“You’re such a smart man.” I kiss his cheek. “You know, I could get used to all these rides I get from you.”
“Good. I like carrying you.”
“That bath was a nice touch,” I inform him as he sets me on the floor and peels the covers back on the bed. “I might have agreed to marry you from that alone. You could have proposed when I was sitting in that water, and I would have scrambled to say yes.”
“Good to know the way to your heart is through the tub,” he says, his eyes full of humor.
“Should we make some calls?” I ask. “Noel will freak if she’s not the first to know.”
“She already knows,” he says with a laugh. “Sometimes, a guy needs a little help.”
“You asked her to help you?” I don’t know why, but that touches me. That they worked together to make this proposal special means a lot to me. “That’s sweet.”
“I wanted to make sure that tonight was romantic and exactly what you’d want.”
“And you did,” I reply, just before he lowers his lips to mine, kissing me with love and passion. He steps closer, pressing himself against me, and I can feel his hardness against my belly. “I guess it’s been a few days.”
“Too long,” he agrees. “But you’ve been sick.”
“I’m feeling better now.” I wiggle my brows and laugh when he tackles me to the bed, his face buried in my neck. He immediately unfastens my jeans and dives inside with a hand, finding me wet and wanting.
“You’re slick,” he says. His movements gentle, and he unwraps me from my clothes like I’m the best present ever. “And so fucking beautiful.”
“You’re not so bad yourself,” I inform him as I slide my hand up under the hem of his shirt and over the rigid muscles of his abs. “Seriously, your stomach should come with a warning label.”
He grins against my left breast before taking the nipple into his mouth and sucking gently.
“What would it say?” he asks.
“May cause spontaneous horniness,” I reply with a laugh as he strips out of his shirt and tosses it aside.
“This stomach?” He flexes his muscles, making me laugh harder.
“Yes, those muscles. Don’t get a big head, now.”
“The woman I love just agreed to marry me,” he says, falling over me again and kissing me deeply. “My head is huge.”
“You’re silly.”
“You’re beautiful,” he breathes and kisses his way down my sternum to my belly, before covering me with his body once again and filling me up. “You’re incredible, Joy.”
He’s moving, in and out in a steady rhythm, not too slow and not too fast. My toes curl, and my fingers fist in his hair, holding on tightly as I feel an orgasm already making its way down my spine.
“God, the way you make me feel,” he whispers in my ear, and it sends me over into a silent, intense climax that leaves me reeling and loving him more—something I didn’t even think was possible.
Once we’re cleaned up and snuggling in bed, Jace clears his throat.
“How long should this engagement be, do you think?”
“I don’t know.” I frown up at him. “Are you in a hurry?”
“Well, yeah. I’m anxious to make you Dr. Crawford.”
I slowly shake my head. “I’m still going to be Dr. Thompson.”
“Like hell.”
“No, really, Jace, I won’t be changing my last name.”
“What are you talking about?” He scowls down at me. “We’re getting married, and we were both raised with traditional family values. Of course, you’ll change your name.”
“It’s not about that.” I sigh and rub my hands over my face, trying to gather my thoughts. “Jace, my entire business is under my name as Dr. Joy Thompson. That’s how my patients know me, but more than that, it’s how everything is filed with the IRS. Dismantling it all and putting it back together will take months, if not years.”
“People do it every day.” His expression is hard.
“I’m not trying to hurt you,” I insist. “This isn’t because I don’t love you, or that I’m not proud of you. You know that.”
“I just don’t understand,” he replies.
“Can we talk it out another time?” I ask wearily. “This is all so new, and we should be excited not bickering like an old couple.”
“Okay.” He sighs and tugs me closer. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“I don’t want a red car,” I insist the next day. We’re at the dealership, looking for a new vehicle to replace the one that died the other day. “And I think I want an SUV.”
“Okay,” Jace says with a nod, and we walk toward a line of mid-sized SUVs on the car lot. We haven’t been approached by a salesman yet, but it’s only a matter of time. “What color do you like?”
“Silver or black. And it doesn’t need a sunroof. I’d never use it anyway.”
“Joy, you can have any car you want. If you don’t want to decide today, we can do some research so you can narrow it down to what you really want.”
I blow out a gusty breath. “I hate buying cars.”
“I know.” He kisses my forehead. “We can leave if you want.”
“No, I need a car. I like that black one there,” I say, pointing to the SUV straight ahead. Just as we reach it, a salesman approaches and tells me all of the reasons why I should want a vehicle with more bells and whistles.
“Look,” I interrupt. “I appreciate that you have to sell cars. It’s your job. But I’m telling you I like this one. It suits my needs just fine, and I don’t need or want anything fancier.”
The guy looks at Jace, which irritates the hell out of me.
“And no, I don’t need to ask his permission to make this decision.”
Jace presses his lips together, trying horribly to keep his laughter at bay. He’s been with me to buy cars before.
He knows how much I loathe it.
Which is why I don’t do it often.
“That’s fine with me,” Randy, the salesman, says. “Do you want to test drive this one?”
