Flatline (Med Rom Series)

by Kristine Dugger

  His smoky voice asks, “You going to let me in?”

  Before I speak, I take a deep breath in. “Yes. Come on in.”

  While he stares at me, he walks through the door. He leans down to me, placing a soft kiss on my check. My face lights up like a match, burning for another form of touch. Leo looks around my apartment and then back at me. “Am I going to get the grand tour?”

  I smile, “Sure. There isn’t much. Nothing compared to your place.”

  We walk around my apartment. I show him the kitchen and the coffee pot. I know he is going to need coffee before he leaves for work at 2 a.m. I reset the coffee maker for him.

  We make our way to my bedroom. The tension starts to fill the room. I watch as Leo takes off his scrub top, revealing his slender yet firm six-pack abs. His body is gorgeous and absolutely perfect. As I lick my lips, wanting to kiss every inch of his torso, Leo sits down on my queen-sized bed and signals for me to come to him.

  Slowly, I walk in his direction, soon standing in front of him. He grabs me by the waist of my boy shorts and brings me close to him. He grins, “I kind of like this look on you. Reminds me of the time you were in my clothes, except you are wearing a lot less.”

  “I’m in my pj’s. Not sure how this looks hot but whatever floats your boat.”

  “You need to take a compliment. And I find you very sexy like this.”

  The compliment was nice but I felt awkward.

  Leo pulled me down to him, landing his lips on mine. His long, strong arms wrapped around me waist, bringing my body on his. We fell onto my bed, kissing passionately and eager for one another. He flips me over, lays me down on my back while he takes one hand to cup one of my breasts. His hand massage my breast, sending signals to my sex. I want him. My hands roam to the draw strings of his scrubs to undo them as fast as I can. My hand grips his long, thick cock. He moans. My hand moves back and forth. Leo leans his mouth into my neck, causing the small hairs to prick up in anticipation. I moan, “Oh, Leo.”

  His mouth sucks on my neck, sending more shivers up my spine. My hand still on his cock, he was definitely hard as a rock. Pushing myself from his hold, I roll over to my nightstand to get a condom. Rummaging through the drawer, his hand was rubbing my backside. Once I found the rubber, I turn toward Leo. Looking him straight in his eyes, I watch as he let out a huge yawn.

  You got to be kidding me. He is tired. We can’t do this. He has to work at 3 a.m.

  I mention with a small smile on my face, “We can’t tonight.”

  Confusion swept over his face, his tone tight, he asks, “Why not?”

  “You need sleep. You have to be ready for work in a few hours. Having fun before going into work probably isn’t the best idea. Just go to sleep.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes.” Leo and I maneuver ourselves under the covers. This will be the first time we have slept together without sleeping together. Before shutting my eyes, I feel his arms wrap around me and bring me close to his warm body. I wasn’t sure how to act with this. To me, this is a sign of affection not a sign of fuck buddies. I try to scoot away from him. He let go of my waist. Maybe, he realizes holding me at night was crossing the line with our arrangement. But once his hands were completely off of me, I quickly regretted the decision. His body was warm and felt exceptional against mine.

  Lying next to him on the left side of my queen bed, I couldn’t sleep. Leo was fast asleep with one hand resting on my ass. For some reason, his hand always seems to find its way to my ass. I look up at the alarm clock and notice it was thirty minutes past midnight. I sigh. I need to fall asleep soon. Daylight and work will be here before I know it.

  As soon as my eyes start to shut, my phone starts dinging. My body jumps, waking Leo up. He asks, “Who is it?”

  I turn the lamp on that is sitting on my nightstand. I grab my phone and look to see who it is. I am either really sleepy or just overall shocked to see the nameMomacross the screen of my phone. I quickly sit up, nervous as hell. It has been quite a bit of time since she last texted me or even called me. Leo asks again, “Who is it?”

  I ignore him. My fingers swipe the screen, wanting my access code. I type my code in. Her text appears on my screen, screaming for me to open it. I stare at my phone. Leo sits up next to me with an even more puzzled look on his face. I open the text. It was a video of my mother.

