by Ann, Natalie
When he heard the water running he knew she was getting into the shower and figured he should catch up.
He turned the water on himself, then peeled his damp shirt over his head, dropping his shorts and underwear down with them.
He adjusted the temperature of the water down so that it was cold enough to wake his butt up on a few hours of sleep like when he was in college.
He was wide awake, that wasn’t the problem. Getting control of his body was the bigger issue.
Once he was clean and dressed, he went back through his room and opened the door to see Adriana standing there with her hand poised to knock.
“I don’t suppose you are coming calling for the reason I’d like?” he asked.
She snorted. “Hardly. Do you have a hairdryer? I hadn’t planned on washing my hair, but then again I hadn’t planned on getting this much of a workout in either.”
“I’ve got one somewhere. Come on in while I look for it.”
She stood in his doorway looking around. He shook his head figuring he wasn’t going to ask her to follow him. But he did get her in his room.
He finally found it in the back of the closet still in the box. “I think I figured you for more colorful decorations.”
“No,” he said, handing the box over. “Hope this works. I never took it out of the box. I bought it last year when Jade needed to crash here while work was being done at her place.”
“Your sister didn’t have her own hairdryer?” she asked.
“She did, but I wasn’t sure if she was going to bring it. There was a gas leak in her building during renovations and she didn’t have time to get out what she wanted. I knew she’d be focusing on her clothes more than anything.”
“That’s kind of sweet you bought that for her. Here I figured it was for when a woman spent the night.”
He thought he did a good job of keeping any flush from his face. He had no reason to be embarrassed over her comment.
“I don’t think as many women stay here as you think.”
He’d rather go to their place so he could leave when he wanted, though he did stay the night a lot. His cousin Sam was the one that never wanted to spend the night with any woman.
“It’s none of my business,” she said and turned to walk out of his room while she opened the box. He couldn’t help but notice her long wet hair hanging down her back in curls and wanted to wrap it around his fist and yank her in for a kiss.
He didn’t. He kept walking past her into the kitchen and got another bottle of water while she finished drying her hair.
Ten minutes later she came out, it wasn’t dry all the way, just most of the moisture taken from it, leaving it looking glossy like fresh morning dew.
“So, food options?” he said. She seemed in a good enough mood so he was going to assume they were still on for lunch. “You said burgers? I know this great place. Want to drive together?”
“We could,” she said. “Let me grab my things and put them in my car on the way out.”
Which meant she was going to take away any excuse he would have had to get her back to his apartment.
They left the building, got in his car, and he drove to a restaurant not that far from his house. Sunday around one and it wasn’t that busy, which gave them a choice of seating and he was quick to say a booth in the back.
Once they were seated and their food and drinks ordered, he said, “This was fun. I can’t tell you the last time I had a workout like that.”
“Me too,” she said. “I miss it. I love to get outdoors and just move. Not a lot of my friends back home were into it though. They’d rather shop, go to the movies, get drinks, spa days. Those are all fine, but I can only take so much of it.”
“There is nothing wrong with a spa day after a long workout,” he said.
“I shouldn’t be surprised that you are someone that gets seaweed wraps and so on.”
He almost coughed on the water he was sipping. “I meant massages. I’m not that high maintenance.”
“Says most men that are,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“What about me shouts high maintenance?” he asked. “I’ve been hot and sweaty in front of you twice now in two days. You kicked my butt in racquetball and I was a good sport about it. You’ve seen me in scrubs, shorts, and T-shirts.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I guess you have a point. But that watch on your wrist is pretty high end.”
“A gift from my parents when I finished my residency.”
“Oh,” she said.
“What else?”
“Your car.”
“I like nice things, but that doesn’t mean I’m high maintenance.”
“Okay. You’ve got me there.”
“I didn’t expect you to give in so easily. I found it fun bantering with you. I almost think you do it on purpose to see if you can get a rise out of me. Like the one I had earlier.”
Yeah, he was pushing it saying that but why not? He wanted to see the fire leap into her eyes that she got his meaning on the type of rise he had.
And it did. Not the anger kind but arousal.
“I’ve been told I’ve got a temper. I don’t think so. Not unless I’m crossed,” she said.
He moved back when his burger was placed in front of him. She’d gotten the same thing. He liked that they seemed to share so much in common.
When she picked her burger up and bit in, he did the same, chewed and then said, “I don’t have much of a temper. At least I don’t think so. My brothers can get me riled, but that’s normal. For the most part I go with the flow.”
“I’m sure you can get riled at work if you feel something isn’t being done the way it should.”
“That’s a given. Patients come first. My job is the only thing I’ve ever really been intensely focused on. The only thing I’ve consistently put first in my life over my family.”
“At least your family is first. I guess that might be why you’re still single then.”
