by Kira Blakely
“Ah, there’s the man of the hour.”
Connor and I both turned in the direction of the voice and were face-to-face with Richter Delahunt. He was dressed in a blah tuxedo, and a dowdy blonde middle-aged woman in an expensive-looking long black dress was on his arm.
“Good to see you, Richter,” said Connor, extending his hand for a shake.
Once they’d greeted one another, Connor turned toward the woman, who appeared to be Richter’s wife, and leaned in for a hug and a kiss.
“Patricia,” he said. “Always a pleasure.”
The woman turned her limpid blue eyes toward me.
“And this must be the lovely girl who was lucky enough to tame you.”
“So we hear,” said Richter.
I raised my eyebrow at this. Did he know more about Connor and me than he was letting on?
“Alice Holiday,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Alice Holiday,” she said, looking up dreamily as she said the name. “Sounds like a reporter in some old-timey TV show.”
“Funny you should say that,” I said. “I’m a journalist, and doing a little article on Connor is how we met. Again, that is.”
Patricia widened her eyes in interest, but Richter didn’t seem to be in the mood to indulge her.
“Yes, yes,” he said. “It’s such a lovely little story.”
Connor chuckled.
“That’s one of the many things I love about you, Richer,” he said. “You’ve got such a soft spot for old-fashioned romance.”
“Well,” said Richter. “Hopefully the transfer doesn’t derail your honeymoon plans too much. It’s quite a bit for a new couple to deal with, I’m sure.”
Wait—the what?
A cross expression formed on Connor’s features. It was clear that Richter had said something that Connor didn’t want him to share.
“Just a little trip across the country,” said Connor. “Nothing a pair of newlyweds can’t handle.”
I wanted to tear into him right then and there. But, instead, I bit my tongue.
“Well,” said Connor. “We ought to make the rounds. A pleasure seeing you both.”
“I’m sure we’ll speak again before the night’s over,” said Richter, his eyes on me as if carefully watching my expression.
We said our goodbyes and soon they were gone.
“I think we need to have a private conversation,” said Connor.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice cold and stern. “I think you’re right.”
“Come this way.”
Connor led me through the crowd, and I watched as drop-dead gorgeous woman after drop-dead gorgeous woman eye-fucked him so brazenly that, after the third time it happened, part of me wanted to raise my hand, point to the fat ring on my finger, and shoot these floozies the glare of a lifetime.
As soon as we stepped out onto the balcony, however, my attention turned back to the matter at hand. The balcony looked over the traffic down below, the skyscrapers of Midtown stretching out into the night sky above us. Handfuls of partygoers were grouped up here and there, and the sound of light conversation mingled with the din of the city below.
“Hell of a party, huh?” asked Connor.
“Transfer?” I asked. “What the hell is he talking about?”
Connor pushed down on the air in front of him, making a “quiet down” gesture. I wanted to chew him out at the top of my lungs, but he was right that I needed to be discrete—who knows who could’ve been within earshot?
“You said you were going to tell me everything,” I said. “You told me that there weren’t going to be any more surprises.”
“I only didn’t tell you because I only just found out,” he said. “I was planning on telling you all of this before we left for the party, but we got a little…distracted.”
I guess he had me there.
“Fine,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “You get a pass just this once. But I want all of the details, and I want them now.”
Connor looked away for a moment, tucking one hand into a pocket as he appeared to be trying to decide just where to begin.
“Well,” he said. “The good news is that I got the promotion.”
“Oh,” I said. “Well, congratulations.”
“Thanks,” he said, flashing me a smile. “But the board let me know that there was a…complication.”
He quickly raised his palms.
“But don’t worry—this only affects me. Well, me and Hunter. Our hospital has an arrangement with a sister hospital in Los Angeles. And after the board did some number-crunching, they figured that it’d be more cost-effective to send me to fill a vacancy over there rather than here. So, I’m going to be moving to LA.”
A strange feeling came over me that I couldn’t quite suss out. My heart felt as though it dropped down into my stomach. I was disappointed and sad and angry all at the same time.
“I’ll be busy getting all of the arrangements made, but we should have more than enough time to finish the article. A month’s good, right? And I’d be more than happy to fly you out to LA if we still had any odds and ends to take care of.”
“Sounds great,” I said.
Connor looked me over with an inquisitive expression.
“You look a little put out. You OK?”
“Yeah,” I said, trying to mask the odd whirl of feelings inside of me as best I could. “Just sudden, is all. Weird that you’re back in my life and just like that you’re going to be gone again.”
“We’ll keep in touch,” he said. “Hunter’s nuts about you—he’ll definitely want you to drop in sometime. And, hey, this’ll make our little fake engagement easier to break off.”
“How’s that?”
“Something like this makes it easier to come up with an excuse, especially since the board won’t be around to keep tabs on me. If they ask in a few months, I’ll just tell them that things didn’t work out.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said, my voice sounding far away.
