Shutdown

by Winter Travers

  Remy folded his arms over his chest. “Uh, why would Roc care about that? Are you oversharing today, Jay? We all have girlfriends here. No need to brag when yours calls. We’re all important here.”

  Jay put his hand in Remy’s face and looked at me. “Delaney called. She just had to help Mave shove a whale, dolphin, and a sea otter in her car.”

  A grin spread across my lips. I got confirmation they were delivered, but I had been waiting all day to hear anything about them. “They fit?”

  “Sea otter is in Delaney’s car right now, but I think that’s only because she wants the damn thing to come home with her. She just sent me a link to buy one of her own.” Jay held his phone up in my face.

  I looked at the screen. “I got a better deal on mine. Go with my guy. I’ll get you his number.”

  Remy blinked rapidly and shook his head. “What in the hell is going on right now? I feel like I’m the only one with both feet planted in reality.”

  “Strange feeling for you, huh?” Jay asked him.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket. It was time for the next step in my plan. “Explain to ol’ Remington what’s going on. I got a phone call to make.”

  Jay put his arm around Remy’s shoulders and walked with him out the overhead door.

  “You look mighty happy.” Frankie was standing next to the car with a clipboard in her hand. “I got a little bit of that conversation, and I’m assuming it has to do with Mave.”

  I smiled and pointed to the car. “Get back to work, Frankie.”

  She shook her head and laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  I walked into the front office and right out the front door.

  “Where are you going?” Harlyn shouted.

  I hopped into the driver’s seat and cranked up my car. I rolled down the window. “I’m leaving for the day. Make sure everyone does their shit.”

  “Really?” Harlyn stood in the doorway holding the door open.

  “Yeah. I got something important I need to do.”

  A huge smile spread across her lips. “You fixed the mess?”

  I shifted the car into drive. “Working on it.”

  Harlyn gave a me a thumbs up. “Go get her, Dad.”

  That was exactly what I was going to do.

  *

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Mave

  “I understand you were just driving them home, ma’am, but you have to understand how distracting it is to other drivers to have a whale hanging out of your car window.”

  “Would the dolphin have been less distracting?”

  The officer rolled his eyes. He didn’t appreciate my mammal humor. “I’ll follow you home, ma’am, but please don’t do this again.”

  Twenty minutes later, with a police escort, I pulled into my apartment complex. The officer flashed his lights at me and then headed down the street. As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough to have a whale hanging out of my car, I had to get pulled over, too.

  I parked in a spot closest to my apartment, hoping I wouldn’t have to explain to anyone why I had a huge whale and dolphin in my car.

  “Didn’t know you were so important that you needed a police escort home.”

  I clutched my hand to my chest and spun around at Roc’s voice.

  “You must be like one of those doctor’s off of TV.”

  He was here. At my apartment. “I...You...” I snapped my mouth shut and tried to figure out just what I wanted to say.

  “You and I. That’s a good place to start.” He was parked right next to where I parked and sitting in the driver’s seat.

  I looked around him to see if anyone else was with him.

  “Just me here, Doc.” He pushed open his door, slipped out from the truck, and stood in front of me.

  “Oh, my God,” I gasped. I had never seen Roc stand. “Your legs.”

  I looked down at his jean-clad legs. He had been right all along. He looked best in a pair of faded jeans.

  “Yeah. They still work. A little worse for the wear, but every day, they get better.”

  Only a few feet separated us, but he felt too far away. He took a step, and my heart leapt when he reached out for my arm. He had touched me before, but it was like the first time I had felt his skin against mine.

  “We gotta talk, Doc. You think your buddies can stay in the car?”

  I looked over my shoulder at the happy whale hanging out of the window. “I guess they can hang out for a little bit.”

  His hand trailed down my arm, and his fingers intertwined with mine. I led the way up the walkway to my apartment, through the lobby, and over to the elevator.

  “How did you find out where I lived?” I asked after I hit the button to call the elevator.

  “Delaney.”

  I wanted to call her a traitor, but I was happy she had told him.

  We stepped into the elevator, and I pressed the button for the fifth floor.

  “All the way to the top?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Isn’t that where all doctors who are on TV live?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t think that will ever not be funny.”

  “Agreed.” His hand was still holding mine, and he stood close to me. “So, ah, we have stuff to talk about?”

  He looked down at me. I hadn’t realized how tall he was before. I was used to him being sitting down all of the time.

  “Couple of things to go over.”

  My heart leapt even though I knew I needed to keep my head about me. The doors slid open, and I led the way to my apartment.

  I twisted the key into the lock, pushed open the door, and stepped aside for Roc to walk in. He gave me a wink, then walked in.

  “Ah, make yourself at home.” I closed the door behind me and leaned against it.

  Roc Krinston was in my apartment.

  A week ago, if you told me this was going to happen, I would have told you that you were crazy.

  I watched him walk, noticing his slow gait, but he was steady on his feet. “I still can’t believe you are walking.”

  He looked at me over his shoulder. “Neither can I. It seems like yesterday you were trying to cram me into the car for the first time.”

