Cocktails & Dreams

by Autumn Markus

  “This is a bad idea, Cooper,” she heard him mutter, and then her hair was swept to the side; Jena felt Nick tracing a soft chain of kisses down her spine, licking and tasting as he ran his hands down her sides to caress her hips. Her heart beat faster when he nipped her thigh.

  “God, you smell good, Jena,” he whispered, rubbing his smooth cheek against her thigh. “I can’t go now. They can take a cab.”

  What the…cab? Jena’s head shot up, looking for a clock as she desperately shook herself back to the present. School. Work. Parents.

  “Nicholas! You have to take your parents to the airport!” Jena struggled to sit up, dragging the sheet with her.

  “Calm down, goofus.” Nick laughed at her obvious disorientation as he settled on the edge of the bed. “You’re not much of a morning person, are you?” He rubbed Jena’s leg; she pushed her hair out of her face and finally focused on him.

  This was a Nicholas she had never seen before. He had obviously showered and dressed before he woke her up. His hair was combed neatly, instead of in its usual casual tangle, and he was clean-shaven, the angle of his jaw looking sharp without its normal soft coating of stubble. In the dim bedroom, it was difficult to make out whether the dress shirt he wore was light blue or white, but the darker stripes of his tie and suspenders were sharp and clear.

  Nicholas looked amused when Jena finally dragged her gaze back up to look at his face again. “Do I pass?”

  “Holy crap, yes,” Jena blurted out and then pulled the sheet up over her head when he burst out laughing. “Don’t listen to me. Please. I’m still mostly asleep. I’ll call you later. Goodbye.”

  “You don’t seriously expect me to let that one go, do you?” Nicholas yanked at the sheet. “What exactly earned the ‘holy crap’ seal of approval? I need to keep notes on these things for when I want to have my wicked way with you.”

  “For that, you don’t have to wear anything at all.” Jena’s brain caught up when he laughed harder, and she groaned. “I meant nothing in particular, perv. The tie is throwing me,” she muttered.

  Nicholas finally succeeded in pulling the sheet off her head. “Required uniform of med students, at least until someone throws up on me which will probably happen by lunch. Then I will be allowed to change into much more comfortable scrubs.” He chuckled, lifting Jena’s face and leaning forward to catch her mouth with his in a soft kiss. “A tie, huh? I’ll bet the suspenders drive you crazy, too,” he murmured against her lips. “Who knew you had a secret lust for bankers?”

  She slid her hands over his shoulders, pushing the suspenders down. “I have a not-so-secret lust for you,” she said, running her lips across his smooth jaw and upward to nip at his earlobe. “I don’t care what you wear.”

  Nicholas stopped breathing for a minute, and then Jena was being pushed back on the bed as he kissed her hard. “I have two hours until I have to be at the hospital,” he said, yanking down the knot in his tie. “My parents can definitely take a cab.” He began unbuttoning his shirt.

  Parents. Shit.

  “Wait, Nicholas.” Nick’s half-lidded eyes and elevated breathing nearly undid her, but Jena pushed on. “You can’t do that to them.”

  “Why not?”

  Jena was speechless for a minute. “Well, they came all this way to see you and bring your car out. The least you can do is see that they get to the airport. You haven’t seen them in months.”

  Nicholas watched the slow progress of his hands down her sides.

  “Nicholas, really!” Jena grabbed his fingers. “For me. As much as I want you here, I think you shouldn’t strand your parents. Please?”

  He sighed and dropped his hands to his sides. “Only for you.” He stood slowly, pulling his braces back over his shoulders, swiftly re-buttoning his shirt and tightening his tie. He grimaced as he adjusted himself. “It’s a good thing I have a few minutes to calm down before I pick them up.” Jena grinned. “Don’t laugh—this is your idea, not mine.” Nicholas shrugged into his jacket and then swooped in to kiss Jena roughly. “My idea is to get back in this bed and…” He let a wandering hand finish his thought.

  Before Jena could start breathing again he was at the door. “But you want me to go get my parents, so that’s what I’ll do.” Nicholas shrugged theatrically and turned to leave the room, saying over his shoulder, “Talk to you later, Jena. Watch out for Conor—he came home sometime last night, so you might not want to walk around like that.”