  Her video went as followed.

  “Hi honey! I hope you are doing well. I’m in Bali. Look how beautiful it is here. Wish you were here with me. Talk to you soon. Love you.”

  I set my phone back down, grab the covers, and pull them over my head. The tears start to form in the corners of my eyes. I can’t be crying with Leo here.

  Leo is no fool; he senses my sadness. Without saying anything, he grabs me and pulls me close to his body. I lose it. I miss my mother like crazy. But I was even sadder for my sister, she birthed my mother’s first grandchild, and she is nowhere near home. Which means she won’t be seeing Kinley anytime soon. It isn’t fair to my sister, Kinley or myself to have mother/grandmother so far away.

  With concern in his voice, he asks, “You okay?”

  While I rub my eyes, I answer, “I’m sorry. It was my mother.”

  “Don’t be sorry. It is awfully late for her to send you a text.”

  “She’s in Bali and doesn’t care what time it is here.”

  “Why isn’t she here?”

  “Living her life.”

  “I don’t get that. Didn’t your sister just have a baby?”

  “Exactly. She is not even here to see her granddaughter. She is living the life she wants, minus her family.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It is what it is.”

  “Come closer to me.”

  “Leo, I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  His hold on me became tighter, my head rests on his warm bare chest. He whispers, “I’m here for you. Just go to sleep, I promise I won’t let you go.” My body curls up against him. He wants me to fall asleep, but it is hard to.

  Thinking of my mother and her absence, and then what he said to me, “I’m here for you. Just go to sleep, I promise I won’t let you go.” Why is he saying that to me? Why is he comforting me? This is what a guy does to a girl when he is interested, not when it is just sex. Am I overthinking this? Probably. But then again, he showed me affection. I need to stop thinking and enjoy the moment being in his arms. It is nice and in ways, I miss being in a man’s arms at night.

  Chapter 9

  Since that evening spent at my apartment, Leo and I haven’t had a night like that - no sex. It has been all about hitting the sheets and pleasing each other. I’m enjoying every bit of it. Leo does make me smile in a naïve, girlie kind of way. He gets me. Leo understands that my job is the number one thing in my life. He doesn’t question it when I can’t meet up or I’m running late to our bump and grind session. He knows because he is the same exact way. I treat him exactly like he treats me. Our conversations go as follow:

  “Tonight?” “Can’t.” “Let me know.”

  Or.

  “Tonight?” “Running late.” “Let me know when you are on your way.”

  Honestly, I feel very fortunate for this steamy, sex-crazed arrangement we have. Oh my goodness, the sex. It is beyond anything I have ever experienced. The way he touches me, fuck, does it make my nerves collapse. His kisses can be ridiculously rough, but I enjoy every minute those sharp lips are on mine. My body perks up just thinking of him kissing me.

  Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Leo in about a week. Our schedules haven’t been meshing well with one another. Since he is an adrenaline junky, he works mostly the night shift. Even when he is assigned to work days, he stays late into the night. I thought I worked a lot. Nope, Leo beat me to the punch on that one.

  While he is playing super doctor in the Emergency Department, I’m working more hours than normal in the unit. Something about summer brings out all the craziness. I mean
, it isn’t all gunshot wounds, stabbings, or accidents. The unit has been packed with overflow from the Cardiac and Neuro ICU floors. Patient census is at an all-time high.

  At the end of my day, I am walking down the long hallway to my office. The hallway is like a tunnel of white tile floor, old dingy cream colored walls that connected two old hospitals that now make up University Hospital. Patient and families tend to get lost in this pathway.

  I am in a hurry, for no reason at all. Maneuvering through the never ending hallway, I finally make it to the stairs that lead up to my office by the west tower cafeteria. Outside of the cafeteria entrance, I notice Leo from a distance. He is talking with a fairly attractive woman in a white lab jacket. I couldn’t make out who she is. She wasn’t another dietitian. Maybe she was another physician. Who knows? But seeing her talk with him, her laughing and smiling at him sent my body into a frenzy. My face becomes flush with envy. Who is he talking to? His tomboy smile that he flashes at me, he was flashing at her. Oh, hell no. A wave of negativity pools in my head. I was fucking pissed with jealousy.

