Heat Up the Fall: New Adult Boxed Set (6 Book Bundle)

by Gennifer Albin

  Doctor O’Donnell sniffed out a laugh. “Sure. People who will still die slowly and painfully from cancer without the help of young, intelligent, ambitious new doctors. I’ve heard all the feel-good, kumbaya bullshit there is to hear, Miss Daly.” I startled at the curse word flying from her mouth. Maybe Doctor O’Donnell actually felt passionate about this. “The fact is, picture books and support groups don’t cure cancer, and they don’t save lives. Ever.”

  That free space filled right back up again with guilt and indecision. Of course.

  Only the clacking sound of Doctor O’Donnell’s keyboard filled the room for long seconds. Then she stopped at looked at me.

  “Can I count on seeing you for rounds next week, Miss Daly?”

  I took a deep breath and met her eyes. “No. I…” I cleared my throat and squared my shoulders. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you can. I appreciate the opportunity, but this just isn’t right for me.”

  On my way down the hallway and out of Children’s, I told myself a lot of things. I reasoned I could find another doctor to shadow, stay at Temple for an extra year if I had to. I told myself that not all oncologists were like Doctor O’Donnell and that I didn’t have to be either.

  But as I sat on the bus on the ride back to the KD house, the usual panic over not knowing my future that would have driven me to action under normal circumstances just sat there, whipping around inside me, looking for a place to settle and not finding anything.

  I took a deep breath. I didn’t know what I would do about pre-med or the trust fund or the guilt my mom would surely lay on me or finding new shadowing possibilities. But I did know one thing: Staring something that absolutely was not right for me in the face and making a decision not to do it anymore felt so powerful, so right, that it made me want to do the same thing with every other aspect of my life.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The date party was that weekend, and I spent forever getting ready with Cat that day. Hawk had said he’d be there, and I was busy finding the perfect dress — one that everyone, my sisters and Hawk alike, would drool over. I basically got lost in my closet — I was pretty small, and these closets in the house were long and deep, with rolling doors — using my cell phone as a mini-flashlight. I emerged five minutes later, holding a black, half-lacy scrap of fabric over my head, triumphant.

  Cat wrinkled her nose and peered at what I’d found. “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s a dress,” I replied, shaking it out and holding it up to my front. It would reach halfway down my thighs barely. “I think I wore it in high school. For a costume.”

  “For what, ‘Chicago?’” Cat laughed.

  “You know, now that you say it….yes, I think it was. But you know what? It’s a big girl’s dress, and I’m a big girl. I deserve to look hot just like anyone else.”

  “Of course you do, babe. It’s just not…you.”

  “Well, wait till I get it on.”

  I stripped down to my bra and panties, and Cat wolf-whistled.

  “Shut up,” I grumbled and blushed. “I’m so frickin’ scrawny I can’t stand it.”

  “I miss being scrawny sometimes,” Cat said.

  “Yeah, well, I guarantee Nate wouldn’t love it if you were a stick figure again.”

  “That’s true,” Cat grinned. “Though, to be fair, I think it’s like 99 percent the boobs that he loves.”

  I laughed. “Now, that’s not true. I see the way he ogles your ass.”

  “Fine, 50 percent boobs and 50 percent ass. So I’m that girl. Tits and ass all the way.”

  “Hey, so was Marilyn Monroe,” I said, tugging the dress down over my head.

  Damn. Even I’d curved out since high school. This dress was so tight that it took some significant tugging to get it down past my hips. But when I turned and looked in the mirror, it was well worth it.

  Every single curve on my body was thrown into relief by the tight, stretchy fabric, which sucked in my thinner parts and clung to the curve of my hips. I’d always thought I had a boyish figure, but this made me look like I was made of curves.

  The front dipped into a pretty low “V” and the sucking-in properties of the fabric actually pushed my boobs up so you could see them swell slightly over the top.

  I turned around to check out my butt in the mirror. Probably thanks to the particular material of the dress, it was lifted and rounded and looked incredible. When I added four-inch, round toe pumps, I almost looked as confidently curvy and runway-ready as Cat.

