A Nurse, a Surgeon, a Christmas Engagement

by Allie Kincheloe

  Dex groaned and stepped back. “Way to kill the mood, Lena.”

  The mood had not been killed for her. But she was trying her best to murder it because Dexter Henry was a temptation she no longer wanted to resist.

  No!

  She had to resist. This relationship was meant to be fake. Falling into anything with Dex would only lead to heartache. No lust, no beds, and definitely no love.

  She climbed into the SUV and leaned her head back into the seat. This thing was spiraling out of her control and she had no idea how to stop it now. She had to remind him that this was fake and she had to keep her distance. Simple as that.

  A moment later, Dex was in the driver’s seat next to her and they were back on the interstate heading to his hometown. Dex remained quiet as he maneuvered the SUV through the holiday traffic.

  As the mile markers flew past, Lena tried to pull herself together. She just needed to get through the next two weeks and then they’d be back in Nashville, back to their normal lives, where they could go back to only seeing each other at the hospital and only talking about patients. That had always been the plan. A few kisses didn’t change that.

  Kissing Dex was definitely at the top of things that she should have never done, but couldn’t bring herself to regret. She’d moved to Tennessee for a fresh start, though, and she wasn’t going to mess that up because of a surgeon with enough passion in his kiss to make her knees weak. She just needed to make it through the holidays without falling for Dex.

  Even if that seemed like an impossible task at the moment.

  “We’re here.” Dex pulled to a stop in front of his parents’ house just before midnight. Christmas lights and decor covered the log cabin that nestled into the edge of the forest. The eaves were outlined in colorful lights, while white lights outlined the shape of reindeer and a sleigh next to the sidewalk. The holiday adornment gave it a very festive feel.

  As they walked up the sidewalk to the front door, she grabbed his hand and tugged him to a stop. The need to put them back on level ground overwhelmed her. “Despite how intense those kisses were, we need to remember that this is fake.”

  “Is it though?” His thumb rubbed temptingly along the back of her hand.

  “It has to be,” she said with a conviction she didn’t quite feel anymore. “We can’t get too carried away and forget that this is all for show.”

  His stare sliced straight to her soul. The hint of a grin on his lips said he didn’t believe her. “If you say so.”

  “I do.” She’d told him how things needed to be. She’d just keep her distance as much as possible and that way she’d be sure to get through this unscathed. Lena told herself these things even if she wasn’t quite sure that she even believed them.

  When the door opened, she came face-to-face with Dex’s mother for the first time. Lena put a smile on her lips as they reached the top of the steps. She could only hope her smile didn’t look as fake as she felt.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “DEXTER, GET OVER HERE!”

  “Hey, Mama,” Dex said, dropping his suitcase as soon as he reached the porch so that he could give his mom a hug. “What are you still doing up? We could have let ourselves in.”

  “Oh, you know I couldn’t sleep ’til I knew you were home safe.”

  When his mom pulled him into a warm hug, his guilt spiked. He had to spend the next week lying to his parents. As much as he’d wanted to see his parents, he’d been hoping that their late arrival would buy him a few more hours free of lying. He’d even briefly entertained the thought of faking an emergency and heading back to Nashville before his parents woke up in the morning, of letting them see Lena for only a moment before disappearing back to Nashville with her and making an excuse for why she didn’t make it back for the wedding.

  “Where on earth is your coat? It’s freezing out here.” His mom released her hold on him enough to back up to arm’s length. She held on to his biceps and looked him over critically. He could almost see the calculations in her mind as she examined him. “Are you eating enough? You look too skinny.”

  Lena laughed from beside him and he caught the note of disbelief. With a single brow raised, he glanced over at her in question.

  She brushed his question off with a wave of her hand. “It’s nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing. I heard that tone.”

  Rolling her eyes at him, she said, “Laughs don’t have tones, Dex.”

  “Yours do,” he argued.

