Surprise Delivery
Page 22
“What happened?”
Eric slipped his arms around Casper’s waist, holding him loosely. “I had an attack of conscience. I refused to write a budget the way my CEO wanted because it would only stress the ER more.”
“Wow. So, you walked out? That’s brave.”
“Not that brave.”
Casper dropped onto the edge of the bed and tugged Eric down beside him.
“You gave up a career you worked hard for. I’d say that’s pretty brave,” Casper said. “What will you do now? Don’t even think about moving away now that we finally figured out our shit.”
“Now that we finally figured it out?” Eric said.
“Okay, now that I finally figured out my shit.”
Eric grinned. “I’m not going anywhere. I have a meeting with some men.”
“That’s cryptic.”
Eric chuckled. “Well, it’s too early to say much. I’m meeting with a few doctors about opening a business.”
“A private practice?”
“Well, I’m thinking half private practice and half urgent care for the underinsured. I’m hoping to find physicians to volunteer some hours and to use the private practice hours to pay myself and a small staff.”
“Eric, that’s ...”
“Ambitious? Unrealistic?”
“Amazing,” Casper said. “You’re amazing.”
“Don’t get too excited,” Eric said dryly. “We’re still running the numbers. Plus, we have to find office space. None of this will work if I don’t convince these guys to risk some of their savings to go in on it with me.”
“I’ve got office space. I own the whole building where I practice. I wanted to make sure there would be room to expand someday. This is actually perfect. A lot of my patients are low-income.”
“Cas, that’s generous, but what about expanding like you planned?”
Casper waved a hand. “This is better. I realized a while ago that the only way to expand would be to bring in other doctors. I don’t want to overextend myself.”
Eric nodded. “We’d work out a rental agreement. It’d all be above board.”
“Of course.”
“I’d have to sell Paul and Trent on it.”
“Yep.”
“We’d be mixing business and pleasure,” Eric said. “I’m not sure we should put any stress on our relationship. I don’t want it to fall apart again.”
“Eric, I can handle being your landlord without it destroying our relationship, but if it worries you, have one of the other guys deal with me. You aren’t their administrator anymore. You don’t have to do everything.”
Eric marveled. “That’s right. I don’t.” He cocked his head. “So, come to this meeting with me? Maybe we can tour your space?”
Casper leered. “Baby, you can tour my space anytime.”
Eric slapped his arm, Casper responded by tackling Eric onto his back, and then Eric was forced to meet force with force, rolling Casper and pinning him down. Casper lifted his head and kissed Eric hard, which turned his muscles to water.
He didn’t even fight it when Casper flipped him over and kissed down his neck, whispering, “Your ass is mine.”
Epilogue
Eric paced the maternity ward waiting room. He’d sat in a hard, plastic chair for a couple of hours. Casper had come with him, laughing at him for insisting they go to the hospital the moment he got the call Olivia was in labor, even though it’d likely be hours before she delivered.
As her doctor, Casper was now in the delivery room with a front-row seat to the arrival of Peanut while Eric was stuck in the waiting room alone.
Well, almost alone.
“Can’t stand this waiting,” Bruce groused from a seat in the corner. He had a copy of Parenting magazine open on his thigh, idly flipping through pages.
About sixteen years too late for that, Eric thought. But they were trying. When push came to shove, they chose Olivia and Peanut over their own wishes. Livvie had told him she’d picked the name Alexa for her child, but the baby girl would always be Peanut to him.
Eric focused on Bruce’s statement. Waiting was tough. He snorted. “I can’t believe my boyfriend gets to be in there, and I don’t. I was almost that baby’s guardian.”
“Almost,” Bruce gritted. “You conveniently failed to tell me your guy was my daughter’s doctor.”
Eric pressed his lips together. Yep, he’d omitted that truth as long as possible.
Olivia told him her mother had taken her to three appointments before she recognized Dr. Rollins as the man who’d been in Eric’s shower. Olivia had laughed as she recounted her mother’s reaction, a mix of embarrassment and chagrin. From day one, Laura had genuinely liked her daughter’s doctor, and faced with the truth, she’d had no choice but to graciously apologize for her behavior that day. Casper had taken it in stride, Olivia said, while assuring Laura that he loved Eric and looked forward to watching Peanut grow up.
Watching Livvie go back to her parents had been hard. Eric had felt like he had a family for the first time in years when she showed up on his doorstep. But she’d promised she and Peanut would remain a part of his life, and he believed her.
Having Casper’s love and commitment also soothed the sting.
“Tell me he’s good at what he does, at least,” Bruce said.
Eric grinned. “He’s very good at what he does.”
“As a doctor!”
Eric was still laughing when Casper appeared. Bruce had turned a violent shade of red and looked ready to punch him, but Eric no longer feared violence from him. In fact, since Olivia had returned home, tensions had greatly eased between them all.
“How are my girls?” Bruce asked.
Casper smiled. “They’re both beautiful. Go take a look.”
Bruce hurried from the room, and Eric followed with Casper at a slower pace. “So, Peanut has all her fingers and toes?”
“Alexa is perfectly healthy, yes. You can count for yourself.”
