Instead of communicating concerns, he’d pushed her to get married, somehow thinking a ring would be the glue that held them together. He’d ignored the hard signs of trouble, how her eyes constantly drifted to other men, how she never wanted him to touch her, how she had zero interest in planning their wedding. She’d wanted the world and he’d been working as hard as he could to try and give her those dreams.
Looking back, he could pinpoint his being matched to the residency program in Nashville as the final straw for her. That notification had come in the week before their planned nuptials and she’d actually cried. For the first time in a while, Jessie had shown emotion. She’d wanted him to request a different residency program. Preferably something on a beach, she’d begged, but anything that got them out of Tennessee. The signs had all been there. He’d just been too stubborn to see them.
A poke to the belly brought his focus back to the present and the woman standing in front of him. “Well, where’s your tree? We’ll put it up.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and winced as he said, “I don’t have one.”
At her gasp of horror, he struggled to hide a smile. Maybe celebrating Christmas again wouldn’t be so bad if it meant getting a reaction out of Lena. Her face was so expressive that he wanted to keep pushing her, to see if her eyes sparkled with anger like they did with amusement.
“We will just have to go out and buy you one. Where are your shoes?”
“Tonight we are wrapping presents, right? We won’t have time to do that and go get a tree and decorate it. I have to be at the hospital at five in the morning for back-to-back surgeries, so I need to get some sleep at least.”
Although she wrinkled her nose, and he could tell she wanted to protest, she finally agreed. “I want it noted, though, that wrapping presents without the presence of a decorated tree might be against the rules of Christmas.”
“There are no rules to Christmas.”
“Of course there are rules to Christmas.” She rolled her eyes. Pulling her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans, she pulled up a music streaming app. When a Christmas carol blared out of the device’s tiny speakers, she sat the phone on the table next to the ribbons. “Like, you have to play Christmas music while you decorate. Also when gifts are being wrapped. Preferably with eggnog?”
He shook his head. “No eggnog either.”
“You have to have eggnog.” She strode into the kitchen and flung the refrigerator open. The sigh she released as she stood in front of his open refrigerator sounded frustrated. “Not even boiled custard? You really are the Grinch in human form.”
“You know the Grinch didn’t actually hate Christmas?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Lena faced him down, clearly ready to hand him his opinions chopped on a platter. “How can you even argue that?”
The fire in her eyes made him want to get to know her more. Her spirited responses intrigued him in a way no woman ever had. It made him want to piss her off just to see her reaction.
“He didn’t care about Christmas until the singing disturbed his peace. He just wanted to make the noise stop.” Dex shrugged, knowing the casual reply would get her worked up. “I kinda relate to the guy. I used to have this nice, peaceful life where I went to work and came home to the serenity of this house, but then this adorable sexy nurse started ordering me around, and before I even knew it had happened, she replaced my quiet with Christmas carols and the crinkle of ribbons.”
“Are you calling me bossy?”
With as much innocence as he could muster, Dex said, “I was just telling a story. What meaning you derived from it is entirely on you.”
“You are calling me bossy!” She stepped up to him and poked him right in the chest. Hard. “I am not bossy.”
He laughed, resisting the urge to rub the spot on his chest where she’d just poked him so hard he might have a bruised lung. “Says the woman who barged into my house carrying her body weight in gift wrap while telling me exactly how we are going to spend my night off.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “We talked about—”
She broke off with a squeak when he threw her over his shoulder and carried her back into the living room, where Christmas carols still played from her phone.
“Dexter Henry, you put me down this instant!”
“If we are going to wrap gifts, let’s get to it.” With a smirk, he set her back on her feet. He faked a bow. “Where do we begin, Taskmaster?”
Grabbing one of the shopping bags sitting by his fireplace, she shoved it against his chest. Anger sparkled in her eyes like he’d hoped it would. His plan was working out just as he’d hoped.
“Start with this one. It’s small. Surely you can handle wrapping it.”
Again, he laid on the innocent act, nice and thick. “But that’s my gift to you. You’re not meant to see it until Christmas.”
All of the irritation drained from her face. With eyes wide, she stared up at him. “What?”
“You heard me.” He flashed her a shy sort of smile when he saw how much the wholesomeness was getting to her. “I can’t wrap your gift in front of you.”
“When did you...?” She trailed off, eyes filled with wonder that had him curious about when she last had an unexpected gift. “Why would you...?”
“After you left me at the mall, and because you are my girlfriend.”
“Fake girlfriend,” she corrected.
Shrugging his shoulders, he said softly, “I can’t take you home as my girlfriend and not have a gift for you to put under the tree. As you said about your family, my family will also have certain expectations, and believe me, it will not end well for me if I don’t put something under the tree for you.”
Her eyes were bright and she blinked rapidly as if blinking away unshed tears. “I didn’t think to get you anything.”
“Then it’s a good thing you have a few days before we leave,” he teased, trying to lighten the mood. Had he taken things too far with teasing her?
