Making the Rules (The Rules #1)

by Ali Parker

  She froze in place as her eyes moved around my face. Concern took over her features as she blinked a few times, sighed and turned back around.

  "Dana. What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

  "Nothing. I just feel like shit over not seeing Mr. Jackson one more time before he died." She sniffled and picked up a handful of stuff before walking toward the stove. "Help me cook this spaghetti and let’s talk about something else. Tell me about your golf game."

  "I won, which isn't too rare, but still rare enough that it felt good." I opened the bottle of red wine she got and lifted it to my nose, breathing in deeply. "Both Matt and Damon are going through some shitty life experiences, so beating them wasn't nearly as joyous as it usually is."

  "Matt and Damon are friends or brothers?"

  "They're brothers. Matt is a few years younger than us and looked just like Damon's mother, who cheated on his father, but his father still doesn't know about it."

  "But Damon knows?" She grunted as she worked to open a jar of tomato sauce that appeared to be giving her hell.

  I reached for it and opened it for her with ease. "Damon walked in on her during high school. It almost consumed him our junior year. He skipped school a million times trying to make sure she wouldn't cheat again."

  She lifted the jar and smiled. "I loosened this for you."

  "I know you did." I opened the ground beef and dropped it into the skillet she'd pulled out while I ogled at her rear in her scrubs. I was grateful for the opportunity to eat her out the night before, but I'd have much preferred her on her knees during the event so I could worship her ass at the same time.

  "What?" I glanced over at her as my heart started to race in my chest. Dinner and then a long conversation and then sex. Sex could come later, although I wanted to say to hell with dinner and get to dessert - her. For some reason, Bethany's complaint over Damon wanting sex to heal everything continued to bounce around inside my skull. Was I as much like him as I thought? And would it be a bad thing if I was?

  "I asked if his parents were still married." She moved over to the counter beside me and started to work on chopping tomatoes and cucumbers for a salad.

  "No. His mom died awhile back from cancer. About the time Damon decided he was going to tell his dad everything, his mom got sick and that ended his bravado." I shrugged and let out a soft sigh. "The poor guy just can't seem to catch a break either. He's never been in love before, but finally found the right woman."

  She turned and lifted her eyebrow. "Uh oh. Why does this feel like the good part isn't coming?"

  "Because it's not." I pushed the meat around the pan as my stomach contracted tightly. "He's fallen in love with his father's new wife's daughter."

  "Wait..." her eyes moved around my face slowly, "... his stepsister?"

  "Exactly, and things were fine between their family because they're not blood, but who knows what the hell went wrong. Beth is a young woman with too much fear over losing everything and Damon is a hothead who doesn't think he should have to explain himself. Their communication sucks and it's going to be the end of them."

  "How serious were they? Sounds like something that just started recently." She lifted a cucumber toward my lips and licked hers as I gripped her wrist and pulled her hand closer. I sucked at her fingers and ran my tongue over each of them, cleaning them before I let her go and chewed on the cucumber.

  "Just a few months ago they met." I licked at my lips and gave her a naughty smile. "Stop being sexy, or dinner will grow cold while I take my time getting to know every crevice of your body."

  "You're so different than what I expected." She pushed the bowl of cucumbers toward me and laughed. "Get your own damn snack of you're going to threaten to take away my dinner."

  "Take away your dinner?" I laughed and dropped the spatula in the pan before moving up behind her and wrapping my arms around her. I cupped one of her breasts and leaned over and press my lips to her ear. "That was all you heard?"

  "Yep." She turned her face and I pressed a kiss to her cheek. "That and something about a wild night of me hearing you scream my name."

  I squeezed her again and released her. "You think you have the power to make me scream? This I gotta see."

  "Just because you're an old school slut does not mean you’ve still got your moves, Kendal." She picked up the various bowls of salad toppings and walked to the table, impressing me once again with the small things she was capable of.

