I nodded and got up. "You're right. You always are."
After giving her a long hug and walking her back to Lance's room, I stopped by my office and gathered my things. I would text Elizabeth, and wherever she was... I was going there too. I wanted to tell her how much I needed her, how much I'd fallen in love with her.
She could accept me or deny me, but I had to get it off my chest.
I pulled my phone from my pocket as it buzzed, and stiffened as bile rose up in my throat. The text was from Parks, and there was picture after picture of Elizabeth wrapped in his arms, or his lips pressed to her cheek. They looked happy, whole - right. The message simply read that Parks was almost there with her. He was rounding first and headed toward home.
Anger and regret raged through me like I'd never felt before, and I texted him back, asking where they were. The minute I got the name of the club, I got into my car and drove like a bat out of hell. It would be a holy nightmare for me tomorrow for busting into the club and dragging Elizabeth out, but I wasn't letting her go, and I owed Parks an explanation. He cared about me, and I had no doubt that he would be furious with me for keeping my feelings a secret, but he could get over it.
She mattered far too much to keep my mouth shut any longer. Sarah was right. We would find a way to make things work out, and the rest of the story would fall in line somehow. We could make sure it did, but first... I needed to get to my girl.
***
I parked across the street from the club and walked in without too much hassle. I recognized a few residents from St. Mark's, but didn't see Elizabeth until I got further into the crowd. She was dancing with Parks, her arms around his neck and his face pressed to the side of her throat.
There was no hesitation inside of me as I reached out and pulled her arm roughly. I half dragged her off the floor and pulled her toward the front door. We made it outside before I turned to her. She slapped me hard across the face, and that was it.
Picking her up, I pushed her against the wall behind us and consumed her mouth, putting every ounce of anger and despair I had pumping through me into the kiss. She pushed at me at first, but melted a moment later, wrapping herself around me as she opened herself up and pulled me in tighter.
I groaned and rocked my hips, wondering why the fuck we weren't naked and writhing with each other. Someone pulled at my shoulder, and I broke the kiss, looking back to find a wide-eyed Parks.
"What the fuck, dude?" His hands lifted to the side as confusion filled his expression.
"I'm in love with her. I should have told you." I held her to my side and pressed my lips to her forehead as she lolled against me. She was wasted, but I didn't care.
"What? Yeah, you should have told me. Fuck, Aiden, I almost took her home with me tonight. Then what? Damn, man." He pushed at my chest, but not as if he wanted to start something. He was upset, and had every right to be.
"I know. I'm sorry. I'll catch up with you tomorrow and explain. I saw your pictures and honestly thought I was going to go through the roof. Elizabeth is mine, and I'm done pretending that she's not." I squared my shoulders, not worrying if she could hear or understand me. She was lost to her liquor, but I would explain it all again to her in the morning.
He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright. That sucks, but I get it. I thought something might be up, but then you kept treating her like shit, so I figured I was wrong."
"I know. I'm a dick, and if she doesn't want anything to do with me when she sobers up, I'll move back and give you space to see if something exists between you guys, but if she wants me... I'm all hers." I reached out and squeezed Parks' shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah. Me too." He patted my hand and moved back toward the club. "Take care of her, Aiden. She's a good woman. No more fucking this up if you get a chance to make things right. I'm waiting in the wings, as are a zillion other guys. Got it?"
"Yeah. More than you know." I turned and picked her up as she mumbled something against my neck. I couldn't understand her, but I leaned down and brushed my lips by hers instead of trying. "It's alright, baby. I'm going to take you home with me, and I'll take care of you. Okay?"
She closed her eyes and cuddled up against my chest as I walked to the car. She wasn't going to wake up for the rest of the night, but I didn't care. I would clean her up and hold her until she came to the next day. Then... I was coming clean with the beautiful vixen. I didn't just want access to her body, but to her heart as well.
Funny to think that no amount of money could purchase such a treasure.
Chapter 18
Elizabeth
I woke the next morning tucked against someone. Fear raced through me that I'd gotten completely drunk and let Parks take me to bed, but then I realized the color of the sheets beneath me. Aiden. I stiffened in the bed, trying like hell to remember the night before, and only getting quick glimpses of Parks dancing with me sensually.
"Fuck," I whispered, hating myself. I might have been mad at Aiden, but cheating on him wasn't part of the deal. Was it cheating if we weren't really together?
"You awake?" His lips brushed by the back of my shoulder, and I realized that I was naked.
"Yes. What happened?" I turned onto my back and pulled the cover up as I looked over at him. My heart melted in my chest and tears filled my eyes at the dark circles under his eyes, coupled with the worried look on his devastatingly handsome face.
"You got sick, so I held you over the toilet. Your clothes are probably dry by now." He moved up beside me and lifted to his elbow, which caused the sheet to slide from his chest and leave his upper body on display.
Desire shot through me and I reached out, rubbing my hand up his arm to his shoulder. "Thank you. I'm so sorry. I think I danced with Parks. I was so drunk."
"Shh... it's okay. It was my fault." He leaned over and brushed his lips against mine tentatively.
