Kate could hardly believe that they were going to let her take care of Brian Littrell after his heart surgery.  She was one of the best young nurses in her unit and one of the few that Dr. Caine had put on the short list to care for his VIPs.  Thankfully, Kate kept her private life private. No one at work knew she was a Backstreet Boys fan. And no one knew that Brian was her favorite boy. She received Brian from the OR without any complications.  Once she had him connected to all the monitors and had written down her first note, she and a coworker gave him the customary post-op bath to get the betadine off of his chest and make him presentable for visitors.  She made every effort to be professional about the bath, but her eyes couldn’t help but admire him. Her coworker noticed nothing, but Brian was awake and he was watching her.  She felt certain that he, like most patients, wouldn’t even remember the post-op bath. Brian did well after the bath and Kate let his parents and girlfriend in to visit. Everyone was very nice and stayed for the 20 minutes they were allowed at the first post-op visit.  Kate explained that they hoped to have Brian off the respirator within the next 1-2 hours and that she would let them in to see him again once that happened. Everything went smoothly and Brian was taken off the respirator and he was breathing fine on his own.  His family came back to visit again and they were surprised to see him up in the chair already.  When he had been up for an hour, Kate encouraged him to go back to bed, but he wanted to stay up.  She told him it wasn’t a good idea, but he didn’t listen.  He sat up for 2 and a half hours and when Kate went to get him back in bed, he was too tired out to move without her helping him a lot.  She leaned forward and had him put his arms around her neck and she grabbed him around the waist and helped him stand.  Then she joked about them dancing the 2-step as she helped him pivot around to sit on the bed.  When she told him he could go ahead and sit down, he remained standing and just looked at her there in his arms. “I saw you looking at me when you gave me a bath,” he said softly. She looked down.  “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did that… it’s just that you’re…you and I couldn’t help it.” She looked back up at him. The look he was giving her nearly made her heart stop.  “I promise I won’t let it happen again. I’ll even tell them you don’t want me back as a nurse to be certain.” “I liked the way you looked at me. I want you to  keep being my nurse.” He had his hands in her hair playing with it just enough that she would notice. “Ok,” she said.  “But we need to get you back in bed so you can rest. You still have to get up 2 more times today and tomorrow  we have lots of work to do.” She helped him sit back on the bed and then instructed him on how to lay down without it hurting his chest too much. Unfortunately she had to help him shift his shoulders in the bed once he was laying down and that meant for her to lean over him and let him hold her again while she shifted his shoulders and upper body. He deliberately let his hand graze her left breast once she had him comfortable on the bed.  She met his eyes but said nothing. She just turned and got his blankets and tucked him in before charting and getting ready to give report to the night shift nurse. Things went well for Brian overnight and the next day.  Kate was his nurse again the next day and he made effort to behave.  He was successful except for the occasional comment about her boobs.  He had always had a thing for boobs and hers were nice.  On his 3rd post-op day, the doctor removed his chest drains and wrote for him to have his urinary catheter removed and for him to be up walking with assistance if possible. Brian couldn’t help himself when Kate came over.  “So, are you going to be the one to take out my catheter?” “Only if you promise to behave. Otherwise, I’ll get one of the male nurses to come over and take it out for you.  Are you going to be good?”  He nodded.  She put on her gloves and used a syringe to deflate the balloon on the catheter.  It came out easily, but still stung a little.  When she turned to go take the catheter and the drainage bag to throw it away,  he stopped her. “I promise you I’ll always be good.”  He said it with such an innocent look on his face, but by now she knew better. She was used to old men flirting with her, but Brian was just a couple of years younger than her and it was both worrisome and flattering at the same time. She got a portable heart monitor and helped him get up so they could walk.  He refused to link his arm with hers or to put his arm over her shoulder. He wanted it around her back where he could almost reach her breast on the opposite side.  Every time he inched his fingers forward, she’d lean back on his arm thereby stretching his chest muscles and causing a little pain and he’d back off.  Once back in his room, he asked if she would help him get cleaned up before his family visited. He was not amused when she got the bath basin and supplies and set everything up for him.  He was even less thrilled when she explained that he could do most of it himself and call her when he needed help changing his gown or washing his back. He called her back in and asked if she would be able to help him shave.  There were no mirrors and he really did need to shave.  He thoroughly enjoyed Kate shaving his face and was surprised that she did such a good job.  He told her he needed her to help him with his back and his gown and then he’d be all set for visitors.  When she went to wash his back, he decided to stand up so she could get to him easily.  Standing up also caused his gown to fall in the floor since it had only been lying on his lap while she shaved him. “You, Mr. Littrell,” she said and took a breath, “are testing me.  Stop it.”  She stepped behind him and began washing his back.  She finished and dried his back and turned to get the clean gown off the end of the bed. She held it up in both arms and turned around to help him put it on holding it strategically so that she couldn’t see all of his naked glory.  But when he put his arms into the sleeves that she was holding up, he stepped close to her and she could feel his erection easily through the gown.  He hugged her against him for a second before she pulled away and quickly left the room. Half an hour later, she returned to find that he had cleaned the bath supplies up and put them away. He was resting in the chair watching TV looking completely innocent. “I will not be your nurse tomorrow.” He sulked. She didn’t relent. She did her last assessment of him for her shift and was charting it when his family arrived to visit. He bragged on her for shaving him and for taking such good care of him.  He got up and walked around the room with his parents and his girlfriend.  They all adored Kate and thought she was the best nurse ever.  Brian said he didn’t think that Kate was going to be his nurse the next day and they all freaked out. “Are you off work tomorrow?” Leighanne asked her. Kate just looked at Brian.  She couldn’t believe he could be that manipulative. “No, I’m here. But they may need me to work with someone  more critical than Brian. He’s likely to be transferred to the Stepdown unit tomorrow. I was surprised that they didn’t transfer him today.” Brian’s parents spoke up then and she had to work to contain her response. “Dr. Caine assured us that you would be taking care of Brian until he goes home.  We liked you right away and talked with him about it.  He said he could work it out to where you could go and take care of Brian over on the stepdown unit too.” His mom looked over at Brian before adding “Isn’t that wonderful news, honey?”

“Yeah, Mom.  That’s great.” Brian said and tried to not look as happy as he felt.