What the Heart Wants: An Opposites Attract Anthology

by Jeanne McDonald

  An unapologetic Grant strode into the exam room, drawing Everleigh’s recognition. He washed his hands with efficiency and purposefully inserted himself between Everleigh and the patient on the gurney. The woman stretched out before him was a mess. Both eyes nearly swollen shut. Nose broken. Jaw severely misaligned. Grant commenced to exam the woman thoroughly, but gently. As he pressed on her left side, the woman moaned and raised her hand as though searching for someone. As Grant rattled off a series of test orders to the attending nurse, Everleigh appeared on the other side of the gurney. She took the woman’s elevated hand between both of hers.

  “I’m right here,” she assured the woman, looking down at her mangled face. “The doctor’s name is Grant. He’s going to get you treated.”

  What Everleigh said next shook Grant to his core. “This is Cleo.”

  Grant halted his examination of the woman just long enough to throw an angry glare at Everleigh. He never wanted to know the patient’s name. He was mere moments away from having to saw the woman in half in an attempt to save her life. The last thing he could afford to do in the heat of surgical battle was to think of a patient as an individual. All of his focus needed to be on the injury to the anatomy. Nothing more.

  Cleo’s breathing became labored and her grip on Everleigh’s hand involuntarily tightened.

  “Can you give her something for the pain?” Everleigh whispered.

  Grant shook his head emphatically. “Not until I finish my exam.”

  Just then, Cleo’s hand went limp in Everleigh’s grasp. “Something’s wrong,” she told Grant just as several monitors shrieked in alarm. Without warning, Cleo’s back lurched upward as she was overtaken by a violent cough. An alarming amount of blood sprayed out of her mouth and Everleigh hopped up in surprise and shock.

  “Damnit!” Grant yelled. “Let her go! Move out of the way!”

  He zoomed around the gurney as another nurse and the ER manager burst into the exam room. Grant barked out orders, directing multiple assessments at once. The woman needed a chest tube and Grant drafted Everleigh to assist him. She followed his orders without argument. In fact, she didn’t even mutter a single word.

  The team worked for several minutes to stabilize Cleo, but their efforts were of no use. Cleo died within ten minutes. Grant pronounced her time of death at 8:21 p.m.

  Grant stepped back from the gurney and disposed of his barrier gown as the other nurses began the process of cleaning the scene. A full minute passed before he noticed Everleigh was frozen in place. Unlike Grant, she hadn’t been wearing a barrier gown and her scrubs were covered in Cleo’s blood. Her neck and chest were coated with it. Grant noticed the distinctive, glistening lines of

  tears on each cheek. She was clearly distraught.

  Everleigh worked in the hospital, but Grant knew she was unaccustomed to working with trauma patients. If she were, she never would have made the mistake of introducing the woman to him by name. Having felt his own frustrations with Everleigh building both inside and outside the emergency room, Grant finally snapped.

  “Don’t you ever give me another patient’s name!” he yelled at her.

  The other nurses in the room briefly paused to absorb Grant’s outburst, but Everleigh didn’t so much as flinch at his anger.

  “What happened?” she whispered.

  Baffled, Grant followed Everleigh’s gaze over to the body on the gurney. “She died.”

  “Cleo was awake. She was talking to me.”

  “She had internal bleeding.”

  “What happened?” she repeated.

  “Maybe it was an aortic dissection. We’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Cleo was fine.”

  “She wasn’t fine!” Grant screamed and pointed to the dead woman on the table. “For fuck’s sake, snap out of it and look at her!”

  Everleigh was uncharacteristically upset, and Grant’s bedside manner sucked. Yet another reason why he’d opted to become a surgeon. Still, Everleigh appeared not to be surprised by Grant’s anger. Rather she listened to his command and began to study Cleo’s battered body at length.

  The longer she stared, the more upset Everleigh became. She’d failed to protect Cleo. She’d failed to protect herself. And she’d failed to protect Grant. She’d fucked this night up big time and bolted from the room before she could make things any worse.