It wasn’t said sarcastically or even maliciously. She most likely didn’t mean any harm, but he was still a little tweaked. “So what is your reason for still being single then?”
She stopped eating and narrowed her eyes. “I deserve that question. I’ve tried at least. I’ve been in relationships. They didn’t work out.”
“Because you hate cheaters,” he said, starting to put things together. “Did your last boyfriend cheat on you?”
“This was going so well too,” she said, filling her mouth with fries. “I have a bad habit of doing that. Saying something and ticking someone off without meaning to. So I’m going to apologize.”
“Apology accepted,” he said and went back to eating. She still didn’t answer him, but he was going to let it go for now.
When the check came, he reached for it the same time she did. “I’ve got it,” he said.
“It’s not a date.”
“So? A friend can’t buy you lunch after you whipped his butt on the court today?”
She laughed and let go of the check. “Fine. I’ve got the next one.”
All he could do was laugh when she blushed. She probably didn’t realize she’d just opened the door wider to let him in for another time they could spend together.
14
More Gossip
“Did you do anything fun this weekend?”
Adriana looked at one of the nurses she’d worked with a lot lately. Jasmine was older than her, probably in her mid-forties but she was nice. She didn’t really pry too much but rather wanted to just chat to pass the time.
“I went on a hike Saturday until it poured on me, then on Sunday I played racquetball for a few hours.”
“I said fun,” Jasmine said, letting out a little shudder. “That’s more like work. Good grief, you young ones don’t know what it’s like. I thought most your age were all about bars and drinking.”
She snorted. “Not me. I mean I do and have in the past, but I’d rather spend my time doing some kind o
f activity.”
“I suppose I’ve heard a lot of your generation doing that. Being one with nature. Too many bugs for me.”
Normally she didn’t have these types of conversations, but she didn’t want to be lumped into the tree hugging granola-loving type either. “Racquetball has nothing to do with being one with nature. I like the outdoors as much as the indoors. I just like to do things. I’m not one for sitting around to binge watch TV unless I’m sick.”
“That’s probably why you are so tiny. Even under those scrubs it’s easy enough to see you’re pretty toned.”
“Thanks,” Adriana said, then went back to the computer to get ready for the OR and take her mind off of Wyatt. That was enough conversation for her. It was a step that she didn’t feel like Jasmine was going to grab a scalpel and stab her in the back with it like she’d felt so much at her last job when she didn’t want to talk about her personal life.
She checked the schedule today and Wyatt wasn’t in any of her surgeries unless there was a last minute change. Here she was trying not to think of him yet she was looking to see if he’d be around her.
She never thought she’d been one of those women that did that.
They weren’t dating. Not in her eyes. She didn’t care if he turned her on. She didn’t care if she dreamed of him again last night and woke up hot and sweaty.
They were friends in her mind.
Friends that enjoyed doing some of the same things and activities.
If she was hoping he would have texted her last night, she was keeping that to herself.
There was no reason to get herself worked up waiting for or watching for someone. Just because she’d had the best weekend with him since she’d moved here didn’t mean he was going to spend more time with her.
He had friends. He had family.
He had women.
Men like him dated. She knew that.
She wasn’t really interested in dating...just yet.
And she didn’t expect him to wait for her either. That wouldn’t be fair.
After her first four-hour surgery, she was glad to take her lunch break and walk. Being on her feet was fine with her, but in the OR she wasn’t moving around as much as she would like and she could get stiff if it was a longer surgery like that. Most day surgeries weren’t but there were some complications.
She went to the cafeteria and got a smoothie and a chocolate chip cookie to stick in her pocket for later.
When she was walking around the grounds drinking her strawberry mango concoction, she’d heard her name called again. What was it with people? In the past few weeks she’d been stopped or talked to more than the entire time she’d been employed.
“Hi, Savanna,” she said to the young nurse that had been in the OR with her yesterday. Savanna just filled in now and again on this floor when they were short staffed.
“I heard a rumor and was curious if it was true.”
“What’s that?” she asked. “I don’t hear too much and tend to keep to myself.”
“Well, it’s kind of about you. I heard you’ve been in Wyatt Fierce’s office a few times. Are you guys dating? Someone said he’d asked you out and you turned him down.”
Damn it. Wyatt was right. Here she was all worried people would see them talking in public and wanted to be in private and that ended up raising more eyebrows.
“No, we aren’t dating,” she said.
“But have you been in his office?” Savanna asked.
She wouldn’t lie. “Yes. His mother and my stepmother work together. I’m new here, not just to the hospital but to the area.” She figured if she could explain some of this it would waylay more gossip.
“Okay. So you went up there to say hi after you turned him down?”
She sighed. “He didn’t ask me on a date,” she said. “My stepmother asked his mother to ask him if he saw me to offer to show me around. That is all he was doing that day and I said I was fine. I went to apologize to him if I came off rude though.”
