Wild One (Summer Rush #5)

by Cheryl Douglas

  Dec closed his burning eyes, trying to block out the light seeping through the crack in the closed curtains. “I hate that I hurt her and I’m sorry I disappointed you, Lorna. If there was any way we could have made it work—”

  “She was trying to make it work. She sold her practice, told her landlord she wouldn’t be renewing her lease—”

  “Wait! What?” Dec sat up so fast his head screamed in protest, but he didn’t care. “Did you say she sold her practice? When? Why?”

  “So she could be with you. She didn’t tell you?”

  “No.” No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.

  “Huh, I guess she wanted to surprise you or something.”

  “I thought we were going to go on living in limbo. I couldn’t do it. It was killing me. I was missing her so damn much and I didn’t see how we were gonna make it work. That’s why I broke up with her.”

  “Did you tell her that?”

  “No, she wouldn’t give me a chance.”

  “Dec, she was willing to give up everything for you. That’s how much she loved you. When you called last night and told her it wasn’t working for you, she was crushed.”

  His stomach lurched, and he knew he was going to lose all that alcohol he’d consumed last night. “Lorna, I gotta go. I’m gonna be sick.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Marika was working alongside the doctor who’d bought her practice. She was seeing patients with him, making the necessary introductions, and between appointments, they were going over case files so he would have a better understanding of the patients he’d be treating.

  She wasn’t worried about the transition. He was an experienced pediatrician who’d had a practice in Vancouver for nine years before making the move to Toronto so he could be closer to his wife’s family when she got back into the workforce as a lawyer. He’d made a huge sacrifice for her. The kind of sacrifice Marika had been willing to make for Dec.

  But she wouldn’t think about him now. After seeing those disgusting images of him online this morning, she was more certain than ever there was another side to the man she’d fallen in love with. The egotistical player who collected broken hearts, and the sweet, considerate man who’d bailed her best friend out of a bind. It was the former she could never have lived with.

  “Are you okay, Dr. Boyd?” Dr. Thomas asked, frowning at her. “You haven’t been yourself today.”

  They’d been working side by side for the past week, so she wasn’t surprised he’d picked up on her mood change. “I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile.

  “Getting ready for your big move to Missouri?” he asked, grinning as he reached for his coffee.

  “Actually, there’s been a change of plans. I’m not going after all.”

  He frowned. “But I thought the move was the reason you were selling your practice.”

  “It was.” She swallowed, avoiding eye contact as she reached for her own coffee. “But my plans fell through.”

  “But what are you going to do now?”

  She shrugged. “Honestly? I’m not sure yet. I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

  Their gazes shifted to the door when someone tapped on it. Marika assumed it was her receptionist, so she said, “Come in.”

  “Hi.”

  Dec. Oh God. Not today.

  She stared at him for a full minute before she said, “This isn’t a good time.”

  “Oh wow,” Dr. Thomas said, standing. “You’re Dec Madsen, aren’t you? I’d know you anywhere. I’m a huge baseball fan.” He chuckled. “Obviously I was a bigger fan when you played for the home team…” Then he ran a hand over his black hair, obviously sensing the tension in the room. “Not that we had a home team, where I lived in Vancouver, but um, it was kind of the national team, since there’s only one team…” He looked back and forth between Dec and Marika. “Missouri. You said you were moving to Missouri.” He pointed at Dec, mouthing, “Because of him?”

  “Dr. Thomas,” Marika said, standing, “would you mind giving us a few minutes? Maybe grab a snack? We have a bit of time before our next appointment.”

  “Sure.” He shook Dec’s hand. “It was real pleasure to meet you, Dec. Good luck next season.”

  “Thanks,” Dec said, his voice flat as his eyes remained fixed on Marika. He closed the door when Dr. Thomas left, his hand lingering on the knob before he turned to face her. “There are no words.”

  “You’re right. So why are you here? You said everything you had to say to me on the phone last night.” She moved behind her desk, needing a physical barrier between them. Seeing him hurt so much when she knew she could never touch him again, even if she wanted to. Which she did… not.

  “Lorna told me you sold your practice.”

  She sighed before lowering her head. “I wish she hadn’t done that.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I wanted to surprise you.” She felt so stupid now. She’d uprooted her whole life for a man who didn’t even want her. “It was dumb, I know. But I had this fantasy about showing up on your doorstep, suitcase in hand, and announcing that I was finally free to be with you.” She blinked back tears, refusing to look at him. She cleared her throat. “But none of that matters now, since it’s over.”

  It’s all over. My career. My plans for a future with Dec. I have nothing left. Not even a home to call my own.

  He rounded the desk and crouched down on his haunches in front of her. “I am the biggest idiot in the world.”

  “Yeah, I saw those pictures online… from last night. Not smart to get trashed like that in public. You should’ve known it would be posted to social media. Everyone carries a camera and video recorder in their pocket nowadays.”