  "Oh, I still got my moves." I walked in behind her and waited until she put everything down to reach out and grip her hips tightly. "You wanna see them?"

  "Where is the strict professor with a tight smile and unassuming personality that I met a week ago?"

  "He's lost somewhere under this newfound comfort I have around you. Do you not like it?"

  "I love it." She turned and slid her hands up my chest, clasping her hands behind my neck as I leaned down to devour her sweet mouth. We shared a long, sensual kiss before she pulled back breathless and shook her head. "Behave. I'm still not ready to sleep with you."

  "Lies. All lies." I released her and walked to the kitchen to finish working on the pasta. I quickly assembled it and turned to find her extending a glass of red wine toward me.

  "Here. To me and to you. May we both find everything we're looking for in life." She lifted her glass.

  "And hopefully a good handful of those things we'll find without having to look much farther than right here." I tapped my glass against hers and reached for her, wanting another kiss.

  "Give me this." She took my wine from my hand and set the glasses on the table in the other room before walking toward me with a gleam in her eye.

  "I must say that I love that look you’ve got on your face. Looks like you’re starving for something that only I can provide." I brushed my fingers by her soft lips as my mind exploded with possibilities.

  "Good, then my momma was right. I do wear my feelings on my shoulders and can't hide my desires to save my life."

  "Smart woman." I gripped the counter as she moved a step closer and worked to loosen the belt on my pants. They dropped to the floor and she pressed herself to the front of me, slipping her hand in between us and stroking my cock a few times as I closed my eyes and groaned. "What about dinner?"

  "Fuck dinner." She kissed me again before moving down to her knees and pulling my briefs over my hips. I tugged my shirt off to keep anything from getting in her way or making it impossible for me to watch her suck me off.

  "My kind of girl." I grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her to look back up at me. "I'm a different man in the bedroom, Dana. I wish I wasn't but hear me clearly before we go any farther. I like you a lot and I think this thing between us could turn into something neither of us could survive without but-"

  "Hush." She leaned forward and ran her tongue over the sticky wet head of my cock before sliding her lips down my shaft and sucking far more of my dick inside of her than I thought possible.

  I groaned loudly and gripped her head, holding her in place as I bent my knees a little and rolled my hips, working myself into her over and over as she took every inch and forced herself to reach for more. By the time I was dangling over the edge of orgasm, she had both hands wrapped around my cock and her pretty mouth was swollen from far more of a fucking than she expected to get.

  "Just your mouth. I'm on the edge of coming." I didn't ask if she was interested in drinking me down. If she was going to be my woman, there was no question about her willingness to take all of me, just as I'd licked every drop of her pleasure from her taut pink lips the night before.

  She glanced up at me, her pretty hazel eyes wide with the type of excitement I'd yet to see in my long life. She was more than what I wanted, and exactly what I needed.

  Chapter 18

  Dana

  The rest of Saturday night had been spent around the dining room table, eating pasta until our sides hurt, and telling stories until we knew each other better than we might have wa
nted to. We fell asleep snuggled up on the couch, and after a long kiss at the door on Sunday morning, I headed home. I wanted to get my life back in order and to make sure that I was still capable of breathing without Kendal snuggled up beside me.

  I missed his warmth the minute I left. It wasn't until I woke up alone on Monday morning in my bed that I realized just how guilty I felt for spending the whole afternoon and evening with him on Saturday and not mentioning anything about Amanda. I just couldn't force myself to share an estimate that had turned out to be wrong. She wasn't dead or the hospital would have called him. I urged him to go up and see her a few more times in the coming week while we snuggled on the coach and he promised that he would, but of course questioned my reasoning for poking him to do so. I made something up, though I hated myself for doing it.

  Knowing the time of someone's death did very little to prepare anyone, and I could see Dr. Lewis' reasoning behind not giving Amanda or Kendal a date. It was a death sentence in itself.