“Twice?” Savanna asked with a big grin. “You had to tell him you were sorry twice?”
She wanted to growl. This was why she didn’t talk to people. It was like she could feel the blade in her back even though Savanna was being nice enough. It’s the way it was in the hospital, she knew that.
If someone saw something and they thought it was juicy enough, they were bringing out the blender and making drinks for everyone.
“No. I decided to take him up on showing me around. We played racquetball this weekend for a few hours.”
“You might be the first woman I know that has been sweaty around Wyatt and it was only for exercise. Damn. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I told you there is a family connection. It’s not any more than that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back.”
She was ten feet away when her phone went off, so she pulled it out of her pocket and lo and behold the handsome devil himself was reaching out to see how her day was going.
Friends did that, right?
* * *
Wyatt didn’t want to push his luck and bother Adriana last night after she’d left his place. More like the parking lot.
After their little tug of war with the bill, they drove back to his condo and she got out and went right to her car. No reason to go back upstairs, she’d made sure of that.
He desperately wanted to kiss her. Touch her. Make another date.
But they weren’t dating and if he moved too fast she’d run in the other direction, he was positive. And she had some fast little legs.
So he went back to his place and pulled up any game on TV he could to kill some time. Then he turned on his PS4 and decided to entertain himself with some Modern Warfare. He only did that when he was completely bored out of his mind.
But Noah was online with Sebastian and he spent a few hours with them talking back and forth while Sebastian kicked both his and his brother’s butt.
Guess it was the weekend to get beat by everyone around him.
But by the time he was taking a lunch break the next day he couldn’t hold off any longer texting Adriana. He waited until he was in his office, hoping maybe she’d call him.
We need to talk, she typed back.
Now? he asked
No. After work. I’ll call later.
He replied back okay and figured that was the end of it. Now he just had to figure out what the hell she wanted to talk about. Something told him it wasn’t going to be anything he’d be happy about.
There was a knock at his door so he looked up to see his cousin Sam standing there. “Hey. Welcome back. How was the honeymoon?” he asked.
“Perfect,” Sam said, coming in to sit down.
“No appointments?” he asked.
“I just got out of surgery. It was faster than scheduled and I don’t have any appointments for another hour. Do you want to get some lunch or did you eat?”
“I came up here to see if I had any food.” He might as well go with his cousin now that he knew Adriana wasn’t going to be talking to him.
“You never have food up here. What’s wrong with you?”
He wondered if he should say something to Sam. “Nothing.”
“Doesn’t look it to me. Still smarting over striking out with the cute nurse?” Sam asked.
“I didn’t strike out,” he argued, then wished he didn’t when Sam laughed.
“Oh, that’s right. You didn’t really ask her out on a date. You just wanted to show her around.”
“And I did this weekend. Well, we went hiking and then played racquetball.”
“Really? Okay, guess I was wrong then,” Sam admitted when they were walking out of the offices.
“About what?”
“You don’t do activities with women like that normally. So either you aren’t attracted to her or you just were doing your mother a favor.”
“I was doing my mother a favor,” he said, then lowered his voice. “But I’d be bli
nd and stupid to not be attracted to her.”
Sam laughed this time. “So you are trying to win her over with outdoor activities. Couldn’t have been Saturday. We flew back and it was pouring. What a nasty landing that was.”
“Oh, we were hiking in it Saturday. It wasn’t fun. I take that back. She didn’t get all pissy about being wet. We kind of laughed over it.”
“Oh my God. Is it possible that you’re interested in someone that isn’t superficial?”
He did tend to go toward women like that. Not on purpose as much as those were the ones he attracted. Figured the one he really wanted to get to know better didn’t want much to do with him other than a partner in some hobbies.
“Ass,” he said back.
“You’ll have to keep me posted on how this works out for you,” Sam said, smirking.
“Or not,” he said back, knowing that anything could happen on their phone call tonight. “Just friends in her eyes.”
“But not in yours and that is what makes this fun.”
15
Always Talk
At six thirty, Adriana finally worked it out in her head what she was going to say to Wyatt. She sent him a text first to see if he was home and could talk. No use calling and going to voicemail. She hated leaving messages.
He replied back rather fast, so she called.
“So what did I do?” he asked right away.
She laughed. “Nothing.”
“Your text sounded serious. Normally when someone says they need to talk there is a lecture or a fight on the horizon.”
She thought back to the times she’d told that to men in the past and realized he was right. “Do women say that to you often?”
“No. My mother more than anyone. Usually it’s telling me I’ve gone too far with a joke or prank and am going to piss someone off or have regrets.”
“I bet you’re the one that does the ‘we’ve got to talk’ speech.” Men like him were heartbreakers, she knew. Women probably wouldn’t put up with his crap just like he said his mother lectured him.
