His Naughty Nurse (The Halloween Honeys) Read online

  HIS NAUGHTY NURSE

  THE HALLOWEEN HONEYS

  LANEY POWELL

  Copyright © 2018 by LANEY POWELL

  His Naughty Nurse

  The Halloween Honeys

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to anyone alive or in the hereafter is completely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  To Frankie Love and Tessa Blake, for inviting me to be a part of this.

  And to all the authors of the Book Hangover Lounge.

  You all kick ass.

  The Halloween Honeys

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Laney Powell

  Meet All The Honeys

  Sneak Peek

  THE PLAN

  Senior Year

  Apply to Grad Schools

  UCLA - rej

  CSU - applied

  CU - applied

  Oak Ridge - applied

  American - rej

  Auburn - applied

  U Wash - applied

  Schedule GRE - scheduled Feb

  First sem – 18 credits

  Sec sem – 12 credits

  Internship sec sem - Got It!

  Send out resumes for internships with uni.hosp. -Waiting

  Social

  Mi Alpha Alpha

  NO GUYS

  NO HARD PARTYING

  Check Daily Schedule EVERY DAY! Stick with it!

  Casey

  I shove back from my desk, pushing the book away from me as I do so. “This is impossible,” I grumble, looking up at the ceiling. “Organic Chem blows,” I add.

  “What blows?” I heard from the door.

  Stacy, our chapter president, poked her head in.

  “Chem. What else?”

  “Yeah, I feel you. Every single one of my bio classes this year are the same.”

  Stacy was a biology major, and also a senior. It was nice to know I wasn’t suffering alone.

  “Hey, I just wanted to remind you. You need to sign up for a theme for your room.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot. I’ll go do it now,” I stood up, glad for a reason to ignore my homework.

  “Thanks, girl,” she said. “No rush, but we have a meeting about it this week. So be thinking about it!” She waved and disappeared from my door.

  Stacy Barren is the president of our chapter of Mi Alpha Alpha at Oak Ridge University. One of our things is that we do regular fundraising. Stacy’s parents have an old mansion that has been sitting empty in for a long time, and since she’s been here, they’ve let her use it for our Halloween Haunted House fundraiser. Each sister is in charge of picking out a room, decorating it, and making sure it’s ready for the public for the two weeks leading up to Halloween. It’s my favorite fundraiser on the schedule this year. I’d totally forgotten we were supposed to be getting things together with all my classes this semester.

  I’d always heard you had it easier as a senior but as a chemistry major, that didn’t seem to be the case. I had to work to get all the classes I still needed before graduation. Hence Organic Chemistry.

  I went back to my computer to see who had claimed what on the spreadsheet doc. Everyone liked to choose a theme for the room and then dress as someone who fit the theme. Totally sexy, of course. I liked the chance to dress up, be a little daring.

  My first couple of ideas were already taken, but no one had signed up for an infirmary yet. Perfect. I could be a nurse and have all kinds of gore and scary stuff all around the room. Since I was in every oddball chemistry class known to man, I could put that to good use in the haunted infirmary. This would be fun.

  Maybe I could even get extra credit. That made me perk up. Then I laughed. I was getting stir-crazy if my big excitement for the day was the thought of extra credit. I had to get out of here. Time for a run. The run was scheduled for now, anyway. Like everything else I did. I lived and died by my schedule. It was the only way to keep to what I, and everyone in my sorority, called The Plan.

  The Plan was that I would graduate in four years. It wasn’t easy with my major. But I was on track to do it. I had an internship lined up, and I was already talking to prospective employers for work while I went to graduate school. I’d have the degrees needed for the medical researcher position I wanted in record time. And then I could get on with my life, doing the things I was meant to do.

  Making sure that no other little girls had to suffer like I did. I was a childhood cancer survivor. No kid deserved that, and I was determined to make sure I helped them avoid it if at all possible.

  Hence, The Plan. The Plan also meant that while I’d been rash and pledged Mi Alpha Alpha, I didn’t party too much, and I didn’t date. Both of those things could easily knock The Plan right on its ass. Sorority girls might have a certain rep, but my sisters totally understood why I had The Plan, and they supported me.

  I changed into my running clothes, gathered my phone and pepper spray, and left my Organic Chemistry sitting undone on the desk without a backward glance. I turned on the GPS on my phone as I headed out.

  Lola, known, although not to her face, as the bossiest of all our sisters, was standing in the doorway of someone else’s room, and from the sound of her voice, she was bitching. Lola did a lot of that although she meant well. She’s just super organized, and not everyone in the house is. She is also a terrible nag. When she starts in on me, I remind myself she means well.

  “Road ID,” Lola said as I passed by, her arms crossed. She didn’t even look at me.

  “It’s already on,” I waved the phone at her.

