by Amy Ruttan
“What’re you doing?” she asked.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Paying?”
“No way. Let me. You drove me here.”
He chuckled. “No. I’m paying. You’re my guest. I insist.” He stood and held out his hand. “Come on, trust me. Nothing will happen to you. You trusted me once before.”
And look how that turned out.
Only this time she wouldn’t end up in his bed. She was just enjoying her first real day out in Miami. Ever since she’d arrived here it had been nothing but work. Kiri also found that she liked Alejandro’s company.
She wasn’t so lonely when she was with him. Yeah, she had friends and a loving family, but there was a void in her heart that wasn’t as noticeable around him. And he was here, her family was not.
She took his hand and he helped her to her feet. Kiri didn’t know where he was leading her, but at that moment she didn’t care. There were so many times she didn’t live. It was exciting to see where he was going to take her.
He waved to the waitress as they left and headed back to his motorcycle. This time when she climbed on the back she wasn’t as nervous as she’d been before, but her pulse still raced because she was going to be so close to him again.
Even after all this time, he still affected her.
She was still attracted to him.
The memory of his lips on her skin, bringing her to ecstasy, was forever burned into her brain. And as she sat behind him on his motorcycle, her arms around him, she could feel those rock-hard abs again.
And instinctively she ran her hands over where the tattoo was, feeling the hard ridge of his scar that the tattoo covered.
She heard him suck in a breath but he didn’t say anything. All he did was rev the engine of his motorcycle, causing her to grip tight as he pulled out of the parking space at Mad Ron’s and headed out onto the Miami streets.
This time as they drove through the city she was able to appreciate the architecture. The Spanish influence.
He headed toward the Bay of Biscayne and she couldn’t help but wonder where he was taking her. They were traveling in the Coconut Grove area of the city on a tree-lined street, which offered nice shade. There was a Spanish gatehouse and Alejandro slowed down, turning into the drive. They drove through a parkland of what looked like an estate before he pulled into the main parking lot for visitors.
“Where are we?” Kiri asked, handing him her helmet again and then running her hands through her hair.
“Vizcaya. It’s a European-inspired villa in the heart of Miami. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the city and I thought you’d like to see it. I’ve been here many times, so I can tell you what we’re looking at. You don’t need to get the audio tour.”
“It’s a museum?”
“Do you have a problem with museums?”
“No, I like them,” she said.
He grinned. “I thought you might.”
“Why, because I’m such a nerd?” she teased.
Alejandro cocked his head to one side. “Hardly.”
They walked side by side through the gardens. This time Kiri paid for admission into the museum since Alejandro had paid for drinks and the lunch. Vizcaya looked like something that would be found in Spain, in a place like Barcelona. It was very European and totally out of place in Miami, but she was enchanted by the grandeur as they wandered through the main house.
“So who built this place?” she asked.
“James Deering. It was a vacation home in the Jazz Age.”
Kiri grinned as they moved through rooms full of art deco and luxuries of the early 1920s. She could almost picture ladies in flapper attire and liquor flowing freely despite Prohibition.
“It’s an interesting name for his home. Vizcaya. I like it,” she said.
“There’s a lot of speculation about why he named it Vizcaya but, yeah, I have to agree with you, it does roll off the tongue. It’s sexy and mysterious, which is probably what he was going for.”
They walked out of the main house and she gasped at the sight of the Atlantic Ocean. The water was calm and the sun was sparkling over the gentle lapping of waves. In the distance they could see Key Biscayne. And the water was dotted with large white yachts.
“I wonder where they’re heading.”
Alejandro shrugged. “The Bahamas or Caribbean. Or nowhere. There are a lot of yachts that just stick around Miami.”
* * *
Alejandro watched her as she leaned over the garden wall and stared happily out at the yachts in the water. He couldn’t help but smile and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun.
He’d worried that the day he’d originally planned was going to be so boring.
He’d come to Vizcaya before on his own. He liked walking through the gardens and the home, but he’d been here so many times he forgot what it was like to walk through it with someone who had never been.
Alejandro had been worried that she wouldn’t like it as much as he did. It was a special place to him. His parents had liked this place. They’d often come here, bringing him. His brothers didn’t seem to care much for it, but Alejandro loved it here.
His mother had loved the European gardens and they would wander for hours out amongst the hardwood trees. She’d said it reminded her of home and his father would always hold his mother’s hand. Alejandro loved running along between the hedges, they were so uniform, like green walls. Everything was lush and verdant.
So different from their home in Little Heliconia.
They were happy here.
Carefree here.
And on days like today, with the warm breeze and the calm waters, he could almost feel their presence again. The day of the shooting they had been going to finish up at the bodega and head to Vizcaya to walk around the gardens. His brothers hadn’t been going, just Alejandro and his parents.
“Why do you want to go to Vizcaya again?” his father teased his mother.
“You know I like it and on days like this, calm, it reminds me of when Heliconia was just like this. I want to walk amongst the trees. It relaxes me.”
