After the Christmas Party...

by Janice Lynn

  He wanted to knock.

  Whether she would admit to it or not, she wanted him to knock. He could hear it in her voice.

  Every instinct warned he shouldn’t, that, despite their mutual desire for one another, she wasn’t ready to consummate that desire. Not really.

  As much as he hated listening to that voice of reason, he trusted his instincts more than the body part that had him wanting to he-man his way into her apartment.

  To do that would only satisfy him in the short term and although he had no clue exactly what he wanted with Trinity, he knew that one night would not be enough. If he rushed, she might shut him out for ever. Despite the tough front she attempted to put on, she was vulnerable in ways that made him want to fight every dragon that had ever taken a swipe at her. Although he didn’t understand or like how protective he felt about her, he refused to be yet another dragon for her to fend off, even if a well-intentioned one.

  “We both know you shouldn’t open your door to me. Not tonight.” He straightened from the door before he gave in to temptation.

  “Then why did you call?” She sounded irked, which pleased him because it meant she wasn’t immune to the chemistry between them. That he wasn’t wrong.

  “Why call?” He loved her logic and her sass. Despite the rebellious throb in his body, he couldn’t help but smile. “To hear your voice. For you to tell me I’m crazy.”

  “You’re crazy,” she replied, without hesitation.

  “About you,” he admitted, knowing it was true, that she was different from any woman he’d ever known, and not just because she didn’t fall at his feet.

  Which was why he’d leave, and smile while doing so. Yeah, he’d like to be on the other side of her door but there was no rush. He’d take his time, woo her, have her begging for more, and then give her more for however long the sparks between them flew.

  “You don’t even know me,” she insisted, much as she’d done previously.

  “A problem I intend to remedy.”

  But not tonight.

  Forehead against the door, Trinity held her breath. Surely, any second now he’d knock. He had to knock, right?

  He was there.

  Just on the other side of her door, teasing her. No, not teasing really. More of a temptation to reach out and take what she reluctantly admitted she wanted.

  He did tempt her. Like fresh-baked cookies tempted a starving dieter.

  She wanted a bite.

  A big bite.

  Before she could have biter’s remorse, she undid the chain, undid the deadbolt and flung the door open.

  “Riley?”

  “Hmm?” His response buzzed in her ear.

  “Where are you?” Stunned, she glanced down the hallway.

  The empty hallway.

  “My car.”

  His car?

  He’d left?

  Her heart sank.

  “You were never really on the other side of my door?”

  She might kill him. He’d gotten her all worked up for nothing, had…

  “I was there.”

  Frowning, fighting disappointment she didn’t quite understand and definitely didn’t want, she went back into her apartment. She should hang up now, before she incriminated herself.

  Why was she surprised? Disappointed? She should be glad he’d left, that he’d had reason when she’d temporarily lost her mind. Her stomach knotted and her eyes watered. Great.

  Why was she not telling him where to go and turning off her phone?

  “Trinity?”

  “Yes?” She slumped back against the door, fighting a sniffle. Was he seriously whistling? She might just throw her phone at him for real.

  “I like you.”

  Were they in grammar school or what?

  Eyes squeezed closed, she sighed. “So you keep saying, but at the moment, Riley Williams, I don’t like you one bit.”

  He surprised her by bursting into laughter. “There’s my funny girl.”

  “Are you dating Dr. Williams?”

  Putting her stethoscope into her scrub pocket, Trinity spun around to look at her coworker. Karen Mathis, Trinity’s favorite coworker by far—usually—grinned at her and waited with an expectant look that said she wasn’t going to be easily distracted.

  “Why would you ask me that?”

  “I saw you at the Christmas party,” Karen pointed out. “I’d been looking for you because I knew you didn’t know many people yet and I was going to have you join the group I was with. I didn’t spot you until you were all cozied up with the only cardiologist on staff who makes women’s hearts beat faster with just a flash of his smile.”

  Trinity’s heart was beating pretty fast without the benefit of one of his smiles. “We just danced. It wasn’t a big deal.”

  “And sang together,” Karen reminded her. “Plus, I hear you arrived at work with him yesterday morning when you both got called in. You rode home with him yesterday at the end of your shift. Despite many females’ valiant efforts, I don’t know of him ever dating anyone who works here. This all sounds like a big deal to me. So, are you two an item or what?”

  Inwardly, Trinity cringed. The hospital gossip mill had sure been busy. How did She answer a question she didn’t know the answer to? Because saying he liked her just sounded a bit second grade to her. She didn’t really know what they were other than that she liked him too.

  “Did you also hear that she’s going to eat with me after work tonight?”

  Both women turned at the newcomer to their conversation.

  “Dr. Williams.” Karen’s cheeks flushed almost as bright as Trinity imagined hers were.

  “Riley,” she gasped, her eyes devouring the man before her, searching his eyes for some trace of the man who’d spent hours on the phone with her the night before. Hours and hours. He’d blown her away. They’d talked long into the night without awkwardness or long bouts of weird silence. The man was way too easy to talk to. “Anyone ever tell you it isn’t polite to eavesdrop?”