  “Good,” she said. And then she continued her other conversation.

  I love running at night, but it makes my sorority sisters crazy. I need the quiet and the darkness though. Lola isn’t the only one who has nagged me, just the most consistent and often the loudest. Because she wouldn’t let up, I got pepper spray that I carried in my hand, and my phone had a GPS tracker called Road ID that let people know where I was. It also sent out an alarm if I stopped for too long without pausing the app. Sounds paranoid, but these girls were good friends, and I appreciated it.

  As I left the sorority house, I inhaled deeply. The fall nights had a crisp note to them, one that you could smell when you were out in the evening. It was quieter even though there were still plenty of people around. There were people everywhere when I was in classes, and when I was in the house—I needed to have some space, some time to myself. It gave me time to think and gave my brain time to unwind.

  I decided to run around Greek Row, which was a big, horseshoe shaped drive where all the fraternities and sororities had their houses. I ran the Row end to end and then headed for the walking and biking trails that crisscrossed the Commons of the school. Those had more hills and would work off some of my energy.

  I was going through the Organic Chem problem in my head when I ran right into a tall object. It took me by surprise, and I bounced off it, landing on my butt.

  “Ow,”
I said, stunned. The force of the fall sings through me. This must be what an earthquake feels like, I think wildly. I don’t like it.

  “Hey,” said the object.

  “Hey,” said another one right next to the first.

  I looked up, trying to see if I knew who it was. I didn’t recognize the voices. Neither offered to help me up, so I carefully pulled myself up. Damn. I was going to have a bruise right in the middle of my ass.

  “What are you doing?” the first guy asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

  I still couldn’t see his face.

  “Getting my exercise,” I said. Shit. I’d dropped my pepper spray.

  For whatever reason, they looked at each other. “You like to work out? That’s cool. So do we,” the first one said.

  The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Whatever this was, it wasn’t friendly, and I needed to get out of here. I reached for the pocket on my workout leggings, fumbling to find my phone. I needed to call someone, to —

  “We should work out together,” the second guy said, taking a step closer to me.

  My heart raced as I considered what I could do. I could turn and run. They were big, but I ran regularly, and I might be able to outrun them.

  Just as my brain starts to go into a more panicked mode, a third voice breaks the darkness from behind me.

  “Hey, girl! Are you all right? Why didn’t you wait for me?” A third voice sounded behind me, with accompanying steps coming toward me and the other two guys.

  His voice was deep, and I could hear genuine concern in it. I could be hallucinating, but right now, with the creepy brothers looming over me, I’ll take it.

  I feel a hand reach out and take mine. I jump, wondering if things just got worse.

  “That was quite a fall,” he adds, his fingers finding my wrist, feeling for my pulse.

  I can smell him, and he smells warm, like pine trees.

  “Back off, we got this,” the first creepy guy said.

  “Yeah?” Not letting go of my wrist, the guy steps closer to me. “Well, thanks, guys, but this is my running partner. She just took off without me today, so I got this.”

  The pine smell increases, and my wrist tingles at his touch. He’s taller than either creepy guy, and he’s giving them the serious stink eye. He also has a tone that says he’s not going to take any shit.

  The two guys look at one another. They look a little fuzzy, and I put my hand to my head.

  “Whoa! We need to get you to the clinic. Did you hit your head?” Mr. Awesome Pine Smell peers closely at me.

  “She’s fine,” one of the creepy brothers mumbles. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

  “Probably a good idea,” Pine Smell says. “Let her take care of herself. She doesn’t need anything from you guys.”

  I can hear the menace in his tone. And that’s even with my increased heartbeat brought on by his presence.

  Just in time, the alarm on the Road ID app starts screaming, and I can’t hear anything else.

  Jax

  I’ve been watching the ponytail in front of me for a while as it swings back and forth. There are flashes of white from the bottom of her running shoes. She’s pulling away from me since I’m not running, but I pick up the pace and keep her in the line of sight.

  I totally get why she’s running at night up here where there are less lights along the path. It’s quiet, and you can hear yourself think. That doesn’t mean it’s the best idea, though.

  After four tours in Afghanistan, it’s nice to be somewhere quiet where I don’t worry I’ll step on something or in front of something or near something that will take off an appendage. Weird, since even that crazy shit becomes your way of life, but nice. Weird, too, that I am right back into being point, like I was on patrol or something. I need to work through this. That part of my life is done.

  The ponytail jerks abruptly and I hear a startled “Oh!” as the girl running in front of me goes down.

  Immediately, my senses go on alert. There are two guys in front of her. In looking at them, I can feel my defenses waking up. Whoever they are, they aren’t bringing her any good news. They have bad intentions written all over them. I speed up. Whatever is going to happen, it’s going to be quick.

