by Ann, Natalie
Just not enough to fully admit her relationship and she felt bad about that but wasn’t quite ready to pull the trigger just yet.
“As I’ve explained to others in the past, my stepmother and Wyatt’s mother work together.”
“Were you having lunch with all three of them?” Savanna asked. “I’m not sure I could eat if I was sitting at the table with three Fierce men.”
She wouldn’t come out and lie. “Yes,” she said and moved away from them with the laptop. She hoped they’d get the hint. Savanna did, but Melissa came over.
“Even if you are dating, which I think you are. It’s smart not to tell too many people because it won’t last.”
“Excuse me?” she said. She should have just nodded her head and gone back to work but couldn’t do it.
“Wyatt dates and he’s been in some relationships, but I think a few months is his limit. I know you’ve heard all about him and how he doesn’t take much seriously. I’m not saying he only dates nurses, but that is his MO. And when he is dating someone, it’s not long term.”
Wyatt had admitted that himself. And hadn’t he told her that meeting her parents was a first for him?
Was it because he never wanted to be in a long-term relationship?
Could that be why he was quiet lately? That he was trying to figure out a way to move away from her?
No. She was being silly.
He wanted to be around her more than she did him.
He wanted her to stay last night and every night if she’d give in to him.
She was seeing things that weren’t there.
Or was she?
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to step back a little.
Well, maybe not step back but pull her heart in check.
She didn’t want to give up the time with him. She could continue with the way they were going and hold her emotions in close.
At least she thought so.
When her computer went off, she saw the OR was opening up soon and it was time for her to get ready for her first surgery of the day.
She looked at the schedule and saw that she’d be in with Sam. She’d been in with him a few times this week. He hadn’t said anything to her once about dating Wyatt, and she was thankful for that.
He talked to her the same as he did to anyone else in the OR. Friendly but not with any knowledge of a deeper connection.
She was moving around the OR. The patient was under, Sam was talking to a resident that was assisting. The scrub nurse was a male she’d seen around before. There didn’t seem to be many men in nursing and she thought that was sad, as it was a great profession.
“Got any plans this weekend?”
“Excuse me?” she asked when she realized Mark was talking to her.
“I asked if you had any plans this weekend. Or Friday night? I thought maybe we could get a drink or something.”
She looked over and saw Sam staring at her. He’d heard the conversation, it was obvious. She could say she wasn’t interested, which was the truth. But should she say she was seeing someone? If she did, then all the rumors would be confirmed, right?
Did it matter at this point though?
She wasn’t sure and just wished she hadn’t been put in this position.
“I’ve got plans,” she said and hoped that would be answer enough.
She could see Sam’s eyes laughing; she didn’t need to see his mouth under his mask to know he was probably grinning at her.
“How about another night?” Mark asked. “Tonight maybe?”
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m seeing someone right now.”
“Oh,” Mark said. “I had no idea.”
At least he hadn’t heard the rumors then. No one else even looked at her so maybe she was making a big deal out of nothing.
Until the next day when she was cornered by someone else. “So you are dating Wyatt Fierce.”
“Why is everyone so obsessed with Wyatt and me?” she asked. “And what made you ask me that?” She didn’t even know this nurse personally. They’d talked a few times but nothing more.
“There have been rumors for weeks about it. But everyone says you won’t commit to it. I don’t blame you. It won’t last. It never does. But I heard from Melissa, who heard from Mark, that he asked you out and you said you were seeing someone.”
“And you put it together that it was Wyatt?”
“Who else could it be?” the nurse asked.
She looked at her nametag. “Amelia. I appreciate the interest in my love life, but it’s unwarranted. I’ve got patients to get ready for,” she said and walked away.
When she turned to leave she saw Wyatt coming out of another OR. She hadn’t realized he was even on this floor and she was pretty positive he’d just heard what she’d said.
* * *
Wyatt turned and went in the other direction. He had to go see another patient and get ready for that surgery and had no time to deal with Adriana. He had to be focused now and not worrying about whether Adriana was too embarrassed to let anyone know they were dating.
He understood she didn’t want to just tell people. He wasn’t one for going in and announcing who he’d been on a date with either.
But if someone asked him point blank he wasn’t going to lie or avoid it.
They weren’t doing anything wrong in his eyes, but they must be in hers.
By the end of the day he’d just gone home without sending her a message like he normally did. She could reach out to him for once since it always seemed he took the first step. Maybe it was time he took a few back.
He was online playing games and killing as many people as he could during his battle, jumping on the couch like a teen and wanting to yell at the TV. He probably did a few times when he knew he had to stop himself from throwing the controller against the TV.
That’d be childish and if there was one thing he tried to stop being, it was that.
There was a knock at his door and he figured his neighbors were going to complain. Or maybe the new one he’d seen in the gym found out where he lived and was going to come to his door after he’d told her he wasn’t interested. That he was seeing someone.
