It’s a wonder I can even see when Jules is around, I roll my eyes so much.
She tilts her head, assessing me. “I take it from the goofy grin on your face when I came in that the sex was good?”
My cheeks heat. “We, ah, didn’t really have sex, just sort of…”
She holds up a hand. “Wait. You’re telling me that you had a hot, young firefighter around for some private time and you didn’t have sex?”
I remember what he said last night on our walk. “He isn’t as much younger than me as I thought, just a year or two.”
She jerks her head back, brows furrowed, and then shakes it off. “Whatever. Still. No sex? And you’re still smiling like a whore in a billionaire’s club?”
I let out an exasperated laugh. “What is with you and whore stuff today?”
She waves away my question. “I was trying to branch out from standard hooker talk, but I don’t think it’s working.” She shrugs. “Let’s not lose focus here. The firefighter. Sex? No sex?”
“No sex.”
“Did he at least go down on you?”
My face heats again.
“Yes.” She fist pumps. “Score one for the lieutenant. Always liked a man who knew his way around the downtown.” She makes a V with her hands over her crotch before crossing her legs, ankle resting on her knee. “You going to booty call him again?”
“It wasn’t a booty call. And yes, he’s meeting me for lunch today.”
“Ooh, afternoon delight. Well done.”
“He’s bringing his baby nephew.”
“Whoa.” The smile falls off her face. “You can’t boink in front of baby. That’s just wrong.”
“Jesus, Jules.” I rub my hand down my face, aware that it’s make-up free. I came straight here from Ryan’s and didn’t have time to get fixed up. I wonder if I should head home and change before lunch. “We aren’t going to boink. We’re going out to eat. Like a lunch date.”
She gives me a blank look. “Without sex.”
“Yes.” I nod. “Without sex.”
Her eyes shift to the side and that back to me. “I don’t get it.”
“Jules, you do know you can go on a date and not have sex, right?”
“But what’s the point?”
The phone rings, thankfully stopping me from answering. I have a feeling Jules is playing dumb so I’ll admit things I’m not ready to. Like how I simply enjoy spending time with Ryan. How I woke up this morning to the smell of bacon and then walked downstairs to see the man who brought me to a coma-inducing orgasm scrambling eggs with a baby carrier attached to his chest and I nearly died.
“Dr. Sato here.” My voice is annoyingly dreamy as I speak into the receiver.
“Hi, Dr. Sato, it’s Jackie. Just checking to make sure everything is a go on your end for the walk-through at NBL next week?”
“Hey, Jackie.” Jules straightens in her seat when I mention her friend’s name. “Yes, Bodie and Jules are good to go, as am I.”
“Give me the phone,” Jules demands, making a grabbing motion with her hand.
“Ah, Jules would like to speak to you,” I tell Jackie. “She’s in my office now.”
“Is she going to yell at me for not going out to the bar with her this weekend?”
I look at Jules, whose eyes are narrowed dangerously on the phone in my hand. “That’s a good possibility.”
“Yeah, I thought so.” Jackie sighs. “I’ll see you at the NBL next week.”
“Okay.” I laugh. “See you.”
“What the hell?” Jules asks when I hang up the phone. “That hooker’s dodging me, isn’t she?”
“Do you blame her?”
“Whatever.” With a huff, Jules rises from her seat. “At least I got one of you psuedo-laid. Jackie will have to cuddle her cowboy romances a while longer until I think of something.” She taps her finger to her chin. “What about that other EVA officer, Ian? I’m pretty sure he thinks she’s hot.”
“Lots of people think Jackie’s hot. That isn’t the problem. The problem is Jackie’s lack of interest in anything that isn’t space related.”
“True.” She snaps her fingers. “Hey, what about Lieutenant Hot Guy?”
My fingers dig around the edge of my desk. “Excuse me?”
“Whoa, cool it on the evil death glare. I didn’t mean him specifically; I meant his co-workers. Any other fireman that can help start a fire in Jackie’s panties?”