  I laughed and pushed off the door. “We did get a good system going after a while.”

  “We made a good team,” he murmured. He stood in front of the large picture window in the living room.

  “Uh, can I get you something to drink? Beer?”

  “Beer is good, Doc.”

  I grabbed a beer for him and a wine cooler for me. I handed it to him and stood awkwardly next to him.

  “Gonna get right to it, Doc, because I’m not one to beat around the bush.”

  I nodded and gulped. “Yep, that is something I definitely learned when I was with you those couple of weeks.”

  He popped open his beer and took a long drink. “Harlyn told me she mentioned to you that I was dating another woman.”

  Well, hell. He really was getting right to it. “She mentioned it.”

  “I was talking to someone. Never even met her in person. It was one of those apps.”

  I nodded. “I used to have one of those apps.”

  No point in denying it.

  “After the accident, I didn’t even open the damn thing, let alone talk to any other woman than you. Before Harlyn even told me why you were upset, I had messaged the woman I was talking to and told her I had met someone.”

  My jaw dropped, and I remembered the message I had received a few days ago. I set my drink down on the window sill. “RocTime?”

  Roc took a step back and squinted at me. “JanuaryGirl?”

  I timidly raised my hand and set my wine cooler on the table behind us. “Guilty.”

  He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You mean to tell me we were talking to each other before the accident?”

  I bit my lip and nodded. “I don’t know why but I guess I never put you and your username together.”

  His eyes p
opped open. “Doc, my user name literally had my name in it.”

  “But your profile picture was of The Rock. I thought you were just doing a play on words to get women to talk to you so they would associate The Rock with you.”

  He frowned. “You were only talking to me because you thought I looked like The Rock?”

  I shook my head. “No, I was the opposite of that. I was talking to you because I thought it was hilarious you had your picture as The Rock.”

  “So you got mad at me for talking to a woman when that woman was you.” He set his beer down and sighed.

  I cringed. “That is what it appears to be.”

  He dropped his chin to his chest. “This is unbelievable.”

  I thought he was pissed off but then his shoulders started shaking.

  “It’s not funny,” I scolded. I personally felt like an idiot for not connecting the dots sooner.

  Roc pulled me into his arms and wrapped me up in a hug. I inhaled his scent and decided to forgive him for laughing at me.

  “I don’t think we have anything else to talk about,” he chuckled. “Us figuring that out just solved everything.”

  I buried my face in his chest and sighed. “We’re both idiots.”

  “Yeah. How about we don’t ever tell anyone about that.”

  “Agreed,” I giggled.

  He pressed his lips to my ear. “I’ve been dying trying to remember what you felt like in my arms.”

  I leaned back and looked up at him. “I remembered other things.”

  “Like?”

  I bit my lip. “Well, it was more like I remembered things and wondered how they would be...” I trailed off unable to finished my sentence.

  “Naked?” Seemed like Roc was thinking about the same things as me.

  My cheeks heated. “Oh, well. I might have wondered about it once or twice.” How was it this man could make me blush to hard?

  Or all of the time.

  Roc took a step back, bent over, and planted his shoulder in my stomach. He lifted me over his head and headed down the hallway.

  “Your legs!” I shouted. “You can’t be carrying me, Roc.”

  “I can make it a good twenty feet before I’ll drop you, Doc. Now tell me which door is your bedroom.”

  “Third on the right.”

  He pushed open the door and tossed me on the bed.

  I bounced up and down and pushed my hair out of my face. “Are you okay?”

  He grimace and toed off his shoes. “Never better. Been wanting to see you in bed for a month. Even better than I had imagined.”

  He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor. You would think I would have been immune to seeing him shirtless but my breath still caught.

  “I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me again.”

  He unbuttoned his jeans and dropped them to the floor. “I know, Doc. I plan on making up for lost time right now.”

  He stepped out of his jeans, climbed onto the bed, and covered me with his body. He caged me in with his arms and his lips pressed against mine. They were soft, warm, and everything a kiss should be.

  His hands moved over my body, and I finally got to run my hands over his chest without counting backward to not get turned on.

  “You know what I didn’t think was fair?” he whispered against my lips.

  “What wasn’t fair?”

  “You got to see me naked, and I never got a glimpse of you.”

  A smile spread across my lips. “But I was a nurse. I wasn’t looking at you that way. And,” she drawled, “I didn’t get to see everything.”

  My eyes darted down to his crotch.

  Lies, lies, lies. I couldn’t tell you how many cold showers I had taken after I had given Roc a bath. The man was built like a Greek god. He was the perfect form of the male specimen.

  “Right,” he drawled. His fingers hitched up the hem of my shirt. “Since you’re a doctor, then you won’t mind if I take a peek at what’s under here.”

  He pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor with his.

  “I guess it is only fair.”

  His fingers hooked the straps of my bra and tugged them down my shoulders. His hands delved into the cups, and the warmth of his palms surrounded me.

