by Lacey Black
Carmen turns around quickly, and I don’t have time to avert my eyes. Yeah, my boss just busted me checking out her ass. Awesome.
“Ready?” she asks with the slightest raise of the corner of her mouth. Carmen reaches back into her coat pocket and removes a pair of earmuffs and a stethoscope. I grab my stocking cap, stethoscope, and identification then shut my locker. Carlos and Darin, the guys manning the other rig today, stroll into the employee lounge as Carmen and I are heading out. They manage a brief greeting to the boss, but give me a horrified look as soon as she’s out the door. A look that conveys their pity and dismay.
I give the guys a nod, grab my coffee, and head out the door after her. I catch up with Carmen in the main corridor of the emergency department, where a handful of nurses and a doctor are standing around, sharing stories of their evening activities. The day shift starts in fifteen minutes and the changeover will soon be getting underway, however no matter my start time, I’m always early. I’ve always been the first one on shift. I prefer to double check the restock of the rig myself, making sure that everything is in its place and ready to go.
As soon as changeover is complete, Carmen and I head out to the awaiting ambulance. “You driving or am I?” I ask before assuming what this woman will do.
“You drive,” she replies and hops into the passenger seat. The polyester material of her uniform pants stretches tautly over that beautiful ass of hers.
Damn.
As soon as I jump in the driver’s seat, I smell her, and it’s like fucking heaven. She’s not sweet or overly perfumed like so many other women I know. No, Carmen is musky with a hint of lavender. Her scent wraps around me like a warm blanket, choking the air out of my suddenly dry throat. Her entire being is teasing my senses in the most intoxicating way. And for some shameful reason, my pants are suddenly two sizes too small.
I pull my focus off of the woman sitting next to me as I steer the ambulance out of the bay and onto the street. The hospital is nestled on a quiet street close to the heart of town and is easily accessible from any direction.
Our first stop is the local gas station. We fill up the rig every morning, no matter what the gauge reads. It’s the best way to ensure that someone isn’t caught somewhere without fuel. It’s also a great time to fill up your morning coffee cup or grab something sweet. You never know when the next time you’ll be able to stop will be.
Carmen grabs my cup just as she hops out of the ambulance before I can even say anything. She hustles inside, shoulders hunched against the wind, while I go about loading up our ride with gasoline. I’m just topping off the tank when she returns carrying refills of both of our travel mugs, plus a bag with two bottles of water in it.
I hurry inside to finish the transaction for the gas. When I get inside and head towards the back coolers, I realize that Carmen has thrown off my morning routine. She’s already grabbed a bottle of water for me. I almost don’t know what to do with myself. After standing in the middle of the aisle like an idiot for a few seconds, I head up to the counter to sign the charge slip.
When I slip back inside the warm ambulance, Carmen is sipping her fresh coffee. “Everything okay?” she asks while I stare straight ahead.
“Yeah,” I reply, clearing my throat.
“I refilled your coffee and grabbed you a bottle of water. I wasn’t sure what you like to drink so I went with the safe bet,” she offers.
“Thanks,” I croak out over my dry throat.
The rest of the morning progresses somewhat quickly with a couple of calls. Carmen has taken two phone calls, but always has me pull over and excuses herself to step outside and take the calls in private. I’d be a liar if I said my curiosity wasn’t peeked. I can’t help but wonder who is calling her. She doesn’t wear a wedding band so it’s assumed that she’s not married. The running joke at work is that there isn’t a man out there willing to put up with her on a permanent basis.
It’s just after lunchtime when we finally decide to hit the local diner. We park the idling ambulance on the street out front and step inside for a quick bite. The diner is known for quick, delicious food, but they always make sure to provide speedy service to us when we arrive. You never know when your next call is going to be.
“Hey, sugar,” Jane says as we slide into an open booth. “Ice tea?” she asks as she deposits clean silverware and ice water in front of Carmen and me.
“Yes, please,” I reply.
“And what about you, dear?” Jane asks, turning her attention to my lunch companion.
“Ice tea is good. Thank you,” she says.
“Having your usual, Will?” Jane asks before offering Carmen the menu.
“You know it,” I reply as I take a healthy sip of my water.
“I’ll be back with your teas and give you a few minutes to check over the menu,” Jane offers before turning and retreating behind the counter.
“So, what is your usual?” Carmen asks from across the booth.
“Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy.”
“Oh, that sounds good. I’ll get that,” she says as she closes the menu and places it on the edge of the table.
Jane returns moments later with two large glasses of tea. “Have you decided?” she asks.
“Yeah, I’ll have what he’s having,” Carmen says.
“Coming right up,” Jane says, grabbing the menu, and returning to her perch behind the counter.
“She called you sugar,” Carmen says with a hesitant, but friendly smile.
The question takes me completely by surprise since Carmen seems to pride herself on remaining clinical and professional. “She’s a sweetheart. Jane is friends with my mom and has always had some nickname for me and my siblings,” I tell her as I stir just a little sugar into my tea.
“So you have a lot of siblings, then?” she asks curiously, though the look on her face says she’s not entirely comfortable with her own personal inquisition. She looks as comfortable as a hooker in church as she shifts from side to side in her booth seat.
