Cherish

by Evelyn Sola

  “You get to work, and I’ll bring you back some French toast.” She looks up and smiles at me, and my heart nearly flies out of my chest. Unable to stop myself from touching her, I try to smooth her poufy curls to no avail.

  “Okay, angel. Text me when you get back to your office, and I’ll come find you.” I tilt her chin up and capture her pink lips. She wraps her arms around my neck, and I deepen the kiss by grabbing the back of her head, filling her mouth with my tongue. When my body starts to wake up, and she moans, I abruptly end the kiss and release her. As she walks away, I surprise her by slapping her on the ass. She spins back around, surprise marring her face, but when she bites her bottom lip, I almost follow her. Instead, I blow her a kiss and turn back to the on-call room, practically colliding with Doyle.

  I sidestep him and enter the room, but he doesn’t take the hint. He walks inside the small space and sits on the bottom bunk while I log into my computer.

  “I didn’t know you and Alexandra were a thing.” We’ve never discussed my personal life, so it’s no surprise he wouldn’t know. “I guess that’s why she was at your party.”

  “Actually, she works with my sister, and Mellie invited her. We didn’t become a thing until after the party.” I focus on my computer and wait for him to leave. He doesn’t.

  “We went out a few times.” I school my features not to show my irritation. I make a point of taking my time typing something before looking at his face. He doesn’t look smug when I finally meet his gaze. What I see is far more concerning than smugness or arrogance. I hope I’m wrong, but his expression looks like regret.

  “Obviously, nothing came of that,” I say, standing up, towering over him.

  He throws up both hands and smiles sadly. “I just didn’t want it to be awkward.”

  “Why would it be, Doyle? She was single when I met her, and now she’s with me. Did I miss something?”

  “No, of course not. She’s a nice girl, and beautiful. Incredibly sexy. It’s just that—”

  His words come to an abrupt stop. He stands there quiet, mouth hanging open as if he’s waiting for me to finish his sentence.

  “It’s just that what?” I ask, holding his stare, daring him to say the words.

  Like the spineless jellyfish he is, he looks away and hangs his head. “It wasn’t a good time for me.”

  “I bet it wasn’t, but you’re not part of this equation. If you’ll excuse me.” I point toward the door, and he finally gets the hint. Without another word, he leaves my room and I fight the urge to follow him and punch his lights out. I know exactly why he ghosted her, but his shortsightedness is my gain.

  But because the universe hates me, I get another text from Natalie.

  CHAPTER 19

  ALEX

  Jason: Breakfast was sweet, but not as sweet as you.

  Me: Don’t you have a lecture to pay attention to?

  Jason: Just got out. Starting my rounds. Spend the night tonight. I’m working overnight tomorrow night.

  Me: Does that mean I can sleep in?

  Jason: Hell no. You’re going to need lots of coffee tomorrow morning.

  Me: Bring it, doctor.

  I end the text with a string of kiss emojis.

  “Stop smiling so much. You look creepy.” I don’t even bother looking at Ananda. I just flip her the bird as I wait for Jason’s reply. I blush when I get a GIF of a man eating an orange in a very seductive way.

  “Hold up,” Mellie says. I’ve come to realize she can be just as loud as her brother. “Wasn’t this bitch adamant about not being with Jason? She was lusting for Dr. Dud.”

  I ignore her as I put my phone down. It’s been one week of bliss with Jason Dupree. The only nights we haven’t spent together are when he’s working overnight at the hospital, but we’ve shared a quick lunch or kiss every day while under the same roof at work.

  “You are so loud, Mellie, and I’m allowed to change my mind.” Just to mess with her, I say, “Don’t make me tell you about how he flipped me over the other night, and—”

  “Stop right there! I don’t need to hear that shit.”

  Ananda cracks up laughing when Mellie goes running back to her desk, both hands covering her ears.

  “What did he do? You know I need to live through you. I’m going through a serious drought.”

  I ignore Ananda and go back to work, checking my phone every few minutes, but I don’t get anymore texts from Jason. A few minutes before lunch, I look up to the sound of footsteps approaching my desk.