“Yes,” I reply and spend the next fifteen minutes driving literally around the block before pulling back into the lot. “I’ll take it.”
“That was fast,” he says.
“I make decisions quickly, and I hate to shop.” I hop out of the SUV, not missing the shrug of apology from Jace. He thinks this is hilarious. All I can think is, this is a Sunday of my life that I’ll never get back.
Once we’re at Randy’s desk, he punches up numbers, offers me extra warranties and other things that I pass on, and when it comes time to pay for it, Jace shocks the shit out of me by telling Randy he’ll be paying for it.
“Like hell you are,” I say, looking at Jace like he’s grown a new head. “This is my car.”
“Give us a moment, please?” Jace says calmly without looking away from my face. Randy nods and leaves, after telling us to take all the time we need. “I’m about to be your husband, and I can afford to buy you this car.”
“I don’t need you to buy me this car,” I reply. “Yes, you’re going to be my husband, but that doesn’t mean you pay for everything.”
“You do realize that you’re arguing with someone willing to pay cash for a brand-new car for you.”
“Yeah, because it’s not necessary. Thank you for the offer, but I’m fine. I’ve got this.”
His eyes narrow, and I take his hands in mine. “Look, I know you want to feel like you’re taking care of me, and I love you so much for it. But this isn’t the way to do that. You take care of me in little ways every day. I don’t need you for financial things, but it’s really good to know that I have you if I should need you.”
He sighs, still looking in my eyes and nods. “I don’t agree, but okay. I apologize for assuming.”
“No need.” I kiss his cheek. “You can assume all you want. I’ll let you know when I have a difference of opinion. Now, let’s get this over with.”
“You’ve cleaned that
sink three times,” I inform him later Sunday night. The shiny new SUV is sitting in my driveway, and we’ve been home for a couple of hours, but Jace hasn’t sat down once. He’s been cleaning my house like a crazy man.
“I have nervous energy,” he says.
“You don’t say.” I gently take the sponge from him. “Jace, you’re about to take the finish off the surface.”
“I can fold laundry.”
Before he can step away, I catch his hand in mine and pull him to me.
“Talk to me.”
“I have the meeting with the attorneys tomorrow morning.”
“I know, and they’re going to tell you that all is well.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Jace, don’t stress this. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”
“I need them to tell me I can go back to work.” He rests his forehead against mine. “I need it.”
“I know. It’s not gotten easier with time for you.”
“It’s worse,” he admits. “I love being with you, but—”
“But you’re a surgeon,” I finish for him and smile at the relief in his eyes. “I have a great feeling about tomorrow. And taking all of this aggression out on my house isn’t making it better. I don’t think it’s ever been this clean.”
“And you’re complaining?”
“Well, I think I lost some paint off of that wall you scrubbed for twenty minutes.”
“No paint was lost,” he says, wrapping his arms low around my back. “Besides, I know someone who knows her way around a paintbrush.”
“Really? Who would that be?”
“She’s gorgeous. And smart.”
“Hmm . . . Do I know her?”
He bites my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
“You know her intimately.”
“Well, she sounds like a heck of a woman.”
“She’s the love of my life.”
~Jace~
“We’ve settled,” Howard, one of three attorneys says the following morning. The three of them, along with Mick, my medical director, all have smiles on their faces, obviously satisfied with the outcome of the case. “You’re free to come back to work anytime.”
“Today, preferably,” Mick interjects. “Your office is waiting for you. I’d like for you to get caught up on some paperwork today, and get back into surgery tomorrow.”
I blow out a breath and lean back in my chair, staring at them in surprise. This is the news I wanted to hear.
“Are you okay, Jace?” Howard asks.
“I think I’m so relieved that I don’t know what to say,” I admit with a grin. “What did they settle on?”
“One-point-two million dollars,” Howard says. “And they agreed to sign documents stating that you were not at fault.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, shaking my head. “That’s a shit ton of money.”
“Well spent,” Mick says. “This is the best outcome for the hospital and our patients, Jace. We need you, and if we’d not pursued a settlement, it could have dragged on for years in the courts. At the end of the day, we all get what we want.”
“I hope they signed an NDA, so they can’t run to the press, and in doing so encourage everyone to file suits when they lose a family member.”
“Of course,” Howard says with a nod. “It’s all been taken care of. Your name can’t be mentioned, and they can’t come back to ask for more money. We all move on with our lives.”
I blow out a gusty breath and stand, then shake each of their hands. “I’d better get to my office.”
“Happy to have you back, Jace,” Mick says with a nod.
I hurry down to my office, shut the door, and take a deep breath. At least Sean Tiller, the doctor from Boston that I don’t like, didn’t leave a mess behind, thankfully.
Or he did, and it was cleaned up before today.
The words on the door say, Jace Crawford, M.D. Chief of Surgery.
“I’m back,” I whisper, then rub my hands together and reach for my phone, calling Joy first and foremost. “Hi, Susan, this is Jace. May I please speak with Joy?”
