I blink a few times in disbelief before they zero in on Aiden. "They've won back-to-back Stanley Cups."
Aiden just stares at me blankly for a moment, then he lifts his chin in realization. "Sorry. The last few years I haven't been able to watch TV or sports. But you know I was never into that stuff anyway."
This is true. Regardless if he was in Haiti, Yemen, or the good old USA, he probably wouldn't have even known the Cold Fury had won two championships.
"Then why did you ask about what he makes?" I ask him.
"Just don't want you to be taken advantage of, Josie Bug," he explains smoothly. "You're a doctor. You make pretty good bank."
"Well, he makes millions, so I think I'm safe on that part," I mutter. Although I have no clue what Reed makes, as I know enough about hockey to get by, but that would not include knowledge of salaries. Regardless, it's not important to me, because Reed isn't after my money.
Still not sure what he's after, though, since I don't fall within his normal criteria, but I'm going to roll with it for now.
Chapter 17
Reed
I lock the Tahoe remotely and head toward the steps that lead up to my town home. The lights in Josie's place are burning bright, and as I jog up, I can hear peals of laughter coming from her place. A small smile forms on my lips, because this amuses me.
Josie's hosting a little party at her place tonight for some medical peeps, and this makes me smile because it's so "anti-Josie." I've come to learn a lot about her over the last several weeks, and my girl is somewhat of an introvert when it comes to crowds. I first saw it at the Cold Fury party as I introduced her around. If we were standing with a group of people, Josie was utterly quiet, choosing to listen to the conversation with rapt attention. But if she was in more of a one-on-one situation, she could chatter up a storm with anyone.
I've learned over the weeks that is how she leads her life. By the way she talks about the patients she cares for, I see a genuine compassion and connection to the individual. I also get to hear about her disdain for meaningless conversation or pack mentality, which is why she avoids large groups of friends.
So for her to host a little get-together means she's pushing past her boundaries, and that makes me happy. Just like the way she's pushed past some boundaries with me. Every moment we spend together, I see her loosening up just a little more. She lets her guard down with me, and through her actions I see her gently poking at the parameters we established so early on when we started sleeping together.
Friends with benefits. It's still our motto, but only because the friendship started first. It's holding strong, but Josie's exploring the benefits side more, and I'm not talking just about the sex. I'm talking about intimacy, and the reason it's so important to me is because I'm exploring it right along with her.
We're like two people stumbling along a path, not knowing where it's leading and with a little bit of fear causing us to falter even more. But the excitement is there, knowing the destination could be fucking fantastic, so we keep pulling each other along.
This is so new to me, and in a million years I never thought my heart would start to get tied up with a woman. I thought that because I always told myself I was too young to settle down, but I guess fate has a funny way of grabbing you by the balls to lead you in another direction.
Better yet, Josie invited me over tonight to hang with everyone.
Best yet, she was disappointed when I had to decline, as along with several other teammates, I'd already committed my Saturday to helping Stephanie and Lucas move into a new house they purchased. Seeing that disappointment on her face was almost enough to make me bail on Lucas, but Josie quickly wiped it off and followed it up with a hug as she said, "That's so sweet."
Life is fucking awesome right now, that's for sure.
Once I get into my house, I toss my keys onto the kitchen counter and rummage through my fridge. Stephanie fed us all copious amounts of pizza before we started the unloading process, but that feels like it was hours ago. I stare at the box of cold pizza and a container of General Tso's chicken, but before I can make my decision, my phone chimes with an incoming text.
I pull it out of my pocket and see it's from Josie. I notice your Tahoe sitting outside. Get your butt over here, Olson.
Grinning that she was apparently watching for me to get home, I respond. I'll come if you tell me you have food. I'm starved.
We do, she responds. And lots of beer.
Be there soon.
While I don't mind mooching on food, it's always polite to bring more alcohol to a party. I dive back in the fridge and pull an almost full twelve-pack out, tucking it under my arm.
