Surprise Delivery

by D. J. Jamison

  It wasn’t enough for department heads to submit their requests; they all wanted Eric to see firsthand how their department could benefit from the funds. He understood their motivation, but Eric had to think of the hospital as a whole. He wished he could be like Oprah and point a finger at each of them, shouting, “You get more money! You get more money! And you get more money!”

  Instead, he was stuck with a stack of paperwork he didn’t get to during the week, and now it seemed he couldn’t even work uninterrupted on the weekend.

  “Come in,” he called.

  To his surprise, Casper Rollins stepped into his office. Dressed in dark jeans and a T-shirt that fit him like a second skin and exposed some of that lovely ink, he looked more like James Dean than the obstetrician Eric usually saw in the hospital corridors.

  “Dr. Rollins?”

  Casper tucked his hands into his pockets and gave Eric a sharp smile. “You never called.”

  Eric blinked at this vision of male sexiness loitering in his office. Had Casper really wanted him to call? Eric had been so sure Rollins was being polite. A little teasing to put Eric at ease about his upcoming responsibilities.

  “I guess I didn’t,” he acknowledged. “You could have called me. I’m listed as Olivia’s contact number in your medical files.”

  “That would be improper.”

  “I’m also the administrator of this hospital,” Eric said dryly, waving at the nameplate on his desk.

  “I had noticed that.”

  “You don’t seem to have any moral objection to stalking me at the hospital,” Eric pointed out, warming to their banter.

  Casper prowled the office with a casual coolness that was having the opposite effect on Eric’s skin. He felt heat gathering under the surface as Casper pretended to examine a dated plaque on the wall proclaiming the Ashe hospital a “top 5 patient care facility in the Midwest.”

  “It’s a public place,” Casper said, throwing a smile over his shoulder. His light blue eyes hit Eric like a punch in the chest, and he could hardly breathe.

  Casper twisted on his heel and approached the desk. He placed his hands on the cherry wood surface and leaned over to meet Eric’s eyes.

  “So, Holtz, what do you say? Are you up for some fun?”

  So many visions went through Eric’s head. Casper bent over the desk, just like this, but with Eric behind him. Or Eric bent over the desk. Hell, it didn’t matter. Peeling that tight T-shirt off and examining Casper for more tattoos. Mapping out each and every muscle. Unsnapping those jeans and …

  “So much fun,” he breathed.

  He’d take his work home. He didn’t care if he had to do paperwork all night. It would be worth it.

  Casper straightened and clapped his hands, snapping Eric out of his daydream. “Great! Let’s go.”

  “Go?”

  “Go,” he confirmed.

  ***

  “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when you asked if I wanted to have fun,” Eric said, gasping for breath.

  Casper laughed, one hand clutching his stomach and his other gripping Eric’s wrist and tugging. Eric was having just a bit more difficulty than Casper in climbing from the top of a trash bin to a tree to the roof of the downtown library.

  Thankfully, dusk had fallen, and they were on the backside of the library, where they were less likely to be noticed. He’d never live it down if he was arrested for loitering on the roof of a public property. It was hardly the kind of publicity a medical director needed to generate.

  Eric finally heaved himself onto the mostly flat, asphalt roof with Casper’s assistance. He dropped down on his back and stared at a sky painted with the pink and orange streaks of sunset. The sun, still a molten ball in the sky, dropped slowly behind puffy clouds that were beginning to look more like cotton candy, all pink and soft around the edges.

  Casper settled beside him, crossing his arms under his head. “It’s worth it now, though, right?”

  Unlike Eric, Casper had jumped from trash bin to tree to roof with the agility of a teenager. Lying as he was, with his arms folded behind his head, his triceps bulged. Eric found that a prettier sight than the sunset.

  “You know, the hospital’s taller. I have a key to the roof. We could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble and had a great view of the sunset.”

  “You can just go up the stairwell and right onto the roof?”