“And how about you, Alejandro? Do you want to go to Vizcaya again?”
“Sí,” Alejandro answered. “I like it there. I like to run through the grass.”
His mother shot his father a look. “You see? He needs to feel the grass on his bare feet.”
“Okay, we’ll go to Vizcaya again.” Then his father took his mother in his arms and kissed her. “You know that I would do anything for you, mi tesoro.”
“Put your hands up!”
His mother screamed.
Alejandro shook the horrible thought out of his mind. He’d never forgotten the sound of his mother’s screams. The sound of bullets and of him lying on the floor, staring at his father who was unconscious, lying in a pool of blood, his hand outstretched towards his mother.
He didn’t want to think about his parents or that horrible moment. He should’ve died that day too.
“Come on, let’s go wander around the gardens.” And without thinking he took Kiri’s small hand in his and led her away from the water into the gardens. She didn’t try to pull her hand away.
He’d almost lost his cool when she had been running her hands lightly over his chest, tracing his tattoo through his shirt.
He knew what it was like to really have those soft fingertips trace his skin. And just thinking about it caused his blood to heat with desire.
Even after five years he wanted her. And he’d never wanted a woman like this before.
It scared him.
What am I doing?
He couldn’t lead her on. There was nothing he could offer her and she was his boss. All they could be was friends.
He let go of her hand as the
y wandered along the outer perimeter of Vizcaya’s gardens. He had to get out of here. He had to put distance between them. It was bad enough that they were working together and that they lived across the hall from each other, but he couldn’t take her out like this.
To the places which reminded him of his life when it had been happy and easy.
To the time when he’d been an innocent boy, before he’d been forced to grow up.
“Mami and Pappi are dead.”
Santi’s words haunted him again.
“You know what, I really think I should get to the hospital and check on the baby. I know that I can’t be his doctor, but maybe you’re right, maybe I should school a resident on doing the transplant. I also want to make sure the cardiology team has got him on the UNOS list.”
Kiri tried to hide her disappointment. “Okay, sure.”
“I’ll take you back to your apartment before I head to the hospital.”
“You could just take me to the hospital. I should check on a few things, I planned to anyway. There’s no sense driving all the way back to South Beach and then back into Miami just to drop me off,” she said.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be. How will you get home?”
“I can take a cab,” she said.
Guilt ate at him, but it was for the best. “Okay. Let’s go.”
They walked in silence back to his motorcycle. This time when she held him, he could sense the distance in her.
It’s for the best, he reminded himself again. He dropped her off at the hospital’s main entrance before he headed to the parking lot.
Kiri climbed off and retrieved her purse, handing him back his spare helmet. “Thanks for lunch and Vizcaya. I had a good time.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you later.” It was a lie. He was going to try and avoid her as much as he could. He wouldn’t hurt her. He liked her too much.
She nodded and headed into the hospital.
You’re an idiot, Alejandro.
CHAPTER SIX
KIRI HADN’T SEEN ALEJANDRO for a couple of days. Not since he’d dropped her off at the hospital. Something had changed at Vizcaya and she wasn’t sure what, but it was probably for the best. It wasn’t like anything could happen between them.
He’d made it clear he didn’t want kids or a family. He wasn’t going to adopt that baby and Kiri didn’t want to give up on her dream of becoming a mother.
A dream of a family.
Besides, she was his superior. There was no way anything could happen between them while they worked at the hospital together.
She couldn’t jeopardize her career for a man who didn’t want the same things she did.
She cleaned her hands with hand sanitizer before she walked into the neonatal intensive care unit to check on some patients.
“Good morning,” Kiri said to the head NICU nurse, Samantha, who always seemed to be there.
“Good morning to you too, Dr. Bhardwaj,” Samantha said cheerfully.
“How are my two surgical patients today?” Kiri picked up the chart of the first baby, Maya, who had been born with her organs on the outside. Kiri had done the first surgery yesterday to start correcting the problem. It would take some time to slowly return the organs back to their rightful positions, but she had no doubt Maya would make it. She’d done so well in the surgery and was thriving post-op. Hitting all her milestones for recovery.
“Maya’s stats are good. Blood pressure and oxygen levels are stable. She’s tolerating treatment well,” Samantha said. “She’s a fighter.”
Kiri nodded and pulled out her stethoscope, listening and examining the incision and the bag that covered the organs.
Her next patient was a simple cleft-palate fix. She’d done the first surgery the day before Maya’s.
“How’s he feeding?” Kiri asked, as she disposed of the gloves she’d used to look at Maya and put on new ones.
“When I feed him, he does well. Mom hasn’t been down to feed him. She’s not handling the cleft palate well,” Samantha said.
Kiri frowned. “Why? It’s a simple fix. I mean, parents are never happy their children have to go through this. It’s not pleasant, we all want healthy babies, but he’s healthy other than this.”
She glanced at where the John Doe baby was. The boy who was clinging to life, who had been thrown away.
