by Various
"I know, but damn he’s gorgeous."
"I know, huh?" She waved her hand in front of her face to cool her heated skin.
"You’d better get out there. Who knows how long he’ll wait?"
"Well, I’ve waited two fucking years, he can wait a little bit while I fix my hair."
Luckily, she had been in a vacant room cleaning up and stocking the supplies before housekeeping came in to do their deep cleaning. She’d just discharged a patient from there about an hour before.
In the bathroom, she combed back her hair into the long braid down her back. She hadn’t had a chance to cut it since she’d started school so now it nearly brushed her waist when she let it flow free. What would he think of how she looked now? She’d actually lost a little weight with the stress of school and work since she’d seen him last.
Bright blue eyes stared back from her reflection in the mirror as she freshened up her lipstick. She bit her lip. God, she hoped she didn’t make a fool out of herself. "Okay. I’m ready."
"Go get ‘em, girl."
She walked out the door of the room and glanced down the hall. He stood talking with the other nurses at the station, laughing, and smiling like she knew he would. He could charm the socks off anything he smiled at. She slowly walked closer and closer, listening to the deep baritone of his voice as he regaled some story about one of his horse’s birthing to the group. They were completely charmed.
"Eli?"
He turned toward her with the roses in his hands. The same pale blue eyes she remembered from before, stared back. His hair was a little longer in the back, but the same dark curls framed his face after he swept off his cowboy hat.
"Hey, darlin’."
Her toes curled in her shoes.
The group of women sighed.
"What are you doin’ here?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck for a hug. God, he felt good, too good. His hard chest pressed into her breasts just right, his hands felt perfect around her waist, and the smell, God the smell of the man could drive her to drink to forget.
She stepped back.
"I came to see you." He pushed the flowers into her hands. "These are for you."
"Thank you. They’re beautiful." She brought the bunch to her nose, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the flowers as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the soft, hopeful look in his gaze broke her heart. She couldn’t possibly be mad at him for not calling when she hadn’t the gumption to call herself.
"Can we talk?"
"Sure." She glanced at the charge nurse who motioned with her hands for her to go on. "Um, there is an empty room down here we can have some privacy."
The burn of his gaze on her made her feel light and fluffy as they walked down the hall toward the empty room. He cared. She knew he did or he wouldn’t have sought her out, right?
As they passed the doorway of the room, she glanced down the hall to see every one of her friends staring after them with big grins on their faces. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Even if her and Eli didn’t hook up again, she wouldn’t live this down any time soon.
"So. How’ve you been?" he asked once they were behind closed doors and she took a seat in the rocking chair near the window.
"Good. Busy. As you can see, I finished nursing school. I’ve been working here for about six months."
"That’s awesome. Congratulations. I knew you could do it."
"Thanks. What have you been up to?"
"Same old thing. Raising horses, cattle, dogs, kittens, you know, the normal ranch stuff."
"How did you find me?"
"Your mother. In fact, I need to call her and thank her again."
"You called my parents?"
"Yeah. I drove down to Whisler to the diner, but the waitress didn’t know where you were except in Denver, but she suggested I call your parents. She even found their number for me. You do realize I didn’t even know your last name."
"I didn’t write it on the paper with my phone number. Silly of me, I guess."
"I lost your number."
"What?"
He sat forward in the chair he’d taken a seat in, dangling his hands between his knees. "After I called you to tell you I’d made it home, I lost your number and I couldn’t find it again. I didn’t realize it was gone until I went to call you around Christmas two years ago, that I’d lost it."
"You knew where I lived, Eli."
"I know, honey." He shook his head, pressing his lips together in a frown at the same time. "It’s no excuse. I’m sorry. I should have called, should have come by or something. I’ve made several trips down south for horses, but I always thought it would be a bad idea to stop at the diner and bring up those memories."
"I’ve lived for those memories."
"They mean a lot to me too."
"Why are you really here, Eli?" She sat back in the chair as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I haven’t talked to you in two years and all of the sudden you show up?"
"I needed to see you."
"Needed? That’s a pretty strong word."
"All right, I wanted to see you."
"Why?"
He raked his fingers through his hair as he jumped to his feet. "For a lot of reasons, but for starters, I wanted to know if what we had was real or just how I imagined it was between us. I mean, it was like fireworks or whatever you want to call it. Special. Hell, I don’t know. I’m not one for all those flowery words, Catlin."
"You’re in love with me and you couldn’t live without me, right?"
"Well, I don’t know about all of that, but I wouldn’t mind makin’ love to you again. I mean, it was pretty spectacular, don’t you think?"
"In another words you haven’t been able to make love to anyone else since we were together?"
"I wouldn’t say that, but I bet you’ve been with some other guy since then, right?"
"No."
"No?"
"No. Believe me, I tried, but I couldn’t. What we had was special to me and I couldn’t seem to get past it."
"Yeah, me either."
"You either?"
He hung his head as he stuffed his hands into his front pockets. "No. I tried a couple of times too, but all I could see was your face and how you looked when you flew apart for me."