“Then I guess we can get this all nice and wrapped up,” I said, my tone coming out a little harder than I wanted.
“That’s right,” said Connor, either oblivious to my frustration or choosing to ignore it. “So, let’s enjoy these last few weeks, and before you know it things’ll be right back to normal for both of us.”
He was right. But was “back to normal” really what I wanted? I honestly had no idea.
“We should head back in,” he said. “Gotta make the rounds, show off my gorgeous fiancée.”
“I’ll meet you in there,” I said. “I need a little fresh air before I deal with the crowds.”
Connor gave me another skeptical look, then nodded and started off toward the doors. And as he left, I could’ve sworn I saw the sudden movement of a figure by one of the nearby windows. However, I chalked it up to my imagination.
One alone, I turned toward the city, my glass of wine close to my chest. A longing tugged at my heart, and a tear formed in the corner of my eye. I quickly wiped it away and shook my head. I’d made a mistake, I realized. I’d gotten too close, and now I was paying the price.
I vowed not to make that mistake again.
Chapter 19
Connor
Back in the party, I polished off my glass of champagne and swiped another off a passing tray and took position against the long, sweeping copper bar. Alice’s strange reaction to the news of my transfer stuck in my mind.
I knew that I’d taken too long to let her in on the news, so I was expecting her to chew me out a little. However, she wasn’t just upset in the angry way that I was expecting—she looked genuinely disappointed, like I’d pulled the rug out from under her.
Had she developed feelings? And had I? I knew that I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t begun to feel something for Alice these last few weeks. Those same sentiments that I’d developed for her when we dated in high school were bubbling back to the surface, and I didn’t know what to do.
Bef
ore I could lose myself too deeply in my thoughts, however, a voice spoke out from nearby.
“That fiancée of yours is quite the catch.”
I shook my head, the voice bringing me back into the world of the living. It was Richter. And he was alone.
‘Yeah,” I said. “She’s a great girl. And Hunter loves her, too.”
“You really lucked out,” he said, standing next to me, just a few inches closer than felt comfortable. “Not just with her, but with the promotion. But don’t they say that some guys just have all the luck?”
Something struck me as strange about Richter’s tone. It sounded to me almost like there was something he wasn’t telling me.
“We all have our streaks, you know?” I said. “Run of good fortune here, then a bit of bad luck there. Just how the universe balances itself out, I suppose.”
“Perhaps,” said Richter. “But sometimes I wonder if you’re just one of those golden boys. I mean, look at you: about to be married to a beautiful woman, getting ready to start a position that doctors twice your age would kill for, and on top of that, just about every girl here would cut off her right arm just for a chance to be with the fabulous Dr. Connor Rex.”
I narrowed my eyes in slight suspicion, wondering just where Richter was going with this.
Then, he made himself very, very clear.
“Be a shame if a little secret of yours got out and brought this whole thing crashing down around you.”
My tone took an edge like sharpened obsidian.
“Tell me what you know,” I demanded. “And tell me now.”
“I know enough to say that you’re not really in a position to be making such demands, Connor. But I’ll indulge you.”
Richter brought his glass of whiskey to his thin lips and took a long, slow sip, as if wanting to let me stew in uncertainty for as long as possible.
“I began to have my suspicions at that little dinner party of yours. Well, to be honest, my suspicions began when you just so happened to find yourself a fiancée so soon after Lionel let us both know we were in the running for this promotion. I’ve known him long enough to understand his views on bachelors, and your deciding to let a girl make an honest man out of you so suddenly just seemed a little too pat for me.”
“But I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Love can find you at the strangest times—I know. But it was at the party, when the two of you couldn’t seem to keep your story straight, that I realized there was something going on between you and Alice that you didn’t want the rest of us to know about.”
He opened his mouth to continue, but stopped himself before going on.
“Her name is Alice, correct?” he asked. “I mean, one never knows with liars like you.”
I didn’t say a word. Anger boiled inside of me, and I had to resist the urge to clock Richter right then and there.
“The board may have been charmed by your story, but I could see right through it. And when I saw you two step out onto the balcony to have a little private chat, I just knew that I needed to be a fly on the wall for that particular conversation.”
“You were eavesdropping?” I shot out.
“I just happened to be in the right place to hear the, ah, broad strokes of what you both were discussing. And quite the interesting conversation it was. So, to get to the heart of the matter, I know everything.”
“And this is supposed to mean what to me, exactly?”
Richter shook his head in a chiding manner.
“Connor, I’m the one holding all of the cards here. You’d be wise to speak to me with a little more respect.”
At that moment, a fellow doctor from the hospital stopped by to say “hello” to the both of us. I did my best to put on a charming face as I went along with the pleasantries. Once he was gone, however, the tension came right back.
“Then tell me what it is you’re planning on doing,” I said.
