by Ann, Natalie
After that, there was nothing but the sound of their breathing in the room.
He stepped back and took care of the condom, grabbing the paper towel he’d brought in with him. Once his pants were up, he fixed hers, sat in the chair and pulled her down on his lap and just held her. He had to.
It didn’t feel real to him.
Not just the explosive nature of the act, but the one in his heart, and he wondered how the hell he was going to convince her to feel the same as him.
27
Pushing Her Limits
Adriana let herself into her apartment ninety minutes later. She couldn’t believe she’d done that with Wyatt in a closet.
Had it been more exciting than anything else she’d ever done with another man?
Yeah.
Would she do it again now that she was thinking more clearly? She wanted to say no, but really wasn’t sure.
And that was where she was having an issue right now.
She said she’d never be like her mother and what she did tonight reminded her of something her mother might do sneaking around.
But were she and Wyatt sneaking around? It’s not like either of them was cheating on anyone.
They were two consenting adults in a relationship.
They were on break killing time in a room where people slept and did what she and Wyatt did at times. Had been doing since there were call rooms at hospitals.
And when they were done, he’d held her. Held her like no man ever had before but she always wished they would.
There was tenderness and comfort in his arms, as if he knew what they shared was pushing her limits.
Not the act but the feelings within.
And maybe he was feeling some of that too. Or she’d like to at least think that.
She went into her kitchen to find food. It was close to ten and she’d be getting in bed soon enough. She’d been told she was rarely called in since there were nurses on staff, but if other surgeries were going on, she’d get that call.
Guess tonight was just meant for them both to be called into the same surgery, as she knew Wyatt wasn’t called in all that much either. Only when everyone else working their shifts was in surgery too.
There wasn’t much food in her fridge and she found herself making a peanut butter sandwich to hold her over.
When she was sitting at the table with that and a glass of milk, her phone went off and she hoped she wasn’t getting called in again. Nah, the chances of that were slim this late at night.
She picked her phone up and saw it was Wyatt asking if she was still awake.
She snapped a picture of her food and sent it off.
Her phone rang in her hand a second later. “Hello, miss me already?” she asked, stunned those words slipped through her mouth like the bar of soap out of her hand when she and Wyatt were in the shower together at his place.
“I’m not sure you really want to know the answer to that question,” he said.
He was probably right. “Why are you calling?” she asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.
“What I really wanted to do was rub your face in the fact that I’m having leftovers again.”
“That’s cruel,” she said. “You saw what I was having.”
“You could have had this too. You said no.”
“It was the right decision,” she said. “It seems I don’t always make the smart ones.”
There was silence on the other end. “Are you regretting what we did?”
“That’s not the word I’d use.”
“Then what?” he asked.
“I just always had an opinion of women who did that. Men too. Now I fell into that opinion.”
“Maybe your opinion isn’t always right. Did you think of that? It’s not like we were stepping out on each other. I feel the same way about cheaters as you.”
“I know. I mean I figured you did. You aren’t hiding anything. I get it.”
“No. You’re the one that wants to hide it.”
“I didn’t do so good of a job of it tonight, did I?” she asked.
“And that is why I’m calling.”
She liked that he was concerned. That he wanted to know how she was feeling about this. The problem was she wasn’t so sure herself how she felt about it all.
“I know. Thank you. It’s like you know me better than I know myself at times.”
“So your last boyfriend cheated. I get it. Sneaking into a quiet place made you think of that? Am I right?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t just that he cheated on me. He had a wife and I was the one he was cheating on his wife with.”
“Oh. You’re going to have to explain that to me.”
“I didn’t know he was married,” she said. “I wouldn’t have even looked at him if I had. I worked second shift so we didn’t have a lot of time to see each other. I didn’t think anything of it that I never saw him much because I worked weekends too.”
She wasn’t going to admit he was another doctor. Wyatt didn’t need to know those facts. It was bad enough she was telling him what happened, but she figured he had a right to know why she was feeling the way she was.
“I can see where that might have been something. It seems to me he was good at keeping it a secret. But I’m not trying to keep anything about us a secret. That’s on you.”
She didn’t need to hear that either. “It’s not just that. You know as well as I do that there is the cliché of doctors and nurses. It’s as old as time. You’ve dated plenty yourself.”
“I get it,” he said. “It’s like a broken record. So no one is supposed to know about us at work yet my family all knows. Does your family? Is that why you asked if my mom said anything? That you don’t want them to know either?”
He sounded hurt and she didn’t want that. “My father knows. I told him tonight actually.”
“That’s something at least.”
“The funny thing is, that’s another problem. I’m close to my father. I tell him a lot. Yet I didn’t tell him this after I was at your family’s house this weekend. When he called I panicked that Maggie might have heard from your mom and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”
“Why didn’t you tell him before now?” he asked.
