She waved her hand, not making eye contact. “No time for chivalry when you’re late. Now floor it.”
Nate had to smile at his spirited grandma. He moved the gear into reverse and looked over his right shoulder as he backed out the way he’d come.
She fidgeted in her seat, gripping the handle of her purse that was on her lap as he drove down the residential street. “The gas pedal is the one on the right,” she pointed out sarcastically, still keeping her eyes pointed straight in front of her.
Her comment and behavior were both raising red flags. She was extra on edge today.
“What’s going on, Nana?” he asked firmly.
“I’m going to be late for my appointment thanks to your snail’s pace.”
“Did you call and tell them you’d be late?” The question was one he already knew the answer to. Ada Holmes was the epitome of etiquette and would never be late for any appointment without calling to let someone know.
“Of course I did,” she responded curtly.
Instead of asking a direct question, which he was sure she would dodge, he went for a more indirect approach. “The last time I’ve seen you acting this squirrely was when you were planning the surprise party for dad’s fiftieth. You couldn’t look him in the eye for two months.”
Nana “tsked” dismissively as she reached her hand and pressed the radio icon. “You need some tunes on. Music is joy. You should always surround yourself with happiness.”
The dashboard lit up as “P.Y.T.” began playing from the speakers.
She pointed to the screen displaying the name of the song and artist as she exclaimed, “Now that’s what you need!”
“I need a boy band from the sixties?” he teased.
“This is just Michael, not the Jackson 5, smarty pants.” She swatted his arm playfully. “You’re lucky I don’t have a newspaper.”
Growing up, whenever he or Neil had misbehaved under Nana’s watch, she had rolled up a newspaper and smacked them with it. He’d only been on the receiving end of a rapping once, when he was eight, and it was a case of mistaken identity. She’d thought she was disciplining Neil, who had taken a twenty from her purse without asking.
He’d never told her that she’d disciplined him and not Neil. It would’ve broken her heart. She had a tough exterior, but inside she was as gooey and soft as a melted marshmallow. That would’ve devastated her to her core. Not just because of the unjust swatting, but more so because she hadn’t been able to tell the two of them apart. She’d always prided herself on being the one person that could tell the twins apart. Even his parents got them mixed up all the time.
The truth was, she was just the only person that he and Neil never corrected. He wasn’t sure what Neil’s reasoning was, but Nate had never wanted to make her feel bad.
“No, smarty pants. You need a PYT. A pretty young thing,” she unnecessarily clarified.
“I know what PYT stands for, Nana,” he replied flatly.
“You may know what it means, but you don’t have one.”
“I’m still seeing Bailey,” he shot back.
That was another perk of their arrangement. He could use her to get his family off his back and vice versa. She had four siblings, all of which were married with kids. They’d mutually agreed to serve as each other’s significant other decoys. So far, it’d worked wonders with her family and his parents. Nana on the other hand wasn’t buying it. She had an uncanny bullshit detector and had never bit when he threw out the “I have a girlfriend” line.
“I’m not talking about a booty call, Nathanial Edwin Holmes. I’m talking about love.”
He sat up straighter at the use of his full name. It was a Pavlovian response.
“She’s not a booty call, Nana,” he uselessly defended.
“Fine then I’m not talking about friends with benefits,” she clarified.
He couldn’t argue with that.
“I’m talking about something real. A commitment. The girl that you’re going to grow old with.”
She was talking about something that he didn’t deserve. He’d forfeited the right to any happiness in his personal life a decade ago at Whisper Lake when he’d betrayed his brother and the only girl he’d ever loved…
Chapter 3
“So these are all current patients?” Eliza asked Jarmen as she scanned the floor to ceiling shelves of files in the hallway between her office and the front desk.
“Yes.”
“Has anyone ever looked into getting them transferred to a digital platform?” Eliza was careful as she phrased the question.
The last thing she wanted was for the staff to feel like she was going to come in and change everything on her first day. This was a successful business with bright, competent people who clearly had systems that worked for them. She didn’t want to rock the boat…she just wanted to steer it towards New Technology Harbor.
“Yes,” Jarmen enthused. “I have. Several times. I even wrote a report on the benefits of electronic versus paper that included sections on storage, legibility, access and security. But Dr. Lewis liked to hold files in his hands and was never convinced that the cost of upgrading the computers and software was worth it.”
“Well, I’m convinced. I think we should put that on the agenda for our staff meeting.”
Eliza had scheduled a lunch meeting. She figured they could eat and get a feel for each other. The office was small and she wanted to get to know her team as quickly as possible.
Jarmen worked the front office, greeting all of the patients with a smile that put them immediately at ease. She also handled patient and procedure coordination, financing and insurance. There were two dental assistants who were both at the top of their game, Martha and Arturo. Their files were filled with glowing reviews and praises from patients and from her Skype meeting with them, she could tell that they had incredible bedside, or in this case chairside, manners. And rounding out the team was Sako; he worked the back office and took care of billing.
“Great!” Jarmen enthused as she jotted a note to herself as she started towards the front desk. Before she turned the corner she glanced back, causing her chestnut waves to fall over her shoulder. “I’ll give Sako a head’s up, I know that he’s looked into pricing and has a few options that he can present.”