  I look up to find Beth walking toward me with a delivery man. “Here she is,” she says to him.

  A big, beautiful arrangement of wildflowers is dropped on my desk. Before I can even tip the delivery man, he nods his head at me and walks out of the small office. This brings all the employees over to my desk, and they all watch me as I read the card.

  You were carrying wildflowers the day we met. They are a lot like you. Untamed, uninhibited and wholly beautiful.

  “That’s so fucking sweet it’s making my teeth hurt.” I turn to find Ananda smirking behind me. Mellie grabs the card from me, and thankfully, does not read it out loud. I’m relieved when the rest of the office loses interest and walks away from my desk.

  “You two are so nosy.” There’s no anger in my voice. In fact, I can’t get the smile off of my face as I lean down and smell my bouquet.

  “Whatever. Let’s go to lunch,” Mellie says. The three of us retrieve our lunches from the kitchen and make our way to the cafeteria. The minute we step out of the office, I see him. He’s walking toward us, but he doesn’t have his usual easygoing expression. He looks down at his phone, his brows furrowed before he forcefully shoves it in his pocket.

  His irritation changes into a sexy smile the minute he sees me in the hallway. He approaches, places both hands on my hips and kisses me. His hands on my hips are like a brand to my skin, setting it on fire.

  “Angel,” he says between kisses. I lift his hands from my hips and intertwine our fingers.

  “Aren’t surgeons supposed to have small hands?” I ask as I look at his wide palms.

  “I don’t know about that. What I do know is that my Alex loves my big hands on her body.” He lifts his hands and waves them in front of my face. “Small hands wouldn’t be able to handle those incredible tits of yours.”

  Ananda snickers and Mellie scoffs.

  “Alex, meet us in the cafeteria. You two are so damn inappropriate.” Mellie grabs Ananda’s elbow and they walk away laughing the entire time.

  “Just in time for lunch. I have enough for two.” I hit his butt with my lunch case, and he grins down at me.

  “I wish but I can’t. I’m on my way to scrub in for a ruptured appendix. I’ll see you at my place tonight.” It’s not a question, and he doesn’t wait for an answer. He raises my hand to his lips before he rushes down the hall.

  “I love the flowers!” I yell to his retreating back.

  CHAPTER 20

  JASON

  “Motherfucker.” Six missed calls from another strange number. Three text messages all tell me the same thing. Call me.

  Like all the other times, I delete the texts. Eager to get home and be with Alex, I shower as quickly as possible in one of the bathrooms next to my on-call room, scrubbing away the entire day, including Natalie’s attempts at contact.

  As I’m angrily putting my jeans on, I feel my phone vibrating again, but I’m pleasantly surprised when I see who the picture is from, holding the bouquet of wildflowers. She has the vase covering half of her face. Her lips are a soft pink and puckered as if she’s blowing me a kiss.

  There’s no message, just a picture.

  “Where’s Alex?” I toss the mail on the kitchen table and walk to the fridge to look for water.

  “It’s good to see you too, big brother.” I don’t bother responding to her remark since it’s obvious that Alex isn’t here yet. “Why are you in such a bad mood?”

  “I had a long day,
and I’m tired.”

  “You need your woman to make it better?” She smirks, but I don’t take the bait.

  “Yes.”

  She sits down across from me, crosses her arms, and waits for me to say more.

  “Natalie keeps calling and texting.” She cringes as I pull out my phone to show her all the missed calls. “I deleted the texts.”

  “I hope she shows her face here so I can kick her bony ass clear across the street.”

  “You don’t need another arrest, and I don’t want her coming here and causing a scene, Mellie. That part of my life is done.” I run my hands over my face and lean back in my chair, mentally and physically exhausted.

  “You need to tell Alex about her now. The last thing you want is for her to show up here. You know how she likes to twist things. If she knows you’ve moved on, she’s going to do her best to mess that up for you. She’s a horrible bitch. She can move on and have a life, but heaven forbid you should do the same.”

