by Teresa Roman
I took a quick look in the mirror and combed my fingers through my hair before exiting the bathroom and returning to my bed where Eric waited.
He pulled me close to him and kissed me. “I would’ve sworn you were naked last night when we fell asleep.”
My face heated and I hoped that my cheeks didn’t flush. “I woke up after and put these on.”
He reached under my tank top to cup one of my breasts, and instantly my insides clenched. I wanted him again, and by the firm bulge pressing into my thigh, it was obvious he wanted me, too. In one swift motion, he pulled my shirt over my head and threw it on the floor. I lay down as he began to kiss my neck, then my breasts. A moment later, my shorts were off and his hand was between my legs. I moaned at the pleasurable sensation it gave me. It had been like this after we’d gotten home from the party, with Eric savoring and pleasuring me first until I had to practically keep myself from begging him to enter me, but without alcohol to dull my sensations, I was more turned on than I’d remembered myself being last night.
Eric reached for his wallet, which rested on my nightstand, and pulled out a condom. I liked that I hadn’t needed to ask him to wear one. I watched him roll it onto his thick erection, almost trembling in anticipation as I recalled how amazing it had felt to have him inside me.
After we both reached climax, we lay beside each other, catching our breaths. “I’m so glad I don’t have to work today,” Eric teased. “You’ve pretty much sapped all my energy.”
“I’m off, too,” I said, then scolded myself for not coming up with a wittier reply.
“We should go grab breakfast somewhere. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
I was too, so we quickly showered and dressed. I drove this time—Eric didn’t live in Pasadena, which meant he didn’t really know his way around—and took us to a crepe place a few blocks from my apartment. His order of egg whites with turkey bacon in a buckwheat crepe made me feel downright gluttonous, but I was hungry, and rubbery egg whites just weren’t my thing. I supposed keeping himself in perfect shape took discipline, so omelets with cheese and bacon, like I’d just ordered, were something Eric had probably sworn off. I held in a sigh. That was LA for you.
“I can’t believe you can eat like that and stay so slim,” Eric commented after the waitress put my plate down in front of me.
“Well, I exercise a lot,” I said with a shrug.
A smile crossed Eric’s face. “Yes, I did notice your impressive stamina.”
I blushed and lifted a forkful of omelet-stuffed crepe into my mouth.
We finished breakfast before I managed to work up the courage to ask any of those awkward questions that come after you have sex with someone you aren’t officially dating. Eric had said he didn’t want a one-night stand, but what exactly did he mean by that? When, or if, we saw each other again, would Eric expect that we’d just fall back into bed again?
My mind wandered on the short car ride back to my apartment. My last boyfriend had soured me on relationships, but the last thing I wanted was to become someone’s booty call. How would I face Eric at work knowing that I was just some girl he had sex with?
“What are you thinking about?” Eric asked.
“Nothing really,” I said, still too anxious about what he’d say to share my thoughts.
“So . . . I was thinking,” he began. My heart sank, anticipating that he was about to let me down. “I’d like to see you again. I think you’re a really cool person, and the truth is, I’ve liked you for a while, but I never said anything, of course, because I was with Natalie.” He rested his hand on my knee. “But for now, I think we should keep the fact that we’re seeing each other between us. You know how people at work are, they love to gossip.”
“Yeah, sure. You know me, I don’t like people knowing my business so I’m totally fine with that.” The last thing I wanted was for anyone to know Eric and I had slept together.
After pulling into my parking spot at my apartment complex, Eric walked me to the door and gave me a kiss on my cheek.
“You don’t want to come in?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too desperate.
“I’d love to, but unfortunately I’ve got a million things to do today,” he said. “And the faster I get them done, the sooner I’ll have time to hang out with you again. Next time let’s have dinner. What do you think?”
“Um, yeah . . . sure,” I said, trying not to stutter.
“Great.” He smiled. “Then I’ll see you soon, Dawn.”
After Eric left I cleaned up my apartment, picking up my clothes from the night before that still littered the floor of my bedroom. Though I was thrilled that Eric was interested I couldn’t help but think back to my last relationship. Nick and I had been together for almost a year. He came into my life like a hurricane and left it the same way.
Eric would be different, though. He was successful and sure of himself, not like my ex who for all I knew was still figuring out what he wanted to do with his life. I had no idea how things would turn out between me and Eric, but for now I was quite pleased—and at the same time totally shocked—by our newfound relationship. When it came to men I wasn’t used to getting what I wanted, but this time would be different.
Chapter 3
I had four whole days off before I had to work again and decided to take advantage of all my free time by adding some festive Christmas decorations to my apartment. With all the palm trees and sunshine in Southern California, I needed as many reminders as possible that Christmas was coming in order to get into the holiday spirit.
As I hung colored lights in my window, I vowed that this year, Christmas would be magical. I had to work on the actual holiday, but I was off Christmas Eve, and pictured myself sharing it with Eric. We’d exchange gifts, small ones, since our relationship was so new. We’d toast with a glass of champagne and watch cheesy Christmas movies.
