by Natalie Ann
“All by my lonesome,” he said. “And I’m taking it easy. It’s not like I had much to do. I don’t start working until Monday so I dealt with a few boxes at a time. I didn’t have that much so I’d have to say more time was spent shopping.”
“It is a pretty big house for one person.”
“It is. About three times the size of my last place.”
“Apartment or condo living?”
“Sounds like you know something about that.”
“I do. I’ve got an apartment not too far from here. A cramped two bedroom, one bath. But it suits my needs now. And you said you moved from Manhattan so most don’t have big places there. Not like this.”
“I only had one bedroom, so you have more than me.”
But something told her that wouldn’t fully be the case. Scarlet was kicking more so she pushed the stroller forward and back, then pulled out a sippy cup and handed it over, which helped for the moment.
“Greenwich Village or Upper East Side. You’ve got that look to you.” Which told her money too.
He squinted one eye at her just like Harris sometimes did. “I feel there is an insult in there.”
Since Harris was on the Upper East Side it wasn’t one, but she couldn’t mention that either. “Nope. Just a guess.”
“A good one. But not quite. Chelsea,” he said.
“Close enough.” At least in her mind. Didn’t matter, both spoke money and now she was really curious what brought him here. He’d said work.
“Not to those that live around there,” he said, grinning.
She imagined that was the case. But to her Manhattan was really all one borough and one that she only visited. It’d never be a place she’d want to live.
“You’re probably right. So big change moving here then. You said work?”
“Yep. A change of pace,” he said.
“Change is good in life,” she said, thinking of her own hair. “I was just telling my brother that a few hours ago.”
Caden was shocked to hear the voice when he was staring at the front of the house while he tried to figure out some landscaping he wanted done. It’d give him something to research and maybe to add as a hobby in his own time once it was set up professionally.
He was even more stunned when he turned and then realized it was the blonde beauty that had been nice to him days ago and he’d flirted with her. Then he noticed the kid and felt like shit that she might have been married.
Knowing the kid wasn’t hers helped, but she still could be taken. “So what is it you are looking to change?” he asked.
“A girl can’t say it all,” she said.
He laughed. “I suppose you’re right.”
“How is the hand holding up? Looks like you’re keeping it dry and it seems to be healing well.”
“So that means I don’t get to come see you on Tuesday again? Here I was looking forward to the visit.”
She grinned wide and he knew she caught where he was going with his comment. “You still have to show up so I can get a better look.”
Scarlet decided she wasn’t happy and tossed her cup down. Caden bent to get it and stood back up. Sarah had her hand out so he went to give it to her, their fingers touching, and sparks just went from his tips to his palm and up his arm. Damn, that never happened before.
When he looked up at her eyes, she seemed to have noticed it too.
“Looks like your niece has had enough of us chatting.”
“Bummer,” she said. “But she lasted longer than I thought she would.”
“Then I guess until Tuesday,” he said.
“Until then. Keep doing what you are. Your hand looks good.”
“Thanks. I think. I’ll be happy to get the stitches out though.”
“Most feel that way. Until they are out and itch. Ever have an itchy palm?”
The smile he’d had on his face since he’d turned and saw her just dropped. “Yeah. There’s no relief.”
“Sorry. It will get better though. I shouldn’t have said that to you.”
“No worries. I’ve gone through worse.” When she frowned he wished he hadn’t said that when she looked him over for any signs of something. He had to remember she was a medical professional and he wasn’t about to admit how unhealthy he was months ago. “Embarrassment,” he clarified.
“Ah. Most men feel that way when they come in over an injury. It happens to the best of them. Even me.”
Scarlet let out a yell. “I think you’ve really pushed your limit with her.”
“I have. I’ll make it up to her. It was totally worth it,” she said back and then turned around to walk back the way she came.
“See you on Tuesday.”
“Bye.”
He watched her walk, admiring her body in fitted jeans and a long sleeved cotton shirt. It was one of those workout shirts that was like a second skin and, man, did it show her body off well.
She had curves in all the right places that those ugly black scrubs had hid on her.
Her hair was down and floating along her face in the breeze. It looked soft and touchable and he was tempted more than he’d been in a long time to reach for a woman.
But he wouldn’t. That’d be wrong.
They weren’t out in a club. They weren’t trying to pick each other up on a night on the town just looking for fun.
He wasn’t sure what she was thinking and he sure the hell didn’t know what he wanted other than to spend more time with her.
5
Little Interaction
“How do you like it here so far?”
Caden looked up to see Melanie standing in the doorway. She was his assistant and seemed nice enough. She’d been around a few years and was married with a couple of kids. “It’s only my second day,” he said.
“I know. But most times people can figure it out pretty fast. This is a big change for you.”
