by Kaylee Ryan
That’s all changed.
“Hey,” Grady says, pushing his shoulder into mine. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
“No,” I admit.
“Thank you for your help.” He holds up the tablet. I open my mouth to tell him that it was nothing when another nurse, Carla, comes over and sticks her hand out to Grady.
“Hi, I’m Carla. It’s nice to meet you.” She bats her eyelashes at him. “I checked the schedule and see that you have a day off this weekend. I thought we could go for a drink. I could show you around the area.”
My mouth drops open in shock.
“Actually, I’m from here, and my girlfriend and I already have plans.”
“Is it serious?” she asks him.
“Is what serious?” He acts as if he doesn’t know what she’s asking him.
My fists are so tight I can feel my nails biting into my skin.
“Your girlfriend. I won’t tell if you won’t,” she purrs.
Yes, she fucking purrs at him. Her voice is low, and I’m sure she’s thinking that it sounds sexy, but I’ve got news for her, it doesn’t. Grady must feel the tension rolling off me. He steps to the side, causing our shoulders to rub.
“Yes, Carla. My relationship with my girlfriend is serious. I love her, and there is no way I would ever cheat on her. I’m sorry, your efforts are wasted on me.”
Carla mumbles what sounds like “lucky bitch” under her breath, grabs a folder from the desk, then turns and walks away.
“Follow me.” Grady grabs the tablet from the counter and marches down the hall. I rush to follow him as his long strides carry him away from me. At the end of the hall, he stops in front of the door that reads Supply Closet. Testing the handle, he opens the door and motions for me to go inside. I do as he asks and hear the door shut behind us, and the click of the lock.
“What are—”’ I don’t get to ask him what we’re doing in here because he pulls me into him and crushes his mouth to mine. This kiss is not slow and calculated. It’s full of heat and need. He kisses me like I’m the air he needs to breathe. When he finally pulls away, he rests his forehead against mine. We’re both breathing heavily, trying to recover from the kiss.
“It’s you, Collins. All I need is you. Don’t let them get to you. They see my title and that’s all they want. They want to latch onto a doctor, but that’s not happening. At least, not with me. I’ve attached myself to you.” He gives my hip a gentle squeeze.
“I wanted to hit her, Grady. Both of them. I’ve never felt the urge to harm another human being in my life, but I wanted to punch them.”
He chuckles. “Easy, tiger.”
“It’s not funny. What is happening to me?”
“You felt threatened, but I’m telling you that you have nothing to worry about. It’s you who lives in here.” He places my hand over his heart. “Just you.”
It’s all too much. I didn’t expect to feel the way I did when they were blatantly hitting on him. It’s all new territory for me. Not wanting to disappear into my thoughts about Grady and where we are in this relationship, I change the subject. “You were good with her, with Lucy.”
“Thank you. Kids are easy. That’s one of the main reasons I went into pediatrics.”
“He would be proud of you, you know that, right?”
He sucks in a breath and slowly exhales. “I’d like to think so.” He pulls me into his chest and hugs me tightly. “It wasn’t just him you know, that got me here. Sure, I started out wanting to be a doctor, wanting to help other families like ours. But you were my motivation in medical school. I worked hard to get top grades, so I had my choice of residency programs. I wanted to come home to you, Collins. I was determined to do so.”
Lifting my head from his shoulder, I look at him. “I missed you.”
His eyes soften. “I missed you, too, baby. So, much.”
“We better get back to work before someone notices we’re gone.”
“Can we just stay here all day?”
“We could, but that’s not why you spent all those years in college. You’re here to help, to make a difference.”
“What about you?”
I shrug. “Losing Jared affected all of us. We each chose our path with his memory guiding us.”
“Collins, I—” I hold my hand up to stop him.
“We really need to get back out there.” I kiss him quickly, just a peck on the lips and walk around him and out of the supply closet. I don’t know what he was going to say, but I do know that this is not the time or the place to get into any deep conversations. We have a job to do. These kids, their families are depending on us.
The rest of the day we work side by side. I easily anticipate his needs, and we’re a well-oiled machine. So much so that Dr. Larson congratulates us on a job well done.
“So, I’ll see you at home later?” Grady asks me.
“Yeah, we can make that happen,” I tell him.
“I have some charting left to do, but I won’t be far behind you. Drive safe.”
“You, too.”
“Always, baby.” He reaches out like he’s going to wrap his arms around me, then his hands drop to his sides as he thinks better of it, and I swallow hard.
“See you soon,” I say, leaving him standing at the deserted nurses’ station to gather my things and head home.
It’s Friday night and just after seven, and I’m finally on my way home. It’s been one hell of a week, but I knew that going in. Nothing about residency or even being a doctor is easy, that’s not why I chose this career. When my little brother died, I knew then that I wanted to help other families so they wouldn’t have to go through what we did.