  Lena sighed, but her jaw wasn’t set in stubborn refusal. If he had to put an emotion on her expression, he’d say she was a little sad.

  “It’s just... Well, your mom worries that you are too skinny. Next week mine will be lecturing me about how I need to watch my waistline and insisting that I must be eating too much. She’ll probably even suggest I go in for a consult about liposuction.”

  “Hmmph.” His mom reached out and pulled Lena toward her. “Come over here in the light where I can see you better.” Mrs. Henry clicked her tongue, her head shaking as she did. “Why, you aren’t as big as a minute, and if your mama can’t see how beautiful you are then she needs to get her eyes checked.”

  Lena’s shocked expression made his heart hurt. She seemed genuinely surprised that his mom thought she was beautiful. He didn’t think she had a clue just how gorgeous she was. If only she could see herself the way he saw her.

  His mom put her arm around Lena and ushered her toward the door. “Now you two get in here out of the cold before you freeze solid and I turn you into lawn ornaments for the rest of the winter. I made some chili earlier and I can heat you some right up.” She looked over her shoulder at him, concern darkening her eyes. “You need something warm in you after being out in that cold, and without a coat. For such a smart boy, I wonder about your common sense some days, Dexter. You’re gonna catch your death being out in this wind without even a sweater on.”

  Like most of the single-family homes in Westfield and the greater Gatlinburg area, his parents’ home was a rustic log cabin. Even the interior was filled with dark wood, from the walls down to the hardwood floors. Being more at home on a hiking trail than in a fancy restaurant meant that his mom didn’t care for frills and lace, though. No, her style was more handmade quilts, cozy plaids and soft blankets. This house he’d grown up in was a cozy family home, but it wouldn’t win any decorating awards. Dex was sure it wasn’t what Lena was used to, but hopefully she’d feel at home here.

  “Wow,” Lena said as she took her coat off in the living room. She spun in a slow circle and looked around. “This place is amazing. It reminds me of a cabin we rented in Aspen one year when my parents wanted to ski for Christmas, but with far less dead animals hanging on the walls. Thankfully. All those eyes staring down at you is creepy.”

  His mom reached out and squeezed Lena’s hand in commiseration. “Oh, I’m right there with you on that, honey, and I promise you, there are none of God’s creatures preserved in an unnatural state under this roof. Not while I’m alive. Let me get you all that chili.”

  “You ski?” Dex asked Lena while his mom walked away. Lena didn’t seem like the skiing type to him, so hearing that she’d spent a Christmas on the slopes in Aspen was a surprise.

  “Not at all.” Lena shook her head and gave a little laugh, almost a snort. “They spent the week on the slopes. My much older nanny hated the cold, however, so she and I spent a lot of time at the clubhouse having hot chocolate and working jigsaw puzzles.”

  Even though she laughed, it sounded forced and pain laced her words. It gave him more insight into her relationship with her parents and helped explain why they weren’t close. What sort of parents ditched their only child at Christmas? His heart hurt as he envisioned a tiny Lena hanging out at the clubhouse with an old lady, her face pressed against the window watching while the other kids were out on the slopes with their parents, or worse,
watching her parents ski away without a backward glance.

  “Was that a typical Christmas for you then?” he asked, taking her hand and pulling her over to the couch.

  She sank down next to him, leaning into his side, and he felt more than heard the sadness in her exhalation. “Being alone with the nanny somewhere adjacent to where my parents did something fun? Yes, that was a traditional Christmas for us. I’d be decked out in a fancy dress and paraded out whenever they wanted to prove they were parents. Sometimes I’d be forced to perform for them and their friends. But otherwise they did their thing while I stayed behind with the nanny.”

  Dex swallowed hard. “Perform?” he asked hesitantly. Given that she was finally opening up, he didn’t want her to shut down again.