“You really need to work on your analogies.” I think back to the picnic. “And no, I think all of them are married or have serious girlfriends.”
“Lame.” She opens the door but stops before exiting. “Oh and have fun at Coney Island.”
“Coney Island? The hot dog place? Ryan and I aren’t eating there.”
She sighs. “Another failed euphemism. I just figured it was a better way to say have fun eating the sausage than actually saying put a dick in your mouth.”
Eight
Relapse
Rebecca
“I’m so glad you like Indian food. It might have been a deal breaker for us.”
I laugh, though it’s mostly at myself and how ridiculous it is that my ovaries won’t stop throbbing whenever he straps his nephew on his chest. Which he’s done again, this time so he can walk around the buffet at Noon Mirch.
“Not liking Indian food would be a deal breaker? Good thing you have your priorities sorted, Lieutenant.”
“Hey, what can I say?” He shrugs, serving spoon in hand. “Food is important.”
“Finally, my inability to say no to any type of food is coming in handy. I grew up wishing I was allergic to chocolate and cheese just so the scale wouldn’t hate me so much.”
He pauses mid-scoop of chicken korma and gives me a thorough once-over. It shouldn’t be so hot when his nephew is simultaneously drooling down his chin, but it is. “Trust me, Becca, that chocolate and cheese went to all the right places.” He frowns. “Wait. That didn’t sound nearly as sexy as I thought it would.”
Laughing some more, I grab a napkin off the buffet and wipe Adam’s face. “After watching you do laundry, make breakfast and babysit your nephew, it’s good to know there are some things you’re not good at.”
With his free arm, the one not laden down with a plate mounded with Indian food, he pulls me close. “You forgot to mention my oral skills.”
Heat simultaneously climbs up my face to down to my panties. “Ryan.” I use my best professional doctor tone.
He chuckles. “Did you just earmuff my nephew?”
I look down and realize that I have, in fact, earmuffed Adam. His baby hairs tickle my palms. I give his head a little rub before pulling back and grabbing an empty plate. “They may not understand words, but they understand tone.”
He shakes his head at me, a smile on his face. Adam kicks out his feet, nearly sideswiping Ryan’s plate.
“Go ahead and get back to the table. I’m still thinking about what to get.”
“You do know that this is a buffet. You can just come back and get more.”
I’d circled the buffet, looking at what was offered while Ryan just grabbed a plate and started piling it on. Now he is done selecting and I haven’t even started. “I can’t help it; I like to look first and plan. What if I take too much korma without realizing they’re serving tikka masala, and then don’t have room on my plate?”
“You’re cute.” Adam flails his arms and legs again, and Ryan’s quick reflexes save his plate once more. “Okay, little man, let’s get you to the table.”
My ovaries threaten expulsion when he kisses the top of Adam’s head.
“When you look at me like that, I get very naughty ideas. Santa wouldn’t like it.”
“Hmmm?” I blink, coming back to the moment. “I’m not looking at you like anything. Your nephew happens to be adorable.”
“Uh huh.” He leans down and kisses me just under my ear. Fireworks ignite in my pants.
Someone clears their throat and I
realize we’re holding up the line.
“I’ll see you at the table, Doc.” He saunters off with a smirk and I sigh like a schoolgirl with a crush. I’m thirty-six, for God’s sake. I need to get a grip. With a big, stupid smile on my face, I fill up my plate.
A smile that melts off my face when I see a good-looking blonde sitting with Ryan at our table. She’s leaning over the car seat Ryan has Adam in, set on one of the chairs at our table, cooing at the baby.
It’s fine. As I just told Ryan, Adam is one adorable kid. She probably just came over to see the baby. It happens.
Slowly, I make my way over to the table, talking myself out of being upset. There’s no reason. It’s fine. People love babies. Who cares if she’s pretty? Who cares if her blond hair and blue eyes match Ryan’s Thor-like coloring? Who cares if she’s young?
Then the hand that tickled Adam’s cheek rests on Ryan’s arm. There’s a sense of familiarity there that I know I’m not being paranoid about.