At least Sam told him Adriana had admitted that much to the guy that was hitting on her. That was part of the reason he was seeking her out when he overheard her talking to that other nurse. So he could talk to her about Mark asking her on a date. He didn’t even hear it from her but his cousin.
He opened the door, stunned to see Adriana standing there. “Can we talk?”
“I figured by now you were hiding from me,” he said, opening the door wider.
“I don’t hide,” she said. “I went home and worked out. I needed to think. You normally reach out to me each day and you didn’t and I started to suspect you might be mad.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I always reach out to you. Seems like the more I think about it the more that is our thing. Me taking the steps and you deciding if it’s what you want or not.”
“So you are mad?”
“What gave it away?”
She walked in and sat down on the couch and waited for him to join her. He went to the chair he rarely used and ignored the raising of her eyebrows.
“You saw what I said to that nurse. I’ve been getting questioned more and more lately. It’s driving me insane. Why do people care so much?”
“Why do you care if they know?” he asked back.
She crossed her arms. “Because it’s not just people asking me if it’s true, it’s them telling me it’s not going to last. And that I shouldn’t get used to it. That a month is your record. You name it, I’ve heard it. Do you know how hard it is to hear that?”
He opened his mouth and closed it. “I didn’t realize it was that bad. I overheard two women in my office the other day and confronted them.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Because I knew it’d tick you off. I handled it.”
“And what did you say? Did you say we
were dating? Is that why so many people are asking lately?”
He thought back and realized he hadn’t said he was. “I told them it didn’t matter my answer because everyone was going to say and believe what they want anyway.”
“Exactly. But no one is really talking about you as much as they are me. It’s the pitying looks and the comments like they are just waiting for you to dump me.”
“Would it bother you if I did?” he asked. “If you thought maybe it was wearing on me having to hide so much? Maybe I don’t like being in the dark like this and am sick of it.”
Her eyes started to fill, which shocked him. “I’ve got to leave.”
He stood up and reached for her arm. “No. No running. It seems to me that is your solution for everything.”
“That hurts.”
“It was meant to,” he said. “Maybe you can feel what I’ve been feeling lately.”
“You haven’t said a word to me. I even asked you if everything was okay.”
“What do you want me to tell you, Adriana? You know how I feel about telling people at work. We are fighting over it now.”
She sat back down. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“I don’t want to either. I don’t like fighting at all. I don’t like feeling like this.”
“Like what?” she asked.
“That I’ve got no control over anything. I’m working my ass off with you and it doesn’t seem to be helping at all. Matter of fact it’s almost like I’m making it worse.”
“You don’t work hard at anything other than your job,” she said. “If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it thirty times. I’m getting sick of hearing it.”
“You’re getting sick of it. Take a look at things, Adriana. Think about it. I’d say it’s proving everyone wrong.”
She just stared at him for what seemed like minutes but was only a few seconds. A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m sick of being wrong about so many things.”
He got up and moved next to her and pulled her into his arms. “You’re doing this to yourself. I’m trying to tell you I’m a great catch, but you won’t listen.”
She laughed. “Now you’re trying to cheer me up when I’m in the wrong...again. I’m still feeling the past burn, but that is my issue not yours. I’ve got to deal with it.”
“There is no right or wrong here. We are feeling our way and not communicating as well as we should be. We can at least fix that.”
“We can,” she said. “What are we going to do about work? Just ignore it?”
“I’d rather not. I’d rather if someone asks if we are dating we just say ‘yes’ and leave it at that. We don’t have to walk in holding hands. We don’t have to kiss or anything like that for people to see, even if I would love nothing more.”
“Don’t,” she said. “Even married couples in the hospital don’t do that. If they do it looks unprofessional.”
“I agree. I was so confused over this, and us, I went to ask Drake for advice since he and Kara work together. Do you know how hard it was to ask my older brother for advice?”
“Did he rub it in your face?”
“Clorox couldn’t get it off.”
“I guess that means you care about me? About us?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, something like that.”
She pinched his arm and then crawled into his lap. “I’m making such a mess of things.”
“I think we are doing it together. Now let’s go have makeup sex. That is the best part about fighting from what I heard.”
She stood up with him, then he grabbed her and pulled her toward his room. “You heard?”
“I’ve never been with someone long enough to have a fight and makeup.”
“Really?” she said. “Guess that makes me special.”
He picked her and put her over his shoulder. “You know you are, but if you need me to say it I will. That’s part of communicating. Adriana, you’re one special fiery lady that is winning me over.”
“And eating a hole in your stomach,” she said laughing.
The hope he’d had she’d admit the same was squashed like a nail under Thor’s hammer. He wasn’t going to let her know though. They’d made it through the first fight he’d had with a woman and in his eyes that was winning enough.