  Grant watched her flee in remorseful silence, but opted not to follow her just yet. Instead, he lingered in the exam room to make sure Cleo was adequately attended to. He didn’t leave the emergency room until Cleo’s body was covered and taken away.

  All Grant could focus on was finding Everleigh. She didn’t make it easy on him. He searched the doctor’s lounges, the cafeteria, even empty hospital rooms. She was nowhere to be found. Finally, it occurred to him to check the helipad area on the roof. There, he found her braced into a corner, knees drawn up to her chin, fifteen stories above the city. From that vantage point, Everleigh had a magnificent view but she wasn’t aware of it.

  Grant moved with purpose to stand in front of her. He held his posture in a firm, confident stance, and then he did what he thought she would do. He waited.

  Everleigh soon began to fidget under Grant’s intense gaze. She’d never enjoyed being the center of attention and his unrelenting stare bothered her.

  “Stop it,” she barked while refusing to make eye contact.

  If their evening hadn’t turned so deadly serious, Grant would have been tempted to laugh at her reaction. Grant was rarely threatened by conflict and Everleigh’s current state was no match for his resolve.

  “You’re a mess,” he told her.

  She was unresponsive.

  “I can be a good listener, if you give me a chance. Talk to me, Everleigh.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Just give me a few minutes. I’ll meet you in the cafeteria.”

  Her voice shook with the desperate attempt to maintain a tranquil façade.

  “No. You’re too upset. I’m not leaving you up here.”

  She took great offense to this remark and shot to her feet.

  “I’m not a damsel in distress!” she yelled. “I’m not going to fling myself off the building!”

  “Calm down,” Grant said this to her as much as he did to himself. His blood was beginning to boil once again.

  “I’m trying to! But I can’t as long as you keep provoking me! Go away!”

  “No.”

  “Fine!” Everleigh couldn’t take it anymore and angrily stormed past Grant. “You stay here all you want. I’ll leave.”

  He turned to watch her retreating back. “Run away all you want. I’ll always find you.”

  His words didn’t slow her pace, but they did have an impact. She extended her arm behind her, raised her hand and flipped him off. Everleigh’s unspoken words rang loudly inside Grant’s mind.

  “Fuck you!”

  It was the one thing she could have said to him to force his hand. He wasn’t going to allow her to leave the roof without a say of his own. Just as she reached the door and pulled on the knob, he appeared right behind her. His muscular chest pushed into her back as he reached out with a strong hand to push the heavy door firmly shut. With the other hand, he swung her around to face him.

  Before Everleigh could utter a single syllable, Grant crashed his mouth into hers. He took both of her hands in his, lifting and pinning her arms above her head. He exerted enough pressure on her wrists to hold her still and he felt her chest push against his. Grant was taking a calculated risk. He hadn’t asked permission to kiss Everleigh, let alone take control of the moment. But she didn’t fight him when his tongue sought hers. Beneath his tight hold, she finally began to relax. Encouraged, Grant maintained the ferocity of his kiss until he was certain that Everleigh wouldn’t run away from him. When they finally broke apart, they were both breathless. He didn’t release her arms, but he watched her eyes with unblinking determination until she slowly lifted her own.

 
“What in the hell was that?” she demanded, albeit in a much calmer tone.

  Grant slowly released one of her wrists and was pleased when she left her arm in place. He tapped a finger against the corner of his hazel eye. “I’m sensual and short-tempered. Remember?”

  She didn’t answer him. Instead she seemed to lose herself in his gaze. As he watched her expression soften, his heart rate picked back up.

  “I read up on your eyes, too,” he confessed in a gentle tone. “Do you know about people with blue eyes?”

  Everleigh nodded.

  “Tell me.” This wasn’t a request. It was an undeniable command.

  “We’re intellectual.”

  “Highly so. What else?”

