I pull into Jace’s driveway and walk through his door, carrying two cobb salads from our favorite place. I figured we could both use something healthy after our burgers and fries for lunch.
“Hello?” I call out, but I don’t see Jace. The lights are on in his kitchen and living room, so I set the salads on the island and walk back to the bedroom, hoping to find him there.
And boy, do I find him.
He’s doing pull-ups on a contraption that he’s attached to his doorframe, easily moving up and down in smooth motions. His feet are tucked up so they don’t brush the floor.
He’s topless.
And I’m immediately turned on to a level ten.
“Well, hello there,” I say, crossing my arms and watching as he finishes three more, then he stands, breathing hard. There’s a thin sheen of sweat on his olive skin.
I want to lick him.
“Hey,” he says. He doesn’t exactly seem ecstatic to see me.
“I brought dinner.”
“I ate,” he says. “After you texted and said you’d be late.”
“Okay, your salad will keep.”
He nods and moves into push-ups. I’m silent and enjoy the flex of his back and how his core engages as he pounds out twenty-five of them. The dimples above his ass show above the low-slung basketball shorts he’s wearing.
Good lord, the man is sex on a cracker.
When he stands again and still doesn’t talk to me, I rush to him and wrap my arms around his waist, holding on tightly because I just can’t stand the silence from him. We don’t do the silent treatment.
He doesn’t hug me back, but he doesn’t push me away either, so I take that as a win.
“I need you to talk to me,” I murmur against his skin. “I don’t even care that you’re sweaty. I’m not moving until you talk to me.”
He finally, finally, buries his lips in my hair and kisses my head, and my world is set to rights again.
“I’m going crazy,” he admits quietly. “I know I have projects here, and things I could do, but I need to work, Joy.”
“I know.” I pull away and tip my head back so I can look at his face. I hate seeing the torture in his gorgeous grey eyes. “I’m so sorry this is happening.”
“What if I can’t operate anymore?”
I scowl. “What?”
“What if I’ve spent too much time away and I just can’t do it?”
“That’s not even an option,” I reply immediately. “Jace, it’s been two weeks. You are the leading cardiothoracic surgeon in the fucking country. You haven’t forgotten it.”
“It’s not like riding a bike.”
“And you don’t have dementia,” I remind him. “I understand that you’re going stir-crazy. You went from working sixty-plus hours a week to none, and that has to be incredibly frustrating.”
“You have no idea.” He pulls out of my arms and walks to the windows that look out over Seattle. It’s dark now, and the city is lit up. I can see Jace’s reflection in the glass. “I’m sorry,” he says before spinning around to look me in the face. “I’m sorry for intruding on your business today.”
“Jace, it wasn’t that big—”
“No, it was completely disrespectful and out of line,” he says. “If you’d walked into my operating room and started rearranging things, I would have spanked your ass before throwing you out on it.”
I bite my lip, trying to hide a smile.
“Can we still try the spanking thing?”
He blows out a breath with a chuckle and props his hands on his hips. “I’m trying to be serious here.”
“I know.” I hurry to him and hug him again. “Apology accepted. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. How was your day?”
“It sucked.” I sigh, my ear against his heart. I love the thump thump thump. “I had three emergency surgeries. That Great Dane you saw?”
“Yeah?”
“She ate four socks, and they were stuck in her small intestine.”
“Ouch.”
“She has behavioral issues, mostly because of the owner, who doesn’t want to listen to me. And then I had a pug come in with a laceration to his eye, which he lost, four spay or neuters, and a dog I couldn’t save from being hit by a car.”
“Oh, baby,” he says, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. “That’s a rough day.”
“I hate it when the animal dies,” I admit. “It’s just so sad. Did I tell you that I’m getting the additional licensing and building my own crematory behind the clinic? So I can cremate the animals there?”
“No.” He kisses my forehead. “You didn’t mention it.”
“I just secured the loan for it,” I reply. “I want to offer it to my clients.”
“You need to eat and get some rest.”
“I know. I’m on call tonight, and I’m praying that no one needs me. I’m beat.”
He takes my hand and leads me out to the kitchen. “Sit.”
“Yes, sir.” I grin as I prop myself in the stool at the island, watching as he plates my salad and brings it to me with a bottle of water. “Thank you. What did you eat?”
“Pizza.”
“Jace!”
“I know.” He cringes. “Why do you think I was doing all the exercising when you got here? I have to change this diet.”
“This weekend, I’m going to do some meal prep,” I announce. “So we’re not tempted to keep eating out.”
“I’ll help,” he says with a smile. “Can we have pizza?”
“No.”
“Killjoy.” He winks at me. He thinks he’s funny.
I smirk and take a bite of my salad. “Salad is delicious.”
“It’s rabbit food.”
“You’re a cardiologist,” I remind him. “You know better than anyone what bad food does to your heart.”
“Well, then they shouldn’t make it so delicious.”
“You’re a hot mess.”
“But I’m hot,” he says with a cocky grin that makes my lady parts come to life. “That’s what you’re saying.”
“You’re not bad,” I concede.
“I saw the way you watched me doing those pull-ups,” he says as he saunters around the island. “Admit it.”
