“Alright, buddy,” Tess murmured to Jackson. “Here we go. 14A.” But just as she reached up to knock on the door, it swung open, sending her heart into her windpipe.
“Whoa!” she chirped, instinctively cradling Jackson to her chest with both arms as her balance threatened to leave the building. But Declan had instincts of his own, it seemed, and his arms shot around her in the same instant, keeping her from stumbling.
“Steady,” he said, the word landing an inch from her ear. “I’ve got you.”
For a split second, they stood on his threshold, her arms wrapped around the baby and Declan’s arms wrapped around her, the crisp, no-frills scent of his soap filling her senses and the feel of his muscles unyielding around her, and Tess wanted nothing more than to melt into his touch, just as she had during their wedding ceremony.
But then Jackson squeaked his surprise, and she shifted back, her cheeks prickling. “Sorry,” she murmured. “I’m not usually so clumsy.”
“It’s my fault for startling you.” Declan looked from her to Jackson, who had—not shockingly—buried his face in her shirt. “You both alright, then?”
“Yep. Perfectly fine,” Tess said, half-wishing for the ground to swallow her up and half-wishing that Declan would put his arms back around her again. Gah, she was an idiot on so many levels right now.
Declan kindly spared her with a nod. “So, ah. Jackson, right?” he asked, gesturing to the baby currently cling-wrapped to her chest with the sort of wary glance that told her his experience with babies was probably hovering right around nil.
Tess smiled without realizing she would. Awkward or not, at least he hadn’t ignored the little guy. “Yeah. Sorry,” she said as Jackson eyed Declan back with equal guardedness. “He’s kind of going through a no-strangers phase right now.”
Rather than take offense, Declan shrugged, shifting back to better honor Jackson’s space. “Smart plan for a wee lad, actually.”
Stepping all the way out of his apartment, he turned to pull the door shut and lock it, but not before Tess got a solid glimpse of the stark, one-room interior.
“Are you waiting on a furniture delivery or something?” she asked, hearing the nosy words only after she’d spoken them. But come on. He didn’t even have a futon or a couch, let alone a bed. All Tess had seen was his large black duffel bag on the floor.
Declan shrugged. “There’s a recliner.”
Tess laughed for a full five seconds before she realized he was serious. “That’s it?”
“It’s not so bad,” he said, holding the front door open to usher her back into the sunshine of the morning. “They didn’t have any furnished units available, but the recliner was in storage, so…”
“Right. I’m sure it smells fantastic.”
She trapped her bottom lip between her teeth, too late, but to her surprise, one corner of Declan’s mouth lifted.
“Sure enough. But I’ve slept on worse.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Tess admitted, popping the locks on her SUV so he could get in while she got Jackson re-situated in his car seat. “You’ve never really lived until you’ve nodded off on an examining table in the morgue.”
“Belly of a C-17,” he countered. “In full gear.”
Tess couldn’t help it. She was impressed. “Nice. If they’re anything like the Chinooks the Army uses, then they’re loud as hell.”
Declan paused halfway through his seatbelt routine to stare at her. “You’re Army?”
“Was,” she corrected. “Reserves.” It had been the only way she could afford medical school. Not that she’d been unhappy about serving her country, either. Win-win. “It was a long time ago.”
He slanted a look she couldn’t decipher in her direction—he seemed to have a boatload of those, actually—and settled on a nod. “For me, too, I s’pose.”
Ah, hell. She’d never claimed to have much (fine. Any) tact, but his abrupt discharge from the Air Force had to be a sore spot.
Time to change the subject. “So, your new place is…uh, interesting.”
At least he gave up one of those sort-of smiles before saying, “Ah, come on now. You’re too honest for all that.”
“Fine,” she said. He wasn’t exactly off the mark. “I guess I’m just curious why you wouldn’t stay with Connor and Harlow. Unless you’ve got something against actual beds. And privacy. And—”
“Alright.” Declan lifted his hands in surrender, his inky biceps flexing against the sleeves of his T-shirt. “It’s not a palace.” Although it drained all of her patience to do it, Tess waited him out until he added, “In fact, it was the only place available for the next two months, and believe me, I looked everywhere. But I can’t stay with Connor and Harlow.”
