by L A Pepper
“I’m coming, honey, don’t worry.”
Abuela rolled her eyes. “Now you’re feeling guilty on top of worried, aren’t you, Alex? You do not have to be in control every minute of the day. Relax. The appointment with Doctor Bellamy is in an hour. All we have to do is get her dressed and maybe make some tea. She has a sore throat and a fever.”
A little sob broke from my throat, I knew I was being unreasonable, too hard on myself. But I couldn’t help it. I felt like crying. As I sat down on Trini’s bedside and put my hand to her hot forehead, brushing back the curls that were stuck there with sweat, it suddenly occurred to me that I wasn’t just upset about Trini getting sick, she’d been sick before, she was a healthy kid, it wasn’t a problem, Abuela was right.
No. I was upset about Jordan. I wanted to see him again. And I’d never see him again. Tears prickled my eyes.
* * *
Trini was cranky. She didn’t want to change out of pajamas, but I said she could bring her stuffed sloth with her, so she begrudgingly stuffed herself into leggings and a t-shirt. I didn’t torture her by trying to brush the tangles out of her curly hair, I just pulled it back into a poofy ponytail. She cried when she saw the chocolate chip muffin, her favorite, and a thing I didn’t let her eat for breakfast usually because chocolate was not a breakfast food, and now her throat was too sore to swallow it. So on our short walk to the clinic, I bought her a smoothie instead.
I’d never noticed this clinic before, but the girl at the desk told me they just opened as I gave her all our paperwork. Something about a charity and good works or whatever. Trini was sitting in the waiting room, looking miserable and I stopped listening to the receptionist. I sat with Trini, letting her curl up in my lap. She was dripping her smoothie on my jeans and whining about her throat hurting when we were called.
“Trinity Martin?”
I froze. I knew that voice. It was Jordan. Oh no. I couldn’t look up.
“Me!” Trini whimpered and rolled out of my lap, grabbing my hand and pulling me after her. “Mom, come on.”
I stood up, my head down. I couldn’t face him. I couldn’t. I was afraid to look him in the eyes.
“I’m Trini,” my extroverted daughter said; even when she was sick she loved meeting new people. “My throat hurts.”
Jordan crouched down to Trini’s level. “I’m Dr. Bellamy. Let’s take you and your mom into my office and we’ll check you out, okay?”
She nodded.
“You ready, mom?” he asked and then turned to look at me, where I was staring down at him.
Our eyes caught.
His were blue. Blue like blueberries. Last night I’d thought they were dark like midnight, but they were dusty blue and sweet. Sweet like summer. I couldn’t breathe.
He cleared his throat and stood up, cool as a cucumber, taking Trini’s hand and leading her back to his office while I trailed along, wordless. My incredibly hot billionaire prince one-night-stand was a pediatrician. A freaking pediatrician. And he was walking my daughter down the hall.
Just before the door closed on the waiting room, the receptionist coughed delicately. “He’s single.”
“Excuse me?” I asked because I had no words.
“Doctor Bellamy. I noticed he struck you speechless for a minute there.” She grinned with a twinkle in her black eyes. “He’s cute and single. Your paperwork says you’re a single mom.”
I glanced down the hall at Trini talking animatedly with Jordan, despite her sore throat. “Are you trying to set me up with the doctor?” I hissed, not wanting Jordan to hear. Or Trini for that matter; she seemed far too taken with Jordan already. Like mother like daughter. Oh no.
The receptionist shrugged without a care. “I get feelings about things. I’ve got a good feeling about you. He’s a great guy. If I liked guys I’d snap him up.”
“This can’t be ethical.”
“What? A busybody receptionist? I don’t think there are ethics involved with matchmaking clerical help. But you’re his type.”
I leaned forward. “I am?” My heart couldn’t take this.
She smiled and nodded.
“Mo-om,” Trini called from down the hall. Flustered, I didn’t even say goodbye to the receptionist. I had to go to my daughter. And the pediatrician. While trying not to picture said pediatrician naked. Oh no. This was terrible.