  I inched closer to them. Seeing this beauty from a distance, I get closer to where I could possible recognize her. Her chestnut brown hair flowing just below her shoulders. Wearing flats, she was close to Leo’s six foot one-inch frame. She was athletic. Damn it, athletic and beautiful. How am I supposed to compete with that? Jealousy continues to boil over. I definitely did not like the way I was feeling at this moment. Feelings I shouldn’t be having. Why the hell am I so jealous?

  Almost to my office, with an even better view of this knock out. Leo hasn’t turned his attention to anybody else. It was all her. Wait a minute. This woman that Leo was talking with, looked extremely familiar. Is it? It can’t be. I walk closer to them. Oh my goodness, it is her.

  I interrupt their conversation. “Miranda?”

  Miranda stops her conversation with Leo and turns her attention to me. “Paige?”

  “Oh my goodness.”

  Miranda walks up to me and wraps her arms around me, giving me a big hug. “Paige, I can’t believe it. How long has it been?”

  Leo was standing off to the side of us. I can’t believe I ran into Miranda McDaniels. My old softball teammate back in high school. I knew she worked at University Hospital but never have ran into her. “Randi, oh my goodness, it has been forever.” Looking at Leo, I say, “I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation with Leo.”

  Leo was looking at both Miranda and me, not saying a word to either one of us. He listens to our conversation. Then a ding and buzz of a pager starts going off. Miranda and I turn our bodies toward Leo. He grins, “Well, I’m being summoned. Miranda, it was good seeing and catching up with you. Tell your brother he needs to give me a call sometime.”

  She smiles at him. “I will. It was good seeing you too.”

  Before walking away, his green eyes examine my body. He shines his warm, boyish smile at me, making it quite obvious that there is something between us. I’m pretty sure Miranda could sense the chemistry between us. Watching him walk away, I lost myself in how incredibly hot he looked. His baby blue scrubs hugged his firm ass nicely, leaving nothing for the imagination. Leo makes scrubs sexy as hell. I need to stop and focus. I look at Miranda and ask, “What floor are you working on?”

  Laughing at me. “I work in the Pediatric ICU. I’m one of the Nurse Practitioners.”

  “That is great. You still playing softball?”

  “Yeah.” She pauses and then asks, “How do you know Leo?”

  Catching me off guard. “What? How do you know Leo?”

  Still laughing. “You remember my brother, Kasey?”

  “Yeah.”

  “College roommates.”

  “Oh.”

  “Are you dating him?”

  “Excuse me.”

  “It is so obvious, there is something between you two. And knowing Leo, it isn’t dating.”

  “Talk about being frank.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ve known him for several years, even dated him once.”

  “What? This is awkward.”

  Smirking at me. “Just a little. Don’t worry about it. Leo is a good guy, for the most part.”

  “Can we talk about something else?”

  Miranda’s attention diverted from our conversation. She looks over my shoulder and her face lit up like a candle. I turn to see what or who she was looking at. Tall, freaking stacked, red head walking in our direction holding a super cute, big blue-eyed, blonde baby boy. Miranda says, “Sorry Paige, I have to go. My hubby and my little man are here. It was so good running into you. Email me sometime and we can meet for lunch one day to get caught up.”

  “It was great seeing you too.” I wave goodbye to my old high school teammate and friend.

  Before heading in her husband’s direction, Miranda turns toward me and said, “Oh yeah, tell Leo not to screw things up.” What? Not screw things up. Just like that, she scurries off to her gorgeous husband and cutie patootie son. I watch as her husband leans down to kiss her while their son shines a cheeky smile. It was beautiful to see the love and excitement they had for each other. They were a family.

