by Natalie Ann
“Same here,” he said back.
She liked how they were able to do this without being too obvious. She read between the lines as much as him.
“I’ll see you in a week, Caden.”
“See you then, Sarah.”
She watched him get up and walk out, appreciating the back of him as much as the front. Wow, she needed to stay in here and take a breather for a minute.
When she heard knocking on the door, she looked up. “Holy cow, he was hot. Who was that?” Nancy asked, one of the nursing assistants.
“A patient,” she said, grinning.
“I wish all our patients looked like that. What a wonderful eye candy day it’d be if that were the case.”
“Then there wouldn’t be anything special about him if everyone looked like Caden.”
“Even his name is sexy,” Nancy said. “You lucky girl getting to touch him.”
Sarah laughed. The staff was always cracking jokes like this behind closed doors. “His hand. Not much exciting there.”
Only she was lying because just touching his skin sent waves of heat through her body and she hoped to hell Caden didn’t notice. Now she understood how Harris and Kaelyn met and started to flirt and see each other so fast.
It seems when it hit, it hit hard and it was ride it or run. For once, she was hoping she could ride it out before she had to figure out whether to run or not.
6
Something Good
It’d been a long week waiting to see Caden again, but Sarah got through it.
She couldn’t remember the last time she was this anxious over a little bit of flirting.
Then she had to remind herself that maybe that was part of the appeal and it was nothing more than that. She still thought there had to be something wrong with the guy. No one looked like him and was single.
Who knows, maybe he had a bunch of ex-wives out there and if that was the case...nope, not touching him with a ten-foot pole.
Well, maybe she’d touch him but nothing more. He was pretty lovely to look at.
She shook her head. Superficial and she wasn’t going there anymore.
When she got to work she looked at her schedule for the day. There were two surgeries scheduled for the morning and that would kill the time. Caden was due in as her last patient of the day. That might work in her favor. Or his.
And when three rolled around she almost thought she was vibrating she was so excited and had to get ahold of herself. She was thirty, not sixteen. Talk about a major crush going on.
She got to the door of the room he was in, knocked and then opened it up with her laptop in front of her. “Well hello there. How’s the hand?”
He had jeans on this time, but still a nice stylish shirt and another pair of expensive shoes. Brown leather this time. She could only imagine the cost of his clothes, but she knew quality when she saw it. She’d seen enough of it with Harris and his friends when she went to visit him years ago.
“Ready to get these stitches out. How has your week been?”
That was sweet he asked. Points for him there. “Then let’s get those stitches out for you. And my week has been the usual. Some ways it dragged, others went fast.”
“I know the feeling. Felt like I was counting down the days to get here.”
Interesting. “For the stitches or visiting?”
He winked at her and she felt like a giddy fool. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a bit of both.”
She walked over and washed her hands, then put on a pair of gloves and pulled out a suture removal kit. “Let me see your hand.”
He held his palm out and now she started to realize the size of his hand and fingers. Before she was just more interested in the wound and him as a person. Now with it in her hand and knowing he was healed, her mind was moving to other things.
“Is this going to hurt?”
She looked up quickly to catch his grin. “You might feel a bit of pulling. The palm is sensitive. Something tells me you’ll handle it though.”
“I’ve gotten this far,” he said.
She pulled the tweezers out of the sealed package and was easily able to remove the remaining Steri-Strips. Some had fallen off and that was fine. “Looks good. You’ve been the ideal patient.”
“Not sure I’ve been told that before,” he said.
She’d like to ask in what context, but it wasn’t her business. His chart never showed any other prior surgeries or injuries that she’d seen so it couldn’t have been anything major. No prescriptions either. By all intents, he was a healthy thirty-six-year-old. Yep, she peeked at his age too since it was right there on the screen.
“I can’t complain. You ready for this?” she asked, pulling out the little scissors too.
“Go for it.”
She pulled the ends of one and snipped and it slid out. One by one she went through, but once she got toward the end there was a tiny scab on a few and she knew they might sting a little. She got them fast and he only flinched once.
“All done,” she said, rolling her stool over to get a paper towel to clean up the blood that was pebbling out of some spots. “It looks great. Just hold that there while I get more Steri-Strips.”
He sighed. “I still can’t get it wet?”
“You’re good now. But I’m going to put these strips on it again since you are bleeding a tiny bit. You can get it wet and when they fall off, let them. Not a big deal. You’re healed well.”
“So then I’m done here?”
“You are. No need to follow up again unless you notice any redness or soreness. Even pain in your palm. Nothing there?”
“No. Seems to be working just fine. And since I’m no longer your patient, how would you like to get dinner tonight?”
Exactly what she hoped he’d bring up. “I think dinner sounds lovely, but tonight won’t work.” She didn’t have any plans she couldn’t change. Just her grocery night, but there was no reason to be so eager and seem desperate. “I’m free the rest of the week though,” she said waiting to see what he said.
