Seeing Jena at that table in Stevie’s that night had been like oxygen, as corny and cliché as it sounded. The only thing getting him through each day all week had been the anticipation, the all-involving craving, to hear her voice before he went to sleep. Every night, Nicholas fought the desire to ask Jena to just be there when he got home so he could feel her next to him, and have conversations about nothing, and fall asleep tangled in her arms. He just didn’t know how to say it without sounding like either a complete horndog tool or a clingy dishmop.
Now here he was, ashamed of himself for feeling relieved that Jena didn’t hear him say aloud what she’d said a hundred times without words. Her every touch had been a small I love you for weeks, and Nick damned well knew it. He’d seen the question in her eyes and heard it underneath her words, but she’d seemed content to leave things as they were for now. Waiting for him. Not pushing.
He felt like such an ass.
Jena rolled over in his arms, entwining her legs with his as she slid an arm around his waist and kissed his chest.
Another I love you.
The magic of her warm softness wrapped around him made him drowsy. His eyes drifted closed as he laid his cheek against her hair, promising himself to be braver in the morning.
A quiet rap woke Nicholas, and he opened one eye.
“Sorry to wake you up, man,” Con whispered, his face softening into a smile as he glanced at Jena. Sometime in the night, she had rolled onto her stomach, though a hand still rested on Nick’s chest, and her hair was trailing over them both and covering her face. “It’s one o’clock, and I’m heading to the station. I didn’t know if either one of you had to work today.”
Nicholas shook his head, and Jena’s voice emerged from the depths of her hair. “Thanks, Conor. Thanks a lot. I was having the best dream, and you were in it.”
Conor chuckled. “Sex object?”
“Giant monkey playing the banjo, actually. Coffee?”
“Comin’ right up, cutie. What about you, Dr. Doofus?”
Nick grunted. “She gets an endearment and I get an insult. Tell me where that’s fair. And yes, I want coffee.”
“She has a nicer ass than you do.” Conor broke into laughter as Jena swiped her hand behind her, making sure the blankets were pulled up. “Gotcha, Jen. Coffee will be on the counter, you crazy kids.” After a couple of minutes, Nicholas heard the outer door shut quietly.
Jena rolled onto her side, and Nick brushed her hair back. A sleepy smile spread across her face, and she pressed her cheek into Nick’s hand. “Hi,” she whispered.
Nicholas smiled back. “Hi.”
Jena delicately touched the area under his eyes with her fingertips. “You look better. Rested.”
“Must have been how I fell asleep.” Nicholas waggled his eyebrows at her.
Jena smiled. “More like fourteen hours of sleep, I think.” She rolled over and stretched, arching her back and extending her neck. “I didn’t realize I was so tired. Damn!”
Nicholas couldn’t resist running his hand lightly over the top of her chest, sliding it down until he could feel her heart beat. He laughed as it stuttered and then started galloping.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, Dr. Sexypants? That you make me crazy basically doing nothing?” Small fingers were suddenly digging into Nick’s ribs, and he chuckled.
“Not ticklish there.” He raised his arm. “Here either. Go ahead. Try it.”
“Nice, Nicholas. Armpit in my face.” Jena pretended to gag, and suddenly her fingers were at the top of his thigh. His sharp gasp of laughter encouraged her, and she kept tickling as he tried to catch her wrist. “How do you like that, huh?” she growled, plunging her other hand below the covers to grab his other thigh, but missing his leg. “Oops. Sorry.” She giggled.
Nicholas grabbed Jena’s hand and held it against himself. “Don’t be. I kind of like that.”
“Perv.” They wrestled for a minute, and Jena ended up on top of Nick. The soft chuffs of air coming from her mouth hit the area behind his ear and gave him goose bumps.
“Now I found a spot, didn’t I?” Jena crowed. She gently blew over the spot again and then brushed her lips on the sensitive skin as he squirmed. “Do you like that, Nicholas?” she breathed, drawing his earlobe into her mouth with her lips and then sliding it out between her teeth before flicking her tongue in the hollow below his ear.
“No. I hate it. Do it again.” He ran his hands over Jena’s ribs and settled them on her hips, rubbing restlessly in circles as she complied. “That’s nice.”
Jena reached back quickly to tickle his thigh again.