  “Hey, girl! Are you all right? Why didn’t you wait for me?” I make sure to draw myself up to my full height. These assholes need to know who they’re dealing with. I reach out with my hand to her, to steady her, to try and let her know that I’m one of the good guys.

  She looks up at me, and even in the dark I can see the whites of her eyes. Shit. She probably fell harder than she realizes. She could be going into shock. Or she could be realizing what these two are up to.

  I need to make sure she knows I’m not one of them. Her hand curls into mine, and I am struck by how warm, how right it feels. The touch of her hand sends a jolt through me that ends at my cock. Not the time, Denby, I think. “That was quite a fall,” I add. I can still see the whites of her eyes. Instinctively, my hand goes to her wrist. Her pulse is going like crazy. Yeah, she sees what’s going on.

  One of the guys says something, but I’m not paying attention. They’re big, but I can take them. I still work out like I’m on a daily patrol. After twelve years, you don’t let go of the habit.

  “Yeah?” I respond, so he doesn’t think he’s getting away with something. She’s really scared. “Well, thanks, guys, but this is my running partner. She just took off without me today, so I got this.”

  The girl puts her hand to her head, sending me into professional mode. “Whoa! We need to get you to the clinic. Did you hit your head?”

  “She’s fine,” the taller guys says. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

  “Probably a good idea. Let her take care of herself. She doesn’t need anything from you guys.” I let my voice drop to tell them I’m not kidding, and the next move might find them on their asses.

  One of them looks ready to step to me, but whatever he’s going to say is cut off by a loud shrieking noise from the woman on the ground.

  “Oh, God,” she groans, scrabbling at her pocket. “Road ID.” She pulls out her phone and pokes at it. The screeching stops.

  “Back off,” the shorter of the two guys says to me, not taking the hint.

  I lose my temper at this point. I let go of her hand, feeling the loss of her warmth the minute I do. Taking a large step, I get right in his face, our chests almost touching. “No, you turn around and go on your way. I’m doing what you should have done, rather than leave her sitting there on the ground, in shock. Now get.” I clamp my lips together and wait.

  They exchange a glance.

  “I’m fine,” I hear from behind me.

  “Whatever, asshole,” one of them mutters, and they turn and walk away.

  Immediately, I return my attention to where I want it to be—the woman on the ground.

  “Come on. We need to get you to the school clinic.”

  “I’m fine,” she says again, taking my hand and pulling against it to pull herself up.

  “Probably,” I agree. “But I am—was—a medic, and if any of my guys fell like you did, I’d be telling them the same thing.” I keep my tone light and cheerful.

  “Really? Your guys? What do you do?” The tremor made her words sound shaky.

  “I’m a student here, just like you. I used to be in the Marines,” I said easily, keeping hold of her hand and putting a hand on her back to guide her.

  “Why did they knock me down?” She asked.

  Her voice barely moved above a whisper, but I heard her.

  “Because you were alone, and they weren’t very nice.” I wanted to say a lot more, but not right now. Later. And there would be a later. I hadn’t met a girl—a woman—who’d gotten this reaction from me in I couldn’t remember how long.

  Even if she did run at night by herself. Which was stupid., in my world. But like I said, there was time for that later.

  “I don’t know why I feel s
o weird,” she mumbled, rubbing the side of her head.

  “Did you hit your head when you fell?”

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention—”

  My hand tightened on hers with her words. How did you not pay attention?

  “And then suddenly, there he was. I ran right into him and fell back on my butt. I don’t think I hit my head though.”

  She was still rubbing the side of her head. I wondered if she even knew she was doing it.

  “Where are we going?” She asked.

  “To the clinic. What’s your name?”

  “The clinic? Oh, yeah. OK. Um… I’m Casey. Casey Callahan.”

  Her name was perfect. Casey Callahan.

  “I’m Jackson Denby. But you can call me Jax,” I said.

  “Thanks for helping me, Jax. I think I can get there on my own.” There was more resolve in her words than I’d heard before.

  “Since you’re not sure if you hit your head, I’ll walk you there. Come on. Don’t deprive me of my one good deed for the day.”

  “You try to do one good deed?”

  “Doesn’t everyone?” I asked. We were close to the clinic, and the lights were still on. That was a good sign. I wasn’t sure it would be open.

  “Yeah, well, no. They should,” she added.

  “Yes, they should. We’re here,” I opened the door for her, letting go of her hand. Which sucked.

  She walked in before me, and I followed her. I wasn’t letting her out of my sight until I knew she was safe.

  An older woman was behind a desk, and she looked up with a smile as we came in through the second door. “Can I help you?”

  “Casey was running, and she fell. She’s not sure whether she hit her head,” I said before Casey could speak. “I don’t know her, but I helped her up, and she seems a little spacey.”