  “Yep,” Eric said, a bit smugly. “The helipad is up there, so there has to be access. It’s rare for us to receive a life flight, but it does happen.”

  Casper made an obnoxious buzzing noise. “You’re venturing awfully close to shop talk, and besides, where’s the fun in walking up some stairs?”

  Eric huffed a rueful laugh. “It’s more fun than a broken ankle.”

  “No ankles were broken,” Casper chastised. “Now look at that gorgeous sky and enjoy yourself.”

  Eric reached out and traced a blaze of orange inked on the pale skin of Casper’s bicep. “I’d rather look at this.”

  Casper twitched, but he didn’t pull away. His head swiveled, light blue eyes fixing on Eric. “They always like the ink,” he murmured.

  Eric flushed and pulled away. Turning his eyes back to the sky, which was less blinding than Casper’s beautiful body, he asked what he’d always wondered. “Do they mean something to you?”

  “It’s artwork imprinted on my skin, so yeah, it means something to me.”

  Eric risked a glance. “Of course.” He tried again. “But sometimes people get tattoos because they like the art. Other times, there’s a deeper symbolism in them.”

  “You want to know the story behind my ink?”

  Eric nodded, his eyes back on the swirls of color he could see on Casper’s bicep. As he watched, Casper grabbed the back of his T-shirt and peeled it up and over his head, dropping it into his lap.

  Eric’s eyes roamed Casper’s body, taking in the paleness of his skin and the tautness of the muscle beneath it. Casper sat at an angle, turned with his shoulder toward Eric, so the vivid turquoise and orange of his tattoo captured Eric’s attention before he could get lost in a full study of the man’s body.

  “It’s a lizard,” he said in surprise.

  “A chameleon,” Casper said.

  The chameleon clung to a branch that curved along the shape of Casper’s upper arm, blending in and out of leaves that wound around the image. The chameleon, where it was visible, was drawn in a bold style, with vivid hues setting it off from the parts of its body that vanished into the artwork. Large eyes and a wide grin imbued it with a personality, reminding Eric just a bit of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland.

  “It’s incredible,” Eric said, leaning closer to study it. The longer he looked, the more detail he could pick out, from subtly shaded scales to hints of the lizard behind the leaf work. “Chameleons change to match their surroundings, so what does this symbolize?”

  “Mostly? Change. Both the ability to adapt to the changes in my life, but also the ability to be the change. Is that deep enough for you?”

  Eric smiled. “Is your middle name Plato?”

  Casper snorted as he grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

  As Casper lowered the shirt, a hint of ink on his back caught Eric’s eye. He put out a hand to stop the lowering of Casper’s shirt, leaning to the side for a look. Casper’s back was as gorgeous as the rest of him, broad and tapering to his waist with a muscle definition Eric could never hope to replicate in his own body. Casper was doing something right, even if was working out at the gym religiously like any self-respecting gay man. Eric, quite obviously, didn’t respect his body as a temple, unless it was as a temple that had crumbled to a pile of rubble.

  “What about this one?” he asked.

  He could just make out what looked like a hoop with flames around it.

  To his surprise, Casper shifted away and tugged his shirt down firmly. “I didn’t bring you up here to tal
k about all my tattoos.”

  Casper’s tone was light and teasing, but his eyes were guarded, and Eric didn’t want to ruin what had been a fun outing with an interesting guy. So, he flirted.

  “I was kind of hoping you brought me up here for more than a pretty sunset.”

  Casper settled back onto his elbows, looking up at Eric with a genuine grin. “Is that right?”

  Eric licked his lips nervously, looking at the perfect male body stretched out before him. Casper’s shoulders stretched the fabric of his shirt, pulling it tight across his chest, and his jeans hugged his muscled thighs. Casper was without a doubt the most gorgeous man Eric had ever seen.

  But it had been a long time since he’d made a move. Tentatively, he rested his hand on Casper’s stomach, feeling his ab muscles tighten at his light touch.

  “Seems like a good make-out spot,” Eric said.