“Not so much,” he said. The last thing he wanted was anyone watching his every move or thinking he couldn’t handle things.
“That’s true. I guess I meant the pace is slower.”
“It is. That’s exactly what I was looking for.”
He knew if there was any gossip that was started in the office, it began with the assistants. If they thought it was odd he wanted to come here, maybe they’d back off once they heard it was what he wanted.
“Well, I’m glad you’re here. Richard was great and we are sorry to see him go. He was a little old school. Just the fact we can loosen up the dress code was nice.”
The first thing he did last week when he stopped in was to say that they could do business casual in the office. If they were meeting with clients, he’d expect them to be presentable. But the world was changing and the suit and tie were almost a thing of the past in most environments.
He had on nice black pants, John Lobb oxfords, an aqua shirt tailored to his frame and no tie, the first few buttons undone. He was comfortable and professional at the same time.
He could come in with jeans and these shoes and shirt on and still look the same in his eyes, but he did have to meet with a client of Richard’s today. He’d try the jeans another day, waiting until the office realized where he was going and how he would manage.
He’d never really wanted to be the boss like this but figured it wouldn’t be nearly as cutthroat as it would be if he stayed where he was.
“It seems like a nice office and everyone gets along.”
Melanie laughed and that told him it might not be the case. There were about thirty people here, but not all would report to him directly. There were some admin staff that fell under the office manager. The accounting and HR departments were together too, then the rest were brokers, agents, and financial planners. He had two other managers that oversaw those groups.
“Most do,” she said. “I’m sure you know what it’s like with office politics.”
“You’re going to get that anywhere,” he said back. “I’ve got an appointment at one thirty today, so I’ll be leaving
around one and should be back by three.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure to take any messages and let people know if they are looking for you.”
“Thanks,” he said, then watched as she went back to her desk.
When twelve thirty rolled around, his phone went off and he knew it was time to eat lunch. It was pretty sad that he had to set alarms on when to eat, but if he didn’t when he was working, he’d forget and the last thing he was going to do was fall into the unhealthy rabbit hole again.
Not when he was doing so well on his own and feeling the best he had in ages.
He got up and went to the kitchen, bringing his refillable water bottle with him and making sure he drank one more while he was here. Two in the office got him close to his quota. Forty ounces during the day, twenty more minimum when he was home.
His mother called him anal when he did his research and gathered his facts, then followed them to the letter, but it was working for him so he was going to continue.
“Hey, Caden.”
He turned to see John standing there. One of the senior financial planners of the office. He’d been here for years and Caden had been shocked when Mike and Kyle had told him there wasn’t anyone to promote at this location. Everything he’d seen of John on paper said that the guy should have been considered since he oversaw a handful of staff and all the financial planners under him.
“John. How are you doing?”
“Good. I was wondering if you had time to meet later this week?”
“Sure,” he said. “I think Thursday is pretty wide open. I’ve got an appointment and need to leave soon.”
John nodded. “How’s the hand?”
It was hard to hide the fact that he had stitches in it, but he tried. He should have realized the new guy was going to have all eyes on him and putting his palm down wouldn’t make much of a difference.
“It’s fine,” he said. “Stitches will be out next week. I barely feel it.”
Which was true. The worst part was that he kept forgetting to not get it that wet and started to keep gloves right by the sink in the kitchen and the shower in his bathroom so he remembered to put it on.
“I’ve had stitches before. After the first few days it’s not much more than a nuisance.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Email me a time on Thursday that works for you and I’ll make time. If you can give me an agenda of what you’d like to meet about that would help me prepare too. I’ll do the same with you.”
“Ah, sure. Richard just met with us when we asked,” John said.
“That’s fine. I’ve got no problem meeting with the staff when they ask and planned on it. However I’ll be doing things differently.”
“Sounds good,” John said, grabbing his lunch out of the microwave and leaving.
He could tell right away John didn’t seem like it sounded so good to him.
If anyone could understand that change was hard, it was him. But it was life and everyone was going to have to get over it.
He pulled out his lunch and brought it back to his office. Nothing in the microwave to heat up.
Once he was at his desk, he put his bowl with his cubed up salad on his desk, then added the meats and cheeses he’d had cut up separately. He was learning to eat more vegetables and found if he hid them under meat and cheese it was easier.
When he was done with his salad, ate the piece of bread, and a piece of dark chocolate, he was full and it was time to leave. It shouldn’t have taken him thirty minutes to eat, and never used to, but he got caught up with work and had to keep going back to his lunch.
But he finished it when in the past he might have eaten three bites of something and then thrown the rest out after it sat too long.
He grabbed his keys and told Melanie he’d be back in about two hours or less and made his way to see Sarah.
No, no. To get his hand looked at. While he checked out Sarah.