“Yes, I’ve been given instructions to interrupt her when you call. Hold, please.”
I grin, staring out the window at the Seattle skyline as I wait for Joy. In less than thirty seconds, she picks up the phone. “Hey! Tell me the good news.”
“You were right,” I reply and quickly give her a rundown of the meeting. “So, I’m in my office, getting caught up on what is most likely a paperwork pile the size of Mount Everest.”
“I’m so happy for you, Jace,” she says, a smile in her voice. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks. Hey, why don’t you come by the hospital at around six and we’ll have dinner in the cafeteria?”
“I love their food,” she says. “It’s a date. Have a good day.”
It’s not a good day, it’s a fucking fantastic day. Despite the number of emails to read and amount of paperwork to get through, the morning and afternoon fly by. Nurses and other physicians drop in to welcome me back.
I’m finally back where I need to be.
At six o’clock sharp, there’s a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I call, not looking up from my computer.
“You look hot sitting at that desk, Dr. Crawford.”
I grin as Joy saunters across my office, still dressed in her own scrubs. Rather than sitting across from me, she walks around the desk and sits in my lap.
“I came straight here.”
“I’m glad.” I bury my face in the crook of her neck and take a deep breath. “I need the break, and it’s so good to see you.”
“They already have you slaving away,” she says softly, running her fingers through my hair. I can feel the muscles in my neck and shoulders begin to relax.
“I don’t mind,” I reply honestly.
“Are you hungry?”
“Famished,” I admit as she steps off my lap and leads me out of the office. I lock the door behind me and escort her to the elevators.
At this time of day, the cafeteria shouldn’t be too busy because most of the daytime staff has gone home, and the evening staff has just arrived. Breakfast and lunch are chaotic.
“I want the taco salad,” Joy says as we approach the line. “They have the best taco salads.”
“That sounds good,” I agree with a nod and have the same thing. We load our trays with the salads, drinks, and a dessert to share, and find a table in the back corner to eat and talk.
“So delicious,” Joy says around a big bite. “I’ll come have dinner with you more often.”
“I hope so. How was your day?”
“Not bad, actually. It was a lighter day. No surgeries, so that was good. Dad’s at my place with the puppies.”
“They’re not going to stay in the laundry room for long.”
“I know,” she says with a shrug. “They’ll be ready for new homes in a couple of weeks. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone.”
“It’ll be easier for you when they find homes.” I reach out and give her hand a squeeze.
“Angela will be happier, too,” she says with a laugh. “The pups are at the age where they just annoy her more than anything.”
“Dr. Crawford?” Peter Kratz, one of my colleagues, interrupts our dinner to chat about a lung transplant he’s performing tomorrow on a cystic fibrosis patient. After twenty minutes, I agree to scrub in for as long as I can and assist. This is a special, fragile case that he’s more than qualified to do, but he’d like to have all hands on deck. “Thank you, see you tomorrow. Good to have you back.”
“Have a good night,” I reply with a nod and look over to find Joy frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“This is going to sound stupidly selfish.”
“Shoot.”
She sighs. “I’m so happy for you, and proud that you’re back to work doing what you love.”
“But?”
“But it also sucks because I�
�ll never see you.” The last few words are whispered. “And I’m going to miss you.”
“That’s not true,” I insist, taking her hand in mine again. “Joy, you’re my priority, always. I know we didn’t see each other in the past, but we had a different dynamic then.”
“I don’t see how it can be different now,” she says. “You’ll still be both the chief and a surgeon, and both of those are full-time jobs.”
“I’m going to make it work,” I insist. “I can make all of it work. You’ll see.”
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and I’m more determined than ever to prove to her that she will not take a back seat to my career.
Two weeks and one day.
That’s how long it’s been since I last saw her face.
Touched her skin.
I’m failing.
I rush to my office and check my phone. It’s after midnight, and I missed three texts and a call from Joy.
“Shit,” I mutter. God, I’m tired. Bone-tired, and I miss her something fierce.
So rather than call her back, I make a snap decision to go to her house. I’ve been staying at my place because it’s closer to the hospital, and I’ve been working twenty-hour days. Some nights, I don’t even bother to go home, using the couch in my office as a place to nap before starting work again early the next morning.
It’s a pace that just a few years ago I would have thrived on.
Now, I’m just plain exhausted.
I pull into Joy’s driveway and let myself into the house. It’s dark and quiet since Joy would have gone to bed a couple of hours ago.
It sounds like she’s been working a lot, too. At least, that’s what I’ve gathered from her texts.
I climb the stairs and scratch Angela behind the ears when she meets me at the door of Joy’s bedroom.
“Good girl,” I whisper in her ear. “Are you watching over her for me?”
Angela just licks my cheek then returns to her bed at the foot of Joy’s.
That’s new.
I shuck out of my clothes and slide between the covers, scooting up to Joy and pulling her into my arms.
“Jace?” she whispers.
“If it’s someone else, we need to have a conversation,” I reply with a smile and kiss her firmly, pressing her against me. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
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