Gratefulness that he was willing to care for me after what I'd done drove me to press into the kiss. I pulled at his neck and he moved to rest on top of me, the sheet getting stuck between us.
"Take it easy, Elizabeth. I've been watching you all night, and it's not going to take much to have me starving for your touch." He pressed his nose to the side of my neck and breathed in deeply.
"Oh God." I arched my back and tugged at the covers. "Get under here. I need to feel you against me so fucking bad."
He moved the covers, giving me a glimpse of his rock-hard erection. I reached down and stroked it as he growled softly at me.
"Woman. I'm serious. Take it easy. I know you're not feeling well." He settled down on top of me, and I closed my eyes as tears burned my vision. It felt like heaven to have him against me.
Fear wrapped around me so tightly that I couldn't breathe. I would have him for an hour or two, and then he would belong to the world he lived in and not me anymore. I would be a burden, a hindrance, until it was time to make love again.
"I can't do this," I whispered as a sob bubbled up inside of me.
He stroked my hair back and placed soft kisses all over my face before brushing his nose along mine. I opened my eyes to find his deep blue eyes filled with tears too.
"I can't either. Let's not do this anymore." He kissed me softly, and I expected him to move, but instead, he pressed into me as I gripped the sheets and let out a cry from the pleasure that swelled in my stomach. "Let's not pretend that we're not in love with each other, Lizzy. Let's let down our guard and fall so far that we can't imagine breathing if something were to happen to the other."
I cried out as he pressed in farther. His hands tightened around my face and he licked at my mouth before kissing me a few times and starting to pump in and out of me. I reached up and gripped him as if I might lose him.
"I want to be on top," I whispered, and he rolled us over, never losing contact.
I sat up and pressed back to take him fully inside me, and it was his turn to cry out. I pressed my hands to his strong chest and rocked against him as I whimper
ed due to his size.
He reached up and palmed my breasts, squeezing and massaging them as his eyes bore into mine.
"I love you. I've fallen so far in love with you that it scares me. Tell me that I'm not alone. I don't want to be alone anymore. Tell me that you feel the same." His hand brushed my cheek, and he pulled me down to lay flush against him as his other hand squeezed my ass tightly. "Tell me."
I nodded, and wrapped my arms around his neck as we continued to give and take from one another. "I love you too. So much that it hurts sometimes."
He nodded and closed his eyes, lifting his hips and working me from underneath as he groaned in pleasure with each thrust.
His words opened up a part of me that I didn't realize existed. I wanted forever with him, and even though it had started out as something so far from good and wholesome, it was turning into all those things now. My pain would dissipate the more I began to believe his desires were true.
"Hold on, baby. I'm going to get up and put on a condom." He kissed me once more and rolled us back over, working me for a few more minutes before getting up and walking to his nightstand.
"Aiden. What about tomorrow when we're back at work? Will you still love me then?" I knew I sounded needy and maybe a little pathetic, but I didn't care. I needed to know. If he was only willing to love me behind closed doors, then I needed to gather my things and leave. My heart couldn't handle us not truly being together. It was wrecking the parts of my life that mattered most.
"Yes. Forever." He rolled the condom on and walked back toward me as I let my eyes run along him. A soft moan left my lips as he pushed at my shoulder and curled in behind me, spooning me tightly. "I'm not telling you that it's going to be easy, but I don't care. If one of us has to leave the hospital, then I'll go."
He gripped my hip and impaled me with a loud groan. I reached up and grabbed the headboard, far too out of breath to tell him that I would go. He'd been there for the last ten years. I would take one for the team and do my residency elsewhere.
"I need to release all of this shit I've been building up inside of me for the last three weeks. Tell me you can take it." He shifted a little and half lay on top of me, forcing me more onto my stomach as he pressed in so deeply that it almost hurt.
"I want it." I gripped the bed tightly as he thanked me, and started to fuck me fast and hard, his body opening mine up as if it were his to command. I came so hard that tears filled my eyes, and he followed me quickly, rocking himself against me until he collapsed and wrapped me in a tight hold.
"I love you. So much, Elizabeth. Tell Parks and every other man in the world to fuck off. You're mine. We don't need to figure out what that means, but we do need to work through the details."
I nodded and wiped at my tears. "I love you too. I need to get into the hospital soon. My boss has been a dick lately, and I don't want to upset him."
He chuckled low in his chest. "Your boss says that you're at work already. Today's going to be a test in longevity. You up for it?"
I smirked and pushed him back before crawling out of the bed and grabbing the rest of the condoms. I tossed them at him and pulled my hair up before cracking my neck and walking back to the bed.
"Get another one of those on. I've always wanted to try reverse cowgirl." I crawled onto the bed as his eyes widened slightly.
"You play mentor then. Just promise to make me your mentee." He reached for me, pulling me down and wrapping his arms and legs around me as we rolled to a comfortable spot on the bed. "Forgive me for all of this. I wanted your heart, not your body or your time. That all would have come along with it if I hadn't twisted your offer. I'm sorry."