“I have four. I’m the middle child,” I confirm.
“That’s nice,” she says politely.
Silence hangs between us like thick air. Part of me wants to dive into this woman and discover everything I can. Has she always been this cold and impersonal or was it something she developed somewhere along the way following some drastic turning point in her life? Does she come from a large family like my own or did she grow up with a smaller one? Does she prefer to be on top or bottom? Morning or evening?
My eyes widen at the sexual thoughts bouncing around in my brain. Inappropriate thoughts. “So, you’re filling in for Tim. When does he return to work?” I ask, steering the conversation to the only safe topic I can think of. Work.
“Not until the seventeenth. I figured out how to cover three of his five shifts, but I’m afraid I’ll have to work one more,” Carmen says.
“Which one?” I ask, thinking that maybe I could offer to pull a double or something so that someone else doesn’t have to deal with her.
“Day shift on Friday,” she says without looking up from the tea she’s holding.
Ahhhh. Now I see why she didn’t ask me to pull the extra shift. I’m already working that one.
Jane chooses that moment to deliver our plates and top off our glasses of tea. Carmen dives into her hotplate as if she hasn’t eaten all day. I cut a hearty bite of the gravy covered chicken fried steak and am about to take a bite when Carmen’s moan completely throws my world spinning into outer space. I look up, my shocked blue eyes locking solely on her wide brown ones.
“This is the best food I’ve ever had,” she mumbles with a mouthful.
I watch helplessly as she slowly chews, the delicate skin of her throat working to swallow. I clear the frog I suddenly have in my throat. Hell, it’s more like a whole slew of frogs. “Yeah, Jane’s husband, Craig, whips up a mean batch of chicken fried steak.”
“Seriously, I think I’ve died and gone t
o heaven,” she says while taking another bite of her food.
I have yet to eat, my appetite instantly vanishing. In its place is a new hunger I suddenly want to quench, and it has nothing to do with my lunch unless I’m licking my gravy off of her naked body. And that’s just a little weird. My fucking pants are so tight that I’m surprised I haven’t pass out from blood loss to the brain.
I clear my throat again and push my glasses up on my nose. It’s a subconscious thing that I barely realize I’m doing, and my brothers have always liked to tease me about it.
“So, can I ask you something, William?” Carmen asks.
“Sure,” I croak and take a big swig of ice tea.
“I notice you wear glasses sometimes, but not always. Are those readers or something?” Carmen asks casually.
“No, I have terrible eyes,” I say with a smile. “My brothers used to tease me that I was the mailman’s baby because I’m the only one in my family with glasses. Contacts just bother me more often than not, so I usually avoid them. Though, I will wear them more in the winter. There’s nothing worse than your glasses fogging up all the time for work. As much as we’re in and out of the heat and cold, it’s more of a nuisance than anything,” I say.
Carmen shakes her head in acknowledgement, a hint of a smile playing on the corner of her mouth. I’m slightly taken back by the ease of the way I was able to tell Carmen something personal. At this moment, she doesn’t seem to be as completely uncomfortable as she usually does in these situations. Carmen avoids personal. It’s written all over her face, in her body language. But, today she seems a little more receptive to my sharing. And if there’s one thing I’m used to with my big family, it’s sharing.
We finish lunch quickly in comfortable silence and head to the counter to pay. Part of me wants to offer to pay for her lunch, but I quickly squash that idea. This is not a date.
As we’re heading to the front door to leave, Carmen’s cell phone rings again. She quickly grabs it from her pocket and answers with the friendliest greeting I’ve ever heard spill from her lips. Her voice is soft with no edge, no underlying tone, no nothing. Just a friendly, happy greeting.
My gut tightens as an unfamiliar emotion courses through me. Jealousy? Couldn’t be, could it?
I watch helplessly as Carmen smiles at the person on the other end of the phone. I try to keep my distance, try to give her space to take her phone call, but my need for information is apparently bigger than my desire to stay away. I casually stroll just a little closer to where she’s standing next to the ambulance, with her back to me. Just one more step and I can almost hear the words she speaks. Voyeurism much? Avery would be proud.
The final three words she says feel like a knife through the chest - I love you. My head reels from the realization that Carmen is in a relationship. I take a step back just as she turns around to face me. Her smile is still in place, which makes her features light and casual. This is a side of Carmen anyone rarely sees, me included.
“Ready?” I ask, stuffing my bare hands into the front pockets of my uniform pants.
“Yes,” she says, looking down at the ground at my feet.
“Good phone call?” I ask without any control of the words. I can’t help it. I have to know.
Carmen’s words stumble slightly but just enough that I notice. “Yes,” she says with the slightest grin. I stare at her for a few more seconds before I decide to let the moment go. She’s obviously not going to fill in any gaps for me, and my mind is running rampant with visions of Carmen and some no-faced man. My gut drops down to my knees, and my head swims in a dizzying tidal wave of anxiety.
I don’t want to picture Carmen with another man.