  Maybe one day, I will have a family like Miranda does. Maybe. Right now, it just isn’t in the cards. Six months ago, my life had a different story. I was ready for the whole shebang, husband, working on having children, and buying a home. Jake and I were set to get married in nine months. We were saving for our first home. As cliché as it sounds, we even had our children’s names picked out, Andrew Charles and Lucille Marie.

  Then one day, it changed. He changed. Jake wasn’t ready for marriage and a family. He was ready to explore other options. I was devastated. My world was literally crumbling to pieces. I remember coming home from work one night, he sat me down and said “I’m not ready to marry you.” I was completely shocked. I had no freaking idea he was feeling this way. He didn’t give me any signs that he was unhappy with me. Well, then again. Yes, sex dwindled down to almost nonexistent. And when we did have sex, it was just him getting on me and riding me. He was more concerned with pleasing himself versus pleasing me. Okay, that was a sign but there was no talking about how our sex life can improve. If I even mentioned I was unhappy in bed, it would be a direct blow to his ego. Jake didn’t want a partner in life, he wanted someone to please him and take care of him, treat him like a God. But yet, he gave nothing in return but a quick pump, moan, and done.

  Despite our lack of passion during sex, there was a lot of great moments with Jake. He cared for me, I know it. Why else would we be with each other for five years? Why would we be engaged? In the beginning, he was always so thoughtful, buying me flowers, making me dinner when I was tired and my favorite, rubbing my feet after a long exhausting day at the hospital. I was oblivious when he started changing. I know my work played a huge part in our downward spiral. Jake knew how much my career meant to me. He knew the moment we got together. Unfortunately, he got tired of being second to work. He never worked so damn hard for anything. As soon as he graduated graduate school, he became partner at his father’s financial business. Don’t get me wrong, Jake was great at his job but it was just a job to him, set for life job. So yeah, looking back now, I can see how we fell apart. However, there are days where I miss him. I don’t know why but I do. He was all I knew for so damn long.

  Chapter 10

  Outside of one the patient’s rooms, Britnee comes up to me. She was looking a little down in the dumps. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, highlighting her mean mugging face. She was far too beautiful with her teenage like face to be looking so bitter. I wonder what is up with her today. I comment, “Hey Brit. You look like someone pissed in your Cheerios this morning.”

  Scowling at me, she rebuts, “Well, thanks for pointing out that I look like crap.”

  “Patient count is low and you aren’t running your tail off. What is up?”

  “I went on another useless date with another resident. I thought he
was cute but there was absolutely nothing there.”

  “You can’t help it if nothing was there. Don’t beat yourself up over that.”

  “That is the thing. We had a great time, laughed a ton, and had so much in common. But the kiss, there was nothing there. No spark.”

  “Really?”

  “I’m starting to think something is wrong with me. Like I am destined not to fall in love.”

  “Love isn’t all it’s hyped to be.”

  “I just want to experience it for a change. To have several boyfriends and not once to experience love. It just sucks.”

  Leaning into Britnee, our faces close, I whisper, “I love you.”

  Her face grew pale pink with an almost child-like smile, she says. “You’re a dork. But thanks.”

  “Anytime, my friend. Stop beating yourself up. It will happen and when it does, there will be no turning back.”

  “I really hope so.”

  “Well, I got to get back to work. Let me know when you decide to take lunch.”

  “If I have time.”

  “Make time.” Without responding, she chuckles at me. Before we both know it, a patient’s room is buzzing for her attention. It upset me that Britnee wants to find love but can’t find it. Like all of us, she deserves it. However, it is just hard for her to connect with her dates. I know she forces herself to go on date after date. Once she gets to the point of getting physical, it is always the same response, “nothing was there.” I can totally understand why she is frustrated and probably on the verge of throwing in the towel. I just pray the right man will come into her life.

  ***

  After another late night of work, leaving the hospital after the sun went down is becoming quite depressing. I arrive to work before the sun comes up and leaves after it sets. Such an exciting life I live. Walking to my car, my phone dings. I grab it out of my purse and look to see who I received a text from. It was Leo. A smile immediately forms.