  She jutted out a proud chin. “Self-sufficient and happy.”

  “Sentimental,” Grant countered. “Moody and prone to holding grudges.”

  Everleigh didn’t deny his claims, and he placed his hand to cup her cheek.

  “Are you going to hold a grudge against me for kissing you?”

  She leaned into him. “No.”

  Grant nodded and his hand drifted away from Everleigh’s face to slowly ascend her arm. He took his time and held her blue eyes with his hazel stare throughout the journey. When her fingers entwined with his, he lowered his lips to hers once more. This time they kissed with greater emotion, and Grant allowed a slight ease on his dominant hold of her. Everleigh was free to pull her arms down, but she held still under his grasp.

  He pulled his tongue back, in hopes she would push hers forward into his mouth. “You taste so good.” Grant told her this without fear.

  “We shouldn’t be doing this,” she panted. “We should stop.”

  Grant called Everleigh’s bluff and disengaged from the kiss. She dropped her arms and took hold of him by the jaw, immediately drawing them back in to their heated embrace. His hands found her waist and soon moved upward along her sides. His final destination was the back of her neck where he yearned to massage any remnants of distress from her body, but when his right hand came into contact with a drying, sticky substance they both halted. Everleigh had yet to wash the remnants of Cleo’s blood from her own skin.

  Grant watched Everleigh as the first signs of horror emerged in her stunning blue eyes.

  “Don’t look down,” he told her. “My apartment is two blocks away. I’m taking you there to clean up.”

  “I can’t go to your apartment. I still have two hours left on my shift.”

  “You’re done for tonight. And so am I. You’ll take a shower at my apartment and I’ll call in for both of us. Then you’ll spend the night with me.”

  “I don’t have any other clothes.”

  “I have plenty.”

  “I can’t have sex with you tonight.”

  Grant swallowed hard. He wanted her like he’d never wanted any woman, but he recognized and accepted that sex wasn’t what Everleigh needed from him. “That’s fine, but you’ll sleep in my bed and I’ll hold you.”

  She nodded eagerly as a stray tear dropped from her left eye. “Yes. Thank you.”

  Grant wiped the tear with his thumb and pulled them both away from the rooftop door so he could open it for her.

  Grant’s apartment was a roomy and sparsely furnished studio. Once inside, he directed Everleigh to the left and into the bathroom. She stood in the center of the space while he opened a closet to retrieve a clean towel. He placed it on a bar next to the tub and then leaned over to turn on the water for the shower. Finally, Grant returned to the closet, retrieving a washcloth and placing it delicately into Everleigh’s waiting hands. He then left her to bathe in privacy, closing the bathroom door behind him.

  She removed the blood covered scrubs and kicked them into the corner behind the door, unsure what else to do with them. She removed her bra and panties, examining them both carefully. They contained no traces of blood so she placed them on the small counter that held the bathroom sink. She stepped into the shower and made quick work of washing her body, using Grant’s shower gel and the washcloth.

  A few moments later, the bathroom door opened and a burst of cool air swept into the room along with Grant.

  “I brought you a tee shirt,” he announced.

  “Thanks,” she answered from behind the shower curtain.

  “It’s on the counter.” She heard him say just before the door closed once again.

  When Everleigh turned off the water and stepped out of the tub, she easily located the white tee shirt he’d left for her. To Everleigh’s immense relief, she also saw that her discarded scrubs had been taken away. She took her time drying her body before donning Grant’s shirt. Satisfied that the garment covered her body adequately, she opted to leave her underwear on the counter. She opened the bathroom door and took her first real look around the rest of Grant’s living space.

  The apartment was dominated by a king-sized bed, which was set against the opposite wall. The immense bed was bordered by two night stands, each adorned with a lamp. A television was tucked into the corner to Everleigh’s left while a walk-in closet sat off to her right. The last remaining corner contained a small but functional kitchen. Grant was in this section, perched on a stool, next to an open window and smoking a cigarette. He was lost deep in thought.