“I’d actually forgotten. He still travels with his job. We normally talk on the weekends, but I’ve been with you and having fun and my father and I have just been texting back and forth. It wasn’t until he called that I realized how long it’d been since we actually talked. He knew nothing about you. He asked what I’d been up to and worried I was doing all those activities alone.”
“So you felt forced to tell him you weren’t alone to not worry him?”
“No,” she said, knowing she hit a nerve and just wasn’t sure why or which one. “We are getting off the subject.”
“No, we aren’t,” he said. “This all goes together.”
“You’re right.”
“And there you are again telling me that. Maybe you should just start listening to me and stop fighting me so much,” he said, laughing.
“I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t fight back.”
“I’m beginning to suspect that.”
* * *
Wyatt was trying not to get upset over this conversation.
He called to make sure Adriana was okay after they’d left the closet.
He could have sat in that chair and held her all night. She’d even started to laugh at one point and said that her muscles felt like she’d been holding the downward dog for ten minutes straight by the time she was done. She’d thanked him and kissed him quickly, then tenderly.
He opened the door and looked around, saw no one was in the room, not that he expected that. Then he went to another door and unlocked that one, let her out the side, then he went out the main door. There was no one around either door.
Twenty minutes after that they’d both left.
He was honest with her that he’d never had a quickie at work before.
Had
other women offered or hinted at wanting one? Absolutely.
But he’d always said no.
He never wanted the reputation of the doctor who didn’t take his responsibilities seriously.
He worked hard to get where he was.
He was respected by many in his field and colleagues alike.
Yet this little slip of a woman was making him lose his head like never before.
“I don’t try to be argumentative,” she said.
“But you can’t help yourself. Do you always need to be right?” he asked.
“If I always needed to be right I wouldn’t constantly be telling you that you are.”
He laughed. “Good point. So our parents know about us. I know you’re nervous and don’t want to be judged. What else is holding you back?”
“Nothing,” she said.
But he wasn’t so sure of that. It’s not that he felt she was lying to him, but just maybe not being so forthcoming with all the facts. Yet he couldn’t figure out for the life of him what he might be missing.
“And you still don’t want anyone at work to know.”
“I’m not going into work and announcing to everyone I saw Wyatt Fierce naked. I’d get all sorts of questions after that. I might even get some fan mail.”
“Not as many questions as you think,” he said, frowning, and was glad she couldn’t see his face.
“Enough. Didn’t I tell you that someone already made a comment to me that no one has ever been around you sweating outside of the bedroom?”
“Which is a total lie,” he said. “It’s not like all I did was go out to dinner or clubs with women.”
But he never did as much on a date as he did with Adriana.
“So what do you want?” she asked him.
“I don’t want you to go into work and announce it over the loudspeaker. That isn’t what I’m saying. Nor am I asking you to kiss me in the hallway or hold my hand. We aren’t in high school.”
“So you want to be able to talk and have lunch together if the situation arises?” she asked.
“Is that really so unreasonable of a thing to ask?”
“No,” she said. “It’s not. And I’m sorry if I’ve been difficult over this. It’s still fresh in my mind...my last relationship. Then what we did today. It just kind of brought it all back.”
“If I knew that was to happen I would have never brought it up. But I can’t know those things if you don’t talk to me. Sometimes you talk as much as me but you don’t always say much.”
They never lacked for conversation. Sports, activities, bantering back and forth. But personal conversation didn’t always come about.
“That’s not the first time I’ve been told that,” she said. “See, you are finding I’ve got a lot of flaws. Why are you trying so hard with me?”
“I took you for someone to have a higher opinion of yourself. Or more confidence. Man, that guy really knocked you down.”
“He did,” she said. “I never thought I’d be someone to act this way either. I’m probably harder on myself than most people are.”
“It’s that competitive nature of yours. This isn’t a contest. This is a relationship. There’s a difference.”
“You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”
“That I’m right again?” he asked, smiling.
“I’m just going to record it on your phone so that it can save me from saying it so much.”
“It’s funny, you know. No one in my family ever said I was right before. They said a lot of things to me, but never that.”
“Things like what?”
“Get away. Stop talking. You’re annoying. That’s not funny. You name it, they said it.”
“You’re smiling. I can hear it in your voice. They might have said all of those things, but it was said with love. I saw that this past weekend. You’ve got something special with your family that most don’t have. I don’t. Trust me.”
Back to her mother, he assumed. She was more complex than he expected her to be but realized that maybe he found something else to put everything he had into. It wasn’t just his family or his career anymore. It was Adriana.
28
Sharing Something
“What do you want to do tomorrow now that we are both off this weekend?” Adriana asked Wyatt.