  Mellie continues to talk, but I tune her out. I try to drown out the noise inside my head that tells me it’s wishful thinking that I can simply ignore Natalie and have her take the hint. I refuse to acknowledge all the times I’ve ended things with her, only for her to find her way back into my bed, and ultimately my life.

  As an adult, I can look back now and realize we were always doomed. Her family never approved of us being together. Her conservative Korean parents wanted her with a Korean man, not me. Young Jason thought it was thrilling to sneak around, having her every way in her parents’ house when they weren’t home.

  We planned on attending the same college, and we got our acceptance letters into Boston College the same week. She didn’t tell me about her plans to attend NYU until the middle of July. Our first breakup only lasted until winter break. The thrill was too much to resist.

  “Did you hear me, Jase?” Mellie asks, waving her hand in front of my face, breaking me out of my daze.

  “Yeah, and tell her what? The man she’s sleeping with, the one she didn’t want to get involved with in the first place, is a scumbag?”

  “You’re not a scumbag. And better you tell her than she find out from that evil, manipulative bitch. She’s the scumbag, not you. She’s a liar. You never would have been with her if you knew. You have a past. So, what? She’s not going to hold it against you, Jase.”

  “You’re right, but not yet.” She opens her mouth to argue, but I talk first. “Soon, Mellie.” She starts to protest, but we’re interrupted by a loud knock on the door. “Drop it.”

  I open the door to catch Alex with her hand up, about to knock again. She’s changed since I saw her hours ago. She has on a white wrap around dress with yellow flowers. The dress accentuates her narrow waist and big breasts, and I can’t help but look down her at her cleavage.

  I will myself not to ravish her in the doorway and pull her inside to instead wrap my arms around her. I pull back only so that I can kiss her sweet lips. I hold her tighter and rest my chin on top of her head.

  “You smell good,” I say to her, reaching up to touch her damp curls.

  “I showered.” She giggles against me as she looks up and kisses my neck.

  “Are you two going to continue to stand there with the door wide open or are you going to come inside?” Mellie walks up to us and takes a big brown paper bag from Alex. “Food!” she says, walking with the bag to the kitchen.

  “You didn’t have to bring dinner. I was going to take you out. Where’s your overnight bag?” I lead her inside, close the door and kiss her again. “I’ve missed you.”

  She looks at me, surprise marring her face, before she smiles shyly.

  “I missed you too, and you look tired, Jay.” She runs her warm hands over my face, trying to smooth the fatigue from me. She grabs my hand. “So, we’re going to eat, and I’m going to strip you naked and massage the aches from your muscles. If you feel up to it, afterward, I’ll fix you a drink and we can do whatever it is you want.”

  And that’s exactly what happens. We eat takeout, laugh at Mellie’s cursing when we leave her to clean up the mess in the kitchen. Alex strips me of my clothes and has me lie on my stomach. I listen to her movements as she removes her dress. I sucked in a breath and feel my cock harden as she sits on my ass, her wet pussy coating my bare skin.

  I let her hands work wonders on my muscles as she kneads and rubs my sore body. As relaxing as it should have been, all I can focus on is that bare pussy. Unable to take anymore, I slowly turn on my back, lift her and place her where I need her the most.

  CHAPTER 21

  JASON

  “Are you going to get that? It’s been going off for hours.” I reach over to silence the phone again, knowing exactly who it is. Instead of just silencing the phone for the moment, I turn the damn thing off.

  “I just want to be here with you, uninterrupted.” I pull her closer. “And play with these.” I grab her breast in my hand and squeeze it gently. “I could play with these all night.” I pin her underneath me and stick my head between her breasts, rubbing my face against her skin. Her laugh echoes through the entire room.

  “You’re a breast man, I see.”

  “And an ass man. Don’t forget that hot pussy. I’m just an Alex man. I would go to war over this body.” I slide my hand underneath her body and grab her ass. “This skin feels like silk. These lips,” I say kissing her softly, “taste like cotton candy. This neck.” I run my tongue along her long neck. “These tits,” I say as I suck and bite both nipples. “I’d burn down the whole damn city over these tits.”