It could be worse.
“I know, but she refuses to come down and I can’t always feed him. I have other patients to care for so he still has an NG tube and receives feeding from there.”
“Perhaps it’s postpartum depression?” Kiri suggested. “Perhaps that’s why she hasn’t been down?”
“She’s from a very wealthy family on Fisher Island. The family’s money comes from a cosmetic line. The baby, the heir, was supposed to be on their reality show next month, but now he can’t be. Mom doesn’t want him to be seen like this, so she’s disengaged.”
Kiri shook her head. “Get her a psych evaluation. Money or not, it sounds like postpartum depression.”
“Her OB/GYN tried to get that. Snyder put a stop to it because he’s friends with the child’s father who thinks it’s ridiculous.”
Kiri rolled her eyes and muttered, “Ridiculous.”
The boy would be fine. Cleft palate was a serious issue, but could be fixed. It just took time. Some people wouldn’t care about appearances. Some people just wanted a baby.
Like me.
Her gaze fell on the incubator at the far end.
John Doe. The child she and Alejandro had found.
She disposed of her gloves and wandered over. He wasn’t her patient, he was on Dr. Robinson’s service until a heart could be found. After she did the transplant he’d be on her service, but she couldn’t help but check on him.
“How is our little John Doe doing?” Kiri asked, peering into the incubator. Her heart melted at the sight of the small soul hooked up to so many machines.
“He’s a fighter too,” Samantha said proudly. “It’s too bad Dr. Valentino hasn’t come to see him. I feel bad because this baby is all alone.”
Kiri’s stomach clenched. She was alone here too. Miles away from family and friends. She understood.
Life was unfair.
“I’ll hold him. I mean, I found him too and I will be his doctor when a new heart is found.”
Samantha smiled and nodded in approval. Kiri put new gloves on as Samantha opened the incubator. Together they maneuvered all the wires and cords and wrapped him in a blue hospital blanket.
Kiri picked him up. He was so light, so delicate.
“See that! His stats stabilized,” Samantha remarked. “He’s benefiting from the touch.”
“I can see,” Kiri whispered, smiling down at that little face. John Doe wasn’t the only one benefiting from the touch. It did something to her, deep inside. She handled babies all the time in her job, but this was different.
She rarely cradled them. Rarely held them against her own heart to savor the feeling of something so tiny and fragile against her chest.
It felt so right.
So good.
It was wonderful.
Tears filled her eyes as she thought of that brief moment she’d held her tiny son. Holding the little John Doe made her yearn for what she’d lost and what she’d never have. Her child had been in her arms so briefly before he’d been taken away. He’d never taken a breath. Never cried. Never had a chance.
“Okay, I’ll put him back. I have to get to a consult.” Her voice quivered and she tried not to cry.
“Sure thing, Dr. Bhardwaj.” Samantha took the baby from Kiri and together they got him settled back into his incubator.
“Thank you for letting me hold him,” Kiri said. “I can see all our patients are taken c
are of here.”
“Thank you, Dr. Bhardwaj,” Samantha said. “And your holding him really did help. I’m a huge believer in skin-to-skin contact. Maybe if Dr. Valentino came by he could hold him, as well. It would help him out.”
Kiri nodded. “I’ll let him know.”
She quickly left the NICU and tried not to cry.
She was angry at letting herself feel that way again and when she rounded the corner and caught sight of Alejandro at a charging station, charting, she saw red. He was part of her pain, because he was the one who’d got her pregnant.
The condom broke. It’s not his fault.
Only she was too emotional to listen to rationality. Their baby was gone.
“Valentino,” she snapped. He looked up, surprised.
“Yes, Dr. Bhardwaj, how can I help you?”
“You’re John Doe’s guardian. Visit him. Hold him. You’re a doctor, you should know that human contact is essential to healing. You should know better.”
She didn’t wait for his response. She kept walking, not giving him a chance to respond because if she lingered she knew she’d cry.
When she was far away from the NICU and Alejandro, Kiri leaned against a wall and took a deep steadying breath, trying to get her emotions under control.
“Dr. Bhardwaj?”
Kiri opened her eyes to see Dr. Prescott from the emergency room standing in front of her. He looked concerned.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. How can I help you, Dr. Prescott?” she asked.
“You know your John Doe in the NICU?”
“Yes,” she said, but she knew. Deep down she knew what Dr. Prescott was going to say.
“We think we found the mother. We did a blood test when she came in for a postpartum infection, which we treated. The lab work came in and it’s a match.”
Kiri smiled. “Great work. Is she still here?”
Dr. Prescott nodded. “She is, but she doesn’t speak English. Just Spanish.”
Dammit.
“I’ll get Dr. Valentino. We’ll be down to the emergency room soon.”
“Okay.” Dr. Prescott left and Kiri girded her loins to deal with Alejandro again. Hopefully the mother really did want her child. Perhaps she’d had a change of heart and she wanted to see her baby. Kiri could only hope.