“Perfect!” Eliza could use all the help she could get.
When she and her ex-husband had opened their practice, Doug had taken care of all of the technical aspects of the office and she had handled staffing. She’d actually been the one who’d hired the woman that she’d walked in on him examining…with his penis.
The strangest part of the entire situation had been that when she’d walked in on them, her first thought had not been personal, it had been professional. She’d thought that he was opening them up for a sexual harassment lawsuit. She guessed that said as much about their marriage as his behavior did.
If she was keeping score, she’d definitely been a key player in the path that led to them being game over. Of course, her points had never been of the infidelity variety. But there were a lot more ways to contribute to the downfall of a marriage than cheating. Growing up her mom had always said that there were three sides to every marriage, his, hers, and the truth. The truth was she was a contributing factor in the deterioration of their relationship.
The most glaring example was that her reaction hadn’t even surprised her. She’d found it odd, but not shocking. If she were taking honest stock, the truth was she’d probably fallen out of love, or whatever she’d been in with Doug, by the time they’d hit their first anniversary.
She’d been attracted to him because of his drive and passion. He had wanted her and pursued her intensely. She’d gone along for the ride, losing herself in the excitement of their whirlwind romance and didn’t pay attention to who he really was.
The ink had barely dried on her annulment from her first husband when she’d met Doug and looking back she had to admit he’d been a rebound. A rebound that she�
��d ended up marrying and starting a business with, but a rebound nonetheless.
Her first husband, Carson Vanderford, had also swept her off her feet. She just hadn’t known at the time that he’d done it as a ploy to get his parents’ attention. Like Neil, he’d come from money, but unlike Neil, he hadn’t been close to his parents. In the eighteen months that they were together, she’d never even met his mother or father. Not until the day that she’d shown up at their small, off-campus house and his parents were waiting for her with annulment papers.
It was explained to her then that Carson had only married her so that he could use her as leverage to get his inheritance early. Apparently, he didn’t have access to it until he was twenty-five, unless he got married and stayed married for twenty-four months. Once it was clear to Mr. and Mrs. Vanderford that Carson actually intended on seeing his plan through, they’d folded like a house of cards.
Carson gained access to his trust fund and Eliza received annulment papers with a copy of the prenuptial agreement that she’d signed. Not that she needed reminding. Even if they hadn’t had a prenup, she would never have gone after him for his money. It wasn’t hers. She’d wanted a husband. Love. Not money.
In hindsight, Carson had been a rebound as well. It wasn’t lost on her that he’d been a stereotypical WASP-looking guy. After her eighteenth birthday, she’d wanted to do everything she could to erase any memories of the Holmes twins from her mind.
So as hurt as she’d been initially from Carson’s betrayal, the truth was she’d been using him as well.
She shook her head slightly. That was her past, mistakes had been made but there was nothing she could do except learn from them.
Lesson number one: no rebound relationships.
Lesson number two: no relationships period.
As long as she stuck to that, her crash and burn history wouldn’t repeat itself.
A ding sounded indicating someone had entered through the glass entrance and a thrill ran down Eliza’s spine. This was it. Her first patient.
Normally, she’d wait to greet a patient until they were in an exam room, but since this was not only her first patient at Smiles on Riverwalk but someone she knew personally, she figured she would go up and say hello before Martha prepped her for her crown replacement.
It only took a couple of steps to make it down the hall and she heard Ada’s voice booming through the room on the other side.
“Thanks so much for squeezing me in on such short notice. Have you met my grandson—”
She wasn’t sure if Ada kept speaking after that or not because all Eliza could hear was a high-pitched buzzing in her ears as she came face to gorgeous, heart-stoppingly sexy face with her aforementioned grandson. She couldn’t be absolutely sure, since she hadn’t seen either twin in years and she had always had a difficult time telling them apart, but her gut told her it was Nate.
Actually it was a little farther south than her gut. Every day of science class freshman year she’d had a tingle between her legs. She’d never had that feeling with Neil. Not until the night she’d turned eighteen.
The shocked look on whichever brother it was told her that he was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. Maybe she was wrong. Nate rarely showed any emotion in his face. Her body had guessed wrong.
“Ellie?” The deep voice vibrated through her like she was strings on an instrument and his words were a pick.
Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. Lady part radar, FTW!
It was Nate. In all of her almost twenty-eight years there was only one person that had ever called her Ellie and that person was Nate Holmes. The tingling turned to pulsing as a look of intensity flashed in his stare. Her entire body heated with either lust or embarrassment. Probably both. She had no idea what Nate knew about the last night she’d seen his brother. She didn’t know what Neil had told him about the most humiliating night of her life.
“Well, hello there Dr. Young. Long time no see.” Nana Holmes voice snapped Eliza out of her spiraling mental state and she broke eye contact with the man that she’d never been able to put in her rearview, no matter how fast or furious she’d driven. And she had. Her love life was basically Dominic Toretto, Vin Diesel’s character in The Fast and the Furious movies.
“Hello, Mrs. Holmes—” she managed to croak out as she raised her hand but was interrupted.
