Fierce-Wyatt

by Ann, Natalie

  “No. I got this recipe weeks ago when we were sharing them. We do that at work. Swap recipes and she talked about how these are two of her husband’s favorite dishes. I said your father liked spicy food and I wanted to give it a try. I just hadn’t had a chance yet.”

  He looked at his father to see him shrug his shoulders. “I do like spicy foods and she hasn’t made it yet. Guess she was waiting for you too. Consider it your lucky night.”

  He moved to the table and took a seat since his mother put the two dishes on the table along with a salad and a loaf of bread. “It does look good. Smells awesome.”

  “Help yourself,” she said.

  They all started to dish up their food. “This is great,” he said. He was never a fussy eater. “So my name with Adriana’s hasn’t come up with Maggie?” he asked.

  “Just that once,” she said. “Why?”

  “I don’t want her mad at me if you said something and it got back to her. I suspect she likes to tell her family things on her own.”

  He caught his parents eying each other. “And what is it that she’d have to tell them?” his father asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Wyatt Joseph,” his mother said. “You’re almost dancing in the seat. What is going on?”

  He supposed it wasn’t that big of a deal to say something. It’s not like everyone didn’t witness her here this weekend and she got along with the family. And when was the last time he’d brought a friend to a family gathering? Never.

  Now that he thought of it, he rarely brought a woman to one.

  “Nothing. We’re just dating.”

  “And?” his mother asked.

  He looked at her. “It’s new. It’s been just friends in her eyes.”

  His father laughed. “I don’t think anyone thought that after this weekend.”

  “That’s what I figured. What do you think of her?” he asked his parents.

  They looked at each other again. “She’s very nice. But I told you that. Or that Maggie always said she was. She definitely likes to move around and have a good time.”

  “Yeah. She’s competitive but not completely in your face about it. I mean she has been with me but not in a bad way. It’s all in good fun.”

  “And that is always what you’ve been looking for,” his father said. “You don’t take too much to heart other than work and family.”

  Which he didn’t like hearing again. “It’s early yet,” he said, thinking of the conversation he’d had with Sam earlier.

  “Yes, it is,” his mother said.

  “She’s a little skittish right now,” he said.

  “Because of her breakup?” his mother asked.

  “Yeah. I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “Do you?” It’d be nice to get information without having to ask Adriana.

  “Not a word. Maggie isn’t the type to gossip. Though we talk about things, it’s never rumors or anything bad or something her family might not want anyone to know. I only know she wanted to leave and just start over and Jose encouraged her to come here.”

  “I get the feeling she is really close to her father,” he said. He wasn’t going to say much more. There was no reason to at this point.

  “That is what Maggie said too.” His mother went back to eating, then lifted her head. “Garrett, did you hear Payton was expanding some of her food options at the deli? You’ll have to let me know when you have her cater the office lunch next time.”

  His parents were going back and forth talking about other things and he knew he couldn’t return the conversation to Adriana without raising suspicion.

  He never talked much about his personal life and his mother rarely asked. They’d talked more about Adriana tonight than he had anyone else he dated but wasn’t shocked she easily switched to another topic.

  When he was helping his mother clean up the dishes his cell phone went off. He pulled it out of his pocket hoping it was Adriana, but it was the hospital telling him to come in for a surgery.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said. “Work calls.”

  “Do you want some leftovers? There is plenty,” his mother said.

  “I’d love some, but it’d just sit in my car while I was at work and go bad.”

  “Or I can put it in a cooler for you. No, your father can take me for ice cream tonight. I’m dying for it. We can swing by and drop it at your place if you want.”

  “That’d be great,” he said, leaning down to kiss her. “I’ll talk to you later. Thanks for dinner. It was great.”

  * * *

  “How did you do it?” Garrett asked her. “I didn’t think you had it in you to change the subject like that when I know you were dying to pry some more.”

  “It was hard, let me tell you. But I could see it in his eyes he wanted to know things and I didn’t have the information anyway. I had to find a balance. I don’t want him onto us. Not now with Jade questioning everything. Has she said anything to you at work?”

  “Not a word. Maybe she believes we had nothing to do with it.”

  “If you believe that, then you aren’t as smart as I thought you were,” she said.

  “I’m not sure what to believe. But I’m being careful so she doesn’t start to clue her brothers or cousins in. At least not yet. I mean, let’s be honest. If Jolene’s plan works with her, it wipes our hands of it. She’d never suspect us of having a part in that.”

  “But she is going to know someone did.”

  “Let them get the blame if Jade chews him up and spits him out.”

  “Do you really think that could happen?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure. That one is going to be tough and lots of fireworks.” He grabbed more plates at the table and helped her clean up. “I’m not worrying right now. We can focus on Wyatt. He seemed off tonight.”

  “I know. It was killing me to find out more of what is going on. But I couldn’t ask. Our kids know me as the mom that stays out of it unless I think it will work out. If I started to ask too much he’d get nervous or think I’m talking to Maggie.”