"Well I have to work for another few hours before I get off. Are you in town for long?"
"I’ll be here until we figure this out."
"What about your ranch?"
"I have one of my brother’s watching things for me until I get back."
"But it’s Christmas. You said you spend the holidays with your family."
"They know I’m here and I won’t be home for the holidays this year. We need to work this out, darlin’."
"I love when you call me that."
He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Can I kiss you?"
"Is that a good idea?"
"I think it’s the best idea I’ve had in two years."
He dragged her into his arms and bent his head to press his lips to hers. She couldn’t help but melt into his embrace. God, she’d lived for this day. It was finally here and all she could do was absorb him with all her senses, hoping he wouldn’t break her heart again.
* * * *
The kiss went on for several minutes as he sipped from her lips, tangled his tongue with hers, and just loved on her mouth. God, he needed this. The touch he’d missed. The connection they’d had wasn’t imagined. It was real. He could feel it in the flutter of her hands on his chest, the sigh she released when their mouths had touched, and the feel of her in his arms. When he finally lifted his head, he said, "Wow."
"Yeah."
"I knew it would be like this between us again."
"I’d hoped." She snuggled in closer. "What are you going to do until I get off work?"
"Hang around and watch your ass as you work?"
"That’s not an option, cowboy."
"God, I missed you." He laughed as he hugged her close
to his chest.
"I missed you too." She sniffed, burying her face in his shirt. "You smell good, but I need to get back to work. You can hang out in the coffee shop downstairs if you want."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Maybe you’ll get off early."
She shrugged as she slipped her arm around his waist to guide him out the door. "Maybe. I can ask. I’ve discharged two of my four patients already so unless they have more, they might have someone else absorb mine so I can leave."
They walked down the hallway toward the nurse’s station with their arms around each other.
"I guess you two are back together?" Missy asked. "Damn it. I thought I might have a chance if you were stupid and gave up this hunk of a man."
Catlin laughed, pulling him in tighter into her embrace. "Not on your life." She glanced at the nurse sitting to the right of where they stood. "Nancy? Is there any way I can get off early?"
"Maybe. Let me take a look at things and I’ll let you know in thirty minutes or so."
"I’ll head downstairs then and leave you to work." He gave her a peck on the mouth and headed for the elevator. She stood with the flowers in her hands, a grin on her kissable lips, and the chatter of the other nurse’s rang in his ears as he moved between the open doors to go downstairs.
His heart was light as he reached the bottom of the hospital floors to get some coffee and wait. The reacquaintance with Catlin couldn’t have went better even though he felt like he’d stuffed his foot in his mouth a few times. Their special time alone tonight would be even better, he hoped.
He grabbed some coffee and took a seat near the window to watch the snow fall. It really did mean a lot to him every time he saw it since they’d met. He wondered if she felt the same way.
Someone screamed as he heard a pop, pop, pop out in the lobby of the hospital. Surely that wasn’t a good sign.
Eli climbed to his feet as people began running past the opening to the area where he had been drinking his coffee. What the hell? He walked out into the corridor as he heard more popping noises coming from the front of the hospital. "What’s going on?" he asked someone who was running past.
"Guy with a gun."
"Shit." He headed out toward the front so he could see if there was something he could do to stop the maniac from hurting innocent people. When he got out there, the guy stood near the counter with a woman he had around the neck. "Oh God." It was Catlin.
Her gaze found his as she pleaded with the man holding her hostage. "Just put the gun down, sir and we’ll see to your wife."
"She’s already dead. I told you."
"No she’s not. If you let me go out there, I can see what I can do, but holding me like this isn’t helping her."
Eli mouthed for her to keep calm. He’d do something.
She shook her head as she continued to plead with the gunman.
Her eyes widened as she watched him move around behind the man. He had to do something. The woman he loved was in danger. There were several chairs lining the walls that looked like they might make a good weapon if only he could get ahold of one without the guy seeing him.
The gunman didn’t seem to be paying much attention to where Eli stood, so he moved quietly toward the chairs. One scraped a little as he moved it, but the other guy was too focused on what Catlin with saying to him. Eli grabbed the chair and tried to move behind the guy without him seeing anything coming.
Just as he raised the chair to hit him, the guy turned toward him with wide eyes and pointed the gun at him.
"No!" she screamed as the gun went off.
He felt a burn across his chest as the chair came down on the guy’s head. The gun went flying as he fell backwards, and the guy dropped, out cold.
"Oh my God. Eli, you’re shot." Catlin crouched by his side as blood ran down his side.
"I’ll be fine, darlin’."
"Fuck that." She pressed her hands to the wound. "I’ve got to stop the blood. So much blood."
"Don’t faint on me, honey."
"I’m not. I’m trained to do this."
"But you hate blood."
"I don’t like the fact that you’re bleeding all over the floor, but I’m fine." She glanced behind her as the police finally arrived to handcuff the guy. "I need a doctor! Someone get a doctor from the ER. This man has been shot."