They entered the room, where Olivia looked exhausted but happy. The baby girl got passed around, and you could almost mistake them for one big, loving family. When Eric held the precious bundle, he held out a finger for her tiny fingers to curl around. She was dainty and perfectly formed, with a shock of dark hair peeking out from under her cap.
“You’re already the best thing to ever happen to this family,” he whispered to her. “You’re the most beautiful baby ever.”
“Give me my granddaughter,” Laura demanded. Not angrily, but with the enthusiasm of a new grandma. “I need to sing to her.”
Bruce muttered something unflattering under his breath as Eric relinquished the baby and turned to Olivia. He bent and kissed her cheek.
“Good job, Mama.”
She laughed. “Thank you,” she said. “For everything.”
“And thank you,” he said, cutting his gaze to Casper. If it weren’t for Olivia coming to him, he might never have gotten to know the gorgeous doctor he’d watched in the hospital corridors. That reminded him of something he’d always wanted to do with his sexy boyfriend, and he made a mental note not to forget.
“We’ll get out of your hair,” he said. “But don’t forget, we get to keep Baby Alexa every Friday night so you can go out with your friends.”
“We can keep Alexa,” Laura interjected.
“Nope,” Eric said. “You’re going to need a break too. So, Fridays are mine.” He looked to Olivia. “And any other time you need a babysitter.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said.
They left shortly after, and Eric grinned to himself as he walked down the hospital corridor. He was only half-listening as Casper talked about dinner plans. There was a particular fantasy he’d had regarding Dr. Casper Rollins, and he thought today seemed the perfect time to try it out.
When they drew even with a janitor’s closet, he threw open the door and grabbed Casper’s arm. Unlike in his fantasy, Casper hardly budged when he tugged him.
“Having my way with you,” Eric said. “So, move!”
Casper laughed and let himself be drawn into the closet. The door shut behind him, sealing them in darkness. Eric tugged Casper to him, immediately falling into a broom.
“Ow!”
“Shit,” Casper muttered as something flattered to the floor.
They started laughing, but Eric still wanted his fantasy. He grabbed Casper’s face and pushed into a kiss. Casper threaded fingers into Eric’s hair, but he let Eric take charge for once. This was Eric’s fantasy of ravishing Dr. Rollins, so he thrust his hands under Casper’s scrubs. Heat rushed into his palms, firm muscles offering resistance to his rough grasp.
He traced Casper’s torso before shoving his scrubs down and dropping to his knees to suck his cock. Casper groaned appreciatively.
“Yeah, babe. You’re blowing me away.”
Eric made a sound of amusement around Casper’s cock. Blowing him away. He always said that when Eric gave him head. He supposed it was good he could still drive Casper crazy with his mouth even after months had passed and they were a committed couple.
“Love you,” Casper murmured, carding his hands through Eric’s hair. Eric hummed with pleasure but didn’t slow down. He wanted to wreck Casper in the best way possible.
Light flooded the room without warning. Eric jerked back, Casper’s cock slipping from his lips. On autopilot, he helped pull the scrub pants up to cover Cas.
“Oh God, sorry, uh—”
“No, we’re sorry,” Casper said, managing to speak while Eric eased to his feet, unable to meet the eye of the orderly who’d just gotten a show.
Eric barked out a laugh. He couldn’t hold it in. “Guess I finally learned to be spontaneous.”
“I’ll just come back later,” the orderly said, but when Eric glanced up, his amber eyes were flicking between them as if he wished they’d go back to their activities and let him watch.
Eric felt his face flush even as lust fired in his veins. He placed a hand on Casper’s chest and trailed it down his hard abs. “Let’s go, Cas.”
Casper glanced at his hand, then his face, then the orderly. He smirked. “Okay.” Then to Eric’s horror, he met the embarrassed orderly’s eyes. “Bye, Ian. Sorry about the show.”
The order, blushing, waved a hand and stammered out an unintelligible reply.
“Oh God,” Eric whispered as they walked away, “you know him?”
Casper was still laughing when they reached the car.
***
Eric glowed with happiness. Baby Alexa was about to be spoiled within an inch of her life, and Casper would enjoy watching every moment of contentment Eric got from having a family again.
Casper watched him on the drive home, marveling at the man he’d finally trusted with his heart. Eric could never control his own mortality, none of them could, but he knew now that to choose to live without Eric in his life would be the worst form of self-harm. It seemed the saying was true, better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all …
Not so long ago, that phrase had made him want to rage. But he’d since realized he wouldn’t give up his years with Kage for anything, and he felt the same way about Eric.
Eric pulled up in the driveway of his home. Our home.
Casper had moved in with him just the week before, finally putting his little bungalow on the market. He’d held onto his house far longer than necessary, struggling to give up the last safety net. Eric didn’t push him, even though Casper spent every night in his bed. He told Casper he was happy to go at his speed, now that he knew there was a future for them. Eventually, holding back bothered Casper more than it did Eric, and he’d hired a real estate agent and packed up his belongings.
Casper followed Eric into the house, lost in thought. But when Eric drew him into a long kiss, his neglected cock throbbed in his pants, a reminder that it was left high and dry in the janitor’s closet.