He avoided looking at me the whole examination, addressing all his questions to Trini if he could, and the few that I had to answer, he somehow managed to ask through her anyway. After the third time that happened, I stopped feeling embarrassed about what we’d done last night and started to get pissed off that he was pretending it wasn’t me sitting in his office with my sick daughter. Maybe the receptionist was wrong and I wasn’t his type. Maybe Alexandra in the white dress and red lipstick was his type after all and he really was that slimy billionaire type of guy he said he wasn’t.
He finished his examination, and said “strep throat.” To Trini. Then he handed her the prescription. “Give that to your mom.” Trini dimpled at him and nodded and ran over to me as I stood. She wrapped her arms around my waist after handing me the slip of paper.
At this point, I was furious. I glared at him, not that he would notice since he refused to look any higher than the top of Trini’s head. And he looked so good. He was wearing neat dark jeans and a long-sleeved button-down in a blue that brought out his eyes. His tie had Spider-Man on it. Spider-Man.
“Can I speak with you in private?” I asked sweetly, then added a firm, “Doctor Bellamy,” cut off between my teeth.
“Of course, Ms. Martin.” His words were emotionless and he finally looked at me, blue eyes flat. Restrained. “Trini,” he said, turning his attention back to my daughter, his tone of voice light and pleasant again. “Why don’t you go to my receptionist, Mira, and have her give you a lollipop. Tell her I said you could sort through the stickers and pick out your favorite, for being such a good patient.”
Trini nodded and ran off. Stickers were her weakness. She didn’t even check with me.
Chapter Four: Jordan
I closed the door as Trini ran off to collect her treats from Mira and held onto the doorknob because I had to hold onto something. I’d had the whole appointment to get my head together. Luckily, all Trini needed was some antibiotics, so while my mind was spinning with the fact that Alex was THERE I could still do my job.
I was a man of science, but the fact that she’d just walked right into my office when I thought I’d lost her had to mean something. I took a deep breath and turned around to face her.
“Your daughter is adorable, Ms. Martin.” I had my most polite face on, the one I used when I didn’t want anyone to know what I was feeling. If I let her know what I was feeling, I was afraid she’d run away and I’d never see her again. I had to be very careful.
“Cut the crap, Jordan.”Alex did not want to be polite. I bit back my grin. “Stop pretending we didn’t sleep together last night.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. She had no clue how I’d been trying to not imagine her naked while her daughter was in the room. She had no clue how I still had the taste of her in my mouth, the sound of her pleasure in my ears, the way her flesh felt under my fingers as I clutched her and drove into her again and again. She had no clue how I was restraining myself right now from throwing her down and reliving it all in broad daylight. “Oh, I’m not pretending that at all,” I wanted to pull her tangled hair out of its knot and grip it. I wanted to tear the old Ramones t-shirt right off of her and get my lips on those breasts. I wanted to unzip her jeans and slide my hand into her panties and make her moan, have her wrap her legs around me. I wanted to devour her. “I didn’t think you’d want your daughter to know what was going through my mind whenever I looked at you. I’m a professional.”
She pursed her lips and her cheeks went dark red. “You didn’t look at me! Not once!”
She actually thought I would forget last night, that I wanted to forget her? Tha
t was so far from the truth it was laughable. I wanted to keep her. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted…her. Something had changed last night and when I woke up, she was gone.
“You snuck out.” I tried to keep the accusation out of my voice. We had said it would be just one night. I didn’t want just one night. I was the one breaking the rules. I didn’t care.
“I had to go home. I have a daughter.” Her hands fluttered before she stuck them into the back pocket of her jeans, which had the added bonus of making her arch her back and show me the curve of her glorious tits. I had to swallow down my rising desire. I had to remember the reality of the situation. I was the doctor. Her daughter was the patient. This was my office. I was a professional.