My feet finally take me to the table. “Hello.” Even I can hear the unhappy, flat tone of my voice.
Ryan has an odd expression on his face. Is he feeling guilty?
“Oh, hi!” The blonde spins toward me, her already short skirt flaring up farther with the movement. She looks like she dresses at Forever 21. Because, you know, she is twenty-one. She pulls off the girlie floral skirt and off-shoulder top like she just emerged from the pages of Teen Vogue. “I’m Chloe.”
The smile on my face is forced. “I’m Rebecca. Nice to meet you.” I place my plate down and take a seat.
Her blond, perfectly arched brows furrow in a cute bunny-like way. “I thought you said your sister’s name was Cammie?” She glances at me, and I suddenly feel frumpy in my loose white jersey V-neck blouse and skinny jeans. Like the poop stain Ryan so kindly washed out is still there. “And that she was younger?”
My stomach hollows out and I forget to breathe for a moment.
“Becca isn’t my sister. She’s my date.” His voice is gritted, like he’s speaking with his jaw clenched, but I can’t look at him, my eyes focused on my plate, watching the tikka masala sauce bleed into the korma. I should’ve held back on the rice, given the sides more room on my plate.
“Oh. I, ah… I thought you and I…”
A little piece of me dies. If I look closely at it, it was the piece of my heart that believed Ryan and I were something. That the age difference wasn’t noticeable. That I wasn’t my mother, blind to the reality of men liking younger women.
No one says anything for what seems like a full minute, though I’m sure it’s only seconds. Isn’t that how it always goes? Happy moments fleeting and fast, and those mired in awkwardness slow and painful.
“Well then, I’ll leave you guys to your lunch.” Chloe’s voice is cheerful, but I can hear the hurt, the confusion. Her thoughts of why is he with an older woman are broadcasting loudly.
More silence. I pick up my fork and push my food around.
“I only went on one date with her.”
“Okay.” I want to not sound like a wounded little girl, but it doesn’t quite come out that way.
“It was a week before I met you.”
I nod, determined not to be a wuss about this, and put a large forkful of jasmine rice in my mouth, chewing with determination. I’m a grown-up. Be a grown-up. I swallow, the rice clinging to my dry throat. I take a sip of ginger lemonade. “It’s fine. I had a date that week too.” And rip up a piece of naan bread. “You can still date who you want. It isn’t like we—”
His hand covers mine. “Yes, we are.”
“What?”
“You were about to say it isn’t like we’re exclusive. But I’m telling you we are. I am not going to date Chloe. I am not going to date anyone.” He squeezes my hand and I look up into his blue eyes, storming with emotion. “Because I’m dating you. Just you.”
“Oh.”
“That’s right, Doc. You got yourself a boyfriend.”
I choke on air. “What?” I pull my hand back to cough into my elbow. “I mean, don’t you think we should talk about—”
“Nope.”
“Don’t I have a say?”
He shrugs and picks up his fork. “Sure. As long as it’s yes.”
A laugh bubbles up my throat, surprising me. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“I know.” He takes a bite of his tandoori chicken, chewing fast and swallowing. “But I’m also your boyfriend.”
Adam takes that moment to let out a happy squeal.
Ryan nods at him. “Now that’s a good wingman.”
Ryan
I hated the look on Becca’s face when she spotted Chloe.
Her eyes were so fixed on the girl I went out with one time that she didn’t even notice me notice her.
The fact that the last girl I dated is twenty-two years old is not helping my situation. I’ve already told a little white lie about my age that seemed to settle things between Becca and me, but with one chance encounter, she’s already retreated.
Even with me laying down the label on us, she hasn’t fully returned to pre-Chloe status. It’s in the way her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes, the way she focuses more on Adam than me. The way her ravenous appetite suddenly vanishes, and she picks at the food on her plate, not going back for seconds.
I try and get us back on track. “What are you up to the rest of the day?”
“Oh, not much, I guess. I don’t have any meetings or patients to see this afternoon. And I start a Mission Control shift tomorrow, so I don’t technically need the hours.” She frowns at her plate.