  The minute the phone turns back on, I have alerts for five new text messages. All but one is from Natalie. I delete her texts, feeling guilty doing this while Alex sleeps next to me. I focus on the text from Jake. We arrange to meet for breakfast in the morning since he’ll be in the city to get his marriage license and spend the day with Sandy. He claims it’s the last free day they have until the wedding.

  “Are you sure I look okay?” Alex asks the next morning. She looks better than okay in a pair of black ankle length pants, light blue top, and chunky wedges. Her hair is the curliest I’ve seen it and reaches just to the base of her neck.

  “You look beautiful.” She stands in front of my bathroom mirror and fusses with her hair. She tries to twist it and tie it with a hair clip, but her hair is too thick and refuses to cooperate.

  “Your hair looks fine, Alex.” Our eyes lock in the mirror and she smiles shyly. “Are you nervous? You already met them.”

  “I just wish I had something less stuffy to wear. Had I known I’d be skipping work today, I would have packed something else.” She tries the hairclip again, but it pops out of her hair and practically flies across the room.

  “It’s just breakfast, angel.”

  “With your best friend and his fiancée. I want them to like me.”

  “They already do like you,” I remind her.

  “Yeah, but we weren’t a thing back then. I was just a guest at your party.” She walks out of the bathroom and searches through her overnight bag. Frustrated, she tosses the bag on the floor and walks back to the bathroom to look through the drawers again. “And your sister not owning a blow dryer is ridiculous. You think I have time to run out and buy one? I could have sworn I packed mine and my flatiron. And I hate these clothes I’m wearing.” She stomps out of the bathroom again, but this time, I follow her. She’s fast as she walks out of the bedroom. She’s practically in the kitchen by the time I grab her elbow.

  “It’s just breakfast,” I repeat. I grab her chin and look into her eyes. “You look perfect.” And she does. It’s taking every ounce of willpower not to grab one of her breasts, knowing if I do, we’ll be very late for breakfast. “Relax, okay. They like you because I like you.”

  She relaxes, but the serene look on her face disappears as soon as she touches her hair again. I pull her hand away and kiss it.

  “After breakfast, we’ll stop off somewhere and get you a blow dryer and
whatever else you need. Keep them here. Leave some clothes here too.”

  Her eyes widen at my words, and she rolls her head back to get a clear view of my face. She blinks rapidly and shakes her head as if she can’t believe what she just heard.

  Despite having girlfriends over the years, none of them lasted longer than three or four months. Some didn’t even last a month, and when things ended, I never thought of the women again. Other than Natalie, no woman ever meant anything to me, until Alex. Since I saw her sitting in the café, I wanted to be near her.

  “You heard me right. I want you here all the time. Come and go as you please. You and Mellie are friends, so you can stay here with her when I’m working overnight.”

  “You’re kinda crazy, do you know that, Jason?” She walks back to the bedroom and grabs her purse, pulling out a small makeup bag. She goes into the bathroom, and I watch, fascinated, as she applies lip liner, followed by lip gloss. She adds eyeliner and mascara before she pinches her cheeks, giving her a little color.

  “That’s Dr. Jason Dupree,” I say. She looks at me through the mirror and we both laugh.

  “Excuse me. Do you know you’re crazy, Dr. Jason Dupree? We’ve only known each other a few weeks, and I don’t even know what we are. Last time you introduced me, you introduce me as Mellie’s friend.”

  I kiss her hand before intertwining our fingers and escorting her out of the house to my car.

  “If I remember things correctly, when I introduced you, you were Mellie’s friend. The same one who told me she was interested in someone else. Remember that? I do. You told me you were interested in another man as you ate the muffin I brought you.”

  I pin her against the door and kiss her lips. I know she wants to deepen the kiss, but I step away and open the door for her before walking to the driver’s side.

  “That was weeks ago, Doctor. Let that go.”