  “I don’t give a shit if my reputation takes another hit or if my skipper is pissed or I get fined. I don’t care about any of that. I’m an idiot for not having the guts to tell you how scared I was.”

  “Scared of what?” she asked, shifting her chair back so he couldn’t touch her. She couldn’t let him touch her or her resolve would weaken and she’d be back in his arms.

  “Of…” He shook his head, looking at the floor. “Losing you, I guess. I thought you planned to go on living here and I knew our relationship couldn’t survive that long-term. I was going crazy without you.”

  It hadn’t been easy for her either, but every time she got sad about missing him, she’d reminded herself they’d be together soon. Permanently.

  “I thought it would be easier to let you go now than six months or a year from now.”

  She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. He sounded remorseful, but she’d believed his lies before. She wouldn’t fall into that trap again.

  “But it wasn’t. God, Marika, I’ve never felt that kind of gut-wrenching pain before in my life. As soon as I got off the phone with you last night, I knew I’d made a huge mistake, but I didn’t know how to fix it. So I went out and got loaded to try to take my mind off it, but it didn’t work.”

  “You sure about that?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Those women I saw you with in the pictures—”

  “Nothing happened. I swear to God. Please, you have to believe me.” He moved forward, resting his hands on her outer thighs. “Baby, I would never sleep with anyone else. I would never kiss anyone else. I don’t want anyone else.”

  “But you’d already broken up with me,” she said, staring at the top of his head as he bent over her legs. “You were free to do whatever you wanted with whoever you wanted.”

  “But that’s just it,” he said, sounding desperate. “I don’t want to be free. I don’t want anyone else. Only you. Please tell me you believe that.”

  “How can I?” She wanted to, more than anything, but he hadn’t felt that way last night. “Last night you—”

  “I told you it wasn’t working for me and it wasn’t. Being apart from you wasn’t working for me. It was killing me. But now we can be together. You’ve sold your practice, made plans to mov
e out of your apartment…” He shook his head, his eyes filling with tears. “I still can’t believe you did all that so you could be with me.”

  “I wanted to take a chance on us. I knew how much fulfillment being a doctor gave me, but I wanted to be…” She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t bare her soul to him like that after he’d already hurt her one too many times.

  “You wanted to what?” he asked, looking anxious as he clenched her harder. “Tell me. Please.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t.”

  “Okay, then let me tell you what I want.” He pulled a small black box out of his pocket, making Marika gasp as her hand flew to her mouth. “I want you to be my wife.” He opened the box to reveal a large round solitaire. “I want another chance for us to have that baby we lost. I want you in my house, in my life. I want you by my side every step of the way, Marika.”

  She was too stunned to speak. She’d gone to bed last night believing it was over. Now he was telling her he wanted another shot at forever?

  “I’m gonna make mistakes,” he said, hanging his head. “I’ve already made so many goddamn mistakes. I make myself sick when I think about it.”

  “Don’t,” she whispered, touching the side of his head.

  He turned his cheek, closing his eyes at the feel of her palm on his skin. “Don’t stop touching me. Don’t ever stop touching me.”

  He was still holding the ring box, and as she stared at it, she knew her answer. “Aren’t you going to put that on my finger?”

  His head snapped up, his eyes bright with excitement. “Seriously? You’ll marry me?”

  She nodded slowly, her grin spreading at the sight of his enthusiasm.

  He placed the ring on her finger and jumped up, hauling her into his arms. “Baby, I am never gonna make you regret this.”

  “I know.”

  “No, you don’t know.” He pulled back and framed her face with his hands as he kissed her. “You don’t know how much I love you. You don’t know the lengths I’d go to to make you happy. But you’re going to find out. I promise.”

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  Dec stared at his reflection in the mirror as he adjusted his tie. He was marrying the woman of his dreams today. They’d been living together for the past year, but nothing could have prepared him for how happy she’d made him.

  “You ready to do this?” Loran asked, slapping him on the back.

  “So ready.”

  His best friend’s sad smile made his heart ache. He’d watched Loran going through the motions for so long, losing himself in one woman after another while trying to forget the one who had his heart. Dec knew what that felt like, and he wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

  “Hey, now that Bella’s moving here, maybe you’ll finally get your shot with her, huh?”

  “Not counting on that, buddy. Bella made her choice and it wasn’t me,” Loran said.

  Dec heard she’d been dating someone else, a contractor she’d met on a business trip. Apparently he was from St. Louis, but he didn’t want to ask his friend for detailswhich made her decision to move to Kansas City to be closer to her brother’s family an easier one.

  “But today isn’t about me,” Loran said, forcing a smile. “It’s about you and your girl. You—”

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” Dec said, assuming it was his mother or sister or one of his groomsmen.