When I step into Josie's house, I immediately understand that the beer has been flowing freely. There can't be more than fifteen people spread across her living room, kitchen, and balcony, but they are all laughing and cutting up with music playing in the background. It's just a vibe...a party vibe for sure.
My eyes focus on Josie as she stands in the kitchen. She's leaning in toward a guy, stabbing her finger playfully into his chest, and I can hear her voice rise above all the others. "The Cold Fury kicked your team's ass in the conference finals this past year and they'll do it all over again this season."
Holy shit...my girl is spouting out Cold Fury talk. She's clearly a quick study, as I've spent several nights lying in bed answering her questions about the sport, which have included a recap of this past season and our road to the Stanley Cup. She was obviously paying attention when I told her we met the New Jersey Wildcats in the conference finals, and that produces a feeling within me that I hadn't felt before with Josie.
It's a warmth, a humility perhaps, that Josie is as invested in what I do as I am in what she does. She's not been able to see me in action yet, but that doesn't mean she's not proud of me, and that knowledge sets me on fucking fire.
I stride through the crowd, smiling and nodding as they look at me curiously. My eyes are locked on Josie and she turns to face me as I approach. The heat over her defense of the Cold Fury fades and is replaced with pure happiness to see me. It causes my stomach to flip and my heart to stutter.
"You came," she says with a bright smile.
"Well, you said you had food," I say, teasing her, and then I'm about bowled over backward when she throws herself at me. She wraps her arms around my waist and squeezes me. I can only reciprocate with one arm, since I'm holding a beer with the other.
Josie's then pulling away and turning to the guy she was just talking to. Her eyes are sparkling with mischief as she says, "Kevin, this is Reed. And he'll kick your ass if you dare say the Wildcats are better than the Cold Fury."
I let out a bark of laughter as I to a double take at Josie. That's totally the beer talking. I turn to Kevin and hold my hand out. "Good to meet you, man. And I'm not going to kick your ass. Just your team's ass this season."
Kevin laughs and shakes my hand while someone beside me pulls the beer from my hand. I look to see a woman smile at me and say, "I'll put this in the ice bucket."
"Thanks," I say, and then turn back to Josie. "Just how much have you had to drink?"
"Enough to make a spectacle of myself," she says with her chin lifted in defiance. I laugh again, and because I can, I lean down to give her a swift kiss. She sighs into my mouth and I want to beat my fists on my chest.
This is made more so when I see Aiden standing a few feet away as I pull back from Josie. He gives me a chin lift and says, "Hey, Reed...good to see you."
I take a few steps toward him, lean out, and shake his hand. "Good to see you too."
His grip is firm and his smile is friendly. Perhaps he's got no hidden agenda with Josie. She seems to think so, as she filled me in on their lunch at the hospital cafeteria on Monday where he said he wanted to be friends.
I'm not overly worried about it, though. It seems Josie is solidly on Team Reed, and that's exactly where I want to keep her.
--
"Ouch," Josie mumbles
after I release her lower lip with my teeth, but then she crushes her mouth harder to mine. I practically stumble as she drags me backward into her bedroom, fists clutching my T-shirt hard, and I crack my elbow on the doorjamb.
"Fuck," I curse into her mouth, but then forget all about the pain as one hand lets my shirt go to palm my erection through my shorts. "Oh...yup...that right there, babe."
Josie giggles against my mouth, causing tiny tickles over my tongue. My hands start jerking her blouse over her head and we stumble a few more feet toward her bed. Her little party is over, the last straggler has left, and now it's all about getting naked.
I manage to get her shirt free of her head, kiss her hard again, and then push her down onto the mattress. I pounce on top of her and she laughs as my hands go to her ribs for a light tickle fest.
"Stop it," she gasps as she bats at my hands.
"Gladly," I tell her, bringing one hand to her bra-covered breast and the other between her legs. Josie wore a loose, flowing cotton skirt today and I can feel the heat of her pussy through her damp panties.