* * *
When she didn’t smile back, Dex took her hand in his. His touch was warm and welcoming and a million other little things that she should not be thinking of about a man only meant to be her fake boyfriend for a few short weeks. The logical plan would be they’d get through the next few weeks without either of them doing something stupid like falling for the other.
But nothing about the way she felt in that moment was logical.
Her heart beat faster as Dex tugged her closer. The skin-to-skin contact should have been nothing. They were barely holding hands. Should have been... From this close, she got a nice view of the jagged little scar on his chin that she’d always thought was a natural cleft. She wanted to kiss it and—
Oh, no.
Her lips could not meet any part of Dex’s body, not even the scarred cleft in his chin. Swallowing hard, she took a giant step back from him. Hopefully with some physical distance between them she could get herself under control.
“You know what? I bought myself a new sweater that still has the tags on it,” he said. “We can wrap that up as your gift to me. You’ll even know that I’ll like it and that it fits because I picked it out myself.”
Being near him made her crazy. If she wasn’t wanting to throw herself at him, she wanted to cry at his thoughtfulness.
This man... He had bought her a gift. Maybe it was part of the ruse to fool his parents, but she couldn’t help but be touched by the gesture. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she should get him something. And now he added an offer to let her wrap something he’d bought for himself? She wasn’t quite sure how to handle that, but one thing for sure was that she couldn’t accept that last offer.
“I can’t give you a gift you bought yourself after you bought me something. What sort of price range am I spending?” She fought back a sniff. His considerate nature brought her nearly to tears.
“You really don’t have to get me anything.”
The last dregs of tears dried up with the frustration his non-answer had sparked. She was sprinting through all the emotions tonight. All of them. For so long, she’d refused to allow herself any sentimentality. She kept people—men especially—at arm’s length, afraid she’d end up hurt again, but somehow Dex dug his way under her skin and seemed determined to drown her in her own pent-up emotions.
“What price range?” she repeated through clenched teeth.
A weighted silence settled over them, thick and palpable in the room. Their eyes met and the air between them charged with an invisible battle of wills as Lena and Dex sized each other up.
After a few long seconds, Dex broke the stare and Lena did a little internal dance at the win. Dex exhaled his resignation.
“I spent about a hundred bucks on yours. But don’t feel obligated to spend that much on me. I know I make significantly more than you, plus you just paid for a cross-country move and a new place.”
Dex had no idea that she’d inherited more money than she’d ever spend from her maternal grandfather. She hadn’t even heard the words “trust fund” since moving to Tennessee. One of the upsides to living in Nashville, really. She nearly snorted at his concern for her financial status, but stopped it at the last second. The fewer people in Tennessee who knew about her trust fund, the better.
“You want to put this one up to wrap later, then?” She held the small bag out to him with the slightest shake. Lightweight. And it didn’t have a noticeable rattle or rustle other than the crinkle of the nondescript white paper bag. It didn’t even have a logo on it to identify what store it came from. Curiosity piqued, she tried to run options through her mind as to what the little bag might contain. When he reached for it, she pulled it back out of his reach. “Or maybe I should just take a little peek?”
“Or maybe you should hand it over before I have to take it from you?”
Laughter bubbled out of her at the mischief shining in his eyes. “If you think you are man enough, come get it.”
“Is that a dare? You’re gonna regret that.” Dex grabbed up the spools of ribbon and started pelting her with them.
“Oh, you are going to get it now!” she squealed. The decorative onslaught sparked a war of competitiveness within her. He was going down! Snatching up a roll of wrapping paper, she swung it into his side like a bat. The paper made a lot of noise as it crumpled against his side. “Ha!”
Faster than she could blink, Dex seized the improvised weapon in her hand and pulled her in closer to him. His deep, delicious laughter sent her heart on a jog as he tugged her closer.
And closer.
Dex held tight to the now bent wrapping paper roll with one hand and used the other to brush her hair away from her face. Tucking a lock behind her ear, he cupped her face with his hand.
Lena leaned into his touch. The subtle scent of his cologne wafted over her, its notes reminiscent of the ocean and fresh air. Her eyes fluttered closed as she anticipated his lips on hers.
But then he moved away.
She opened her eyes in confusion.
Dex took another step back, wagging the shopping bag holding her gift back and forth in front of her. He kept walking backward through the open doorway, a wide grin on his face. “I’m going to put this in the bedroom for safekeeping.”
“Well played,” she grudgingly admitted when he returned. Making her forget she held her own gift took some skill. She’d been too focused on that almost-kiss to notice his actions. The sneak had lifted it right from her distracted and unsuspecting fingers. “I admit defeat. You win that round.”
“This is all crinkled up now,” he said, picking up the roll of wrapping paper they’d fought over. The red paper was bent nearly in half with creases and wrinkles radiating out from where it had impacted against his body. “I think we need to use this for my brothers’ gifts. They won’t appreciate pretty paper anyway.”
She scoffed. “We can’t use wrinkled paper. That’s trash now.”