  My alarm went off again beside my head, and I swatted at it before finally pulling myself up. I had to meet with my nursing adviser at UT before heading over to the hospital for a late afternoon, early evening shift. Knowing that I wasn't going to get to visit with Mr. Jackson had me feeling shitty and sluggish before my feet ever hit the floor.

  The letter. I hadn't opened the letter from him.

  I got out of bed and wandered into the living room in search of my bag from the hospital. I emptied it on the couch and pushed the various articles of clothes and random shit around until I realized that I didn't have it. It had to be in my locker if nothing else. I'd get it later.

  My alarm went off again from the bedroom, forcing me to jog to the back of the apartment to turn it off.

  "I hear you already. Shit." I turned it off and pulled my t-shirt over my head and shorts down my legs before mulling through my closet in search of real clothes to wear. I was so used to going from the hospital to the house and nowhere else really that scrubs were all I'd been wearing lately. That and pajamas.

  I found my favorite pair of jeans and pulled them over my legs, feeling better than I had in a long time about how I looked. It had nothing to do with losing weight and everything to do with the handsome man who seemed to be sweet on me. How I'd gotten so lucky was a mystery, and one I was good leaving alone. I didn't want to fuck up anything where Kendal and I were concerned.

  A laugh left me as I slipped my feet into a pair of slippers and grabbed the only fresh thing sitting on my kitchen counter. The lone grapefruit that Cameron had tossed at me only a few days back.

  "Asshole." I grabbed my keys and walked to the car, peeling the fruit as the events of the last week raced through my mind. It was crazy how when good things started happening, they really happened fast. Now, to get them to start happening was like pulling teeth.

  I got in the car and took a few shortcuts to get to campus as fast as I could. I had twenty minutes until I was meeting with Nurse Barry, and she didn't mess around. If we were one minute late, we might as well not even knock on the damn door, because she wasn't opening it. Rule number one - respect other people's time and be on time. Period.

  After finally finding a parking spot, I got out and jogged toward the campus. I had to weave in and out of several large groups of students, but was thrilled to make it to Nurse Barry's door three minutes ahead of schedule.

  I knocked on the door and opened it as she called out from inside. "Come in."

  "Hi, Nurse Barry." I walked in and set my backpack on the floor beside me. I didn't need to carry it, but I'd always felt so odd not carrying a bag while on campus, like I was up to no good, or a shitty student that didn't care one way or the other about her classes. It was nuts, but just a habit I couldn't break.

  "Hi, Dana. Have a seat and let's get started." She pulled a folder from the filing cabinet nearest her and opened it. "I have quite a few positive comments that have come in from some of the hospital staff as they are working with you or even evaluating you."

  "That's great." I leaned back in my seat and crossed my legs. "Any bad reviews or things that I need to work on?"

  "Not really. I have a comment from several doctors that you seem a little too involved with the patients, but from my point of view, that is a strength, not a weakness."

  "I'm glad to hear you say that. One of the nurses told me the other day that caring for the patients, or showing them loving-kindness wasn't appropriate."

  "Really? Unless you’re doing something inappropriate like kissing or touching-"

  "Absolutely not." I shouldn't have interrupted, but I couldn't let her keep going down that line of thinking. I would never do anything with a patient but take care of them. Surely they knew that.

  "Right. Of course not." She picked up her pen and scribbled a few things into the file. "Have you been thinking about your mini-mester classes? I don't think you have any more nursing classes that you need to take, but you're still a double major, aren't you?"

  "Yeah, I'm hoping to graduate in May with a degree in nursing and in business."

  She smiled and shook her head. "You're looking to run a hospital one day, right?"

  "That's the current plan, but to be completely honest, there is a part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind and try for med school."

  "Really?" She glanced back down at the file. "I'd say with your grades that wouldn't be a problem at all. The only issue might be funding, but a lot of hospitals will support your educational goals if you pledge a certain number of years to them."