I’m dead on my feet, and all I want to do is go home and snuggle with Collins. I’ve put in some really long days, and I’ve only seen her for about a half hour or so each night, outside of the hospital. I’ve not been able to convince her to stay the night, but I’m not worried. We’ll get there. Hell, I never imagined she would let me back into her life this easy, so she can take all the time she needs. She’s mine, and that’s all that matters. The rest will just fall into place.
Pulling into our complex, I don’t bother going to my place before knocking on her door. When it swings open, her roommate, Tabby, greets me.
“Hey, Grady.” She smiles. “Come on in.”
“Hey. Is Collins here?”
“She’s in her room.” She smiles brightly. “You can go on back. First door on the left.”
“Thanks.” I move past her into the apartment and down the hall toward Collins’s room. When I reach her door, my mouth drops open. My girl is in nothing but a pale pink lace bra and panties. Her hair is wrapped up in a towel, and she’s standing in front of her closet, hands on her hips. I’m sure she’s trying to figure out what to wear, but from where I’m standing, she’s good now. We don’t need to leave this room. Quietly, I step into her room and close the door behind me. She whips her head around to face me.
“Grady!” A blush coats her cheeks. “What are you doing in here?” she asks as I stride toward her.
“I’m here for you,” I say softly as my lips press to hers. My hands find her hips, and I pull her into me. She kisses me back, just like she has every night this week.
“In my room?” She laughs, pulling away from our kiss.
“Tabby said you were in your room and that I could come on back.”
“I bet she did.” She shakes her head. “I’ll have to remember that. Payback is a bitch.”
“How was your day?” I ask, wrapping my arms around her waist. With one hand holding her close, I use the other to trace her spine softly.
“Good. I went to the store and ran some errands. Yours?”
“Better now,” I say, kissing her again. “We can stay in tonight. In fact, just throw on a robe and we can head over to my place.”
“You trying to get out of taking me out?”
“Never.”
“Uh-huh. Let me get dressed.�
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“I need to go shower, but damn, I can’t leave you here like this.”
“Sure, you can.” She pushes at my chest, but I refuse to budge.
Moving my hands back to her hips, I step back, keeping a hold of her. Slowly, I let my eyes rake over every gorgeous inch of her. “You take my breath away,” I say, pulling her back into my chest and kissing her temple.
“I need a half an hour. I’ll come over as soon as I’m ready.”
“Just text me. I’ll come to the door to get you.”
“You don’t have to,” she assures me.
“Baby, technically this is our first date, I’m not fucking it up. You text me when you’re ready, and I’ll be here.” With one more quick kiss to her lips, I reluctantly release her and turn and walk out of her room.
At my place, I rush through a shower and forgo shaving; instead, I use that time to run down the street and grab her some flowers. When I pull back into the parking lot of our complex, I get her text.
Collins: I’m ready.
Her message makes me feel as though I’m sixteen again and going on my first date. This might as well be. Nothing before her counts. Hell, I can’t even remember much of it. Collins is all I see. I don’t bother to text her back. Instead, I grab the bouquet of flowers and head inside. I knock twice and step back, holding the flowers in front of me as if they’re a shield. When the door opens, my eyes widen at the sight of her. She’s wearing jeans that look as though they’ve been painted on. Her sleeveless blue flowing top brings out the vibrant blue in her eyes, and her feet are in some kind of strappy heels that look hot as fuck.
Realizing I’m just staring at her and have yet to say anything, I lean in and kiss the corner of her mouth. “You make my heart race,” I say softly. Pulling back, I hand her the flowers.
“I can take those.” Tabby’s arm snakes around Collins and grabs the flowers. “You kids have fun. I won’t wait up,” she says with a chipper voice. She hands Collins her purse and phone and pushes her out the door.
“Tabby!” Collins says loudly, laughing.
“Love you,” Tabby’s muffled reply comes through the door.
“You ready?” I ask, offering her my arm.
“Yeah. Where are we going again?”
I know she’s worried about being seen; we talked about it earlier this week when I asked her to have dinner with me. “Don’t worry, I have it all under control.” I asked around, and there is a small mom and pop diner the next town over that a few of the nurses raved about—one in particular. I think she thought I was going to ask her to go. It’s not until I thanked her and told her it sounded like somewhere my girlfriend would love that her face fell. I should feel guilty, but I don’t. I never gave her reason to think I wanted to ask her out. That was all on her. Not to mention, she doesn’t hold a candle to my Collins.
Once we’re on the road, I reach over and hold her hand in mine. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you. I can’t believe we’re doing this. That we’re together, like this.” She raises our joined hands.
“Get used to it.”
“You’re awful confident, Dr. Carmichael.” Her voice is light and flirty.
“I am Nurse Ward,” I fire back. “I know what I want.” I pull her hand to my lips and kiss her knuckles.
“I still worry.”
“I know you do, baby. But time will show you this is right. Nothing that feels as good as this, as being with you could be wrong.”
“Not that it’s wrong, just that you’ll change your mind. I crushed on you for years and then one night, everything I wished for came true, and then I woke up and you were gone.”