“Tomorrow?”
“Sounds great.” So he was pretty interested if he wasn’t going to wait until the weekend. And he didn’t know who her brother was, so even better. Now she just had to find out what he was looking for.
She knew one thing, she was going to give him something to look at other than seeing her in scrubs or walking her niece.
The damn stitches were out and that was a relief. A bigger one was he had a date tomorrow night. It might have been a little much to ask for dinner tonight, then to suggest tomorrow, but he was trying to see how interested she really was.
“I’m not very familiar with this area, but I’ll find a place. Casual work for you?”
“During the week that is just fine.”
“The office closes at five?” he asked. He knew because he’d looked.
“It does, but I’m normally out between three and four thirty depending on what or where I’m scheduled, when I start and so on.”
“And you will want to change,” he said.
“And shower. I need to shower the minute I get in the door. It’s a germ thing even though we are clean.”
He was proud of himself for not gulping when she mentioned showering as his mind wanted to go right to the image of her naked and soaping herself up. It’d been way too long since he’d had a naked woman under him.
“How does six thirty sound? Do I get your number to be able to verify you’re on time?”
She laughed. “I’m not usually late.”
“I meant if you were held up at work.”
“I know,” she said, patting his leg. She snatched her hand back fast as if she realized maybe she shouldn’t have done that but he was totally fine with it. “It won’t happen as surgeries are normally done by three.”
She read her number off and he put it in his phone, then shot her off a text. “There’s mine. If you’re running behind, just send me a text.”
“Let me kn
ow where you end up choosing and we can meet there.”
“So I don’t get to pick you up?” he asked, tilting his head.
“On the first date? No. I’m not in the habit of letting men know where I live.”
“But you know where I live,” he said, laughing. “Even if you hadn’t seen me outside that one day, you could see it in my chart.”
“I could and I do. But a girl has to be careful. I still don’t know much about you other than how you look, which is a nice side benefit.”
He laughed again. She was really good for his ego! “The same goes.”
“See, something in common already,” she said.
“I have a feeling we might have more in common than we think.”
“I hope so,” she said. “Guess we’ll find out more about each other tomorrow for dinner.”
She stood up and went to her laptop and he figured he’d have to get on the road himself.
“Then until tomorrow night. I’ll text you sometime with the information.”
“Can’t wait,” she said turning to look at him.
“Me neither.”
He nodded and walked out, happy to know that maybe something good would come out of this move.
7
Many To Explore
Here he was ready for this date and the weather wasn’t cooperating. He was so freaking annoyed it wasn’t even funny.
They were calling for about eight inches of snow and it was coming down nice and steady. He didn’t have much of a problem with snow other than he’d never had to drive in it. It wasn’t that he had any issues coming here this morning, but then he wondered if Sarah was going to want to go out tonight or not.
On top of that, he had to clean his driveway. Then he remembered he didn’t even own a shovel.
He looked at the weather for tomorrow and saw that it was supposed to be fifty, so it’d melt and he’d just have to let it go and made a mental note he had to find a shovel and set up someone to plow for next winter. With tomorrow being the first of April, he didn’t really think it’d be too much of a concern this year. He hoped.
An hour later, he looked out the window and the snow was just building and showing no signs of slowing. After much debate, he sent Sarah a text. Still on tonight? Or should we reschedule for the weather? Tomorrow looks nice.
There, the last thing he wanted to do was have her think he was blowing her off or was a wuss. He was doing it more for her.
He tossed his phone back on his desk and got back to work. When he heard a knock on his doorframe, he looked up to see Melanie standing there. “Yes?”
“I’ve got the reports printed that you asked for. Also the files of some of John’s clients.”
“Thanks,” he said, reaching for it. They were older files that weren’t on the computer. Most things were electronic, but some that had been around for years hadn’t been uploaded from those earlier days.
“Can I ask what you are looking for?” Melanie asked. “I could help more if you let me know.”
“Just reviewing things,” he said. No way he was saying what he was doing. He wasn’t lying about reviewing things and to make sure there were no rumors started, he added, “I have a list of others I wanted pulled for everyone. I’ll just shoot you that email right now.”
“Oh,” she said. “Sure thing.”
That nipped that little drama in the bud in his mind, but he knew it would still get tongues wagging like it always did. Little things he never thought much of before now.
He was looking to see how John handled his client’s funds, but after doing some more investigation in the last week, he’d found some complaints on John and wondered if that was why the guy wasn’t promoted when normally someone with his experience and years of service would have been.
When the two of them met last week, it was cordial. John had actually sent him an email with things he wanted to discuss. A big whopping two things, but Caden had sent six. Even having the agenda ahead of time, John wasn’t prepared to answer any questions asked of him and was still working on it. It’d been a week and should have been done in one day, maybe two.