The two weeks of on call were over. She’d only gotten called in once more, but Wyatt had to stay late several times or he was receiving calls on consultations and questions from doctors the whole time. Sometimes surgeries were put off until the morning, or could wait until the anesthesiologist working was available, other times not.
The past few weeks they hadn’t seen much of each other during the day and it actually worked in her favor. There was no arguing over being seen together because they rarely had the same break or were in the same room or building.
Not today though. Her last surgery ended earlier than normal and she was on her lunch break, Wyatt on his.
The weather was nice and she wasn’t about to sit around the cafeteria where people could see them. The compromise was walking while she had her smoothie and cookies. She’d grabbed Wyatt a large chocolate milkshake, as she didn’t see him as a smoothie person.
The look of surprise on his face when he took a sip had been well worth it. Then she handed him a cookie she’d gotten for him too.
“Definitely something,” he said. “I’m itching to be active. That’s the problem with being on call. I might not have to go in, but I’ve got calls coming in and it interrupts everything so I don’t plan much.”
They spent time together this weekend but just watched movies or ordered takeout. They couldn’t even go on any hikes in case he got a call and needed to leave in a hurry.
“I’m game for anything,” she said. “What haven’t we done?”
“We haven’t done a lot. How about golfing? Eighteen holes takes up half a day or so. Do you golf?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Mini golf or the driving range. I don’t have clubs.”
“Jade has them. It’s the one sport she does. We all golf in the family and the four of us used to go a lot.”
“If she doesn’t mind me borrowing them, then sure. But I’m positive it’s going to take a lot longer since I’m not very good and my guess is you are.”
“Golf is one of those games where even if you think you’re good you could send every shot into the water.”
She laughed. “Somehow I doubt you do that. We will walk and not ride a cart, right?” she asked. “You need to work off that lunch.”
She turned her head to look at him after he bumped shoulders with her. She lifted her eyebrows, but he just grinned. They may be walking together, but they weren’t holding hands or touching. She’d been firm on that.
“You’re the one that got me a dessert for lunch.”
“Sometimes we need to splurge. I just didn’t see you drinking a fruit or veggie smoothie.”
“Nope,” he said. “I eat my fruit or veggies when I have them. I’m not taking them through the straw.”
“It’s really good,” she said. “Want to try it?”
He leaned down and took a sip of her smoothie, his eyes dancing at her and she knew right away the reason he did it wasn’t because he wanted to taste it but to prove a point that she made the first move of them sharing something other than “walking as friends” together.
“It’s nice and sweet. Kind of like the person holding it.”
“Sweet needs to be taken in small doses,” she said back, her head tilted.
“Point taken. But you started it.”
“I did,” she said. “My bad. Speaking of bad…you might have gone a bit too far with your pranks yesterday.”
“What?” he asked. “He had it coming.”
One of the other anesthesiologists on the floor had been known to be a little harsh with patients. Or maybe not as caring or gentle as Wyatt or others. Many thought it was funny that Dr. Jones was walking around with a note on hi
s back that said, “Have patience with me, I’ve got performance anxiety.”
But Dr. Jones didn’t think it was so funny.
“He might have, but I heard he was going to file a complaint against you,” she said. When she’d overheard that an hour ago she’d been torn between defending Wyatt and keeping her mouth shut. In the end she just listened and did nothing.
He sighed. “He’s such an ass. He can’t lighten up for anyone and the patients need to be treated better. I thought that might be helping him, or at least making the patients laugh who had him.”
“Oh, they were laughing all right,” she said. “The patients thought it was great, but Dr. Jones was embarrassed and put a stink up about how unprofessional you are. Maybe you need to be a little careful in the future. You say you hate that people get on your case for not taking things seriously and you argue you do with your job…but do you if you’re doing things like that?”
He narrowed his eyes at her and she thought for sure they’d start fighting, but his shoulders dropped. “I’ll go play nice and make it up to him. I was hoping it was a lesson but guess it’s more of one on me and not him if he files a complaint.”
“Exactly.”
“Are you worried I’ll get in trouble? Did you defend me?”
“Yes, I’m worried. No, I didn’t defend you even though I kind of wanted to. I think that would open up the line for more gossip that I’d like to not get involved in right now.”
“I get it. But there isn’t anything wrong or bad about what we are doing. We are two single consenting adults. You need to stop thinking otherwise.”
“I’m trying,” was all she said. They had just circled back to the building. “I need to go back now.”
“I’ll call you when I get home,” he said. “Dinner tonight?”
“We could do that. Bye, Wyatt.”
“Bye, Adriana.” She didn’t like the way he said her name. All smooth as if he had the green light and might have just leaned down to give her a kiss even though he said he never did at work. Either he was playing with her—everyone knew how much he loved to joke, didn’t she just lecture him on it with a coworker—or she was seeing something she needed to get a better grip of control on.