  “Piano, sing, one year they put me in tap dance lessons before they realized I was far too clumsy to ever succeed at that.” She smiled at him, a pitiful little grimace, really, that didn’t reach her eyes. “It nearly turned me off Christmas entirely.”

  He gaped at her, dumbfounded. “You love Christmas so much, though.”

  “Now I do.” Lena shrugged and pulled one of the throw pillows into her lap. She fidgeted with the decorative trim around its edge. “Our house never decorated for Christmas when I was growing up because it wasn’t like we were going to be home, so when I moved out on my own, the first year I went all out as a bit of rebellion, but then... Then going all out for Christmas became my tradition, ya know? Even if I’m alone, it’s something that no one can take from me. While a lot of things are more fun with someone else, it’s still nice to decorate a tree, or build a gingerbread house, or go look at Christmas lights.”

  It hadn’t taken him long to realize that Lena isolated herself because connecting with people scared her. She wasn’t really antisocial; she was anti getting hurt. And who could blame her for that after the upbringing she’d had? Everything he learned about her past made him think that her icy exterior was a veneer designed to protect her from the pain of involvement. He saw it in the hot-cold way she reacted to him. She warmed up until she realized how much she was letting him in, and then she took a step back to put that distance between them that would protect her heart.

  Maybe he recognized it so easily because in a lot of ways he was just like her. He hadn’t retreated within himself to the extent Lena had, but he guarded his emotional interactions with others and didn’t freely allow people close because he knew what it felt like to have his heart shattered until he didn’t recognize himself anymore. He knew the pain of loss.

  But Lena had such a caring heart and truly beautiful soul that he hated to see her withdrawing from everyone like she had.

  Squeezing her tight, Dex pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “New rule of Christmas, no more spending it alone.”

  Lena swiped at a tear trailing down her cheek, but she smiled at him through her tears. “You said there were no rules to Christmas.”

  He rubbed his thumb over the errant tear she’d missed. “Your rules are growing on me.”

  * * *

  With Dex so close, still cupping her cheek gently, his hand warm and perfect against her skin, Lena did the only thing she could do. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Unlike the kisses at the rest stop that were hungry and carried a sort of desperation, this kiss was gentle and comforting.

  His lips moved over hers slowly, sensually. Each movement a caress. His thumb grazed her cheekbone as he moved it over her skin, mimicking the movements of his lips.

  Lena sighed as she relaxed into his embrace.

  A throat clearing in the doorway pulled them apart and Lena’s cheeks heated. She pressed her face into Dex’s shoulder, feeling like she could die of embarrassment, while he merely laughed.

  “It’s not funny,” she whispered, which only seemed to make him laugh harder. “What’s your mom going to think of me?”

  His mom hadn’t been gone but long enough to heat up a couple bowls of chili and came back to them practically all over each other. They weren’t setting themselves up for his mom to like her at all.

  With her embarrassment now complete, Lena smiled shyly over at Dex’s mom. “Hello,” she said, without knowing what else to say.

  This is going well, she thought sarcastically.

  “I brought the two of you some chili. The corn bread’s gone, but I have some saltines that’ll be near as good.” Dex’s mother set a loaded silver tray on the coffee table in front of them. She raised a brow at Dex in censure. “I didn’t expect to find the two of you making out like teenagers when I came back.”

  Lena cringed. Exactly what she’d been afraid of...his mom hated her and they hadn’t been here an hour. Less than an hour had to be a new record.

  Dex handled his mother in a way Lena would never have attempted—with a joke. “Well, you did say for me to come inside and warm up. What better way is there to warm up than in the arms of a beautiful woman?”

  “Mmm-hmm...” Mrs. Henry shook her head at them, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. “Eat your chili while its hot. Dexter, you know where to find your room. The two of you keep it down, though. Your aunt Peggy is asleep in Tommy’s room next door. And if your brother gets too loud with those video games, you remind him I said he better not wake anyone up cussing at some cartoon man on the television just because the poor thing ran off a cliff like he was told.”