I brushed my hand down his face and took a deep breath. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I offered you me. My heart wasn't part of the deal, but like most cocky doctors... you just assumed it was all yours."
He laughed and squeezed my ass before tucking his face against my neck. "And I want it all, but can we start with the reverse cowgirl stuff first?"
I laughed and swatted at him. "Anything you want."
"There's my girl. Get up here and remind me why I'm going to shower you in everything I have for the rest of our lives." He gripped my hips tightly as I moved up to straddle him.
"Because my ass is cute?" I glanced over my shoulder to watch him put on a new condom.
"Because you're everything I want, and far more than I deserve." He pulled me back to take him in. "I'll always be right here behind you, supporting you, loving you, needing you."
"And fucking me?" I rocked my hips as he sat up and moved his fingers to play between my thighs as the world lit on fire.
"Always fucking you. Every time you let me." He kissed my neck as I closed my eyes and lost myself in the feeling of his touch.
There wouldn't be an every time, but an any time. I was his, and he could have anything he wanted. Whenever he wanted it. Wherever he wanted it.
He was my future, and I was fully invested.
Epilogue
Three Years Later
Elizabeth
We'd done it. Three years had passed since I started at St. Mark’s Hospital, and my residency was over. Peter had allowed both of us to stay at the hospital after Aiden turned in his resignation, but I was assigned a new mentor, which worked out well. Parks had taken on the job, and I honestly learned more from him than I ever could from Aiden. He was a different type of teacher, one who didn't give accolades and praise too often, but when he did, he meant it.
Stephanie finally got past her crazy phase, and met a really cute guy at the club a few years back. They were married a year later, and she moved in with him and left me to make the hard decision of finally giving in to Aiden pushing me to move in with him as well. He paid off my student loans within the first year of us dating, and moved my mother into a beautiful little townhouse near the edge of the city. She started dating an old friend from school, and everyone seems settled now. Parks is forever the bachelor, but I have no doubt that someone will come in and steal his heart, though he tells me that it still belongs to me.
He just does that to get to Aiden.
I knocked on the door just outside Dr. Miller's office, much like I had three years before starting my journey, and took a seat. My knee wasn't bouncing as much as it was back then, but my heart fluttered with the fact that my residency was over, and I'd taken my final exams to become a full-fledged doctor. She would have my scores, and I was going insane with the need to see them.
"Elizabeth. Right on time as usual. Come on in, and don't mind the visitors." She smiled warmly and moved back, leaving me to wonder what the hell she was talking about.
I walked into find most of my friends from my residency shoved into her office, including my mom, Steph, Parks, Peter, and Aiden.
"What is this?" My heart raced in my chest as I glanced toward Dr. Miller.
"Congratulations. You did it. You were ranked number ten on this exam in all of the entire nation."
The whole room exploded with claps and shouts of excitement. I pressed my hands to my lips and turned to press into Aiden's arms as he wrapped them around me.
"I'm so proud of you, baby." He kissed the side of my face as I cried.
Thirteen years of killing myself, and I had done it. Not only had I reached my goal, but my dreams were flourishing because of the man in front of me. He wanted to give me the world, to know every part of me and exploit every pleasure known to man together.
My mom pulled at me and laughed. "Back up, Doctor Hottie. I want a hug from my girl."
I laughed and wrapped my mom in a hug. "Thanks for all your support, Mom."
She moved back and squeezed my shoulders as her eyes filled with tears. "I didn't do much, but I'm so proud of you. Your daddy would be too."
"I think so too." I hugged her again, and noticed out of the corner of my eye that Aiden was watching me.
I moved around the room, hugging people and talking to them about the craziness of the journey. It was overwh
elming, and some part of me wished I was racing around the E.R. dealing with trauma rather than having to entertain so many people, but I was grateful for their support. It was a good lesson in the fact that life didn't have to be spent alone - ever. I had a whole room full of people who cared for me, and truly wanted me to succeed. One in particular.
"Why are you watching me so closely? It's turning me on." I moved up to my man and wrapped my arms around his narrow waist as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.
"I got you something. I hope you don't mind me giving it to you now." He nipped at my mouth.
"Is it a dick in a box? Because that's what I really want." I whispered against his lips, and he jerked back, laughing loudly as he shook his head.
"Oh, shit, baby. Not much has changed in the last three years, has it?" He pulled out a small black box as the room grew quiet. "I'm not sure this is the place to do it, but most of these people have threatened my life about being present when I did it."
"What are you doing, Aiden?" The blood rushed from my face as the room started to spin. I reached out and touched his shoulder as he dropped to his knee and lifted the box, popping it open and smiling at me. The petite diamond ring inside the box was perfect. It was me all the way, and I couldn't have done a better job having someone handcraft it for me.
"You make my life worth living. You're my partner at the hospital, my lover at home, my best friend everywhere else. Be my wife. Let's make this forever thing legit. Marry me."
I let out a short laugh as tears dripped down my face. "Yes. God, yes."
My One and Only: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Second Chance Romance Page 123