Adam makes that whiney sound, letting me know he’s been idle in his car seat long enough.
Not missing a beat, Becca leans over and unstraps him, cuddling him to her chest. “There, there, little guy. I got you.”
Fuck, she looks good with a kid. Some caveman chromosomes must be floating around inside of me because the thought of her holding my kid does inappropriate things to my body in a public place. Thankfully, the table hides my situation.
“You know, I’ve been having trouble putting Adam down for his afternoon naps lately.” Total lie; the kid sleeps like a champ. But if I’m going to have an infant for a wingman, I’m going to use every advantage. “You’re so good with him. If you’re sure you don’t have to go back to work, maybe you could help me put him down for his nap?”
She wants to, I see it in the look she gives my nephew, how her hand cradles his head, her other hand patting his butt as the perv drapes himself over her chest.
Wingmen are not supposed to cop a feel on your girl.
“I’d really appreciate it. It would be nice for Cammie to pick him up well rested so she doesn’t have a fussy kid on her hands later.”
That seems to tip the scale in my favor, because she nods, then murmurs nonsensical things to Adam, who laps it up.
Yeah, yeah, kid. We get it. You’re cute.
His baby hand curls around her black silk hair, tugging her face closer to his.
I’m going to have to have another chat with him about how to be a good wingman.
“Thanks for helping out.”
“No problem. He went down quickly.”
I look out the window, trying to hide any guilt my expression may show. I was never very good at lying. “You must just have a way with him.”
“Hmmm.”
Change tactics. “Want something to drink? It’s a nice day out, we could sit out back.”
River trots up and nudges the back of her knee.
“Hey there, boy. How are you doing?” She scratches behind Riv’s ears and his tail thumps like a rabbit’s.
I don’t know if I’m pathetic or a genius for using an infant and then a senior dog as my wingmen. But any fireman knows you use what’s at hand.
And going by the first genuine smile the doc’s thrown my way since our ill-fated encounter with Chloe, I’m going with genius.
River rolls over, giving her his belly. Becca dr
ops down to her knees, scratching him.
“Ryan?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t you think declaring me your girlfriend is a little fast? We’ve only really had three dates. If you count the shelter.”
“I totally count the shelter. We had lunch after. Total date.”
She gives me a weak smile.
“And don’t forget the phone dates.”
“Phone dates?” Amusement colors her voice.
“Oh yeah. Those totally count. So if you think about it, we’ve had a lot of dates.”
She shakes her head at me and continues to pet River.
“I mean it. Besides, I was ready to lock you down the moment I saw you marching through a burning building with a rag wrapped around your face.”
Laughing, she rolls her eyes.
“You were no nonsense, take charge. You put me and my team in our place and that was before you shook out your sexy hair and gave me the stink eye.”
“Hmmm.” River rolls over, nuzzles her and then plops down on his bed in the family room. Becca stays on the floor, not meeting my eye. My instincts are telling me she’s thinking about things, and by the way her hands are clasped, I don’t think it’s in my favor.
I drop to my knees with a thud. Fuck, that’s going to bruise later. Big guys like me aren’t meant to kneel on hardwood. But you do what you got to do for the girl you’re falling for.
And I am. Falling for her, that is. Everyone always gave me shit for not playing the field, for my romantic notions. For being so open about my goal of marriage and family. To them, that was just the inevitable termination to being single, what you did after working your way around the dating pool. But not me. I knew what I was looking for, and I knew what I wanted, and I sure as hell know that it’s right here in front me.
“Hey, Doc.”
Her almond shaped eyes look resolved. Before she can put those thoughts into words, I change tactics again.
“Kiss me.” My voice is deep, hard, and I know I’m on the right track when her nipples pucker through her shirt.
Her plump lower lip gets sucked under her front teeth, the sight making the ache in my knees a distant thought. The sadness in her brown eyes gives way to a sexy sparkle. “You want me to kiss you? Here? On the kitchen floor?”
Space Age- Houston, Prepare for Launch Page 6