“Because?”
He shrugged. “They just moved in together a few months ago. I’d be imposing.”
“Sorry, have you met those two?” Tess laughed. “They’re like, the nicest couple on the planet. Other than Charlie and Parker. And, well, Jonah and Nat.” Damn, all of her friends really were paired off rather happily. Crazy how lightning sometimes struck twice. Or, in this case, three times. “Anyway, I’m sure they wouldn’t think you’re imposing.”
“Ah. So, you’d stay with them for ten weeks, then? If you were me?”
“Of course I…” She realized it was a lie before she could finish. Serious health conditions barely ever mixed well with pride. Add in living with two friends who made their living as caregivers and would therefore unwittingly hover, and who had just moved in together, all happy-happy-kissy-face, on top of it? She’d probably take the shitty recliner option, too.
Still. “Okay. So, maybe I wouldn’t jump at the chance to bunk with Connor and Harlow if I were in your situation. But you’re not likely to get a whole lot of rest this way, either.”
“I’ll manage,” Declan said.
“It might take you a while to adjust to the meds in the trial,” Tess pressed. “Plus, there’s always the possibility for side effects. Fatigue. Nausea.” Maybe worse. Dealing with those alone could be difficult. Especially in a place where quality rest was about as likely as world peace.
If the look on his face was anything to go by, Declan remained unconvinced. “I read the paperwork. I know the risks.”
Tess tried again. “Look, I know this is difficult, but—”
“Do you?”
The question sailed all the way through her, even though he’d asked it quietly. Damn it. Just because she hadn’t meant to overstep didn’t mean she should blow off the burden of making this right.
“No,” Tess replied after a stoplight and three city blocks. “I meant that I know the situation is for shit, which is what I should’ve said, only I didn’t. But I didn’t mean to imply that I know what this is like for you, because I don’t. I’m sorry.”
After a silence she couldn’t interpret, Declan finally said, “You’re always this honest, aren’t you?”
She opened her mouth to admit that, while she’d never use her brutal honesty unnecessarily, and she’d definitely never use it to be cruel, yeah, it was absolutely her default setting in all other situations. But then Alec’s voice slipped through her ears, unbidden and cold.
Tess, really. Do you always have to be so blunt?
She swiped back the memory, pasting a smile over her mouth as she pulled into the hospital parking lot.
“Just one of my many talents. Anyway, we’re cutting it close on time. Why don’t you go get registered while I take Jackson to childcare? I’ll meet you in Dr. Gupta’s office.”
A strange expression crossed his face then, flickering through his bright green stare in a way that made Tess think he’d argue.
But then it was gone, so quickly and so thoroughly that she’d swear she’d imagined the whole thing.
“Right. I’ll see you upstairs. The faster we can be done with this, the better.”
10
Much to her chagrin, Tess was not growing immune to the sight of Declan. The way he
stood outside of Dr. Gupta’s office, his eyes bright but guarded and his lean, muscular body primed with all sorts of graceful power that Tess didn’t want to contemplate in public, made her heart race.
The thought of him living in that dingy apartment, sleeping on a recliner that was probably older than he was—if he could even sleep with all the noise going on around him?
That made her heart do other things she didn’t want to contemplate.
“Hey,” she said, re-setting her focus to the here and now. “You ready to go?”
“I s’pose.”
Before either of them could move, though, a familiar female voice snagged her attention by calling her name.
“Dr. Michaelson. Tess! Wait.” Bernadette Novak, who had been the head of Remington Memorial’s human resources since Moses was a toddler, waved them down. “Oh, good. Mr. Riley, I presume?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Declan said warily.
Bernadette’s smile was warm enough for both of them, though. “That saves me a call. I’m glad I caught you both together.”