  Lena suppressed a snicker. She doubted either of Dex’s brothers played any sort of game that involved running a cartoon character off a cliff. Not at their ages.

  Then a stressful realization dawned on her. His mother had implied they were sharing a room. That was not in the plans.

  Not at all.

  She couldn’t share a room—or a bed—with Dex. She swallowed hard. She just couldn’t. Not if she wanted to make it through this unscathed. He’d assured her there was no need for a hotel room because his parents had a spare room. Had he planned this all along?

  Whispering to Dex, Lena asked, “I don’t suppose your room has two beds in it, does it?”

  He gave his head one swift shake in the negative.

  “Eat now.” His mother tapped on the tray. “I’m going to bed and will see the two of you in the morning. That’s soon enough for me to get to know this lovely girl you’ve brought home.” She stood and rounded the couch to stand behind them. She enclosed them both in a loose hug, kissing Dex on the top of the head. “Don’t stay up too late.”

  Lena watched as the older woman walked toward the back of the house. Lights flicked off until they were left in only the light of a lamp next to the couch and the light above the stairs across from them.

  “I had no idea Aunt Peggy would be here or I’d have rented us a place nearby. There aren’t any hotels in Westfield, but there are quite a few rental cabins. The last I’d heard, Aunt Peggy wasn’t coming in for the wedding.” Dex leaned forward and grabbed his bowl of chili. “I’ll sleep down here on the couch. It’ll be fine for tonight and we will see tomorrow about getting a rental for the rest of the week.”

  “What will your mom say?”

  “Probably think we had a fight after she went to bed.” Dex shrugged. “And she’ll probably get her feelings hurt by us getting a rental, but she’ll get over it. Eventually.”

  Lena closed her eyes and tried to wrap her mind around what the best course of action would be. If he slept down here, that left her sleeping in his bed alone. And the idea of upsetting his mother did not sit well with her. “I don’t want her to think we are fighting, especially not on the first day we’re here. And how would it look if we had a fight just minutes after she walked in on us kissing?”

  “It would make us breaking up next month more realistic.” Lifting one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, Dex added, “Besides that, our options are pretty limited. I either sleep down here or I sleep with you.”

  “I guess you are slee
ping with me tonight, then. It doesn’t feel right to take your bed and kick you to the couch.”

  “I’d be more than happy to share a bed with you, Lena.”

  The passion behind those words made it far more than a simple tease. Ducking her head to hide the blush she felt creeping up her cheeks, Lena tried to put the idea of sharing a bed out of her mind and focused her thoughts instead on what he said about a fight making their breakup more realistic.

  “We can stage a fight later this week, maybe. I don’t want her thinking I’m totally wrong for you from day one and making the entire week miserable and tense. We’ll have enough of that with my family, trust me.”

  “You don’t want her to think you don’t like her chili either.” He waved his spoon at her bowl still sitting on the tray untouched. “Eat.”

  Lena picked up the bowl of chili. Steam no longer rose from the surface, but warmth flooded her fingers from the heated stoneware. The heady aroma of peppers and spices wafted up from the surface. “It smells good.”

  “Tastes even better.”

  She dipped her spoon in and hazarded a taste. “Ooh, that’s spicy.” She blinked rapidly as her eyes began watering. Wow. It was hotter than she’d expected.

  “It’s character-building. Put some crackers in it. That’ll tone it down, city girl.”

  Lena dipped the saltine in the spicy chili and had to admit that Dex was right. The cracker calmed the heat down enough that she could tolerate it.

  “What does me being a city girl have to do with thinking this chili is too spicy?” she asked as she tried to let some of the heat dissipate off her tongue.

  Dex tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and smiled at her, the dim light of the room throwing part of his face into shadow and making it hard to read his expression. “Not a thing. But you told me I can’t call you honey anymore, so I’m trying to honor that.”

  “What’s wrong with my name?”