Squawking, Nicholas tried to reach her hand, but the way Jena was sitting on his pelvis made it impossible for him to lean up enough to reach her ruthless hand. The double tension from laughing and feeling her grinding against him as she twisted to get a better angle had ramped up the coil of need in his belly to a dangerous extent. “Jesus, Jena,” he gasped out, “stop! I swear to God, you’ll be sorry. And messy.”
She laughed, resting her hands on his chest and leaning forward to kiss him on the nose. “All right, I suppose I can stop.” She moved until she could lie next to him and rest her head on his chest. “I love you too much to make you change your sheets on your only day to rest, I guess.” She smoothed her fingers over his skin, smiling up at him.
Nick’s heart thumped in his chest. She said it. Out loud, while looking straight at him. Oh, fuck. Was she still joking? “You do, huh?” He kept his tone light as he watched her hands.
“Yep.”
This would be the time to say it again, Nick’s brain whispered…and he couldn’t get the words out, no matter how hard he tried. Jena didn’t seem to notice his struggle, thankfully.
She deserved better than his silence.
“Jena, I—” The words caught in his throat. “You have today off, right? Want to go to the movies or veg on the couch?”
Fuck. Epic fail.
Jena laughed in delight, sitting up and grinning down at him. “You read my mind. Couch, definitely. Let’s take care of breakfast first, though.”
Two weeks later, Nick was regretting his decision not to just ask Jena to pack a bag, grab her books, and stay with him for…ever. Each day started to blend into the others as the residents and lectors intensified their lessons, trying to make sure the med students learned enough in the rotation to avoid killing their small patients. Nicholas dragged home from each shift, sure that it couldn’t possibly get any tougher, but it did. An eight-hour shift was supposed to be the norm, but by the time he finished working his own charts and the charts handed down to him by his sadistic resident, Nick rarely got out of the hospital in less than ten or eleven hours. He went home, studied, talked to Jena on the phone, and dropped into bed, only to do the same thing the next day.
Finally, even getting up became a heroic struggle. On the morning Nicholas staggered to the bathroom and slept through his shower, only reviving when Conor silently handed him a mug of coffee as he shuffled into the kitchen, Conor finally spoke up.
“You all right, Nick?” He leaned a hip against the counter and crossed his arms, watching Nicholas swallow his second cup of coffee in as many minutes.
Nick nodded, grimacing as the hot liquid scalded his throat. “Med school, man. Had to expect it.”
Conor looked steadily at him. “You’re not sleeping much either. I hear you tossing and turning all fucking night.”
Nick shrugged, rinsing his cup and setting it on the drain board.
“Get Jena over here.” Conor’s voice was decided. “I haven’t seen you smile for weeks, dude. You need to relax and sleep.” Nick opened his mouth, and Conor held up his hand to stop him from speaking. “I know she has school and work, and so do you, but at least you can go to bed and wake up together. I don’t care if she moves in. I like Jen.”
Nicholas shook his head. “I can’t ask her to do that. It would be like adding insult to injury.” He dropped his eyes to study his
hands. “She said she loved me…and I couldn’t get the fucking words out of my mouth, Conor. I just froze up. So I can’t ask her to do something else for me when I can’t even give her that.”
“Brutal.” Conor’s voice cooled. “Let me get this straight. You’ve chased at least the idea of this girl for almost seven years—don’t give me that look,” he warned as Nick started to protest. “You’re a damn liar if you deny she’s been at the back of your mind since you first met her. You never would have slept with her in Frisco if that weren’t the case. You’re not that guy.” Conor’s eyes challenged Nicholas to deny it. He couldn’t. “Okay. So you’ve wanted this girl for a long time, and now that you’ve got her, you’re wussing out?” Con shook his head when Nick didn’t say anything. “You’re an idiot. But you do love her, and she loves you, God knows why. She’d do this for you.”
“Yeah,” Nicholas admitted. “I’m having lunch with her on Thursday and we both have the weekend off, miracle of miracles. I’ll talk to her then.” He rolled his tense shoulders and grimaced. “You’re a nosy jerk, you know that? Thanks.”
Conor clapped Nicholas on the shoulder and picked up his backpack. “Yeah, but you needed it. I guess I have to be the guru for both of you.” He chuckled, heading out the door.
