Tangling With Ty by Jill Shalvis Page B

shamelessly bribe you. I’ll make you brownies. Your favorite.”
    â€œMom—”
    â€œ Double fudge brownies.”
    Nicole had to laugh. No matter how long and bloody her day had been, her mother never failed to bully a smile out of her. With her mom, she always felt warm and loved, even when she wasn’t warm and lovable at all.
    And some people never had this in their life. Some people, like Ty. “I love you, Mom.”
    â€œWell.” Her mother’s voice got thick, and she sniffed. “I love you, too, baby. See you soon.”
    â€œSee you soon,” she promised, then sighed. She would have to make sure she did before her mother showed up at her place with more food she wouldn’t eat.
    Her eye on the chocolate caramel bar in the vending machine, she put a dollar in.
    It ate the money and didn’t spit out the candy.
    â€œWhy you—” She kicked it. This had always worked in the past, but now the machine mocked her with silence.
    â€œYou have to have the right touch.” Dr. Lincoln Watts glided his body directly up behind hers, so close that she nearly choked on his expensive aftershave. His arms surrounded her as he reached past her to punch in the buttons on the machine.
    The candy bar dropped.
    Nicole stepped forward until she was practically kissing the machine before she turned in his arms.“Thank you.” He had until the count of three before she used her fists.
    â€œNow you owe me.” There was a little smile on his lips that she was certain he considered sexy, but it creeped her out. No wonder all the nurses hated him.
    She’d already changed back into her own clothes, and his eyes were eating her up. “Do you have any interesting tattoos to go with all those earrings of yours?” he asked a little huskily.
    She stared at him. “Is that an official question?”
    â€œGo out with me tonight.”
    â€œDr. Watts—”
    â€œLinc,” he corrected gently, with a not-so-gentle look in his eye as he stroked her cheek.
    She pushed his hand away, met his gaze to make sure he saw her anger, and spoke carefully so as to not confuse the idiot. “I don’t go out with people from work. I don’t mix work and my personal life. Ever.”
    â€œI’m not ‘people.’ I’m a doctor.”
    â€œI don’t care if you clean bedpans, my answer is the same.”
    His jaw tightened. His eyes became distinctly not so friendly. “You’re turning me down again?”
    What was it with too-smart, too-good-looking men? “Yes. I’m turning you down. Again.”
    â€œThat’s a bad plan, Nicole.”
    â€œDr. Mann.”
    He looked her over for a long moment, then stepped back, his eyes ice. “I can make your life hell here. You know that.”
    â€œNo, I can make your life hell.” God, she hoped that was true.
    She was the youngest doctor on board, the newest, and she wasn’t naive enough to forget there were hidden politics in force, or that Dr. Lincoln Watts had all the strings to pull and she had none.
    Still, she kept her head up high as she walked past him and out the doors of the hospital. That she had just now remembered she didn’t have her car made a perfectly bad ending to a perfectly bad day. Spoiling for a fight, with no one to go nose-to-nose with, she stalked over to a pay phone to look for the number of a cab company.

6
    D RAWING AND DESIGNING were what Ty had been born to do. Envision and create, and then move on.
    He was good at it, especially the moving on part. He could do it right now, just pack up and go. Hell, he didn’t have anything he couldn’t buy again. In fact, he had moving down to a science. He could pack up and get out of anywhere within a half hour if he had to.
    But Taylor’s building, while appearing to be a dump, had huge potential, and the job stirred his creative juices enough that he didn’t feel like thinking