  But it was his bride. She wasn’t wearing her wedding gown, just a short white silk robe, but her makeup and hair were perfect. She’d insisted they sleep apart last night, so he’d stayed at Loran’s, and her sister-in-law and Lorna had spent the night with her at their place. Going even a night without her had been too much.

  “Baby,” he said, fear clawing at his gut as he imagined her telling him she’d had a change of heart and couldn’t marry him. “What’re you doing? Isn’t this supposed to be bad luck or something? Us seeing each other before the wedding?”

  “I couldn’t wait,” she said, smiling at Loran. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but you think I could talk to him for a minute?”

  “You take all the time you need, sweetheart,” Loran said, winking at her as he walked out. “Just make sure he’s waiting at the end of that aisle with a smile on his face in half an hour, okay?”

  “I will, I promise.”

  That made Dec feel better, but he still couldn’t figure out why she’d break tradition to see him before the ceremony. “What’s going on?” He crossed the distance before them and took her hands. “You’re not feeling sick again, are you?” She’d been battling a stomach bug for the last week, and he had been worried it would force them to postpone their wedding.

  “I am, but at least now I know why.” She looked at him, her eyes filling with tears. “I couldn’t wait to tell you, and I didn’t want an audience. I wanted this to just be… for us.”

  “What are you…?” Dec’s heart beat faster. No way was she telling him what he thought she was telling him. “You’re not—”

  “Pregnant.” Her smile was wobbly and a little tentative when she said, “I’m pregnant, Dec.”

  “Shit.” He felt a little lightheaded but forced a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth to stabilize himself.

  “You’re not happy?” she asked, frowning.

  “You… I…” He was stunned. They’d been so busy planning their wedding, he hadn’t even considered the fact she may have been too distracted to remember the pill every day.

  “I can’t believe this,” she said, withdrawing her hands from his, her face draining of color. “You don’t want this? All those times you told me that you’d love another chance to—”

  “Stop!” He gripped her shoulders, feeling panic sweep through him. “Don’t say I don’t want this. I do. But Jesus, Marika, you just got that new job at the clinic. The timing—”

  “You think I care about that?” she asked, shaking her head. “About some job? I’m getting another chance to be a mother, to have your baby. You think a job can compare to that?”

  “But it’s not just some job. You’re a doctor, baby. A damn good one. You worked your ass off to be able to do this,” he said, feeling guilty she was faced with another difficult decision. He felt as if he was constantly forcing her to choose between him and her career. She was always the one making the sacrifices while he was the one getting everything he wanted. Even the baby he’d secretly prayed she’d want sooner rather than later.

  She wasn’t the same woman he’d fallen in love with. Her career wasn’t the most important thing to her anymore. Building a life with him was. She’d settled in beautifully, making his house their home, befriending the other players’ wives and girlfriends and hosting parties for the team. In the midst of that, they’d been planning their wedding and she’d been studying for and taking the necessary exams to qualify for her Missouri state medical license. When she got the green light, she started applying for jobs at clinics, claiming that would be less stressful than starting her own practice right away.

  “And I’ll always be a doctor,” she said, smiling. “That’s not going to change. When I started applying for jobs, I got three offers, Dec.” She held up three fingers for emphasis. “You think I won’t be able to get a job a couple of years from now if I decide to stay home with our baby instead of going back to work right away?”

  “You really think you’d want to do that?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her. “Stay home with the baby?”

  “I don’t know.” She tipped her head back to look at him. “What do you think I should do?”

  “Oh no.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re not gonna get me to answer that. This is your career, your decision.”

  “But’s it’s our family. It’s a decision we have to make together.”

  He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. “Our family. I really like the sound of that.”

  “Then you are happy about the baby?” />
  “Are you kidding? If I wasn’t afraid of messing up your hair and makeup, I’d show you just how happy I am about you making me a daddy.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. “As sad as I am and will always be about the miscarriage, I know this is the way it was supposed to be. I’m in a better place to be a parent now. We both are. Those crazy hours I put in as a resident are behind me.” She rolled forward on her toes to kiss him in spite of her lacquered lips. “And our baby will have both of us. We’ll be a family, not just co-parents like we would have been back then.”

  He chuckled. “You really think I wouldn’t have found a way to convince you to marry me before the baby was born? Believe me, I would have.”

  “But you would have been marrying me for all the wrong reasons,” she said, looking sad. “Not because you loved me but because you felt you had to be there for the baby.”

  “Hey.” He waited until she was looking at him. “Don’t you know that I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you?” Her sweet smile made him soft, but he’d never admit as much to his teammates. “Why do you think I couldn’t get you out of my head, sweetheart? Why do you think I came back for you?”

  She closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she bounced up and down, her feet still planted on the floor. “I am so excited, Dec! I can’t wait to be a mommy!”

  He laughed as he held her tight. “Before I make you a mommy, how ‘bout I make you my wife? What do you say, Dr. Boyd? You ready to become Mrs. Madsen?”

  She grinned. “I’m more than ready.”

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