  “Does it?” Casper asked with an impish grin. “Maybe we should test it out.”

  “Definitely,” Eric said, before leaning in. “But fair warning? I’m out of practice.”

  “It’s just like riding a bike,” Casper murmured before their lips met in a kiss. It was soft, sweet. Tentative, because Eric was too timid to plunge his tongue in and taste Casper, no matter how much he wanted that.

  Eric lifted his head, needing a moment to get his bearings after his first kiss in far too long. “That’s not at all like riding a bike.”

  Casper laughed, eyes crinkling up. “You call that a make-out? Get back here.”

  He slipped his hand into Eric’s hair and pulled him into a longer, deeper, wetter kiss. Casper eased onto his back, lying flat on the roof, and pulled Eric down with him. Even though Casper was the one pinned to the rooftop, he took control of the kiss, flicking his tongue playfully and nibbling at Eric’s lips until he opened up.

  Eric smoothed his left hand over Casper’s chest and stomach, reveling in the firmness of the muscled body beneath him. Casper was young, gorgeous and incredibly fit. Way out of Eric’s league. But for some crazy reason, Casper liked him.

  When the evening shifted from dusk to dark, they carefully climbed back down. Half of Eric hoped Casper would invite him back to his place, or hell, the back of his car. Something that would allow for more than kissing. It would be moving fast for Eric, but he knew plenty of guys hooked up immediately.

  “I suppose I should let you get back to work,” Casper said instead. “I can’t detox you all at once, or you might go into shock.”

  Eric chuckled, even though he was disappointed to part ways. “Good point.”

  “Call me this time,” Casper ordered.

  Eric squeezed his arm, thrilling at the feel of firm muscle under his hand. “I will.”

  Chapter Eight

  Casper sank into the comfortable leather chair behind his desk. He didn’t spend a lot of time in his office — most of his work was done in the exam room here and in the maternity ward at the hospital — but he had to review charts, make notes, and revise his schedule from time to time. Mostly, his desk became a repository for scattered reminders he’d dashed out between appointments. He had no doubt he’d have towers of disorganized files if it weren’t for the amazing skills of his administrative assistant, Heather.

  He was just wrapping up for the day when his eye caught sight of a messy note written in the corner of his desk calendar. Heather kept a meticulous online schedule of his appointments, so the desk calendar served mostly as a doodle pad, with the occasional personal date written in by him. He squinted at the slanted, cramped writing. He fit the stereotype of doctors with indecipherable handwriting, and it took him a minute to make out his note.

  He finally deciphered two words that brought the memory home: Rose and wedding.

  Shit. He’d never called to congratulate his sister. His mother would not be pleased, and Rose would probably be hurt as well.

  He groaned and picked up his cell phone before he could talk himself into leaving it for another day. Rose answered on the first ring. “Casper! You’re not a ghost after all.”

  “Ha-ha, as usual, your wit is astounding,” he said.

  Of all his family, Rose was his kindred spirit. She was smart and funny, with a bit of bad attitude thrown in.

  “Well, if you don’t want a bunch of ghost jokes, don’t be invisible,” she scolded. “We all miss your ugly mug.”

  He chuckled. “Thanks a lot. I miss your beautiful face, too.”

  In truth, he didn’t mind the Ghost nickname, mainly because Kage had given it to him when they were just kids. It was inescapable with a name like Casper, and he still drew on it when he wanted to be someone else for a while, someone more carefree than Casper Rollins.

  “Flattery will get you everywhere,” Rose said.

  “And that brings me to the point of this call. I hear you’re getting hitched.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Jory totally surprised me with his proposal. I figured I’d date, get my career more established before marriage. Do everything in just the right order. But when he asked, I couldn’t imagine saying anything other than yes.”

  “So, he makes you happy?”

  “Very,” she answered. “He’s sweet as apple pie, and such a generous person. He puts me first all the time. He makes me feel selfish, to tell you the truth. I’m not sure how I got so lucky.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he’s the lucky one.”