Nicholas was writing up a patient’s chart when he felt Jena enter the break room on Thursday afternoon. Without turning around, he smiled, shaking his head and checking his watch.
“You were almost late again, Baker.”
“Normal people call it ‘on time,’ Cooper.”
Nick turned to see Jena leaning against the doorjamb, dangling a bag from a local sub shop from her fingers. “Hungry?”
Nicholas drank her in. Who knew a pair of well-fitting jeans and a clinging tee could be so sexy? Crossing the room, he plucked the bag out of her hand, brushing the hair that she’d left down away from her neck and pressing his lips against the pulsing vein in her neck. “Can I have more than a sandwich?” he murmured.
“Who’s your friend, Cooper?”
Stepping back reluctantly, Nicholas tried not to give his resident a death glare as Dr. Dick stood behind Jena, arms crossed and smiling. Before Nick could say anything, Jena had turned around, and was having her hand taken. “My student isn’t quick on the uptake. I’m Ted Kapos.”
She shook his hand quickly before dropping it to slide her hand in Nick’s. “Jena Baker.” She turned back to Nicholas. “Ready?”
Nick almost laughed as Kapos frowned slightly. He seemed to catch Nick’s mood, because he glared. “Finish the Martin chart, Nicholas?”
“You know I haven’t, Ted. I just finished checking his vitals again. Can I eat my lunch, please?” Jena squeezed Nick’s hand.
“This time, I’ll let it go,” Kapos allowed, smiling brilliantly at Jena. “But only because you have this beautiful girl waiting.” He turned to Nick and immediately dropped the smile. “Be ready to present in twenty minutes.” He sauntered down the hall without another word, ignoring the gaggle of students that parted to give him a respectful space before pushing past Jena to get into the break room.
“Fuck,” Nicholas muttered, squeezing his eyes closed and hoping a bus would hit Kapos the next time he left the hospital.
“Well, I guess that precludes a quickie,” Jena said lightly and kissed the back of his hand. “Let’s eat.”
Nicholas started wolfing his sandwich down as soon as they found a quiet place to sit, hoping they would have a few minutes to talk before he had to get ready for the Inquisition.
Jena watched him eat with a tiny smile on her face. “Is Dr. Kapos always so charming, Nick?” she asked. She leaned forward to wipe a dollop of mustard from the corner of his mouth; Nick caught her hand and sucked it off her finger, smiling at her shiver before he responded.
“Eh. He’s okay.” Thinking about the thirty-six hour shift he’d just worked, largely because Kapos had dumped all of his charts on his students and disappeared, Nick had a difficult time keeping a light tone. “If you imagine him as a giant dick with ears, it helps.” He could almost believe his own bullshit when Jena laughed.
As he finished the last shreds of lettuce, Nick rolled the sandwich wrappings into a ball and tossed it in the garbage can and grabbed Jena’s hand. She looked at him with a questioning smile and his heart sped up. He’d be hating himself in two minutes if her face froze when he asked her to come stay at his apartment.
“Jena, I have something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Her smile faded a little, and she nodded. “Okay. What?”
Nicholas took breath to speak and let it out in a huff when he caught sight of Kapos pointedly staring at him and glancing at his watch. “Shit. Dr. Dickhead is ready.” He hesitated, but had to rise to his feet when Kapos scowled at him. “Listen, Jena, can we get together this weekend? You have it off, right?”
Her smile bloomed again as she stood, too. “Yep. And I was counting on having you to myself.” She pressed a kiss on Nick’s mouth before passing her hand down his back and to his thigh. “I want to do wicked things to you, Nicholas.” She was laughing as she waved at Kapos and disappeared down the hall, hair and hips swaying.
Nicholas walked toward Dr. Dick, and Kapos whistled under his breath, still watching Jena. “How do you deserve that, Cooper? She looks like such a smart girl, too.”
Nick grimaced, remembering what he had planned to talk to her about. “I don’t, and she is. And keep your eyes and hands to yourself, Kapos.” The resident chuckled and started the Inquisition.
Nicholas was muttering to himself in the kitchen on Saturday morning, trying to decide what to say to get Jena to stay with him at least a few days of each week, when Conor finally straggled out of his room.