“That, Connor, is up to you. Here’s what I’m proposing: You let the board know that you’re more than gracious that they considered you for the position, but that after consulting with your fiancée, you realized that a cross-country move wouldn’t be the best idea for your budding family. You’ll tell them that after much thought, you feel that I would be the best choice for the position in LA. You’ll give me your full, ringing endorsement, and tell them that they’d be fools not to choose me. And this would all be delivered with your normal good humor and charm, of course.”
“And if I just tell you to fuck off?”
“That wouldn’t be the wisest move you could make,” he said. “Because I’d simply tell the board everything that I know. You’d not only be removed from consideration for the position, but likely be terminated from the hospital. You’d go from the name on everyone’s lips to a pariah in your own city.”
“That’s if anyone believed you,” I said. “Before you get too cocky, just remember that it’s your word against mine.”
Richter nodded slightly.
“I suppose you’re right about that,” he said. “But do you really want to take that chance? You’d be running an awful risk. And even if you did somehow manage to employ that golden charm of yours, the stink of scandal would hang on you for God knows how long.”
He finished his drink and set the glass down on the bar.
“Well,” he said. “I’m sure I’ve given you more than a bit to chew over. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Connor. And I certainly hope that you make the right decision.”
With that, Richter left, a smug little smile on his lips. He was right about one thing: I did have quite a bit to think about.
Chapter 20
Alice
Still out on the balcony, I brought my glass to my lips and took a sip, wondering just where the hell Connor had gotten off to. The booze was making my thoughts muddled and unclear, and I knew that I needed to keep myself in check if I didn’t want to turn into a sloppy mess in front of everyone.
Finally, Connor stepped back outside from the ballroom and took his place next to me.
“How was the socializing?” I asked.
“Could’ve been better,” he said. “I think our friend Richter is on to us.”
My stomach dropped.
“Are you serious? How does he know?”
“He overheard our conversation out here.”
My blood ran cold, realizing it was likely him that I’d caught a glimpse of not too long ago. I looked around with furtive glances, wondering if he was still listening.
“Then what…what are we going to do?”
“Nothing,” he said, his voice as cool and calm as ever. “He doesn’t have any evidence, and if he tries to make an issue out of this then I’ll just paint him as an envious colleague trying to portray me as a liar to bump me out of my promotion. He’d end up coming out of the other side looking worse than me.”
“So, you’re just going to call his bluff?” I asked.
“Of course,” he said. “I know Richter—he’s all talk. He was likely hoping that I’d fold as soon as he let me know that he knew everything. A button-up dweeb like him wouldn’t risk a scandal on his name.”
I felt a little better seeing how calm Connor was about the whole thing.
“I don’t know how you’re handling this so well,” I said. “I’d be freaking out if I were you.”
“Trust me,” he said. “When you operate on people’s hearts for a living, you get used to pressure really fast. Besides, I’m more interested in you right now.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“And what does that mean exactly?”
“You know,” he said. “You’ve been acting strangely all night, even before I dropped the news about LA. You got anything you want to talk about?”
I did—I really did. But I wasn’t sure just how much of what I wanted to discuss with Connor was appropriate. I was a mess of emotions, and for someone like me who was used to playing things close to the chest, talking about my feelings so openly was something I was hardly use
d to. And on top of that, I didn’t even know what my feelings actually were.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess I’m still just trying to reconcile the Connor I knew with the Connor right here in front of me.”
“Oh?” he asked.
“Yeah. I mean, I started this assignment thinking you were going to be the same man I always knew. Hell, I was half expecting to walk into your office that first time and see you with a nurse on your lap with her tongue crammed down your throat.”
Connor laughed.
“Maybe back in med school. But these days? Not so much.”
Despite his laughter, I spotted the faintest flash of a particular expression on his face, a brief wince that seemed to suggest he was a little embarrassed by my reference to his old ways, as though he couldn’t believe that was the man he once was.
“And back in there,” I said, sticking out a thumb toward the ballroom. “Did you see how many women were gobbling you up with their eyes? It was almost funny.”
“Truth be told,” he said, “I don’t even really notice it.”
But he had noticed me.
I shook the thought out of my head, not wanting to get too drunk this implicit compliment.
“The Connor I knew back in the day would’ve done more than notice it,” I said. “I remember back during those few weeks when we were dating… The way your head would turn whenever some skirt with a nice pair of legs coming out the bottom walked past—I would’ve sworn that one of those days your head was gonna just pop right off your neck.”
A smile spread across Connor’s face as he shook his head.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “And you just let me get away with that?”
I shrugged.
“I was just so happy to be with you that I was afraid to rock the boat, you know? You were the big catch, and I knew you had…other options.”
“It’s funny that you think I’m the only one who’s changed,” he said. “I mean, look at you. You’re a tough, confident woman. Hell, I’d be afraid of what would happen if I got caught checking out a girl with you on my arm.”