My ringing phone pulled me out of my daydream.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Eric. I was wondering if you want to meet me at the Rose Bowl loop for a jog.”
I wasn’t much of a jogger. The pool was where I liked to get my exercise, but I couldn’t bring myself to say no. “Um, okay. What time?”
“How about half an hour?”
I hung up and went to change into my sports attire. It was ridiculous how giddy I felt about seeing him again. I reminded myself again about Nick. He was a student when we met, studying computer science at Cal State LA. We hit it off right away, wanting to spend every moment we could together. Within a month he’d moved in and slowly took over every part of my life before I realized what was happening. He didn’t like my friends, so I stopped hanging out with them. He was jealous and possessive. I wanted his trust so I shared everything with him, including the PIN to my bank card. After I finally worked up the courage to break up with him, he refused to move out. The day after he did I couldn’t help but wonder why he’d finally agreed—until I got my bank statement. Over the past week he’d been withdrawing the maximum amount of money he could from my savings account. I didn’t bother confronting him about it, though. The fact that he was gone was worth the almost two thousand dollars he’d stolen from me.
I’d been so traumatized by what I’d gone through with Nick that I’d pretty much given up on dating. But Eric was nothing like Nick. For one thing Eric and I had known each other for almost a year, and he was definitely not the clingy type the way Nick had been. That, in and of itself, was a huge load off my mind.
I arrived at the Rose Bowl and found Eric waiting beside his car. He greeted me with a smile. “You ready?” he asked.
I nodded and we took off running. Even though I was in good shape I had a hard time keeping up with him, which shouldn’t have surprised me because at work he was always talking about some marathon he’d just ran. After finishing the loop we walked over to his car. He grabbed two sports drinks from his trunk and handed me one.
“Why don’t we get some lunch?” he said af
ter gulping down his drink.
“Okay.” I wiped more sweat from my brow. “What are you in the mood for?”
“Hmm. I’m not sure. Would it be all right if I showered at your place first and then we can decide?”
“Sure. Do you remember the way or do you just want to follow me?”
“I’ve still got your address in my GPS.”
“I’ll see you in a bit then.”
We both climbed into our cars and drove off. He arrived at my place just as I put my car in park and followed me inside my apartment.
“I love the Christmas decorations,” he said.
“I couldn’t help myself. The holiday season has always been my favorite time of the year.” I walked over to the kitchen table and hung my bag on the back of one of the chairs. “Do you want to shower first or should I go ahead?”
He smiled. “How about we shower together?”
I cocked my head to the side and said, “I see what’s happening here.”
“What?” he asked, innocently.
“You ask me to go jogging so we can get all sweaty and then conveniently have to come back here for a shower.”
He laughed. “I swear I did not plan that far ahead. But I can’t deny that I’ve been thinking about our night together quite a bit.”
I couldn’t either, which was why I reached for his hand and pulled him behind me heading toward the bathroom. As he peeled his clothes off, I got the water up to the right temperature. He got in first. Once my clothes were off I followed.
We mostly behaved ourselves in the shower, but after drying off, Eric pulled me closer. We kissed and the next thing I knew, our towels were on the floor. We tumbled onto my bed. His lips and hands were everywhere. Every touch, every kiss turning me on more than the one before it.
After, we lay in each other’s arms. Eric brushed the tips of his fingers over my abdomen. “I was hungry before,” he said, “but now I’m starving.”
“There’s a good Thai place just a few blocks away.”
“I love Thai,” he said, sitting up.
I pulled out some clean clothes from my dresser while Eric changed into the clothes he’d stashed in the gym bag he’d brought inside with him. Then I drove us to Saladang Garden, a trendy Thai restaurant not far from where I lived, for lunch. I asked him about his Christmas plans and he groaned about having to work Christmas Eve. So much for the perfect holiday I’d envisioned. With him working Christmas Eve and me working Christmas Day we wouldn’t get to see each other at all. At least we still had New Year’s Eve. I waited for him to ask me if I had any plans, but he didn’t. I reminded myself that Eric was more of a spur of the moment kind of guy.
After we finished eating I drove Eric back to my apartment where he gave me a quick kiss goodbye and promised to call soon. As he drove away I couldn’t help but smile.
A few days later, as I pulled into a parking spot in the employee lot of Los Angeles Metropolitan Hospital—or Metro, as most people referred to it—I pushed away my concern that Eric hadn’t called like he’d said he would. I liked that he wasn’t super intense and all over me the way Nick had been. Back then I’d thought it was romantic, but I’d come to learn how foolish I was.
Eric and Nick were different in other ways, too. For one thing, Eric worked a lot. In addition to Metro, he put in shifts at a trauma center in Northridge. Like most ER doctors he was an adrenaline junkie, and often talked about the cases he saw there, which were far more dramatic than what we saw in our smaller, acute care hospital. I had no desire to work in a place like that, though. Despite Metro’s smaller size, we saw plenty of crazy on a daily basis, and it was enough for me.