“That’s why you don’t go out and meet men, isn’t it?” Of course it was. She was a single mom, she had one night out last night and dressed up like she lived a different life. But her real life was this. Daughter. Tattered sneakers. Not a bit of makeup on her heartbreakingly gorgeous face. Those sweet lips and those warm brown eyes. I could spend my days with her just drinking her in. But her days were full. She was a single mom. “That’s why you never do this?”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “You can see how terribly it turned out.”
It felt like a blow to my gut. Last night meant something to me, and maybe it didn’t mean the same thing to her. Maybe it was just what she said it was, a one-night-stand, which made this, the morning after, bringing her daughter to a pediatrician who turned out to be some lovesick guy panting after her an incredibly awkward situation. Maybe I was deluding myself and the night I thought was so glorious was terrible for her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t regret sleeping with you. It was…it was wonderful.” She let out a deep, shaky breath and I watched her struggle with her words. “But it’s complicated. I’m complicated.” She gestured to me and the office around us. “And everything just got more complicated. You’re my daughter’s pediatrician now? It was supposed to be a one-night-stand, Jordan.”
It was supposed to be a one-night-stand…but I’d never wanted that. She was the one who wanted it that way and maybe I could understand why she thought it had to be that way. “It doesn’t have to be.” I had to say it, to put it out there. To give us a chance.
“Jordan…” Her voice softened, “I’m a mom. I have a nine-year-old daughter. I’m not the kind of girl you just go out with.”
I had to chuckle then. “Alex. I’m a pediatrician. If I didn’t like kids, I wouldn’t have chosen this career. I’m a billionaire. I could be out, I don’t know, skiing the Alps. Sleeping with movie stars. Making bazillions of dollars with unethical business practices. I don’t want that life and I never did. You having a daughter is absolutely not an impediment to how much I like you and want to spend time with you.”
Her eyelashes fluttered and her lips fell open. I had to be careful here. She wanted me, she wanted us, I could feel it. I knew it was right, but she was nervous. Scared.
“I’m not sure why you think we’re so impossible.” I shrugged like I was casual. I was absolutely not casual.
“You- you want us to be possible?”
Of course I did. I was feeling like we were more than possible. I was feeling like we were meant to be. The fear sparked like golden flashes in her eyes. Careful. I nodded and raised my hands. Leaving it up to her. She fluttered her lashes again and I didn’t think she was doing it on purpose. She was on the edge between desire and running away and I absolutely had to keep her from running away. I could take things slow but not if she ran away from me. And if she ran away from me, I wouldn’t chase her down. I had to let it be her choice. I just wanted her to choose me.
I took a tentative step towards her, feeling her out. The air between us heated immediately. She couldn’t look away from my eyes and I smiled. This was a good sign. “Maybe you don’t realize this, because you never do what we did last night, but what happened with us? That was special. What we had? That never happens. But it did. With us. I want more.”
She blinked up at me, stunned. I could feel her wanting me, wanting more. I breathed it in.
“This?” I put one finger under her chin and tipped her face up, brushing her lips with my own as softly as I could. Butterfly wings. She gasped and her hands went to my waist, hanging on, holding me close. I pulled back, keeping millimeters between our lips. “I want more of this.” I stepped back from her and her hands stayed hovering in the air. She wavered on her feet and for a moment, I thought she’d faint. “But you left and you didn’t leave your number, and I want to respect that.”
She blinked at me, speechless. She looked stunned. Overwhelmed. I wanted to crush her to me and kiss her harder until she didn’t know her own name, but I didn’t. I wanted her as obsessed with me as I was with her. “I like you even more this morning than I did last night, Alex. You are absolutely gorgeous.” I had to smile. She made me smile.
She looked down at her stained jeans and ratty sneakers and reached a shaky hand up to touch the messy bun on the top of her head. She looked like she’d been up all night making love and was running on caffeine and adrenaline and I wanted her to live that life with me.
“You’re shitting me,” she said.