  Cat sat up on the bed behind me. I saw the shock and appreciation that quickly followed on her face. “That is… Damn. You’re a blond bombshell, honey!”

  “Like Marilyn?”

  “Not quite,” she said, tossing a pillow at me and nearly knocking me off balance.

  “Okay,” I giggled. “I should probably practice walking in these things.”

  I hadn’t missed not going to date parties — or any social gatherings, really — since I’d started seeing Hawk. Spending time with him had largely replaced spending time with my friends, which was fine, since I frickin’ hated sorority recruitment more and more each year. Cold weather, spiky shoes, and smiling for hours on end wasn’t exactly my idea of a great time ever. Being a Kappa Delta was worth it for all the friendships I’d formed, but almost every girl agreed that the winter events were mostly shit.

  Walking into that restaurant, though, all kinds of excitement flooded me once again. We had our date party at the same place every spring, and there were so many good memories there. Dancing with my sisters until we were so exhausted we collapsed; convincing the bartender to slip us a shot or two; making out with a date on the dance floor in a fuzzy, drunken state; and generally feeling, just for that moment, like ’we’d won the college social life lottery.

  Of course, that was before my classes had become so demanding that I barely had time to speak to anyone.

  Hawk had said he’d meet me at the party as soon as he could. But as the stars came out, sparkling against the dark, moonless sky, and the cocktail portion of date party ended, I’d started to doubt that he’d be able to make it at all.

  At that moment, the little black sparkly purse I’d snagged from Cat’s closet started to buzz. I frantically unzipped it, not really caring whether I was chipping my manicure. I was having fun without Hawk, but I so desperately wanted to see him it was unreal.

  I pulled out my phone and read, TURN AROUND.

  My friend Kerrin elbowed me. “Hey, did you win the lottery or something? You’re grinning like an idiot.”

  I barely heard her as I spun on my heel. Hawk was standing in the doorway to the restaurant looking absolutely frickin’ incredible. Same messy hair — which was essential to his gorgeousness — dark jeans; some really nice shiny shoes that must have been new; a silver button-down shirt that looked new, too; and, to top it all off, a black tie.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I did,” I said, cocking my head toward Hawk.

  His mouth curled up slowly into a wide grin as I sauntered over to him, nearly tipping over on my heels. I reached him, and his hands slid around my waist as I pressed a lingering kiss, full of promise for what I was planning later, to his lips.

  “Hey, babe. Have a few Jack and Cokes?” He licked his lips as he leaned back, watching me.

  I had had a couple of drinks, waiting for him. I fell into the motions of partying with my friends easily. They’d always teased me about how such a small girl could hold so much liquor, and they were right — it was a total mystery. In freshman year, I’d joked about how it must have been due to my Irish genes, and after that, I’d been fed a steady diet of Jack and Cokes and Irish Car Bombs, even though I was pretty sure the Jack and Cokes weren’t so Irish.

  The fact that Hawk had just tasted my mouth and guessed my drink right was an incredible turn-on. When I was around him, my whole body felt like a live wire, and something about this place, the two drinks in me, and my tiny dress and spiky heels made him that much sexier
. Or maybe it made me that much sexier.

  “Maybe we should get back to your place,” I said, breathing hot on his ear and pinching his butt.

  “Ha!” he barked out, reaching behind him and taking my hand in his. “It was my move, and I took it.”

  I stood back and picked up his tie, letting it slide through my fingers. “And you did take it. You look amazing.” Still, even as I looked at him now, none of his clothing — none of it — mattered. All I could think about was that gorgeous tattoo that stretched over his shoulder and across his back, and the delicious feel of his hands skimming over my waist.

  He chuckled and pressed one more gentle, lingering kiss to my lips. “Let’s eat this dinner you paid for,” he murmured. “I’m starving.”

  The growl in his voice made it sound like he was starving for me, but when he pulled back and looked at me, I realized he was serious. I was kissing him like that, begging to go back to his place, and he wanted to eat?

  Then my stomach growled and my head spun a little, and I realized it wouldn’t hurt me to eat something right now either.