Perfection.
I lean down to kiss her, but something catches my eye. I freeze as I look to her nightstand and see a plush brown teddy bear about twelve inches high sitting there. It's got a red ribbon with white polka dots around its neck and holds a satin stuffed heart in its furry little bear paws.
"What's that?" I ask her as I eyeball the bear that stares back at me with beady little eyes.
Josie's head tilts so she can follow my gaze. "Oh, just a bear Aiden brought to the party. A housewarming gift, I guess."
My head swivels and I look back down to her. "A housewarming gift?"
"Yeah...I guess."
I shake my head and sit up as I straddle her hips. I put my hands on my thighs as I look down at her. "A housewarming gift is a plant. Or a bottle of wine. It's not a teddy bear with a heart in its hands."
Josie looks to me, back to the bear, and then back to me again. "I collect bears. He knows that. I guess he was just trying to personalize it."
"Josie...seriously? Do you not see that he's making a play for you? And when in the hell did you start collecting bears? I don't see a single fucking bear in this house."
"Are you mad?" she asks with a little anger tinging her voice. She tries to wiggle out from under me but I just lock my legs to the sides of her hips.
"A former boyfriend comes to your house with a teddy bear with a heart? Um...yeah, little mad. Sure as shit suspicious."
"For your information, my bears are all in storage boxes," she says primly. "And what does it matter what his intent was? I took it as just a friendly gift."
"You are naive," I tell her adamantly. "You seriously can't see this as a ploy? That he wants something more from you?"
"I don't get why you'd think that." And to her credit, she looks genuinely perplexed.
"Hello," I say sarcastically as I point to the offensive object. "Cute teddy bear with a ribbon and a heart."
While my insides rage, Josie's face softens and her smile becomes knowing. She reaches out and takes my hands in hers, squeezing them. "Want me to throw it away?"
Fuck yes!
"No," I grumble, because that's the right thing to say.
"Because I will," she says sweetly. "If it bothers you that much."
"No," I grumble again.
"Reed." The way she calls my attention to her so softly, I can't help but listen. "I don't want Aiden. I'm here with you. Doesn't matter what his intention was, what matters is how I accepted it. And I chose to think of it as a gift from a friend."
I sigh and stretch my body out on top of hers. With my arms pressed into the mattress at her side, I look down on her and admit, "This is different for me."
"Don't let it be," she says softly. Her eyes are warm and deeply accepting of my insecurity.
"You have a lot of history with this guy. I don't think he wants to be just friends with you. But I also trust you, Josie, and I know you're not going to play with me."
"No, I'd never do that," she agrees gently. "But what I had with Aiden is just that. History. I'm in the present with you."
I smile sheepishly, but I don't need to discuss this further. Her words are enough, and I have more important things I'd rather be doing right now.
So I put my mouth on hers and forget all about that stupid, fucking teddy bear and the guy who gave it to her.
Chapter 18
Josie
I hover over the computer, flipping through the patient's online chart. He presented with a complicated history of congestive heart failure and an aortic valve replacement, yet I don't think the shortness of breath is from that. The blue tinge to his lips leads me to believe this is his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is flaring up, so I write an order for a pulmonary function test.
A burst of laughter sounds from behind me and I turn in my chair to see Aiden and Kevin laughing about something on Kevin's phone. No clue what's so funny, although I kind of want to know. Reminds me of the days when we were all in residency together and we got by with a whole lot of laughter to combat the stress.
It's been interesting having Aiden working at the hospital with us. He was always the most levelheaded and steady of our group, and he's even more so now. He doesn't seem to be stressed about anything, even during some seriously intense medical situations that come through the emergency department. I suppose when you're working on people with others shooting at you and shelling your building, your hand gets a little steadier in normal circumstances. Frankly, it really makes me admire him, and I realize something good came out of him leaving me.