  She almost called him “snowflake” but caught herself just in time. Yeah, that would have had some tongues wagging all over the cardiac unit.

  “Never. Most people like having conversations with me.” He waggled his brows, his eyes not leaving Trinity’s. The twinkle there said everything. That he knew what she was thinking, was thinking the same thing himself. “Good morning, ladies.”

  Trinity mumbled a good morning, glancing away because all she could think was that this was the man with whom she’d fallen asleep while on the phone with him the night before.

  He’d stayed on the phone with her because he’d said he really did want to get to know her without the physical getting in the way. Honestly, she just didn’t know what to think about him. He was unlike any many she’d ever met.

  Chase sure hadn’t worried about the physical getting in the way.

  Sex had gotten in the way of their relationship.

  Big time.

  Not because they’d rushed into a physical relationship. They hadn’t, despite Chase’s constant pressure to do so. Perhaps she should have held out longer. When she’d finally given in, it had been the beginning of the end. She’d flopped in bed.

  Chase had had no qualms announcing that juicy little tidbit to the world.

  So a man who put emphasis on getting to know her rather than on her bedroom performance was good. Raised her odds of success, right? Or just set up her expectations to where her failure would sting all the more?

  “Trinity?” Riley interrupted her thoughts. “We are going to eat after work today?”

  She blinked, thinking him too good looking for his own good. He was so used to getting his own way that she almost said no just to be difficult. But that wasn’t any way to start a relationship. Or to maintain one.

  A relationship. Was that what they were doing? What she wanted?

  “Yes,” she agreed, knowing she wasn’t going to deprive herself of spending the evening with him, even if she still didn’t
trust him. “Just as long as we don’t do anything Christmassy.”

  For answer, he just grinned. “Would I ever ask you to do that?”

  “Never.” Trinity couldn’t keep a smile from curving her lips. She tried. Really, she did. After all, she had sworn off men, but there was something about Riley that couldn’t be ignored. Okay, so everything about him refused to be ignored.

  Karen stared back and forth between them. “So the gossip is true?”

  Trinity blushed.

  Riley grinned. “If they’re saying that I’m pursuing the hottest nurse at Pensacola Memorial then, yeah, it’s true.”

  Had he really just said that? Trinity’s face caught fire and her mouth dropped. Chase had always been so private, not wanting anyone to know how much he cared about her, saying that with them both working for the hospital they should keep their relationship on the quiet. Ha, he’d sure blown that at the end.

  Then again, had he really cared about her at all? She’d certainly thought so. They’d dated for nine months. She’d thought she was going to get an engagement ring for Christmas. Instead, she’d gotten a horrendous public humiliation and a reminder about why she disliked the holiday so much. Or perhaps it was Christmas that disliked her. Maybe she should ask Riley for a rain check until New Year.

  Karen smiled. “I’ll be sure to let everyone know you’re off the market, Dr. Williams.”

  “I didn’t know I was ever on the market. But you do that. My free time is definitely going to be occupied by this little lady so long as she’ll let me hang around.” Riley winked and nodded towards the cardiac care patient rooms. “How’s Mr. Ryker this morning? Holding his own?”

  Still not quite believing how he’d just essentially given Karen permission to tell everyone that he belonged to her, Trinity shook her head in wonder.

  Take that, Christmas party trio who’d called her “tonight’s lucky pick”.

  She was this week’s lucky pick.

  Or something like that.

  Then again, she had to wonder just what he had to gain by hanging out with her. Why he’d want to. Ultimately, how much did they have in common? Was he so used to women chasing him that he had to dazzle her so she’d follow suit?

  Sure, she’d enjoyed talking to him into the wee hours, but everything was different when you were bone tired, right?

  Still, she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t enjoyed spending time with him the evening before, despite what he’d had her doing. She’d definitely be fibbing if she said she hadn’t derived deep pleasure from falling asleep to the sound of his voice, to his breathing on the other end of the phone, to him asking her thoughts and dreams.

  No one had ever asked her those things.

  “Oxygen sats are staying at 97-98%, but he’s still on two liters per minute,” she told him, referring to the patient she’d just finished checking prior to Karen’s inquisition. “Cardiac monitoring is normal. His vitals are stable. Ins and outs are normal. A physical therapist had him up walking not long ago.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.”

  It’s what she liked to report. No nurse wanted to deliver bad news regarding a patient.

  “Come round with me?”

  He was her superior so of course she’d go round with him if that’s what he wanted. Based on the past couple days, she’d do a lot of things with him if that’s what he wanted. If he could get her to decorate a Christmas tree, she was pretty much at his will to command.

  Lord, she hoped that wasn’t really so.

  “Y’all have fun and don’t do anything that will get Mr. Ryker’s heart racing,” Karen teased, looking quite pleased at Riley’s admission.

  He laughed and Trinity didn’t say a word. Honestly, as impressed as she was at Riley not caring who knew he was interested in her, she hated the thought that she was the focus of hospital gossip. Even if it was positive gossip regarding her and Riley, because all good things came to an end and then what? She’d once again be poor pitiful Trinity who’d been dumped, because realistically she acknowledged that he’d be the one to end their relationship.