“Nice boxers, cupcake.” Conor yawned and slapped Nick’s back as he reached for coffee mugs, handing a cup to Nicholas before he poured the coffee. “Mind explaining why you’re banging pans around out here at nine in the morning on a Saturday?”
“Hungry,” Nick grunted, cracking eggs into the pan that had been heating. He looked at Conor and added several more eggs.
Conor chuckled, blowing on his coffee to cool it off. “More like frustrated,” he said. Nicholas glared at him, fully aware that Conor was right. He missed Jena’s soft warmth and the way their limbs tangled together in the sleep he wasn’t getting without her. Not to mention the way she felt wrapped around him as he moved inside her.
“Hey, I calls ’em as I sees ’em,” Conor said, glancing at the toaster before shrugging and buttering two pieces of bread. He leaned against the counter again. “You guys are coming to Stevie’s tonight, right?” He looked at Nicholas expectantly.
“Nope. I plan on secluding myself with Jena until Monday morning, at the earliest.” Nicholas portioned the eggs and bread out on plates, and they settled down at the table and started eating.
“Nice sentiment, but no can do,” Conor declared through a mouthful of eggs. “Trav will be disappointed if Jena isn’t there.”
Nick frowned. “I guess I’m out of the loop. What’s going on?”
Conor swallowed and sat back in his chair. “The band Travis’s been working with is doing really well. They’ve started getting gigs around town, and this is supposed to be a ‘thanks’ to Stevie for giving them a place to start out. There are posters all over campus—hell, I’ve been putting them up all over town.” He waved a sheaf of flyers that had been sitting next to his elbow. “Where have you been, dude?”
“The hospital. Lectures. Sleeping.” Nicholas sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. We should be there, at least for a while.” They finished their breakfast in silence before Nick rose and stretched, nodding at the dirty plates. “You’ll get those, right?”
Conor chuckled and answered the ringing phone. He greeted the caller and handed it to Nick, mouthing Dad. Conor headed down the hall, and Nick heard the shower start. Great. No hot water again.
“Nicholas?”
Nick remembered he was ho
lding the phone in his hand. “Sorry.”
His dad’s voice was amused, but a shade too nosy. “I didn’t wake anyone up, did I?” Nick knew he was wondering if Jena was there.
“Nope. Conor and I were just finishing breakfast.”
“Good.” Now his dad’s voice seemed a little too satisfied. “Listen, son. I’d like to ask a favor of you. You remember Mark Arroyo? We went to his wife’s funeral a couple of years ago, remember?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, his daughter, Sofia, is in Sacramento on business until tomorrow, and she’s at loose ends. Can I impose on you to keep her company this evening? She leaves tomorrow morning.”
Nicholas gritted his teeth. “Dad, I have plans this evening. A friend’s band is playing, and we’re going to see them.”
Dr. Cooper was smoothly insistent. “Perfect! Just take Sofia along.” They sat through a long moment of silence. “Nicholas, I’m not asking you to sleep with her, for heaven’s sake. Take her to the club, buy her a drink—whatever. Mark is just worried about her, and I said—”
“Fine, Dad. I’ll take her to the club. Does she even like blues?”
His father sounded satisfied. “I’ll give you the number of her hotel, and you can ask her yourself.” Dr. Cooper rattled off a number and thanked Nicholas again, hanging up as soon as he got his way.
Nicholas stared at the phone for several minutes, muttering curses at it, and then called the number his father had given him. Sofia Arroyo sounded like the rest of the girls Nick had grown up with: bored, whiny debs with over-articulated speech and plastic smiles. He winced as she let out a fake squeal, declaring how much she looooved the blues. No comparison to Jena’s genuine belly laugh when anything amused her. Nick polited his way through a few more minutes’ conversation before agreeing to pick Sofia up at eight.
Pressing the cut-off button briefly, he made his last call. Jena sounded relieved that Nicholas didn’t mind stopping at Stevie’s for a while, and pretty easygoing about Sofia, teasing him about being manipulated by his parents. He reminded her of the non-lie, and she laughed full out, agreeing ruefully that their parents had some sort of weird control over them. Promising to be ready when Nicholas and Sofia picked her up, Jena reminded him to pack a bag.
Cocktails & Dreams Page 19
