Vital Signs (The Saints of Salem Book 1)

Anya Volkov has spent years learning how to hold herself together. After working under a superior who made her doubt every instinct, she’s clawed her way back into confidence one shift at a time — quietly proving she belongs in the chaos of the ER. She doesn’t need saving. She doesn’t need hand-holding. What she needs is control. And then Desmond Vance walks into her trauma bay and calmly dismantles that illusion with a steady voice, a grounding presence, and a way of looking at her that feels entirely too perceptive.

Desmond doesn’t get distracted at work. At forty-nine, he’s built a career — and a reputation — on control, precision, and never letting anything, or anyone, get too close. But Anya is different. She listens. She adapts. She trusts him in a way that slips under his skin before he can stop it. What starts as quiet mentorship turns into something charged, something dangerous — something neither of them is willing to name out loud. Not in a hospital where boundaries matter. Not when everything between them feels like a line waiting to be crossed.