“Oh please, it’s still Nana to you, dear. Just because you have a lab coat doesn’t mean you’re not family. Right, Nate?”
“Right,” he agreed, his voice sounding even rougher and more gravelly.
Eliza’s eyes shot back to his and the shock and intensity were gone. His mask was back in place. Even as a teenager he’d been a pro at not letting anyone see what he was thinking or feeling, but now as a man—and holy cheese and tacos what a man he was—he’d taken that skill to master level.
Knowing that she had not honed that particular skill, she knew that she needed to excuse herself. Immediately. And try her best to get herself under control.
Gathering every ounce of professionalism she could scrape from the depths of her being, she plastered the biggest smile she could muster on her face, squared her shoulders and stiffened her spine. “It’s so nice to see you both. I just wanted to pop up front and say hello. Martha will be taking you back to prep and I’ll be in to see you shortly.”
With that declaration, she turned on her heel and somehow managed to make it into her office without throwing up or passing out…which were both very real threats. The moment she sank into her chair, Farmer’s head was in her lap. He must’ve sensed her nervousness. Or maybe it was her panic he was picking up on. Not that those were the only emotions she was feeling, those were just the ones that he was trained to sense.
Nate Holmes was here. In her office. With his grandmother.
She couldn’t believe that she’d actually seen him again. He looked exactly the same, but different at the same time. He seemed taller, broader, and somehow he’d gotten even sexier.
He wore a plain, white button up with slacks, and the sleeves were rolled up to a three-quarter length. His chiseled forearms were dusted with a sprinkling of hair and the cotton material of his shirt pulled taut against his muscular chest. His dark hair was shorter than he’d kept it in high school, and his jaw was now peppered with a five o’clock shadow that complimented his olive toned skin perfectly. Thankfully, the sexy dimple that sat just a tad off-center on his chin was still visible. And those eyes. Nate’s eyes had always held the secrets to life, at least that’s how it felt when Eliza was a fourteen-year-old girl with her first big crush. Actually that was still how it felt as a twenty-seven-year-old woman reuniting with her first crush.
But the thing that had really tipped the sexy scales to unbearable was the sound of his voice, not just the timbre, but also the fact that he’d called her by her nickname. The one that was used by him and only him.
As she ran her fingers over Farmer’s large head she had to admit that petting him was calming her down. Her pulse slowed and she no longer felt as lightheaded. This might be the first time that a dental therapy dog would be needed for the dentist and not the patient.
* * *
Nate worked to keep his face and body language as neutral and unaffected as possible. Inside he was going crazy. Losing his mind. Adrenaline, testosterone, and hormones were raging through him like the rapids. But outside he was the poster boy for calm, cool and collected as he stood in the corner of the small exam room, feet shoulder-width apart and arms loosely hanging at his side, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He’d wanted to cross them for comfort, or maybe some kind of protection against the power that the only girl he’d ever loved held over him, but he didn’t want to seem like he was mad or upset.
Eliza Young was back in town and it wasn’t for a visit. She had obviously taken over the dental office that was two doors down from Elite Security. Nate had heard something about Dr. Lewis falling ill, but that was it. When Nana had said she�
�d had an appointment he’d just assumed that he’d had a full recovery.
When he’d seen her come around the corner in her blue scoop-neck shirt that revealed a tempting tease of cleavage that was visible despite her lab coat, he’d thought it was a dream at first. He’d had enough of those over the past fourteen years. He was sure he must’ve fallen asleep at his computer and honestly, it wouldn’t have been the first time. But then she’d gasped and the blush that started on her neck and crept up her cheeks appeared and he knew that this was real. That she was real.
Over the years, he’d actually forgotten that adorable quirk. The first time he’d noticed it they were in class working on a lab and had a conversation about nicknames. She’d told him that he didn’t need to call her Eliza and explained that a lot of people called her Liz or Liza. He’d said that he was going to call her Ellie. When she’d asked why, he’d shrugged and said that he wanted to call her something original so when she heard it she’d think of him. It was sincere but cheesy. Inwardly he’d cringed at his admission, but he’d never forget the smile that had crossed her face as the faint shadow of pink flushed from her collarbone up her cheeks. He’d never seen anyone blush in that way and he’d loved that he’d been the one to make her body respond like that.
And damn, seeing that he still made her body respond that way ignited a primal fire so hot he was burning up with it and he wasn’t sure how in the hell he was going to extinguish it. Not when he knew any second she’d be walking into the room, looking even more breathtakingly beautiful than he’d remembered.
She’d grown into her features. As a teen she’d been pretty in the quintessential girl-next-door kind of way. She’d had light brown hair, large oval green eyes, a heart shaped face with rounded cheeks and a spatter of freckles across her turned up nose, with full pink lips that if he closed his eyes he could still feel, still taste.
As a woman, her eyes were still large, but they’d taken on more of an almond shape. Her cheeks had hollowed slightly, showcasing high cheekbones, and her full lips were fuller thanks to her cheeks narrowing. He hadn’t seen any freckles across the bridge of her nose, but he hoped they were still there.
All He Desires – Nate & Eliza (Crossroads Book 12) Page 3