  Jena heard him laughing as he headed toward the front door, and she finally found her voice. “Like what, Cooper? Totally nude?” she called out in a husky voice. “Is that how you don’t want me walking around?”

  Conor stuck his head in the bedroom door and Jena screeched, diving under the covers. “I absolutely don’t mind if that’s how you want to walk around. Sincerely,” he said. His rumbling laughter joined Nick’s as Jena yelled at him to get out, and she heard them high-five before the front door clicked shut.

  “Assholes,” Jena muttered. She quickly dressed and, after reassuring Conor about starting his first day of college, she was off to school herself.

  The rest of the day passed in a blur. For the first time in a couple of years, Jena didn’t have any classes with Travis, so she didn’t even see him until she rushed out of the dressing room in the physical therapy department.

  Travis looked up from his patient and grinned as Jena yanked a chart out of the wall pocket. “Have fun, sweetness? Thanks for the call so I wouldn’t worry, by the way.”

  “Sorry, Trav,” Jena said, scanning her list of patients for the afternoon, mentally going over treatments for Stefan, her football-playing rocket scientist. She smiled as she remembered Nick’s assessment of him, on the day he’d watched her helping Stefan on the treadmill. “I wasn’t thinking, I guess.”

  “Or something,” Travis said, and Jena stuck her tongue out at him before gesturing for Stefan to join her at the massage table.

  Stefan’s eyes were bright and inquisitive as he looked from her to Travis. He hopped up on the table. “Big evening?”

  “You could say that.” Jena took another look at his chart and started the massage to loosen up his knee before he began on the machines. “How was your weekend? Is the coach happy that you’ll be finished here soon?”

  “Yes, I think so.” Stefan watched her hands as they circled his kneecap, deftly avoiding the raised red scar from his surgery. His voice lowered. “Everything else is a mess though. Remember when I was telling you about Corey?”

  “Mmmm…” Jena hummed noncommittally and led the way to the first machine. Patients often talked about their significant others, but she usually forgot what they said as soon as they left the office.

  “Well, we broke up day before yesterday.” Stefan grabbed Jena’s hand as she walked around the machine. “May I impose on you for lunch? I really need to talk about this, and you were such a great listener before…”

  A big, steaming pile of guilt plopped on Jena’s head, and she felt like the world’s biggest ass. She hesitated, and Stefan jumped in to seal the deal. “Nothing shifty intended, Jena, I promise. I just want to talk. Everyone eats, right?”

  He looked so hopeful that she smiled. “Okay. How about tomorrow? I’ll meet you in the deli in the lobby, but it will have to be quick, okay? I only have a half hour for lunch.”

  Stefan nodded, and they went back to his routine, laughing and joking like always.

  Jena ignored Travis’s raised eyebrows when she walked Stefan to the door and called the next patient, but he collared her when they were headed out at the end of their shifts. “What was that I heard about lunch, Jen? Jumping the Good Ship Cooper already?” Travis slung his arm around her neck and noogied the top of her head.

  “Stop it, assbag.” Jena slapped his hand away and ducked under his arm. “Stefan just wants to talk about the Amazon cheerleader.” She nudged her roomie. “I seem to remember you having a thought or two about her once upon a time.”

  Tr
avis grinned. “I had more than a thought—but that’s beside the point. And more than Stefan ever needs to know, if you get my drift. That sucker is big!” He chuckled. “Anyway, my point is that maybe you’d better watch out, Jen. You’re not so bad looking yourself, you know. And the Amazon is his ex, I think I overheard.”

  “Whatever,” Jena said dismissively. She grabbed her coat, Stefan already forgotten as she anticipated speaking to Nicholas later that night.

  Nick sounded exhausted when she called him after dinner.

  “This sucks,” he groaned. Leather creaked as he plopped on his couch. “I forgot how they run your feet off in clinicals. I haven’t sat down all day, and they took it easy on us because it was the first day.”

  “Poor baby. Did the tie make it through all right?”

  Nicholas laughed. “Nope. Remember I told you I thought I had until lunch before someone threw up on me? Not even. I forgot that pediatric rotation vastly ups the chances of vomit. Didn’t even make it past the first hour. Will you miss it?”