  “That hadn’t occurred to me so you handled it well.”

  “Glad to know you think I did something right,” she said, turning around. “But you know as well as I do he is trying to find out more about her. So she must not be saying much either.”

  “Which will bother him. Those two are going to butt heads a lot. More than Drake and Kara.”

  She laughed. “It is funny to see Drake and Kara go at it. But you can see the love in their eyes too.”

  “What did you see in Wyatt’s tonight?” he asked.

  “Frustration. Annoyance. He was anxious.”

  “He’s always anxious waiting for something to do,” Garrett said.

  “He is. The question is, what will his next step with Adriana be?”

  “Whatever it is,” Garrett said, “I doubt we’ll be privy to it anytime soon.”

  26

  Worked for Him

  Wyatt was walking out of the locker room changed into his scrubs and ready to go. He met up with the doctor who’d called him in. “Is the patient awake? What’s going on?”

  Sometimes he’d get called in and didn’t need to meet with the patient prior as they were already sedated or in critical shape and out cold from pain or for their own safety.

  “Awake and upset,” Dr. Landson said. “We’ve given her something to take the edge off. The patient has needed to have a valve replacement surgery for months and has been fighting me on it. She kept wanting to wait and see. Her husband said she passed out earlier and they brought her to the ER. After tests, her valve is leaking enough that it can’t wait.”

  “Okay, I’ll go in and talk. So she’s eaten recently.” He’d have to explain the risks of food or drink being regurgitated. The risk of her heart valve not being replaced outweighed all of that though.

  “They are opening the OR now, so we’ll be ready to go soon,” Dr. Landson said.

  Wyatt nodded his head and made his way t
o the patient. When he got there he pulled up her chart and looked over her history, then introduced himself. “I’m Dr. Fierce and will be your anesthesiologist today. I know this is a shock to you, but we’re going to make you as comfortable as possible.”

  “I can’t stop shaking,” she said. “I just want to go to sleep. Can’t you let me go to sleep?”

  “Soon. I just need to give you some information and get your consent and make sure you understand what I’ll be doing,” he said calmly and in a low voice, his hand rubbing over her foot under the blanket.

  “Give it all to my husband,” she said, starting to cry.

  He patted her hand that was out of the blanket to try to reassure her. To be human and not a robot as so many could be in this field. He couldn’t detach himself enough to not care, but didn’t have it in him to be a doctor that saw patients over and over and got to know them personally. He did what worked for him to keep him sane. Being any kind of a doctor could drain the emotions out of you.

  “I’ll explain it to both of you. It won’t take long.”

  He went through everything, got her to verify her information, sign her name and pulled out what he always called the magic juice. It only made patients happy because they didn’t remember anything. It was more magic to him. “What’s that?” she asked.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard it called Happy Juice before.” He started to push it in her IV. “You’re going to feel really sleepy and relaxed very fast. Then you’ll wake up in recovery.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I need it.”

  It was the last thing she said before her eyes were rolling back and she was relaxing. She wasn’t out, but she wouldn’t remember anything else.

  “I wish you could have done that sooner,” her husband said, standing up.

  “I understand,” he said. “We’ll take good care of her. Do you need someone to show you to the waiting room?”

  “I know where it is.”

  He watched the husband leave as the patient was brought to the OR. When he got in himself he saw Adriana moving around and knew his night had picked up.

  The surgery lasted a little over two hours. Dr. Landson was fast. “Don’t go anywhere just yet,” he was told. “I want to make sure things are fine after she wakes up.”

  “I’ll go hang out in the lounge until you let me know what is going on,” he said.

  He looked over at Adriana when he said that hoping he’d be able to find her. He doubted she’d seek him out in the doctor’s lounge.

  Thirty minutes later he was walking around to see if she’d left or not. She might have been told to hang out for a bit too. Must be the ORs were packed if she was called in.

  He was just on his way back to the lounge when he caught sight of her by the vending machine. “Hungry?” he asked.

  “Starving,” she said. She didn’t look like she was avoiding him so that was good. Of course there weren’t that many around.

  “No dinner before you were called in? My mother made Spanish rice and enchiladas.”

  “Yum,” she said. “Now I’m jealous. I love both of them. But no. I was doing yoga when I got called in and didn’t have time to eat anything more than a granola bar that I grabbed as I ran out the door.”

  “Tonight was my night at my mother’s for dinner. She has us all over individually. One of us a week. She said she got those recipes from your stepmother.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, then turned and put money in the machine, and popped out a candy bar. “Did your mother tell Maggie about...?” she asked trailing off.

  “No. I asked her. She said she got those recipes weeks ago when they had an exchange at work.”

  “Okay. Maggie has mentioned that before.”

  At least his mother wasn’t trying to pull one over on him. Not that she would or ever had before.

  “My mother was dropping leftovers at the house tonight,” he said lower. “You could come over and have some once we get the all clear to leave.”