“I mean, you were half-naked, so . . .”
“Are you done with that salad?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
He lifts me onto the island and pulls my scrub pants down my hips. I lift up so he can peel them, along with my panties, down my legs and toss them aside.
“The countertop is cold.”
“I’m about to warm you up.”
And good to his word, he spreads my legs and presses his lips to my core, sucking and licking and sending me over the moon faster than I knew was possible.
“Holy fuck!” I cry out as I lean back on my elbows and give in to an earth-shattering orgasm.
He kisses my thighs and, before I know it, he’s inside me, his hands framing my face and his eyes on mine as he slowly pulls his hips back and then slams back inside.
“Is this makeup sex?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“I rather like it.”
He sets a punishing rhythm, in and out, hard and fast until he comes, biting my shoulder.
“No more fighting,” he growls against my neck. “I don’t like it.”
“But it leads to this, and this is pretty fantastic.” I bury my fingers in his hair, brushing it softly.
“We can do this without the fighting.” He kisses my cheek, and then my lips. I can still taste myself on him. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
I know we’ll have arguments from time to time. We’re human, after all, but I agree that fighting isn’t my thing. Some couples thrive on the bickering and the drama, but I don’t.
And I’m relieved that he doesn’t either.
He pulls out of me and swears.
“Um, Joy?”
“Yeah?”
�
�I forgot a condom.” His face is sober. “I’m sorry, babe. I can’t believe I did that.”
“We should be fine,” I reply as I hop off the counter and reach for my clothes. “It’s not the right time of month for me to get pregnant.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I pat his cheek and lean up to kiss his lips. “Don’t worry.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to take a shower and then probably go to bed. I’m beat.”
“Do you mind if I read while you sleep?” he asks.
“Not at all.”
I take a quick shower, not bothering to wash my hair, and when I walk into the bedroom, Jace is sitting on the bed, reading his iPad with Carl curled up next to him, purring like crazy.
“More bloodless surgeries?” I ask as I smooth lotion over my legs and then climb under the covers.
“No, this is on a quadruple bypass,” he says, already absorbed in the article. His beautiful hands move as he reads as if he’s performing the surgery himself.
He blows me away. As if he could forget how to perform surgery. It would never happen.
He’s too incredibly talented.
I yawn and turn away from him so the light is to my back and check my phone to make sure the sound is on in case I get called.
I close my eyes and fall asleep.
~Jace~
Joy’s phone is ringing.
She reaches for it, and I check the time. 2:49 in the morning. She only got about four hours of sleep.
I, however, got less than two. Not that it matters. I’m used to living on very little rest.
“Are they on their way to the clinic?” she asks as she hurries from the bed, reaching for a clean pair of scrubs. “I’ll be there in twenty. Get the IV going, and the anesthesia, just in case. It sounds like she may need a C-section.”
Joy ends the call and tosses the phone onto the bed.
“I have to go in.”
“I’m driving,” I say, already stepping into my shorts and reaching for a T-shirt.
“You don’t have to go. You should get some sleep.”
“I’m awake, and I’d like to come along.”
She smiles as she steps into her shoes and nods. “Let’s go, then.”
The drive to the clinic is roughly fifteen minutes. When we arrive, Joy jumps out of my car, barely taking the time to slam her door shut before she runs into the building. I’m on her heels as she rushes into a surgery room where a beautiful German Shepherd is lying on an exam table, panting.
“She had one baby that I already gave to her,” the owner says, wringing her hands with worry and gesturing to the tech. “But it’s been several hours, and no more are coming.”
Joy is gowned and gloved up and examining the dog, who’s whimpering softly and looking up at Joy with scared, brown eyes.
“That’s it, darling girl,” Joy croons to the canine. “These little ones are stuck, aren’t they?”
She frowns up at the owner. “This is what happens when you let a dog get pregnant too young. She’s not even a year old. Her body isn’t developed enough to give birth.”
Joy’s all business. All doctor. I’m standing at the edge of the room, watching her every move, so caught up in all of it that I can’t move.
“We need to do a C-section, Charity,” she says to her nighttime tech.
“Is that necessary?” the owner asks. “I mean, it’ll be so expensive.”
“Get her out of here,” she says to Charity, who immediately escorts the owner out of the surgery room to the waiting room, where I can hear Bill telling her to fuck off.
Seems appropriate.
“I know, angel. It hurts.” She pets the dog gently with one hand while the other continues to examine the business end. “We’re going to let you take a nap while these babies are born. You rest now.”
“Do you need me?” I ask Joy, and she glances up at me as if she forgot I was here. “I’m an extra pair of hands. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Actually, I might need you,” she says with a nod. “Go ahead and wash your hands and suit and glove up. I may need you to hold puppies.”
“Jesus, that lady is a piece of work,” Charity says when she hurries back into the room. “I told her to stay there until one of us comes to get her.”
“Thank you,” Joy says as she reaches for an IV. “We need to put her under and get these puppies out. They’re stuck in the birth canal. They’re just too big for her. She’s too young for this.”
“Pisses me off when people don’t listen,” Charity murmurs.