Darkness crept into his vision. He didn’t want to die before he told Catlin how he felt. "Honey, listen to me."
"Be quiet. The doctor will be here in a minute."
"I need to tell you something, darlin’."
"You don’t need to tell me anything. Save your strength."
"Catlin, listen to me for a minute."
"Please, Eli, don’t talk. We can talk after they get you taken care of."
"But I have to tell you I love you."
"You what?"
"I love you."
Everything went black.
The next time he awoke, he was in the emergency room with several doctors around him.
"Are you awake, Mr. Chandler?"
"Yeah." His voice came out in a low croak.
"We need to take you to surgery. The bullet is in your abdomen and we need to get it out as well as check to make sure nothing vital has been hit."
"Okay."
"Is there someone we need to call?"
"Catlin."
"Is that the nurse who was with you when we found you in the hall?"
"Yes."
"She’s waiting outside. We’ll bring her in." The doctor motioned for the nurse to allow Catlin in the room. The minute she scooted inside, she came to his side and took his hand.
"You’re gonna be okay, Eli. They need to do surgery to remove the bullet."
"I know, but I needed you with me." He lifted his hand to brush the tear from her cheek. "No crying."
"Silly man."
"I love you."
"I love you too. Don’t you dare die on me, okay? We have a lot to discuss, you and me."
"Yeah, we do."
"Do you want me to call your family?"
"Yes. The numbers are in my phone."
"What a way to spend Christmas, cowboy."
"Stay with me," he whispered as he drifted in and out of consciousness, but he swore he heard her say, "Always, cowboy."
When he awoke next, he felt like his side was on fire as he moaned softly.
Soft whispered words near his ear brought his pain down to tolerable in seconds. "Easy, cowboy." He loved the sound of her voice. He peeled open his eyes to find her standing next to the bed. "What happened?"
"Do you remember anything?"
"Yeah, but not after the emergency room."
"They took you to surgery. They got the bullet and nothing vital was hit. You’ll survive although you’re going to be sore for a while. No throwing hay, riding horses, branding cattle—you know the normal cowboy stuff you guys do."
"I have work to do."
She took his hand between hers to bring it to her lips. "You need to rest and heal. You scared the hell out of me. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking a crazy gunman was holding the woman I love by the throat."
Tears streaked down her cheeks. "I almost lost you."
"I’m fine. I’ll be good as new in a few days."
"Weeks maybe."
"Okay, weeks. Did you call my family?"
"Yes. Very nice people, by the way."
"Thanks." He brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. "That will have to do since I can’t reach your mouth."
"Aw, poor baby. You’re a tyrant for a patient, aren’t you?"
"Probably, but I’ll be good as long as you’re my nurse," he said as she bent over the railing to reach his mouth. God, he loved kissing her even though the light peck wasn’t enough. "Deeper."
"No. You’re hurt."
"I’ll feel better if you kiss me like you love me."
"I do love you."
"Good. I didn’t imagine that."
"No, sir, you didn
’t."
"I’m sorry I didn’t call."
"It’s over with now. Don’t worry about it."
"But I do. You probably thought I’d walked away without a backward glance, which wasn’t the truth at all. I didn’t want to admit you got under my skin in such a short time, I guess. You did though. I couldn’t stop thinking about you."
"You knew how I felt."
"Sort of. I mean I didn’t want to believe things could happen so quickly. Love takes time, right? You can’t fall in love with someone overnight."
"We connected on a level I didn’t know existed until you walked into my life and then walked back out of it. You turned me upside down like a damn tornado."
Her fingers ran from the tip of his to his elbow, back and forth like she couldn’t get enough of touching him. He liked it, a lot. "Trust me. I spent the last two years thinking of you every time it snowed."
"Do you have any idea how hard it was to sleep in my bed alone?"
"Alone was maddening."
"Tell me things will work out for us."
"Oh, they will. I plan to take you home with me once I get out of here and never let you go."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah."
"Merry Christmas!" His family came busting through the door, every single one of them. "We couldn’t let you spend Christmas alone, Eli, so we brought Christmas to you."
"Hi, Mom, Dad, everybody."
His mother came rushing over to Catlin’s side as his dad raised an eyebrow at their joined hands. "You must be Catlin."
"Yes, ma’am." Catlin released his hand so she could stand. "It’s nice to meet you all."
His mother wrapped her in a big hug as he smiled. He knew they would get along great and his parents would love that he was finally settling down with someone. "You didn’t have to come all the way here on Christmas," he said, scooting further up in the bed.
"Yes we did. You know we always spend Christmas together, but I didn’t realize you’d have this beautiful girl at your side," his father added. "I’m Eli’s dad, Charles."
"Nice to meet you," Catlin said, accepting a hug from his dad.
"So where did you meet her?" his brother Chris asked. "We didn’t even know you were seeing anyone."
"I haven’t in two years. Catlin and I met when I got stuck in Colorado a few years back. She was working at the roadside diner."