My gut twists at her words. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. You don’t have to keep saying it. I’ve forgiven you. I just… still have this nagging worry in the back of my mind.”
“That takes time, Collins. Take all of it that you need. I’ll be here.” She settles back into the seat, and we ride the rest of the way in comfortable silence. The radio plays softly in the background, and if this is all we do tonight, it’s already the best date of my life, just because it’s her.
“How did you find this place?” she asks thirty minutes later when I pull into the diner.
“I asked around at work.” I turn off my SUV and turn to face her.
“Thank you, Grady.” She smiles over at me.
“Just for the record, I don’t want to hide you, hide us. I respect the fact that you want to wait, but I want to just throw that out there.”
“I know. Just a little while.”
“Let’s get you fed.” I climb out of the SUV and rush to open her door. She’s already climbing out when I get to her door. Surprising me, she reaches out, taking my hand in hers. That’s how we walk into the small mom and pop diner. Seeing the “Please seat yourself” sign, Collins leads us to the back of the restaurant. She slides into the booth and to my surprise, gives my hand a gentle tug. Taking the hint, I slide in next to her. Unable to resist, I move in and kiss her cheek.
“Welcome to Mabel’s.” A young waitress greets us with menus and silverware. “Today’s special is meatloaf,” she says, smiling. “I’ll give y’all a minute to look over the menu. What can I get you to drink?” She rattles off our options.
“I’ll have a sweet tea,” Collins orders.
“Make that two.”
“Did they tell you what was good?” she asks.
“Everything,” I tell her. “Apparently, it’s all home cooking, and you can’t go wrong with any menu item.”
When the waitress comes back, we both decide on the meatloaf, and then she’s gone. “Tell me about medical school,” Collins says.
“It was… lonely. My two roommates, Jeff and Andy, they were just as focused on school as I was. They were both there on a scholarship and couldn’t afford to party it up. The three of us pretty much studied our asses off for three years.”
“No wild parties?” she asks. There is teasing in her tone, but I can tell she’s hesitant to hear the answer.
“No. We went to one or two, but it was always to show our faces and then head back home. I guess we were all just too focused on other things. More important things.” My hand under the table reaches over and gives her leg a gentle squeeze.
“So, you just studied all the time?”
“Yeah, it’s medical school.” I laugh.
“Stop.” She chuckles softly. “You’ve always been smart.”
“Yeah, but it was important, you know? I mean, people’s lives are going to be in my hands. I felt like I needed to give it my all. Besides, none of that interested me. I was missing you and….” I shrug.
“I missed you, too. Desperately,” she adds. “Crazy, right? One night together, and I felt as though I’d lost a part of myself.”
“Not so crazy. We grew up together.”
“Yeah, but it was Caleb who you spent the majority of your time with.”
I nod. “I know, but I felt it, too, Collins. I felt it, and it scared the hell out of me.”
The waitress drops off our food, promising to be right back with refills. We both dive in, starving. Talking ceases while we eat.
“Ugh.” Collins pushes her plate away. “I’m stuffed. This place is amazing.”
“It is. Did you leave room for dessert?”
“No.” She laughs. “I might explode.”
“All right then.” I wave to the waitress and signal for the check. After I settle the check, I place my hand on the small of her back and lead her back out to my SUV. “I thought we could go to the park or maybe drive around.”
“It’s late, and I know you’re exhausted.”
“I’m not ready for my time with you to end.”
“How about a movie?”
“My place?” I offer.
“Yeah, we can do that.” Her smile is vibrant, and I know without looking in the mirror, mine matches hers. Opening her door, I wait for her to buckle her belt before leaning in and ki
ssing her soft lips. Pulling away, I shut the door and jog around to my side.
“How about we stop and pick up some ice cream and some popcorn?”
“I have some at my place. I’ll change…” She looks down at her clothes. “…and bring it over to yours.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” She leans her head back against the seat, turns toward me, and smiles. “Thanks for tonight.”
“It’s not over,” I remind her.
“I know. I just didn’t want to forget to tell you.”
Leaning over the console for one more kiss, I quickly move back to my side, buckle in and head home. With my girl. My Collins.
Finally.
I sent Grady on to his place so I could change. Tonight has been perfect—low-key, great food, good company. I’m trying not to get too excited, but it’s hard when he says the things that he does. He’s never lied to me, and I don’t feel like he is now. It’s just an adjustment, to go from him slipping away in the night and being ignored for three years, to him pursuing me. It’s a big change. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I love spending time with him. I’m glad he agreed to give this some time. We need it to connect. We owe it to ourselves to make sure this is what we think it could be before we add the stress of others not accepting it.
I’ve forgiven him, and I hope with all that I am that we can make this work. I want nothing more. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but for the first time since the night he slipped away, I’m excited to find out.
“What are you doing home this early?” Tabby asks from the couch.
“Changing.”
“Why?”
“We’re going to watch a movie over at his place. What are you doing home on a Friday night?”