“Story of our lives,” Joy replies with a sigh. I scrub, pull on gloves and a surgical gown, and walk toward Joy, but stay back, just waiting to help if she needs me.
I’ve never watched her in action before. I knew she was an animal doctor, and that she’s an excellent one, but I’ve never seen her perform surgery.
She is sexy as fuck wielding a scalpel, already elbow-deep in the abdomen of the dog.
“Here’s puppy two,” she says since the first puppy was born naturally. Charity takes it, wraps it in a towel and begins to rub it vigorously. “She’s keeping it warm,” Joy informs me. “Feels like there are four still in here.”
“Six puppies?”
“That’s pretty small for a German Shepherd litter,” she says as she pulls out another puppy, passing it to Charity again.
“Here’s a towel,” Charity says. “They’ll start coming fast now.”
She’s not wrong. In less than two minutes, the rest of the puppies are born, and we go to work wrapping them, rubbing them to keep them warm, and making sure they’re breathing.
Which, thankfully, all of them are.
We’ve cleaned them up, and they’re huddled together under a heating lamp while Joy takes care of the mama.
“Her uterus is destroyed,” Joy mumbles as she reaches for a sponge to clean up some of the blood. “Charity, I have to do a hysterectomy.”
“That’ll piss the owner off,” Charity says. “She wanted her as a breeding dog.”
“Idiot,” Joy mutters. “Jace, pass me that clamp.”
I do as I’m told, on this side of a surgery for the first time since my residency, and I’m in awe of Joy and the work she’s doing on this animal.
“You know, if this vet thing doesn’t work out, you could be an OB/GYN,” I suggest with a smile.
“I don’t deliver human babies,” she replies with a grin. “Sutures, please.”
I comply and watch as she sews the dog internally before closing her up and suturing the wound.
“Charity, who comes on when you’re done at six?”
“Leslie,” Charity replies as she feeds one of the puppies from the tiniest bottle I’ve ever seen.
“Good. This mama needs to stay here with her babies for at least three days. I want to watch this incision. You can bring the owner back in.”
“How is she?” the owner asks as she walks in. “How many puppies are there?”
“Six,” Joy says as she wipes her hands on a towel. “All healthy. Their mama had some complications, and I had to perform a hysterectomy.”
“What?” The woman stares at Joy in horror. “How dare you? She’s a source of income for me.”
“Not anymore,” Joy replies, tossing her towel into a hamper. “Because you bred her so young, her uterus was destroyed, and any further litters could have killed her.”
“Damn it,” the other woman mutters, shaking her head. “Well, I guess selling these puppies will help pay for what I have invested in her. I might break even.”
“I need to keep all of them here for three days while Mom recovers.”
“More vet bills,” the owner says, rubbing her eyes. I can see Joy getting more and more angry by the moment.
“You know, she could have died,” Joy reminds the woman. “What you did here was very irresponsible.”
“I don’t need a lecture from you,” the lady snarls. “I make a living the best I ca
n, just like you do. I’ll sell her and the puppies, and then I’ll have to start over.”
“How about this?” Joy says, crossing her arms over her chest, “I’ll write off your entire bill and keep the dog and the puppies. You can walk out of here and wash your hands of the whole thing.”
“Those pups were going to be a thousand dollars a piece,” the woman replies with a frown.
“My bill for tonight and the next three days while she’s here is roughly seven thousand,” Joy says without skipping a beat. “I think what I’m offering is more than fair.”
The woman bites her lip and looks at the dog for about three seconds, then shrugs. “Fine.”
“One more condition,” Joy says. “In the future, I won’t care for any of your animals. I don’t work with unethical clients.”
“Whatever.” The woman rolls her eyes and stomps out without even looking at the sweet puppies sleeping under the light or the mama on the table.
“So now we have a dog and six puppies,” Joy says with a sigh. “Jesus, what did I just do?”
“You saved their lives,” I reply softly, running my fingers down her cheek.
“He’s right,” Charity says. “When she arrived, she said the dog doesn’t even have a name. She didn’t care enough to name her.”
Joy blows out a breath and leans in to kiss the dog’s cheek. “You’re waking up,” she murmurs. “You’re a mama now, sweet girl. And they’re all safe and healthy. We’ll let you feed them tomorrow, but in the meantime, my friends are helping you out.”
“Nothing sweeter than a baby,” Charity says, feeding yet another puppy.
“You’re mine now,” Joy says to the dog, surprising me. I thought for sure she’d find her a forever home. “And your name is Angela.”
The dog whimpers groggily, and Joy kisses her again then reaches for a pup. One by one, she shows the dog her babies, lets her sniff and lick them, then tucks them away.
“We’ll put them with her around noon. In the meantime, let’s keep them under the lamp and feed them every hour. I’ll call Mindi in to be on puppy duty for the morning.”
“I can stay, too,” Charity offers, but Joy shakes her head.
“No, you need some rest. Do you want me to stay with you until Leslie arrives at six?”
“Nah, it’s not long,” Charity says. “Angela will sleep, and I get to snuggle brand new puppies. It’s really a tough gig.”
Love With Me (With Me In Seattle Book 11) Page 9