  Would he humiliate her publicly, the way Chase had?

  Of course, to give him credit, Chase had been drinking too much. Would he have otherwise announced her shortcomings so cruelly at their hospital Christmas party? Probably not, but once done he’d been unable to take back his words, couldn’t stop the teasing that had ensued at Trinity’s expense. Why had she stayed in Memphis so long after that horrible Christmas? Had she purposely been punishing herself for being so stupid as to put her hopes in a man? At least she hadn’t started drinking, the way her mother had after being deserted by Trinity’s father.

  She should have removed herself from the situation much sooner. She hadn’t wanted to run but, really, after her mother’s death she’d had no ties. She should have left. Next time she’d know.

  Next time?

  Was she already planning for the demise of any relationship between her and Riley? Whatever that relationship might be. She really didn’t have a clue what he wanted from her.

  If he’d just wanted sex, wouldn’t he have knocked the night before instead of talking to her into the wee morning hours?

  Riley tapped on the patient’s door then entered the private cardiac room. “Good morning, Mr. Ryker.”

  The man stretched out in his bed smiled at Riley and then at Trinity. A clear tube ran around his face with a nasal cannula delivering oxygen. Multiple wires and leads were attached at various points to his body.

  “Your nurse tells me that you’re ready to dance a jig and you want to blow this joint as soon as possible. That so?”

  Not her exact words.

  “If it would get me home earlier, I’d dance a jig or two,” the heavy set man admitted, raising the head of his bed and scooting up, wincing a little as he did so. “Other than the pain in my chest and leg from being cut open, I feel great.”

  “If all goes well today, I’ll release you to go home tomorrow morning and see you back in the office in a week or so.”

  The man’s wife, who’d been sitting quietly in a chair next to his hospital bed, got wide-eyed. “You’re going to let him go home that soon? Is that safe?”

  “If everything goes as expected today, yes, I am. It’s safe for him to go home. Actually, the sooner I can get him home, the less risk there is of secondary infections such as a resistant strain of staph or C. diff.”

  “Oh,” the woman blanched and she pushed a heavy-framed pair of glasses up the bridge of her nose. “What if something else happens? I won’t know how to take care of him.”

  “If it’s a problem, we can have a home health agency come out and dress his chest wounds and the surgical site on his leg. But, honestly, he should be fine as long as he doesn’t overdo it.”

  The woman’s relief was evident.

  “But the first thing we have to do is get you through today.” Riley placed his stethoscope on the man’s chest, moving the diaphragm from spot to spot to listen to the man’s heart sounds.

  “Can you tell if the bypass is taking, based on what you hear?” the man asked, looking concerned. “I keep wondering what I’d do if my heart rejected the graft.”

  “That’s unlikely to happen as it’s your own tissue. But no worries, we’ll take another look at the blood flow via an echocardiogram to make sure everything is working properly. You’re in good hands.”

  Trinity wouldn’t argue with Riley’s claim. He did have good hands. Expert hands that worked magic with hearts.

  Which, of course, made her wonder about what those hands were going to do to her heart.

  Or should she even worry about that since Chase had tattered it to shreds and despite her move she knew there were only broken pieces where once a strong heart used to beat?

  Maybe she was immune to Riley hurting her because she didn’t have a heart left to be broken.

  Somehow she doubted that because already she knew she’d miss him terribly if he left her life
.

  That scared her more than she cared to admit. Maybe she should run while she still could.

  Only could she, even if she wanted to?

  CHAPTER SIX

  “THIS ISN’T DINNER,” Trinity pointed out when Riley pulled into the crowded mall parking lot that evening. Although he looked handsome in khakis and a polo and was in way too good a mood to have worked all day, she was still in her scrubs, hungry, tired and really didn’t want to fight the crowds. She’d told him she’d have dinner with him, so dinner they would have.

  Somehow she hadn’t envisioned him taking her to a shopping center for a slice of pizza or Chinese. Then again, she knew next to nothing about his eating habits and they had eaten sandwiches the night before.

  “True,” Riley admitted, not looking one bit guilty as he parked the car in a just-vacated parking spot.

  One more thing to not like about Christmas. Everywhere was packed. Parking lots, shops, streets. It was as if every person came out of hibernation and crowded every public place, searching for that great deal on the perfect gift that they’d spend money they didn’t really have to spend. Trinity would much rather be at home with a good book and Casper curled up in her lap than dealing with all the holiday hoopla.

  Her car door opened and she glanced up at the man waiting for her to get out of the car. Really? She’d rather be with her cat than with this gorgeous man?

  Okay, so not really. But hanging with Casper would be a lot easier on her emotions in the long run.

  Please, don’t hurt me, she silently pleaded. All day she’d questioned why he’d taken an interest in her when there were so many women out there who would gladly kiss his rear end and had to be more suitable than her. She was just Trinity Warren from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. He was a cardiac surgeon who’d obviously led a privileged life. They couldn’t be more different.

  “Come on, princess.” A big smile on his face, he motioned for her to get out of the car. “We’re just going to do a little shopping before we eat.”

  What? He wanted her to go in there and face the shopping frenzy? Had he lost his mind?