  “I don’t think that’s smart,” she said, opening her candy bar and taking a bite. “I don’t have a change of clothes with me and we’ve got to work tomorrow.”

  There was no reason to push. He’d wanted her to spend the night on Monday after the concert and she’d used the same excuse.

  “Guess you’ll have to come over another time for it then. Maybe dinner tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Maybe,” she said. “How long do you think we’ve got to wait?”

  “No clue. Last I checked the patient still hadn’t woken up. The nurses were trying to get her to. Some people just want to sleep. Or they wake up and go back to sleep. I’d say once she is up it might be another hour.”

  “So we just sit here and kill time?” she asked.

  “I can think of another way to kill time.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him again. It was a look he was coming to expect from her. “You’re joking. That goes against everything I said on Monday.”

  “It does yet your eyes just lit right up when I suggested it even behind the annoyance. I know a place to go and no one would find us.”

  “I’m not surprised that you’d know a place,” she said.

  “I don’t like the look in your eyes now.” He glanced around and didn’t see anyone. He was leaning against the wall; she was a few feet away. To anyone they were just two people talking. “I’ve never done that with anyone in the hospital before but many have.”

  “Somehow that statement shocks me.”

  “It will kill time. Bet you didn’t even get to finish your yoga session, did you?”

  He could see she was thinking about it and was stunned. Hell, he was shocked he was even suggesting it himself. Employees did it all the time when they were on break yet he never did.

  It went back to taking his job seriously. But he wasn’t thinking of anything other than Adriana standing in front of him trying to make it look like they had nothing going on to anyone that glanced their way. Maybe that was what was pushing him so much. To prove to her she was wrong.

  That he wanted her tight body that he hadn’t had his hands on since Monday and would have loved to hold against him all night long. Nope, she’d left when they were done. He’d be asking her to stay this weekend though.

  “No, I didn’t. How about we just walk?” she said.

  “And be seen talking to me?” he asked, pushing her buttons. “I thought you didn’t want that.”

  “It’s not like it is during the day,” she argued. “But you said you knew where it was quieter.”

  “I do. Follow me.”

  They went to the call room where doctors waited or slept when they needed a break. There were beds in there and it was empty.

  “You’re joking,” she said.

  “No. Keep moving,” he said to her, then locked the door behind him. “Go to the other door.”

  “What’s in there?” she asked.

  “A closet. Double layer of protection.”

  “I can’t believe I’m even considering this,” she said. “And speaking of protection.”

  “Got it covered,” he said. He’d grabbed one out of his wallet after the surgery hoping he could hunt her down and talk her into this. “We could be watching TV right now. We can go find some game show on if you want.”

  “God no,” she said, opening the closet door. “It’s pretty small in here.”

  “It is, but it has a lock and it’s private. We can make it work. Look, there is a chair here.”

  “There is something about you that makes me do things I said I’d never do. But you got me in this room and it’d be a shame not to take advantage of it. There is a thrill in it. It’s not like we can get caught behind two locked doors.”

  “Not if we are fast,” he said, his mouth going to hers.

  Her lips were just as soft and full as he remembered. They had been haunting his sleep and making him wake up and reach for her, knowing that she wasn’t there.

  The minute her hands went unde
r his shirt he knew he had her. And he knew he had to be fast before she changed her mind on him. Not that he thought she would with her hand now slipping down in front of his pants and grabbing his cock.

  “Jesus,” he said against her lips.

  “I just wanted to make sure you were ready for this.”

  “I’m always ready for it when I’m around you.”

  “How do you want to do this?” she asked. “Damn, I’m almost shaking I’m so turned on.”

  The words he wanted to hear.

  He made sure the chair was against the wall and couldn’t move, then positioned her in front of him, bent over, her hands on the seat. Then he pulled the bottom of her scrubs down.

  “Oh,” she said. “This is going to be fun.”

  She knew how to push every one of his buttons.

  His scrubs were dropped around his ankles, the condom rolled on one-handed while he found her opening, nice and wet and slick, and slid right in.

  He wanted to swear loudly she was so tight but held back from making any noise. “Are you okay?” he whispered.

  “Yeah. I won’t be if you don’t start to move though. Damn it, that feels good.”

  If there was anyone that was right for him, it was the woman in front of him bent over taking it from him like there was nothing else she’d rather have or be doing.

  He started to slide in and out, his hands on her hips holding her in place. “I’m not sure how long I can last like this,” he said when the pressure started to build.

  “I’m so close. I just need something, but don’t want to lose my balance.”

  He knew what she was asking and glided his hand around the front of her, found her swollen bud and started to rub at it. Her moans were getting a little loud and he wasn’t sure how to quiet her.

  “Cover your face,” he whispered.

  She buried her face against his arm while he pounded into her, his thumb rubbing at her tender flesh.

  He felt her tense, her muscles starting to squeeze around his cock as if it were in a vise just clamping down and he had no choice but to let everything go.