He had it bad for someone that hadn’t thought much of a woman in years. Least of all one he’d just met and only talked to twice.
And this time he hoped that maybe they could make plans to meet up outside of the doctor’s office.
“Caden Finley,” he said when he got to the front desk.
“Has any of your information changed since you were here last?” she asked, clicking on the keyboard.
“Not in the last seven days,” he said. Which reminded him he needed to get a primary care doctor too. He was going to make sure he was seen in two months so that it could be on record how well he did on his own without medication.
“Have a seat. They will be with you shortly,” the woman said, so he turned and found a chair, then sat and pulled his phone out to read some of the emails that he was trying to get through during his lunch.
“Caden.”
He looked up at the nurse that called his name, slightly bummed it wasn’t Sarah, and then had to remind himself that normally another nurse took all the vitals first.
He stood up and followed her in the back and then to an exam room, had his temperature and blood pressure taken, pleased to know that it wasn’t even slightly high. Nothing for anyone to even blink an eye at.
“Sarah will be in in a few minutes,” the nurse said and left. He pulled his phone out and went back to his emails. Some habits were still hard to break.
Sarah had woken up this morning ready and rearing to go knowing she’d see Caden again.
That little interaction they’d had on Saturday got her juices flowing more than the Slurpee machine at the 7-Eleven on a hot summer day.
She even found herself looking through her scrubs to see if there were any that fit her better than another pair and then laughed at the absurdity of it.
It’s not like she could even do much with her hair either because she was in the OR this morning and it had to be tied back anyway, so she just put it back to start the day.
She finished up with her patient, then walked out and pulled Caden’s chart out of the slot, then opened the door.
She was nowhere prepared for the sight of him in an aqua dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck, tucked into black trousers and shiny black shoes that looked like they might be worth more than all of her scrubs combined.
“Well hello there,” she said, finally finding her voice.
He looked up from his phone, his brown eyes finding hers, a grin on his face. His hair seemed more combed than the last time she’d seen him on Saturday where the wind had blown it around a bit.
There wasn’t any product in it, but man, he sure knew how to put himself together and stand out with it. It amazed her someone that looked like him and appeared to be fairly successful was single.
Something had to be wrong with him, she was guessing.
“Hey,” he said back, putting his phone away. At least he did that. Most went back to what they were doing first before they shut it off.
“So how is the hand?”
“Feels pretty good,” he said, holding it out for her.
She moved past him and went and washed her hands first, then dried them and put on gloves. “Got to keep sterile.”
“You didn’t have gloves on Saturday,” he said.
“And I didn’t touch you either.”
“More’s the pity.”
She laughed. “You’re a charmer and I’ve got to wonder what might be wrong with you.”
“Huh?” he asked.
“Well, you look at yourself in the mirror daily so you know what I’m seeing.” He laughed and she thought she did a good job complimenting him on his sexiness without being too direct. “You bought that nice house and look like a million bucks. Not only that, you look comfortable looking like a million bucks.”
“I am used to dressing like this. If I didn’t have a meeting this morning I would have had jeans on instead.”
No comment on the million statement. “And you’d look just as good,” she said, taking his hand and feeling around. “Hurt at all?”
“Nothing.”
“Great. It looks good, no redness either. Seems to be healing nicely. Keep doing what you are and then next week we’ll take those stitches out.”
“Thank God,” he said. “They itch, but I’m being a good boy and not scratching them.”
“Something tells me you might not always be.”
“What?” he asked. “A good boy?” She smiled but didn’t answer. “I do what I’m told when it’s for the greater good.”
“Ah. One of those. In this case, the greater good is getting you healed.”
“That’s right. And staying on my nurse’s good side.”
“Your nurse?” she asked, liking the way that sounded.
“Well, I’ve seen you twice now and one more to go. That is my nurse in my eyes.”
“Only one more visit,” she said.
“Which means I’ll have to do something about that.”
“You’re not going to injure yourself again to see me, are you?” she asked, angling her head.
“No one is worth that. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I might have had a bigger issue if you didn’t say that.”
“So then I guess next week when you take those stitches out we might have to see about how else we could see each other again,” he said.
He was feeling her out and she was fine with that. And that he was waiting until he wasn’t her patient anymore. Even better.
“You look like a smart guy,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”
“I wasn’t valedictorian in my class for no reason,” he said and then cringed. “Wow. Not only was that cheesy, but in poor taste.”
“It was cheesy but funny. And it tells me you aren’t in as much control as you want me to think.” She took her gloves off and went back to her laptop that she’d set down when she came in and started to type up everything.
“Sometimes control is overrated,” he said.
“Say very few men,” she said back. At least in her experience.
“Then I’d say you’ve been keeping the wrong company.”
“That might be. But lately, it’d be no company at all,” she threw out there.