  “You have to say that because you’re my brother.”

  “True.”

  Rose called him a bad name under her breath, and he laughed. It was almost like old times. With the focus on her wedding, he could talk to her more freely than he had since he’d lost Kage. Or perhaps he was finally able to separate his loss of Kage from his connection to his family, who’d all loved Kage as one of their own. Whatever the reason, he was glad to reconnect with Rose. She deserved a big brother who gave a damn about her life.

  ***

  Dr. Paul Johnston was already seated at their usual table when Eric walked into Javalicious, a small, locally owned coffee shop that had become their regular place to meet. The heavenly smells of espresso hit him first, and he inhaled deeply. There was something about that scent that always gave him a sense of relief. Probably his addiction to caffeine, he thought dryly.

  The shop had recently changed ownership — and styles — and Eric wasn’t sure yet if he liked it. The shop used to hold glass-topped tables and metal chairs, all matching. It had been airy and open, with a setting that drew professionals. Now, it was a riot of color. A large orange sofa framed by two squashy brown armchairs with teal throw pillows held down the center of the room. An eclectic mix of table sizes and styles were arranged along the perimeter of the room. And looking around, he could see that it drew more college-aged kids than people in suits.

  Paul stood out like a sore thumb, but he was well-known at the shop, considering his boyfriend used to work there.

  Eric ordered his drink and carried his misshapen mug — something that might have been made by a third-grader in art class — to the two-top table where Paul had settled by the window. It was their usual spot. At least that hadn’t changed.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he said, as he slipped into the chair upholstered with some sort of corduroy fabric. He had to admit, it was more comfortable than the old metal chairs, even if it didn’t match anything. “Work was crazy.”

  Eric had just received an email outlining suggested budget cuts to work into his budget plan for the next fiscal year, and he didn’t like a single word of it. He’d gotten caught up in reading through the details.

  “When is it not?” Paul said glumly.

  Unlike him, Paul thrived on chaos. He loved working in the emergency room, and somehow he always remained calm in a crisis. Paul was always a good doctor, but when all hell broke loose, he was a great one.

  “You sound down,” Eric observed. “Is this about work or home?”

  Paul tried to smile. It was strained. “Both.”

  Eric’s
eyebrows shot up. Usually Paul was all sunshine and fairy-tale endings when it came to his boyfriend, Zane. They’d gotten off to a rough start, but as far as Eric knew, they were devoted to one another.

  “What’s going on?”

  Paul cast him a dark look. “You know what’s going on at work. I sent you my budget requests for the ER, not that I expect you to grant them.”

  Eric avoided the unspoken question in that statement. He hadn’t crafted his budget proposal yet, but Paul was right. He couldn’t possibly grant his requests.

  “That doesn’t explain about home?”

  Paul fiddled with his mug, spinning it around by the handle as he answered. “Zane’s not happy.”

  “With you?”

  “With my work schedule.” Paul frowned. “We’re short staffed. I’m better off than most of the nurses, but we haven’t gotten another physician on the roster since Dr. Conway left. I’ve been picking up extra shifts. It’s not fair to Zane. He just graduated college, and he spent the summer in a fantastic internship up in Minneapolis. I almost died I missed him so much.”

  “I remember,” Eric said with amusement. Paul had been a demanding friend over the summer. They’d grilled out together every Friday, golfed every Sunday, and commiserated over coffee every Wednesday. It had helped Eric fill space in his life too. Before Olivia came along — and Casper, though he didn’t imagine that would last long before the sexy doctor got bored with him and moved on — he’d spent all his time at work or home alone, with occasional forays to the grocery store. He’d tried a few dating apps, but he was entirely unequipped for the type of meat market Grindr presented. When he met up with a young guy who took one look at him, said “nope,” and left the Wichita bar where they’d met, he washed his hands of it.

  “He got a great job, writing for a sports website remotely,” Paul said. “Thank God, because the Ashe Sentinel is laying off more than it’s hiring.”