I laughed out loud and couldn’t keep the smile from my face anymore. She blinked at me again. “I’m not. You were all glamor last night, but it was the you inside the gorgeous dress and makeup that I liked. And here you are right in front of me in your old Ramones t-shirt.” She looked so hot it was very hard to take this early in the morning, especially while I was at work.
“I stole your sweatshirt,” she said and looked up at me nervously. “I needed something to wear home.”
I cocked my head and grinned. I wished I’d seen her in my sweatshirt. “Are you going to give it back?”
She grinned back at me. “I don’t know.”
She was smiling again, I’d take an “I don’t know.” I could work with this. “I’d like it back, but even more, I’d like to see you again, but I understand you weren’t looking for anything more than one night, so I’m going to leave it up to you.” I got a business card from my desk and scrawled my personal number on the back. Our fingers touched as she took it from me and it was all I could do not to grab her hand and pull her into a kiss. I resisted. Her eyes roamed over my chest and shoulders and arms, and I had the feeling that she would like me to do just that. But I didn’t. And when her eyes met mine again, the blush was back in her cheeks.
“Uh,” she said, and ducked her head. I bit my lip and watched the side of her face but made no move.
“That’s my cellphone. Call me if you want. If you don’t want, I’m glad I at least got the chance to say goodbye to you.”
She nodded without words and I led her out of the office. She gathered her daughter up, along with her swag of multiple stickers and red lollipop.
“Bye, Dr. Bellamy,” Trini said, waving at me.
“Bye, Trini, lovely to meet you.” They opened the door to leave. “Bye, Trini’s mom.”
Alex turned her head to look at me from underneath her long dark lashes and her eyes were full of heat. I smiled as she left and kept watching long after she was out of sight.
“We haven’t been working together all that long, Dr. Bellamy, but I have really good instincts on these things.”
I didn’t look at my receptionist. I was still watching the door Alex had gone through. “Instincts on what things, Mira?”
“On people. It’s a gift I’ve always had. You’re going to marry that woman.”
I looked over at her, shocked. Her almond-shaped black eyes were sharp in her rich brown face. She wasn’t joking. “I’m a man of science,” I told her, although my heart was racing at her words and something inside of me knew that she was right. “I don’t believe in instincts or gifts or any of that.”
“Mmmhmm,” she harrumphed, not believing me for a second. She fixed the colorful scarf in her hair. “But you like her a l
ot, don’t you?”
I sighed and looked back at the empty doorway again. “Yeah. I like her a lot.”
“Don’t worry, doc. It’ll all work out. She likes you, too.”
I didn’t respond, but for a man of science, I sure wanted her instincts to be right.
Chapter Five: Alex
Monday came too soon. I wasn’t recovered from my night with Jordan and the next morning with him as my pediatrician. I felt like I might never be recovered. However, I still had to go into work. Trini was still sick so Abuela came out from Manhattan to sit with her and watch old movies on my cable while I went into work and processed my weekend. Thank goodness it was looking to be a slow day.
I sat in the back office searching through phone records for my infidelity case. Mr. Boucher called a lot of women and none of it looked particularly wholesome. In and of itself that wasn’t evidence of cheating, but we had to follow up on it. We were planning to try another honey trap soon, at a time soon to be decided. We thought that looking through the phone records might help with that decision. It was boring but necessary.
I’d been able to forget Jordan when Trini was there and I’d had to be a mom, but now, left with the drudgery of matching numbers, I couldn’t keep my mind on what I was doing; it kept going back to Jordan. He had a great laugh that made me warm to my toes and those blueberry-colored eyes, with the twinkle that was just as sweet. Until it darkened into midnight and he gave kisses that melted me until I could barely breathe. Goodness. I knew it had been a long time since I had gotten any, but I didn’t remember kisses being so melty. Nor the touch of a man’s hand winding me up until I felt like I was free-floating. And then, of course, there were those abs, and boy did those feel great under my fingers, or stretching my arm around those broad shoulders. He was the sexiest man I’d ever seen in real life and he’d gone to bed with me. Amazing. Impossible almost.