It made him into an immensely superb doctor, and I'd like to think the countless lives he's saved was a fair exchange for a broken heart. Of course, I suppose it's easier for me to feel that way now that I've moved on and have Reed in my life.
"Josie...come see this," Aiden calls out to me from across the hub.
The hub is the circular area set in the middle of the emergency department with curtained rooms around the perimeter. There are several workstations, desks and computers for the nurses and doctors to work on between patients.
I log off my screen, check my watch, and note I can spare thirty seconds. I walk over to where Aiden and Kevin are staring at Kevin's phone. When I reach them, Kevin holds the phone out so I can see the screen. It's a YouTube compilation of people passing out during various medical procedures.
I watch as person after person faints.
A medical student during an autopsy.
A father as his son's broken bone is set.
A nurse during a surgery who is totally ignored as the surgery carries on.
They're funny and they make me laugh, Kevin and Aiden joining right in again. I've had moments myself when I've been overwhelmed by something, but my legs have always held true. One of the nurses steps up and peers over my shoulder at the screen.
"Bet you saw some gruesome shit over in Yemen, right?" Kevin asks Aiden with a nudge to his arm.
I glance up in time to see the laugh and smile slide right of Aiden's face, and my stomach knots. His voice is low and gruff. "Some really bad stuff."
Kevin doesn't ask for details as he watches a surgeon remove a large tumor from a patient's abdomen, only to sag to the ground with it still clutched in his hands. I'm going to guess that wasn't from him being grossed out--because he's a surgeon and used to it--but maybe from an illness.
Still...a little funny.
"Hey, Josie," Aiden says, and I look back to him. "Got a minute to talk about something?"
"Sure," I say as I glance at my watch, even though I really don't. "But just a minute."
Aiden turns from the hub and walks over to the on-call office. I follow him in and he closes the door behind us. Neither one of us sits down because we don't have time for that in the emergency room.
I tuck my hands casually into my lab coat. "What's up?"
Aiden crosses his arms, not in a defensive posture but in more
of a serious, professional way. "I was talking to Dr. Hubbard the other day and he's invited me to do a research project under his supervision to publish."
My eyes widen and I can't hide my delight. "That's amazing. What is it about?"
We both worked under Dr. Hubbard during our residency and he teaches at Duke's school of medicine. He's highly esteemed in the field of emergency medicine and widely published.
"Comparing emergency field medicine techniques to those in an urban setting," Aiden tells me. "I'd use my case experiences the past few years and compare them to like cases here. I'd have to get several doctors to help me out to get a good sampling of cases, and wanted to know if you'd help."
"Of course," I exclaim. "I'd totally be glad to give you what I can."
"That's awesome," he says with a chuckle. "And I'll take whatever you can give me, but I was hoping you'd sort of cowrite the paper with me. Help me cull through the data, draw conclusions, and then help write it. You'd get equal credit."
My eyes go round with surprise because it's a really big deal to get published. "Why me?" I gasp.
Aiden's eyes chide me silently for a moment before he says, "Why not you, Josie? You're a brilliant doctor and I trust you to do a good job."
"But, Kevin--"
"--is a great friend and a great doctor too, but I know you better and you're my first choice."
"What kind of time frame do you want to accomplish this in?" I ask him.
"Three months, maybe four," he says. "I've already got my field data, so I figure a few weeks to pull urban data and we can get to work on comparing it. Maybe six to eight weeks to do that, reach conclusions, and another two to four weeks to write the paper to submit to Hubbard."
"Time commitment per week?" I press. This is a major project and I need to know what he expects.
"Ten, fifteen hours a week?" He says it as a question, lobbing it my way to see if those numbers offend me.
My mind quickly calculates. I usually have at least three days off a week due to the longer shifts I work, and that will easily take up two of those days. My first consideration is Reed and how that will cut into the time I spend with him, because we have been spending practically all of my free time together since he's still on his summer vacation before the season starts.
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