Even though it was barely after six-thirty in the morning, the waiting room was full. I held in a groan, disappointed because I’d hoped for a slower start to my day so I could catch my breath and sort through all the thoughts running through my head before diving into patient care.
After clocking in and clipping my badge that read “Dawn Masters, RN” to my navy-blue scrubs, I joined the rest of the crew gathered around the nurses’ station for the change-of-shift report. Paying attention proved hard because I kept glancing out of the corner of my eye, wondering if Eric would show up.
By a few minutes after seven, it became obvious he was not on duty. Half of me felt disappointed, the other relieved. While I really wanted to see him again, I also worried about how awkward it might be.
Once report was over, I hurried over to the bedside of my first patient, an elderly woman with abdominal pain who, according to her, had been begging for more pain medicine for over an hour. Unfortunately, without a doctor’s order, I couldn’t do much to help, so I went to go find Dr. Kaplan, since his initials were beside her name on the electronic medical record system our hospital used. On my way back from talking to him, I bumped into Tracey.
“Hey, girl,” she said.
I frowned. “You do know I’m still mad at you for ditching me at the Christmas party, right?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, smiling, which, knowing her, meant that whoever she’d ditched me for must’ve been worth it. At least in her mind. “But in my defense I did text you first, and I was sure you wouldn’t have any problem finding someone else to drive you home, otherwise I swear I would’ve stayed.”
With the day being as busy as it was, I didn’t have time to keep talking to her. We didn’t get another chance to speak until we both went on break a few hours later.
“So who did wind up driving you home?” she asked as I reheated my half-empty cup of coffee in the microwave.
“Eric.” I took a sip of my coffee, hoping my voice didn’t betray me.
Her eyes widened. “Really? How did that go?”
I shrugged. “Fine.”
“Fine? Just fine?” she said. “I heard that he and his girlfriend broke up a few weeks ago. So now is your chance to get with him before some other girl beats you to it.”
“How do you know these things?”
She smiled. “I have my ways.”
“Well then, since you know so much, why did they break up?”
“Something about her wanting to have fun instead of being tied down now that she’s in LA.”
I vaguely remembered what Eric’s ex-girlfriend looked like. I’d only seen her once, and I didn’t know much about her other than she was unnaturally thin, had blonde hair and salon-tanned skin. Even though she looked like a Los Angeles native, I remembered Eric mentioning once that she was actually from some small town in Nebraska.
I smiled but tried to cover it by taking another sip of my coffee.
Tracey must’ve noticed because she narrowed her eyes at me. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“No, there’s not.” Since I’d last seen her, she’d gotten her blonde hair cut into a trendy shoulder-length style. “Nice haircut, by the way,” I said, trying to change the subject.
“You can’t fool me, Dawn. I know you better than that.”
Tracey and I had gone to nursing school together, so she wasn’t wrong about knowing me well. She was a good friend and the only co-worker I trusted to keep a secret. If I told her about Eric, I knew she would keep it to herself, and I really was bursting to share my news with someone.
“Okay, okay. I slept with him,” I said, smiling at her surprised reaction. “Are you happy?”
“Um, yeah. Hell yeah,” she said, sounding like a giddy teenager. “So, how was it?”
I rolled my eyes. “I am not answering that question.”
“I can’t believe you actually slept with him—that is so not like you.”
“I’m blaming the mojitos,” I said, although I probably would’ve slept with him even if I hadn’t been tipsy. I’d wanted him more than I cared to admit to myself.
“So what now? Are you guys going to be seeing each other or was it just a one-time thing?”
“We’re sort of seeing each other.”
Tracey frowned. “What does that mean?”
“We went for a run and had lunch the other day.”
“That definitely sounds like dating to me,” Tracey said. “I’m glad you’re finally putting yourself out there.”
“We’re taking things slow.”
“Slow? You already slept with him. That doesn’t sound very slow to me.”
“I know, but that was just because we got caught up in the heat of the moment,” I explained, knowing how feeble my reasoning sounded.
Tracey smiled. “I’ve definitely been there before.”
“Neither of us wants anyone knowing that we’re seeing each other, so you have to promise not to say anything to anyone.”
“Of course I won’t.”
~
Another two days passed without a word from Eric. It had been almost a week since I’d last seen him, and I couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. I’d called him twice and even left a message, but it went unanswered.
We worked together so there was no way he could avoid me forever. By the time I finally did see him again, when we had an overlapping shift at the hospital a few days later, I was so annoyed by the way he’d been brushing me off that I could hardly think straight.
For twelve long hours, I kept waiting for Eric to talk to me and explain why he hadn’t returned my call or at least acknowledged that he'd received my message, but the only words we exchanged were related to patient care.
At the end of my shift, I went to look for him in the office the doctors and mid-level providers use to dictate their notes. I found him sitting in front of a computer. Thankfully, no one else was in there with him.
“Can I talk to you?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said, looking up from his computer. “But does it have to be now? I’m in the middle of dictating.”