Things sure were different here than his other office and he knew that coming in. The slower pace was needed on one hand but not if it hindered him on his job.
Which was stupid because nothing really was.
His cell phone rang and he thought it might be Sarah, but saw it was one of his clients that elected to stay with him when he moved. He might not be taking calls at one in the morning anymore, but there were a few he’d do that for, and Anthony Rucci was one of them.
“Anthony, how have you been?”
“Good, good,” Anthony said in his deep Italian accent. Anthony owned restaurants all over the US in major cities and several in Italy along with vineyards. The vineyards were his hobby and he still credited Caden for his smart investments allowing him to purchase them. “How are you handling the slow life?”
He looked at his palm that still had the white strips on it but was otherwise back to normal. “It’s not as bad as I thought it might be.”
Not when he was looking forward to his date that most likely wasn’t going to happen tonight. At least it was a goal in his mind and he needed that.
“Never thought I’d see the day. What made you do it?” Anthony asked.
Very few of his clients knew the reason he left Manhattan. Sure, plenty of coworkers knew what happened, but clients weren’t always informed.
“Sometimes you just need to make some changes in life. No reason to stay in one place when there are so many to explore.”
“That’s what I love about you,” Anthony said. “I’ll have to come visit you there at some point, if you’d have me.”
“I’ll always make time for you, Anthony. You know that. Since you don’t call me unless you’ve got an idea, what is it?”
“I’m thinking of expanding into white wine now. Red is in my blood, but you know. Can’t have one without the other.”
“No,” he said. “You can’t.” He shook his head knowing Anthony was like a kid when he got his mind on something he wanted. He was stuck on it like Superglue.
“So you know the last thing I want to do is be cash poor or even liquidate assets if I don’t have to.”
“Never,” he said. He’d been moving Anthony’s money around for years to make it work the best for him.
“Got anything you think will get me some cash fast?”
“Explain fast?” he asked.
“Twelve months or less?”
“I’ve got a few things if you want to take the risk.” He picked his pen up and the pad, then started to write down what Anthony was willing to let him move and how much more would be coming.
“I’ve got complete trust in you,” Anthony said. “Going to give me a heads up on what they might be?”
“Just some tech companies. A few things I’ve been reading up on and see possibilities of turning big. I’ll get everything together and send it to you.” Some of his clients didn’t always want to know the details, but Anthony did.
When he put his phone down and looked up, John was standing there watching him. “Something I can help you with?”
He should start shutting his door, but he wanted to have an open door policy. If it was that private, he’d shut his door but wasn’t going to keep it shut like he had before.
Here he was supposed to be helping everyone out, not trying to be one up. He was running the place and the better each person did, the better they all did at the end.
“I’ve got what you were asking me about last week.”
There were papers in John’s hand and he wondered why the guy couldn’t email it to him and had it all typed up. “Can you send it to me to read over?”
“Oh,” John said. “I just printed it.”
“I know. And that’s fine. But I make notes and save to my computer rather than write on them and try to find the files later.”
John was probably late fifties, but the
re was no reason the guy should be doing everything on paper at this point. That was one complaint he’d seen when surveys went out last year. A few said it took too long for John to get back to them or they had to stop in and get printouts rather than emails or uploads to the portal.
“Okay. I’ll do that this afternoon.”
“Or you can do it now when you get back to your office,” he said, not wanting to wait hours for something he should have gotten last week. When John was still standing there, he asked, “Was there anything else you needed?”
“You were talking to someone about some tech companies. Anything you want to share? I’ve got a few investors that might be interested.”
“Nothing concrete,” he said. “I’ve got more research to do. A list of articles to read and see where things are in the stages.”
John frowned. “What are you reading?”
Was this guy for real? “Investing isn’t just watching the stock market, it’s trying to predict trends. That’s what I do with my clients.”
“I didn’t know you still had some. I mean I thought you got all of Richard’s. Which of course we should have gotten.”
Here was some of what he expected. “As I told you last week, Richard spoke with each and every one of his clients. Some elected to go with others in the firm, many decided to transfer to me. That is their choice. However, many of my clients chose to come with me.”
“Guess you inspire loyalty.”
“I’d like to think so. That my hard work and determination to make them money provides that.”
John nodded his head and left. This was going to be a problem, he could tell right now.
And when he felt his stomach gurgle, he looked and saw it was noon and that he’d forgotten to eat something hours ago. It’d been almost six hours at this point.
But he’d been distracted with his plans with Sarah tonight and then the weather.
He wouldn’t say he was stressed. No, no reason to get stressed over something like that.
But he was losing himself like he’d said he wouldn’t. His alarm went off to eat something at ten and he’d shut it off telling himself he’d get it and didn’t.