Tess frowned. Why on earth would Bernadette care if they were here together? “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yes. Well, I think so.” Bernadette pushed her glasses farther up her nose. “I just need to clear up a discrepancy on the paperwork, here, for you and Mr. Riley.”
A tiny flare of panic threatened to rise in Tess’s chest, but she tamped it down. Bernadette was as meticulous as she was sharp-eyed. Tess had probably forgotten to (literally) dot an “i” or something. “What’s the discrepancy, exactly?”
Bernadette tapped through a few screens on the tablet in her hand, finally arriving at the one she wanted. “You both have different addresses listed for your primary residence, but I wasn’t sure which one is correct.”
“Sorry?” Tess stammered, but it was mostly to borrow time. Damn it! Aside from the obvious billing issues, how could she have forgotten that Declan would need a home health care worker to come administer some of his meds and monitor his glucose levels? Of course, he’d need to put his new address on his forms.
And, of course, Bernadette would catch that it didn’t match Tess’s.
The woman smiled, but didn’t skip a single beat. “Well, the records we have on file for you, Dr. Michaelson, show this address”—she flipped the tablet around to reveal Tess’s personnel file—“but Mr. Riley’s is listed as something different. For insurance purposes, as well as the home health visits, we’ll obviously need to know which one is correct.”
Shit. Shit, shit, shit! They had to play this just right otherwise Bernadette’s radar would start belting out a greatest-hits rendition of liar, liar, pants on fire.
Declan, bless him, intervened with the truth he could tell. “Sorry about that. Things have been a bit crazy. I’ve only just moved from California recently.”
“We just got married last week,” Tess put in helpfully, trying not to overdo it.
Bernadette’s brows pulled downward. “I understand, but…both of these addresses are right here in Remington. So, at which one are you two actually living?”
If there was one thing Tess could boast as an emergency physician, it was that she could analyze facts and determine the best outcome freakishly fast.
So, even though Declan was probably going to murder her as soon as Bernadette walked away, she said, “The address in my file is the correct one. Declan and I live there. Together.”
Declan clothes-lined the urge to protest what Tess had just told Ms. Novak, even though it took considerable fucking restraint. But he wasn’t brainless. The older woman had been thorough to the point of ridiculous when Declan had met with her to fill out all the insurance paperwork for the trial last week. They had to convince her that this marriage was real—hook, line, and cohabitation.
Declan and I live there. Together.
“Sorry about the misunderstanding,” Tess said. “We just recently decided to live at my place rather than the other way around. It’s been kind of a whirlwind.”
She gave up a conspiratorial smile, which Ms. Novak returned, while Declan bit down on the irony of how literal Tess’s version of recently was. His brain knew they needed to give Ms. Novak a feasible explanation for the sake of legality. The rest of him?
Didn’t want to burden Tess any more than he’d wanted to burden Connor and Harlow. Fuck. He could not live with her.
“Well, it’s been a long while, but I was a newlywed once, myself,” Ms. Novak said. “I figured there was a good explanation. I’ll just go ahead and change that up in the file, then pass the address along to the scheduling office for the home health care worker.”
“Oh, about that,” Tess said, so casually that Declan might have believed it to be an afterthought, if he hadn’t seen the hint of tightness that had slipped beneath her smile. Served him right for spending too much time looking at her mouth in the first place.
“Yes?” Ms. Novak asked.
“Well, it seems a little silly for a home health care worker to come out, what? Three times a week? When I’m already more than professionally qualified to do the work.”
Declan shook his head, opening his mouth to say no—he didn’t even want a stranger to do the job of poking and testing and treating him as if he’d been hand-crafted out of glass, let alone Tess. But something odd flashed through her stare then, the message there hitting him as clearly as if she’d whispered in his ear.
Trust me.
“But isn’t that a conflict of interest?” Ms. Novak asked, her graying brows lifted.