  The dinner was held in a large room in the back of the restaurant with sparkly lights hanging overhead that matched the night sky outside. A bunch of the Kappa Delta girls dated guys from the same frat — Sigma Nu, where my ex was a brother — and they occupied one end of the long table that filled the room. The only guys I’d ever dated before Hawk had been the frat type, too, but now I didn’t quite fit in with those girls. The ones whose boyfriends were trimmed and polished and, honestly, all looked exactly the same. Same hair, same ties with ridiculous patterns that looked like their moms had picked out. Who would have guessed that my bartending boyfriend would have a greater sense of style than all of them combined?

  Even if it was a weird style, I thought, smirking at the stripe of tattoo sneaking up out of his collar, imagining the whole design and the muscles it decorated. The one he’d explained to me weeks ago with a hushed voice and his hot breath against my neck.

  As usual, Cat’s tall frame stuck out over the crowd. She waved one arm in the air in an arc over her head, then pointed down at the two seats she had saved for us right across from her and Nate.

  I grabbed both of Hawk’s hands, tugging him behind me. “I can’t believe you haven’t met these two yet.”

  “So, Cat’s your best friend, right? The model?”

  I nodded, though I had to admit even I found it a little weird that I hadn’t ever really talked about Cat to Hawk. Had I even really explained it at all, or had he just picked it up?

  “Yep, she just started doing runway shows again. Her boyfriend is Nate. He’s a bodybuilder. So both of them are hotter and more buff than you and I will ever be, put together.”

  “Nah, you’re hotter than all the girls in this place, times infinity.” He leaned down, nipping at my earlobe.

  “You’d better stop that if you don’t want me to grab you by that tie and drag you out of here.” I gave him one last sexy-Joey look before sitting down, tugging my skirt down in the process. When Hawk’s eyes traveled to my thighs, I knew he saw how close this dress was to exposing everything.

  “So, guys,” I said, clearing my throat and looking at Cat and Nate. “This is Hawk. “

  Cat’s eyes swept down over Hawk, and she nodded as her mouth quirked into a smile. “Hawk. I’ve heard everything about you. Literally.”

  Hawk’s eyes flashed to me, and I shrugged. “Best friends, remember? Kind of comes with the territory.”

  Hawk’s eyebrows went up, and he nodded. There were three forks at the settings in front of us, and he ran the tip of his finger down the middle one.

  “So, Hawk,” Cat said, scooting her chair in. “That’s an interesting name. What’s it short for?

  “Hawkins,” Hawk said.

  “Your parents named you Hawkins? That’s kind of bad-assed.”

  “Actually, they named me William. But I don’t go by Will anymore.”

  I thought of what it would be like to call him that — tame and soft. Gentle and sweet.

  “Has he met Mom yet?” Nate asked.

  Over winter break, I’d taken Nate and Cat home for a good meal once or twice, and Nate and my mom had fallen in love. He always got this wistful smile on his face when he said how normal she was. Cat had explained to me that, even though he loved his mom, she wasn’t exactly the crafting, homemade-dinner-every-night type. Nate and Mom didn’t flirt or anything — that would have been super-weird — but you could tell she absolutely loved him. Maybe she wished I was dating a guy like him.

  But Mom’s wishes were for Josephine, the future doctor. I was the one who was special to Dad, and if she had to lose me, it would be to a cause Dad wanted. To a boyfriend who fit her idea of who a med student dated. A clean-cut, polite boy — probably one who grew up going to Catholic Masses and country clubs.

  “Nope, haven’t taken him home yet.”

  Hawk shifted in his seat. When I didn’t say anything else, he jerked his head up and asked, “So, did you guys come to this thing last year?”

  Cat laughed and explained that actually she and Nate had only been together for about half a year. Even though you couldn’t tell it by the way they finished each other’s sentences and looked at each other adoringly — it seemed like they’d been together forever.

  “What’s your major?” Cat asked.

  Hawk’s hand flew to the back of his head. “I…uh… It’s complicated. I don’t really have one yet.”