  My hands went to the button of my jeans, and I popped them open. I lowered the zipper and worked them down my hips while his mouth and hands explored my breasts.

  “You’re fucking perfect, Mave.”

  I sighed at the wet warmth of his mouth over my nipple and bucked my hips.

  His hand snaked down my body and covered my mound. “I’m never going to get tired of this. Your body beneath mine. Yielding and giving yourself to me.”

  I shimmied my pants and underwear the rest of the way off. “Good, because I have no plans of going anywhere for a very long time.”

  His fingers parted the lips of my pussy and honed in on my clit. He stroked me there, building my desire while my fingers ran over his back. “I, uh, hate to rush this,” I gasped, “but if you want to get right to it, I am mo—”

  My eyes slammed shut, and I lost my breath.

  “Feel good, Doc?” he growled.

  Good? This was the best thing I had ever felt. “It’s okay,” I whispered.

  “Just okay?”

  He doubled his efforts, and I realized I was wrong when I had thought earlier it was the best thing I had ever felt. This was better, and I had a feeling it was just going to keep getting better.

  His finger moved faster, my hips bucked up into his hand, and his mouth covered my nipple. My orgasm washed over me as he kept licking, flicking, and feeling.

  “Roc, oh God, please.” I gasped for air, almost feeling as if this was too much but knew I needed more. “I need you inside me.”

  At my words, a growl ripped from his lips, and he jackknifed up. He ripped his underwear down his legs, and his dick that I hadn’t been able to glimpse when I gave him baths was now long, hard, and dripping with precum.

  Whoa, boy.

  “Condom?” he growled.

  I reached blindly into my nightstand, afraid to take my eyes off him in case he would disappear. I ripped it open with my teeth and roughly dragged it down his cock.

  “Fucking shit,” he bit off. He hooked his hands in the crook of my knees and spread me wide. He slammed into me, and my fleeting orgasm from his hand started building again as he thrust in and out.

  I reached up, dragging my nails down his chest. “Yes, God, please.”

  He grunted my name, and his hand slipped over my body, brushed against my breast and then cupped my cheek. He pressed his thumb against my lips, and I opened my mouth to suck on the pad of his thumb.

  “So fucking good,” he growled.

  I hooked my leg around his waist, tipping my hips up, and he plunged deeper. “Harder, Roc. Harder,” I moaned.

  I was close to coming again. I was close to exploding around his hard cock.

  I bit down on the fleshy pad of his thumb, and his eyes heated with desire. He held my gaze as he plunged deep, and the world shattered around him.

  He groaned my name, his release pouring into me. Desire rolled over me, and I knew that I would never be the same after this.

  Roc had ruined me for any other man, and I didn’t even care.

  I was Roc’s, and nothing was ever going to change that.

  *

  Roc

  Her warm, satisfied body curled around me, and she ran her fingers through my hair. “Can we do that again?”

  “We can do that as many times as you want, Doc.”

  She sighed. “Is it weird that I like when you call me that?”

  “No, because I like calling you it.”

  We laid there, our hands roaming over each other.

  “Gotta admit, Doc, I didn’t think what we just did was going to happen when you left.”

  “Neither did I,” she whispered.

  I pressed her back into the bed and looked down at her. �
��Then what made you give me a second chance?”

  Her eyes connected with mine. “Honestly?”

  I nodded.

  “You seemed different. You’re rough around the edges and sometimes say things without thinking about them, but you that’s who you are. You know what you want, and I could tell that you don’t let anything stand in your way.”

  “Most people find that intimidating.” I chuckled. Hell, that was why most people hated me.

  “Not me,” she whispered. She swirled her fingers over my chest. “I like that. A lot.”

  “Thank God.”

  Mave was the perfect woman. She was made for me and I thanked God I had found her. It may have taken fifty-one years but she was finally in my arms.

  “So, what made you decide to send me gorgeous flowers and a stuffed animal aquarium?” she laughed.

  “Knew I had something special and let it slip through my fingers. Had to do everything I could to get it back.”

  “All it took was a whale, dolphin, and sea otter.”

  A smile spread across my lips. “I didn't know how easy it was going to be to get you back. Tomorrow a walrus, seahorse, and beluga whale are being delivered.”

  “Roc!” Mave slapped me on the chest. “You really thought it was going to take all of that to get me back?”

  I brushed her hair from her face. “I wasn’t willing to risk it, Doc.”

  She settled against me and sighed. “Well, you’re crazy, but it’s pretty damn romantic.”

  “That’s me, Mr. Romantic.”

  She hummed and tipped her head back to look up at me. “So what now? What do you want?”

  I leaned in ‘til my lips were a breath away from hers. “Plain and simple. I. Want. You.”

  *

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Mave

  “Come to the race with me.”

  I shook my head. “I have to work Friday, Roc.”

  “Call in.” He slathered two pieces of toast with jelly and handed one to me.

  “As much as I would like to, I can’t.” I took a bite of the sticky toast.

  “Then fly in when you get off of work.”

  Jelly dripped onto my thumb, and I licked it off. “You really want me there, huh?”