  "Interesting. I didn't know that." I glanced around to take in all the medals and awards she had on the wall behind her. "And do you know if Memorial does that?"

  "Oh no, we're talking St. Mark's in New York, Zion in Los Angeles. The bigger hospitals." She made a few more notes and handed me a list of courses. "Looks like you need to get in a marketing class and maybe something in economics or accounting."

  I scanned the list again and smiled as my eyes moved down to the master's-level accounting class entitled, Financial Statement Analysis.

  "What about this one?" I pointed to her and handed it back. "Who's this Dr. Tarrington?"

  "Kendal. He's a great guy, fantastic teacher. He's got a lot of baggage thanks to some less than ethical decisions he made earlier in his career, but from what I hear, the Dean of Accounting really has his back.

  "Kendal? Interesting name for a man." I took the file from her and tucked it into my backpack as my heart swelled in my chest. How fun would it be to have the rest of the semester to stare at him from the front row? He would kill me for signing up for his class, but he would get over it.

  Besides, it would be a fun surprise to just show up the first day the semester started. I could almost feel the excitement associated with teasing him silently like the bad girl I wasn't.

  "All right, well, it looks like you're all set to go. Any questions for me?"

  "Nope. You can put me in for the accounting class with Dr. Tarrington and the only marketing class I have left."

  "Consider it done, kiddo. Have a great day, and keep up the good work."

  "I will." I got up and walked out into the early morning sunlight, pausing to take a deep breath and enjoy the warmth of the sun on my skin.

  "Dana?" Jackie's voice surprised me simply because it was out of place. We were rarely on campus together since starting our internships.

  "Hey. What are you doing up here?" A smile spread across my face as I walked toward my closest friend.

  "I'm going to talk to Nurse Barry about transferring."

  "What? Where to?"

  "To NYU." She ran her fingers through her long blond hair and let out a tired sounding sigh. "I keep thinking I'm going to move past this thing with Parks, but I can't. I think I'm in love with him. Is that stupid?"

  "Yes. It is." I gripped her shoulders. "You can't transfer now. You have a few months and then we start our last semester. If you want to move up there in May when we're done with sc
hool, then I'll help pack you up and drive you up there myself, but not right now."

  "That's freaking eight months, Dana."

  "Have you guys spoken since he left in a hurry?" Worry clouded my thoughts as I tried to figure out what it was about Parks that had my friend acting like a lunatic stalker. Surely he wasn't that great in bed.

  "No. I told you that he didn't give me his number before he left me hanging."

  "And he doesn't have your number either."

  She didn't answer, but pinned me with a hard stare.

  "Okay. Okay. Shit." I lifted my hands in the air. "What if we went up there over Christmas and tried to find him? Maybe it would be better if we visited first and then made the decision to uproot everything for this dude after you see if he's wanting a relationship."

  "And if he doesn’t?" Tears filled her eyes and my worry crept up another notch. She was close to going off the deep end.

  "Then we'll find another guy who's way better for you, Jackie. You're not yourself at all. You need to get some sleep."

  "Maybe you're right." She pressed her hands to her face, and I took the opportunity to move up beside her and wrap my arm around her shoulders. I guided her back toward the parking lot and stopped beside my car, fumbling with the keys to get the damn thing unlocked.

  "Let me take you back to your apartment and you can get some sleep. Does that sound okay?"

  "I guess. I'm so tired, but every time I try to get some rest, all I do is think about how much I miss him, or how good we were together."

  "I have some sleeping pills at the house. Let's just go back to my place instead. How does that sound?"

  "I like that idea too." She pulled me into a tight hug and pressed her cheek to my shoulder. "Don't let me turn into a lunatic."

  "I'm working on that, but you're not being much help in the matter." I forced a laugh and helped her into the car.

  Cameron's red Honda was sitting outside of my apartment complex when I drew up, causing the morning to go from bad to worse. First Jackie acting like a psycho and then having to deal with Cameron?