  Thankfully, the wait staff started to bring our salads out, cutting through the sudden weirdness. Hawk sat back and breathed a sigh as we spent a few minutes eating and wondering whether we’d be able to go back to the bar after dinner.

  But then, Nate started up again. He was a sweet guy, but sometimes he didn’t catch hints very well. “So no major yet, huh? Joey, are you into jailbait now?”

  “Actually, no. Hawk’s 23. He’s just…going part-time for now.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been so busy with other stuff I haven’t actually thought that much about it,” Hawk explained, taking a big drink of water.

  “Oh yeah? Play sports or something?”

  But even as Nate asked it, you could tell he knew that wasn’t the answer. Kids who played sports at Temple had to be full-time. Everyone knew that.

  “Actually, no.” Hawk leaned back in his chair, putting distance between us. “My dad died, and left me a bar to manage and a pain-in-the-ass little sister to keep tabs on. And the bar’s about to go under unless I do something about it soon, so I don’t really have time for normal shit like a major or really even stuff like this.” He gestured around the room at the entire party.

  Cat and Nate just stared, looking blindsided. I couldn’t say I blamed them.

  “The bar thing really is cool,” I said, after a second of trying to find my voice. “And we’re making it cooler. Well, he is. I thought he was being a douche when we first met — remember I told you all about that, Cat? — and announced our project in front of the whole class. Because I was thinking we’d just do something about my future practice.”

  Cat nodded, slipping a bemused glance at Hawk. “Right. You told me that was the only way the class wouldn’t be a waste.”

  “But I found out that he took the class because he actually cared about the subject matter.”

  Nate laughed. “Imagine that. That’s cool, man. So you have plans for the bar?”

  Hawk wiped his mouth and kind of let the napkin fall on his plate. I bristled a tiny bit, but his softening expression kept me from reaching over to move it to the side. “Yeah. For starters, when I save enough, I’m turning it into a restaurant. I have a chicken spice rub that would have put this shit to shame.”

  Nate reached out to slap hands with him, and some magical guy-language turned it into a handshake and fist bump. “Tell me about it. This was ridiculous. I could roast circles around this whole meal. Hey, at least our girls paid for it, right?”

  “Definitely. I could
have done ten times as well for half as much.”

  Cat and I smiled and shook our heads. The fact that Hawk was man-bonding with anyone made me all warm and fuzzy.

  Until his phone rang. He glanced at the number, and his eyes got that stormy look to them. He got up, stalking away from the table with the phone to his ear.

  I tried not to look, but as he paced along the wall and talked into the phone, sometimes with animated hand gestures, I knew something was up. He came back to the table and slumped back into his seat.

  I smoothed my hand along his leg.

  “Business shit to deal with?” Nate asked. Clearly, he didn’t fit in with most of the frat boyfriends here and wanted to get back to food talk.

  “No, it’s…” Hawk’s jaw clenched. “Fuck it. Never mind. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “What’s wrong?” Deep down, I knew. “Anything I can do?”

  “Christ, Joey. I said I don’t want to talk about it right now. There’s nothing you can do. When will you get that?” The phone rang again, and we all jumped. He didn’t say so much as an “excuse me” as he left the table again.

  Both Cat and Nate looked at me with pity. There was something else bubbling up in my eyes — a frickin’ ocean of tears. It was one thing to be rough around the edges. It was quite another to talk me down in front of my best friend and her boyfriend at date party.

  So I did what sorority-Joey would do — I excused myself to the bathroom and instead went in search of a drink. I handed some cash over to the bartender and leaned against the bar, downing one — or maybe two or three shots — then sipping another Jack and Coke, caring less and less about how far my skirt was riding up on my legs.

  A few minutes later Hawk walked up looking majorly stressed. “Hey, Joey, I’ve gotta get out of here.”

  My voice was like sludge, and slurred words slid off my tongue. “Heading back to the bar to clean up after Gary again? Too much to do down there and no time to deal with ‘shit like this’?” I even used air quotes.

  Hawk’s face froze the slightest bit. He backed away from me a step, giving me a strange, half-suspicious, half-angry look. “No. It’s fucking Olivia again, if you have to know.”