses loved to gossip with the best of them. Instead of indulging their curiosity, Sway continued as if Brian had never appeared. They didn’t know his heart was beating madly.
“Sway are you really not going to say anything about Chunky BigHunky, come on?” Wilma grinned excitedly. “He is super fine. Is he deaf?”
“No,” Sway gave his clipped answer. He wanted their thoughts off what was his. “Just quiet.”
“Mmm. I love a quiet man,” Adam said with pronounced sass, eyeing Sway.
Sway gave him a glower that said, ‘then go find your own.’ He passed out the last schedule and shoo’d them and their continual questions away. “Go on ya’ vultures. Go do some work.”
“I bet your about to go put in some serious work yourself, Mr. Sway,” Adam snarked and sashayed off.
Sway hauled ass to his small office. He didn’t see Brian when he walked in. What? Sway checked out in the vacant hall then came back in and closed his door. He jumped and grasped his chest when he saw Brian was standing behind it, leaning casually against the wall, blending into the shadows.