  Jena sighed exaggeratedly. “Yes. I can hardly even imagine wanting you without one now.”

  “Speaking of which…” Nicholas’s voice became husky. “Come over?”

  “Nope. Not a good idea. You need to rest, and I have to study. Did Conor survive his first day?”

  Jena heard a struggle for the phone and then Conor was on. “Yep. And I owe you a dinner, Jen, because you were right. Every class had someone at least my age. You wouldn’t believe the old farts that are just starting out.” He lowered his voice to an intimate level. “Thanks for the talk this morning. And the hug. What kind of shampoo do you use? I haven’t been able to get the smell out of my head all day.” Jena heard him chortle and another struggle for the receiver.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Nicholas asked when he finally came back on.

  She laughed. “I believe that’s what Conor calls ‘yanking your chain,’ Nick. Get over it, or he’ll drive you nuts.”

  “Too late,” he grumped.

  “Listen, I have to go now or I’ll never get off the phone. Call me tomorrow when you get home?” she said.

  “It will be pretty late, Jen. I have an eighteen-hour shift tomorrow in the puke parade.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I just want to hear your voice if I can’t see you.” Jena closed her eyes and leaned back into the couch, imagining Nick doing the same.

  “Me, too.” His voice was quiet. “Can we try for a lunch sometime this week, maybe? It will have to be in the hospital caf, I’m afraid.”

  “Sorry, pal. I don’t have time between classes and work. Think about it some more, and maybe we can come up with something that will work for both of us. Call me tomorrow no matter what time you get home, okay?” He agreed, and they hung up.

  The rest of the week was a jumble of getting-to-know-you class work, final sessions with the football players before the real season started, and rushed, late-night calls from Nicholas. He sounded increasingly weary with each call, but he was interested in what he was doing, and it showed in the vivid descriptions of his day. Thank God being a therapist and seeing people in all states of mind and body gave Jena a strong stomach, because Nicholas’s days seemed to be filled with barf, blood, and foreign objects inserted anywhere they shouldn’t be inserted.

  Her only real worry was Stefan. After their hurried lunch, where Jena’s guilt made her pay scrupulous attention to what he was saying, she had to admit that Travis might be right about Stefan’s interest in her. She kept her concerns to herself, not wanting to give Travis ammunition with which to tease her, and unwilling to distract Nick from his work or to revisit the flash of jealous temper that had surprised her at Leisa’s party.

  Things came to a head at the end of the week, though. Stefan was in exceptionally high spirits when he came in, happy about being accepted into an exclusive master’s seminar and his incipient return to the football team for his final year. He also pointed out that, now that his therapy was almost over, he and Jena might be able to see more of each other outside the therapy room. He kept finding reasons to touch her hand during the exercises, or her back as they moved in between machines. Finally, she stopped working and sat down, motioning for him to sit on a neighboring bench.

  “Stefan, I haven’t been leading you on, have I? I’m seeing someone right now. I’ve been very clear about that, haven’t I?” God, she hated having these talks. The misinterpretation of her professional activities felt like a personal failure. As much as she hated confrontation, being in the wrong would be far worse.

  “Sure. You have.” Stefan’s voice was confident. “You can’t blame a guy for trying, though. Plus, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word love come out of your mouth, Jena. Just seeing, dating…Those are negotiable terms, I think.”

  Jena stared at him for a minute before replying. “The feeling is implicit in those terms, I think,” she said, her temper rising. She’d missed Nicholas all week; talking to him on the phone wasn’t enough. “Not negotiable, Stefan. I won’t see you again if you can’t respect that.”

  Stefan held up his hands as he rose to stand. “Understood. Sorry if I was out of line, Jena. He’s a lucky guy.”

  She smiled, not wanting to end their professional relationship on a bad note. “Not a problem.” She held out her hand to Stefan he shook it. “Good luck.”

  Jena’s phone rang, and she was relieved to see Nicholas’s name on the caller ID. She waved at Stefan and stepped away from the machines before answering.

  “Hi, mister. What are you doing away from the hallowed halls of medicine? Kill someone?”