“Another Christmas rule?” His brow raised.
“Of course.” She gathered up the undamaged supplies and sat down on the floor to get started. Not a single gift had been wrapped. They really needed to get to work if they were going to get everything wrapped in a single evening.
He sat next to her and reached for the pack of bows. “How about you wrap and I’ll decorate?”
“I don’t think so, Doc. That’s not an equal division of labor,” she protested as she watched him open the package. “We aren’t ready for those yet.”
“Shh...” He leaned over and stuck one of the bows to the top of her head. “I’m wrapping my own present.”
“Dex.” Her heart barrel-rolled in her chest as the implication of his words crashed hard over her.
“I keep trying to ignore the chemistry between us, but it’s hard to do.”
Oh, they had chemistry all right. Enough chemistry for six couples and then some, but that didn’t mean starting something up would be a good idea. Just chemistry alone wasn’t enough to risk a relationship on. Not in her opinion, anyway.
“A meth lab has real chemistry, but it’s still hazardous to my health.”
Dex’s laughter was a laughter that she felt in her own lungs, so deep and joyful that it took her breath away. It erased the concerns and worries she’d had a minute ago and replaced them with a hope that somehow this wouldn’t end badly.
“You are a stubborn woman, you know that, Lena Franklin?”
“Says the player who is hitting on me.” A giggle rose up and turned into a snort, causing Lena to flush with embarrassment. She dearly loved to laugh, but hated the sounds she made when she did. She argued back, playfully, “It’s a lost cause. I’ll have you know I have a boyfriend.”
“An imaginary one.”
“You are not imaginary.” Lena laughed until her sides hurt. She had to swipe at a tear trekking down her cheek. “But that’s beside the point. I’m not interested in guys who change girls more than I change my scrubs.”
“Fair enough. I’ll give you that one.” He leaned back against the couch, his pose deceivingly relaxed for someone who’d just been shot down hard. “So, what’s your story? Who hurt you, Lena? I’m hoping that I’m wrong, but if I was a betting man, I’d put money down that some idiot male screwed up so badly it sent you running across the country to get away from him.”
Was she that obvious? Somehow, she’d hoped that her secrets wouldn’t follow her, but it didn’t seem like she’d been that lucky. Telling Dex about Connor and how much he’d deceived her, how gullible and naive she’d been in the search for love, was too much to bear, though.
She tried to change the subject back to something lighter. “I’m going to make you wrap your own presents if you don’t behave.”
Dex reached over and took her hand in his. Bending his head, Dex brushed his lips against the back of her wrist, his lips soft and warm against her skin. “I already wrapped the only thing I want.”
He stared at her for a moment. The heat radiating up her arm from his touch made her think about things she couldn’t have. Things she wouldn’t let herself have. Lena swallowed hard. “We should get these presents wrapped.”
Coming here tonight might have been a mistake. They’d had such a good time shopping together and she’d learned so much about him in that single day that she’d thought spending more time together would make things easier. But the attraction between them kept things from getting easier. In fact, being near him without giving in to the physical need his touch inspired within her was far harder than she’d anticipated.
“Okay.” With one last swipe of his lips over the bare skin of her wrist, Dex released her hand. His intense gaze delved straight into her soul as he said, “I’ll back off. For now. What do you want to wrap first?”
&n
bsp; CHAPTER SEVEN
IN THE DAYS since their wrapping paper adventure, something had changed between them. Dex just couldn’t put his finger on exactly what. A good change, though, he thought. Lena was relaxing her guard around him, ever so slowly, and opening up with bits and pieces about her past. But whenever he made a move physically, the walls came slamming back into place. Slow and steady was going to be the name of the game with her. He had to ease into this so as not to spook her.
Lena had been all smiles when he’d picked her up for the drive up to Westfield. Her suitcase was nestled in the back of his SUV between his own luggage and the brightly wrapped Christmas presents for his family. Her smile of satisfaction at seeing all the gifts piled in there when he’d put her luggage in had made fiddling with all that ribbon worth it.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Lena asked, tapping him on the arm.
“Just thinking of the other night and how much I enjoyed spending the evening with you.”
The colorful paper had been all Lena’s idea, but the memory of the evening they spent with rolls of shiny colored paper, curls of ribbon and togetherness would forever be a happy one for him. He hadn’t laughed that much in a long time. And Lena softening up to him was a major bonus.
“How can such a gifted surgeon not manage basic gift-wrapping?” She shook her head. Exasperated disbelief filled her voice. “You are hopeless, you know.”
“I missed that skills lab,” he deadpanned.
The little joke made her laugh. The sound of her laughter was quickly becoming an addiction for him. The more he heard those happy noises, the more he wanted to hear them. She’d told him how she hated her laugh, but for him, it was bright and cheerful, like the mountains around his home covered with fresh snow. There was an imperfect perfection to it and he couldn’t get enough.
A Nurse, a Surgeon, a Christmas Engagement Page 7