Tess shook her head. “Oh, I wouldn’t be treating him. That would be a conflict of interest,” she agreed. “I’d just be administering the medications Dr. Gupta has already prescribed and performing all the tests for monitoring, per her direction. And we do already live together. Sending a home health care worker seems kind of unnecessary, don’t you think? I mean, I know their schedules are already packed, and it doesn’t make any sense to waste the resources when I can just take care of everything.”
In truth, she made it sound like the most logical thing ever. At least, to the point that Ms. Novak was caving. “Well, I suppose you’re right. I’ll have to double-check with Dr. Gupta, of course.”
“Of course,” Tess echoed.
“But as long as that’s what you prefer, Mr. Riley, then I think it sounds feasible.”
What Declan would’ve preferred was to be back in his unit, jumping out of airplanes and serving his country with two kidneys that did their damn job. Since that was out, he simply nodded. “Grand. Thank you.”
He waited until the woman was out of earshot before turning to Tess, but she didn’t even wait for his what the hell to take shape before speaking. “Look, hear me out before you go thermonuclear. If Bernadette or Gupta—or anyone, really, including a home health care worker—thinks our marriage isn’t on the up and up, we’re screwed. We had to say we lived together somewhere, and saying it was my place made more sense than trying to convince Bernadette we’d moved to a one-room, rent-by-the-month apartment.”
Declan processed this, and hell, she wasn’t exactly wrong. “Fine. What about the monitoring, though?”
Tess bit her lip, and he would’ve marveled at stumbling across something that softened her if he wasn’t so busy being turned the fuck on by her mouth. “Well, we couldn’t send a home health care worker to your place since we said you don’t live there. But if I do it instead, I can just come to you.”
“It’s three times a week,” Declan said slowly. Was she mad?
“Well, yeah.” She shrugged. “I’ll just have to juggle some things around to make it happen.”
“Your job and your son, you mean.” Her job in the ED wasn’t exactly a nine-to-five, and Jackson was clearly—and rightfully—a huge priority in her life. Coming out to tend to him on Dr. Gupta’s schedule was going to be a righteous pain in her arse.
A fact which she couldn’t argue, even though she sure looked like she wanted to. “So it’ll take some c
reative juggling.”
“For ten weeks,” he pointed out.
To his utter surprise, Tess conceded. “Fine. It’ll take creative juggling and possibly a rip in the space-time continuum. I get it, okay? It’s going to be difficult. But honestly, Declan. What other choice do we have? Unless…”
He sorted through the conversation for a viable option, but came up sorely short. “Unless what?”
“Unless we actually do live together.”
“Tess,” he warned. Not that he could back it up with anything he wanted to admit out loud.
She flushed in response. Like that was going to help his resolve. “Look, let’s be honest. The place you’re staying is kind of a crap-hole. It’d be far easier for me to do the monitoring from down the hall than to try and figure out how to get halfway across town three times a week. I have a spare bedroom with its own bath. I’d give you your privacy, of course.” More flushing here, and was she trying to kill him? “But at least you’d have a bed. And a full couch if you want to watch TV—none of that gross recliner bullshit.”
Unable to help it, Declan huffed out a laugh. “The recliner’s not that bad,” he lied. But the last thing he wanted was her feeling sorry for him.
Tess rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “It’s probably being held together by duct tape and sheer will. Come on. This is the smartest play. I know that sharing a condo isn’t ideal—I do have a baby, and I’ll admit I have a serious aversion to folding laundry, which makes my place less than tidy. But it is comfortable. It’s pretty close to the hospital. Plus, not only would I be able to do the monitoring a lot more easily, but then we wouldn’t be lying on the insurance paperwork.”
Ah, hell. He hadn’t thought of that. Tess had been the one to tell Ms. Novak they were living together. The risk of them being caught doing otherwise was likely to be low if Tess monitored his trial meds, but she could still get into serious trouble if they were caught.
His chest squeezed tight beneath his T-shirt. “Are you askin’ me to move in with ya, then?”
Beyond Just Us (Remington Medical Book 4): A Single Parent Marriage of Convenience Romance Page 8