Just as she’s about to step up into the awaiting ambulance, her boot slips on a piece of ice. Her leg starts to slip out from under her; her weight shifting and making her unbalanced. She makes a grab for the open passenger door of the ambulance, but the angle is wrong. I reach forward and grab her by the upper arm to keep her from going down. The momentum from my body pulling and Carmen’s body falling causes her to stumble uncontrollably backwards and straight into my chest. Her soft, feminine body slams into my much harder one. My other hand snakes around her lower back, only cementing the connection of our bodies. Her right hand grasps at my shoulder while her left hand reaches around my exposed neck. The touch is electric. Skin on skin. Like a rocket exploding from the belly of a jet. There’s nothing I can do to stop what’s coming but stand back and watch the detonation.
Wide, shocked brown eyes slam into me with so much force I almost stumble myself. Her mouth is open, her warm breath coming out in sweet, minty pants, hitting me square in the face. Her hand tightens around my neck as we both struggle to gain our equilibrium. Control. Anything.
The only thing I can find right now is desire. Fire blazes through my taut body, and I struggle to keep from leaning forward and kissing her. Just one little taste of those wet lips. My body is responding to her in a way it has never reacted before. Never have I felt so alive, so consumed with just the slightest touch.
I want more.
I need more.
I demand more as if my life depends on it.
Carmen breaks the spell we’ve been cast in, by looking towards the opening door of the diner. A couple walks out, giving us a curious look. We’re rooted to the sidewalk, smack dab in front of the diner at the end of a lunch rush, and we’re wrapped in each other’s arms. Fucking heaven and hell all wrapped up and tied together with a pretty little bow.
Carmen’s demeanor changes instantly. I feel her tense up, moments before she pulls back and steps out of my embrace. I let her go, but not by choice. By shear will, I drop my hands and allow her to step back and recover. Shit, I’m in need of my own form of recovery.
The woman across from me sucks in a deep, jagged breath. Her mouth moves, yet no words come out. She’s at a loss and you can tell it has completely knocked her for a loop. Hell, I’m at a loss…of her contact.
Carmen struggles to make eye contact. She adjusts her uniform top with shaky fingers and gingerly steps up into the cab of the rig. I give myself a few minutes in the cold, brisk air to calm my raging hormones before I follow suit and walk around to the driver’s side. A few deep breathes later, and I’m ready to be stuck inside of the confines of the moving vehicle with my boss for the rest of our shift.
I should be embarrassed that I almost kissed my boss on a busy sidewalk in downtown Rivers Edge, but I’m not. I should apologize for my behavior, but I won’t. I should jump out and run as far away from this woman as humanly possible, but I can’t.
And that’s the part that scares the shit out of me.
The next several hours of work are going to be hard - and I’m not talking about what’s going on in my pants. To sit close to her and know that there was that spark. To ignore the attraction that is consuming me. To fight the urge to not reach over and steal just one more little touch.
Several hours of work. One small ambulance. Two people who are practically ignoring each other. Raging, undeniable sexual attraction sucking the oxygen out of the vehicle.
Welcome to my own brand of hell.
*****
I pull in my parent’s driveway with no time to spare. Six o’clock. I carefully make my way up the front steps and instantly hear the sounds of my large family inside. Four months out of the year, Sunday is football day, and I can’t wait to catch the scores and highlights from today’s games.
I throw open the front door and am immediately assaulted by two things: the scent of my mom’s amazing cooking followed very quickly by my five-year-old niece, Bean.
“I was waiting for you, Uncle Will,” she exclaims as she jumps at me. I learned early on with this rambunctious little girl, to always be prepared for the physical assault. Though she means no harm, you never know when she’s coming and you always want to be prepared by keep your assets protected, if you know what I mean.
“There’s my favorite niece,” I say
as I kiss the crown of her blond head.
“Ryder is crawling. He got into Daddy’s work books and ate them,” she says with a big toothless grin.
“He did?” I ask, mirroring her excitement. “Did he get in trouble?”
“Nope, but Daddy did cause Mommy told him to pick them up,” she confirms.
“Yep, Daddy’s in trouble,” my sister says as she walks into the entryway to greet me.
“Work books?” I ask curiously as I lean forward and place a kiss on her cheek.
“Fraternal Order of something something magazines,” she says with the wave of her hand.
“Ahh,” I say before setting my niece down to go play. “Bean?” I holler as she reaches the living room where the rest of the male Stevens are congregating.
“Yeah?” she whips around, blond hair flying.
“Who’s your favorite uncle?”
“You,” she replies in a whisper.
“That’s bullshit,” I hear Nate holler from the room she runs into, where three women all holler, “Mouth!” at the same time.
I poke my head into the living room and give a wave to my family. Dad is sitting in his favorite easy chair, watching the final quarter of the Cowboys game, while Nate is sitting in the other chair with his fiancée, Lia, perched on his lap. Erin and Jake are snuggled up on the couch. Or are they snuggled? I can’t tell if they are actually intending to embrace or if it’s because Erin’s protruding belly takes up so much couch space. Her stomach has grown twice the size since last weekend, I swear, and I’ll assume that means that my twin nieces are growing healthy from within. Travis and Grant are playing on the floor with Ryder, and Maddox is sitting on the loveseat playing Barbies with Brooklyn.