34
Dial It Back
A week had gone by and it seemed everyone was done asking about her and Wyatt.
Part of her was disappointed as she was ready to say, “Yes, I am dating Wyatt Fierce.”
The other part of her was sort of happy that maybe it would blow over.
She was in the cafeteria waiting on her grilled chicken sandwich to be made. She really should start bringing a lunch and not wasting money in the cafeteria all the time, but she’d gotten into the habit of hoping Wyatt would be available and they could have lunch together.
Which of course was her falling back into a hole with a man after she’d told herself she needed to dial it back.
Why should she have to though?
Sure, her reasons were legit in the beginning, but it’d been almost three months now since they first met. Even if that meeting was a complete misunderstanding in her eyes, she realized that once again, he was right. He’d been working real hard for her.
No other man had ever worked that hard and maybe she should have acknowledged that sooner. That her defense mechanism for her embarrassment and broken heart needed to be removed. She needed to go back to the person she always was before.
That everything she’d heard about Wyatt might have been true with other people but it wasn’t true with their relationship. And that maybe he was changing for her so that she should do the same for him. If they cared enough for each other…and she knew she did.
“Hi.”
She turned to look at the woman standing there. She looked familiar but Adriana couldn’t place her. She saw enough people moving around here lately and she wasn’t always that good with names and faces.
“Hi,” she said back.
“You’re Wyatt’s girlfriend, right?”
Okay, here we go. “I am. And you are?”
“Stephanie Black. I work in his office.”
That was where she’d seen her before. Probably the woman that told people she’d been in Wyatt’s office twice. “That’s nice. A lot quieter than around here.”
“It is. Kind of boring too.”
She was wondering what Stephanie wanted to say to her, but she knew it was something. It’s not like the woman looked to be someone Wyatt would date as she was probably in her forties and a little frumpy on top of it. If the woman took the stairs to her desk every day, it might be the most exercise she got by the looks of it.
“Was there something you wanted to say or ask?” she asked. Why not? The woman would at least go back and tell Wyatt and then he’d know she wasn’t hiding it anymore. He’d be thrilled she was opening up and the truth was it felt pretty freeing.
“Actually, I’d like to apologize to you. I was hoping if I did that you’d let Dr. Fierce know. Wyatt.”
“Apologize for what?” she asked. Her sandwich was handed over and she moved to the end of the line to grab some chips, a water, and pay.
Stephanie followed along and just picked up a premade salad. “Can we talk at a table or are you meeting Wyatt?”
“We can talk. He’s in surgery, I’m assuming. I don’t know his schedule.”
“I do. I mean I see it. He’s probably still in surgery.”
They both paid and she walked outside to eat. She wasn’t in the mood to sit in the cafeteria where others could hear. Saying she was dating Wyatt was one thing, letting others overhear a conversation she wasn’t sure the context of was another.
She found a bench under the tree and sat. “So what is on your mind? What do you feel the need to apologize for?”
Stephanie put her salad in her lap and opened the container. “I might have said in passing to a few people before that you’d been in Wyatt�
�s office months ago. And since then, others would come and ask if I knew more of what is going on.”
“I don’t understand what the big deal is,” she said. “He’s just one man.”
“Come on. I may be married but even I know he’s one hell of a guy to look at. He’s funny. He’s sweet. He makes people feel good. What woman wouldn’t want that in her life?”
“Obviously a lot of them,” she said, taking a bite of her sandwich.
“Yes. Well, he has a reputation but he is a great guy. Anyway, he overheard a nurse that had come up to the floor asking me questions and talking. I should have minded my own business and I didn’t. I tend to get pulled into the grapevine as if I’m ready to open a winery.”
She smiled. “I think most people are like that around here.”
“Yeah. Anyway, I’ve never seen Wyatt like that before. He wasn’t mad, but he wasn’t his normal self. You could tell he was annoyed and bothered and not much bothers him or annoys him. I even called him Dr. Fierce because I was so rattled and he didn’t laugh and correct me like he always does to people.”
Interesting. This obviously went back to their fight. When he told her he’d never fought with another woman before because he wasn’t with one long enough. It wasn’t just lip service by the sounds of it.
She hadn’t wanted to believe he was trying to pull one over on her saying that and it was nice to know that he was honest.
Her trust in men had been shattered, but Wyatt seemed to be helping to glue the pieces back together.
“What do you want me to do? I don’t understand.”
“If you could tell him that I sought you out and apologized, maybe he’d go back to the way he was before.”
“And how was that?” she asked.
“Laughing. Joking. Smiling. He does it with some people in the office still, but not me. He just kind of nods his head and walks by now.”
“It sounds like you need to apologize to him and not me,” she said, standing up. “I appreciate you telling me this, and that you had a part in it, but I’m not so sure I’ve got that much control over him as you seem to think I do.”