  Nicholas chuckled. “Nope, but thanks for the vote of confidence. Someone else needed to pick up a few hours, so I have time off for good behavior. Want to see if everyone wants to get together to celebrate surviving this week?”

  “Sure. That would be fun. I can ask Trav right now.” Jena headed toward the office, carefully avoiding Stefan’s inquisitive gaze.

  “Jena, what’s wrong? You sound kind of down.” Nicholas’s voice was full of concern. She debated what to tell him and decided that honesty was the best way to go.

  “I had to deal with a patient’s crush today, and I hate that. It makes me feel stupid. Plus, I really miss you.” She sighed, rubbing the worry spot between her eyebrows.

  “I miss you, too. Did everything go okay?” Nicholas’s calm, supportive tone helped Jena relax.

  “Yeah. Remember Stefan?”

  “Mmmm…no…Oh, wait—the musclehead rocket scientist?”

  Jena chuckled and explained about the lunch on Tuesday, and how she’d been perfectly clear that she was not available.

  “Do you want me to talk to him?” Nicholas asked quietly when Jena was through.

  “Nope. I think he finally got the picture. How did your day go?”

  Nicholas snorted. “Fine, if you don’t mind listening to moaning and sighing over another guy all day long.”

  Jena smiled. “Let me guess. Dr. Call was wandering around the hospital today?”

  “It was totally disgusting. Not a single woman did a damned thing but stare all day. That and whisper about him. His hair. His eyes. His hands. His body. For God’s sake, they were even discussing the man’s junk and how it lays. Nasty.”

  Memories of similar conversations with a variety of friends, and even total strangers who happened to be around when Dr. Call breezed by on campus, made Jena laugh. “Cut them some slack, Nicholas. He is pretty hot—if you like older guys, I mean.”

  “Not you, too, Jena.” Nicholas sounded horrified.

  “Of course not, sweetie. He’s my boss—how sick would that be, if I was crushing on him?” Jena breathed a sigh of relief that Nick couldn’t see her non-lying face right then.

  “Thank God. Dr. Call is a great doctor and someone’s husband and father. The man’s not a fucking piece of meat.” Nicholas’s injured tone on behalf of his fellow man almost caused the giggles of embarrassment in Jena’s mind to pop out
of her mouth.

  She choked them back with effort. “You know, that will be you in a few years, Nick. If they’re not already talking behind your back.”

  Wait a damned minute. That wasn’t so funny. Jena’s chuckles dried up as she contemplated all of the women Nicholas worked with each day, and all of the things they had to be thinking about him. That shit wasn’t funny at all. She sank down with a frown to sit on the floor of the office.

  “I refuse to think about that, or even talk about it until I’ve had several beers and you’re wrapped around me. I can’t believe the things they say out loud, so I don’t want to imagine what they’re thinking. Good Lord.”

  “You keep thinking that. No one should be ogling your junk but me…but I’m sure they do.”

  “I’m hanging up now. Women are pigs. Except for you. And I never want to go to work again. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Call me when you get home.” Nick hung up the phone with a laugh.

  Jena closed her phone with a snap, giggling over Nick’s disgusted observation. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, right?

  “Sounds like that was a nice call,” Travis observed, still scribbling in the folder on the desk.

  Jena sighed, smiling. “Yeah. Nicholas wants to know if we all want to go out to celebrate living through the first week back. Maybe at Stevie’s? Interested?”

  “Hell, yes! My week sucked the big one. I could use a drink or sixteen.” Travis looked out the door of the office and grinned, shaking his head. “Don’t be surprised if your new friend shows up, either. He was listening right outside the door.”

  Jena scrambled to her knees and poked her head into the hallway, just in time to see the waiting area door close behind Stefan. “No fucking way.” She shook her head. “What am I supposed to do with him, Trav?” Jena flopped back on her butt and banged her head against the wall.

  Travis shrugged. “What we always do, sugar. Keep it professional, keep it light, and keep away from him as much as possible. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before—that whole ‘medical savior’ thing totally messes with some people’s heads.” He stood and pulled Jena to her feet, tossing her jacket from the back of the desk chair. “Don’t think about it anymore. I’m pretty sure I can persuade him to stay back tonight, if he even shows up. Don’t want any fights to get us banned from Stevie’s, do we?”