  Everleigh cleared her throat and Grant responded by twisting and extinguishing the remains of his worst habit into the ashtray resting on the window sill.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled before exhaling the last bit of smoke out into the night air.

  “And you tease me about drinking Coke?”

  “I don’t do this every day,” he rambled. “You drink way more soda than I smoke.”

  “I’m no pulmonologist, but I’m pretty sure that’s terrible for your lungs.”

  “Duly noted.” Grant’s acknowledgment was accented with a grimace.

  Satisfied she’d made her point, Everleigh took another glance around the apartment. “Where do you keep all the books?”

  “In the closet.” Grant made his way across the room to stand next to her. He ran his fingers over her damp hair and she shivered with pleasure under his gentle touch.

  “I’m glad you’re feeling better.” He spoke to her softly. “Make yourself at home. I’ll go brush my teeth.”

  She watched him approach the bathroom sink. He paused for several beats when he spotted her underwear sitting out in plain view. Everleigh grinned at his frozen stance and then she made her way over to the bed. Spotting a novel and the television remote control on the night stand on the right hand side, she chose the left side and pulled back the covers.

  As soon as her head hit the pillows, her eyes drifted shut. She was exhausted, but hadn’t allowed herself to accept the fact until now. She listened to the sounds associated with Grant’s bedtime routine and fell into a light doze. She lay perfectly still for several minutes until the weight of Grant’s body settled on the mattress next to her. She opened her eyes to discover that he’d turned off all the lights before joining her.

  “I didn’t take your side of the bed, did I?” she whispered.

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  As Everleigh’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized Grant had slipped into bed shirtless. She couldn’t see everything about his body, but she very much liked what she could see. His reality far exceeded her numerous fantasies. Everleigh reached out to Grant and rested her palm on the center of his toned chest.

  “Thank you for taking care of me.”

  “You shouldn’t thank me. I was about to apologize.”

  “For what?”

  His hand covered hers. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save Cleo.”

  Grant edged closer to Everleigh and she saw that he was wearing a white pair of boxer briefs. She didn’t hesitate when he pulled her into his full embrace. The two settled into bed with her head resting on his shoulder and his arms wrapped securely around her waist. The two remained quiet for several minutes as they adj
usted to the touch of one another’s barely dressed bodies. Eventually, Grant turned his mouth toward Everleigh’s forehead.

  “How long did you spend with her?” he asked.

  “Only a couple of minutes.”

  “What did she tell you before she died?”

  “She was trying to tell us what happened to her.”

  “Who attacked her?”

  “Her ex-husband did it.”

  Grant glanced over at the television. “It’s likely to be on the news. Do you want to watch TV?”

  Everleigh’s grip on his body tightened. “No.”

  He didn’t want Everleigh’s agitation to return, so he scrambled to change the subject.

  “Where are you from?” he asked, feeling lame for not knowing the answer already.

  “San Francisco. You?”

  “Missoula.”

  “And for now we’re both here. In Chapel Hill.”

  “For now.”

  Dim moonlight filtered into the apartment from the kitchen window. Everleigh raised herself up on an elbow so she could face Grant. “Will you go back to Montana?”

  “I doubt it. What are your plans?”

  “I’ve avoided making them, but it feels like time is slipping away from me. I need to get more serious about it all.”

  “Let me know if I can help you out with that.” Grant tugged playfully on the hem of Everleigh’s tee shirt.

  She smiled, but quickly turned serious. “We’re walking on very different paths. They just happened to intersect for the time being.”

  Grant couldn’t disagree with her, so he brought his hand up to remove a stray lock of hair away from Everleigh’s face. He waited to speak until the hair was tucked securely behind her ear.

  “If anyone has a shot at messing with my plans, it’s you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you fascinate me. Because you talk to me like no one else ever has. Because you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. And because you’re as good at fixing broken souls as I am at fixing broken bodies.”