He made a pained sound against Eric’s mouth, pushing his hips forward to grind against him. Eric chuckled. “You poor man. You’re only half-ravished, aren’t you? This is what happens when I take the lead.”
Casper grinned. “Babe, what you did was sexy as hell. You can get on your knees for me anytime. Don’t wait for an invitation.”
Since Eric had left his high-stress job, he didn’t always let go and rely on Casper to take charge in bed. Their sexual dynamic had more balance. The role of who topped and who bottomed — both physically and emotionally — shifted with their needs.
Eric lowered himself onto his knees in the front hallway, tugged down Casper’s scrubs and finished the blow job that had been so rudely interrupted. Afterward, Casper returned the favor, and they both changed and settled onto the sofa for an evening of mindless television and cuddles.
It had taken a while to reassure Eric that Casper enjoyed their nights in just as much as an adrenaline-packed activity, but once he had, they’d settled into a nice routine. They still got out of the house and explored new things, but now Casper got to have Eric by his side. He’d taken him to the drag races a few weeks back for the first time, not wanting to keep those two parts of his life separate any longer.
Casper’s racing pals were shocked by the appearance of a boyfriend, but they’d handled it better than he would have expected. They were polite to Eric, if unsure how to act around a same-sex couple, but it was a start. And the news that the man they knew as Ghost was really named Casper? They’d laughed their asses off.
Casper still planned to honor Kage with adventures each year, on the anniversary of his death. He’d already invited Eric to go along on the next one. Eric didn’t know it yet, but Casper intended to propose while they were on an “extreme” adventure trip in Alaska that included whitewater rafting, glacier trekking and ice climbing.
Casper couldn’t think of a better way to honor Kage’s memory than to fully embrace life by asking the man he loved to marry him.
YOLO.
— Fin —
PREVIEW: Orderly Affair
Chapter 1
Ian Gallagher stepped into the janitor’s closet on the ground floor of Ashe Medical Center, returning the rolling mop and bucket to its corner. He’d just returned from a cleanup job in the emergency room. Food poisoning was nasty business.
Being an orderly was a lot more than cleanup, but that was an unavoidable part of the job description and one he considered just as important as using his muscle to help the nurses move patients or restrain patients who were resisting treatment, along with the plethora of other tasks he performed at the hospital.
But as the door clicked shut behind him, Ian’s thoughts weren’t on the cleanup he’d performed in the ER. Or the tang of chemicals that always hung in the air in the storage closet filled with cleaning supplies. Instead, his mind went directly to the scene that met him in this cramped space three weeks ago.
His skin flushed as the image rose in his mind: two men, one on his knees with his mouth around the other’s cock. That he recognized both the men only served to make the memory more erotic.
And awkward.
Ian hadn’t known Dr. Eric Holtz well, even though he was the medical director at the hospital not so long ago. But he’d played a few pickup games of basketball with the other man, Dr. Casper Rollins, through a loosely organized group of hospital staffers and friends.
He hadn’t been to any basketball games since. And now he couldn’t even step into the supply closet without getting half-hard at the memory, which was kind of a problem because he was in and out of the closet several times a day.
Well, the janitor’s closet. The other one …
Ian was still figuring things out. Thirty-six years old wasn’t too late to find yourself, right? Better late than never.
His cock was half-hard under his scrubs, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He’d walked in on Dr. Holtz in this closet, and someone could just as ea
sily walk in on him. And unlike Dr. Holtz, he still worked here.
Instead, he pulled his phone from his pocket. He checked for notifications in the hopes of distracting himself, but there was nothing. His eye caught on Thrust, the hook-up app he’d installed three weeks ago. The fact he’d installed it and several others the same day he walked in on some man-on-man action was total coincidence. Yeah, he couldn’t even convince himself of that one.
The app was similar to Grindr — at least, he assumed it was; he’d never used Grindr — and it seemed to have more users in the Midwest region than some did. Living in a small town, that was a plus, though he didn’t kid himself. Ashe, Kansas, was still unlikely to have a whole lot of Thrust activity. Thrust activity. The thought alone sent his pulse racing.
Ian was new to this side of his sexuality. He’d taken the easy road in high school, dating girls and suppressing his crush on the lead male singer in his garage band. He’d married his high school sweetheart, and in retrospect, he thought he might have rushed into their marriage so he’d have an excuse not to deal with the other side of himself. The one that admired guys, whose eyes slipped to check out their ass and their dicks cupped in blue denim.
He tapped the stylized T, looking over his shoulder nervously even though he was alone in a closet. He snorted. Alone in the closet. My life is a fucking metaphor.
Ian checked the time. He had a break starting, so no one should need him. Perfect time to explore the app. He clicked a few buttons, and finally got the courage to look for nearby app users. He searched close to home first, though he’d probably have to expand to Wichita, a much larger city about 45 minutes’ drive away, to find someone.
Gotta find your balls first. Stop being such a damn chicken.
Heart beating fast, Ian clicked on the map showing dots to represent users. There were four including him. That meant three users within a thirty-mile radius. A limited pool, but more than he’d expected.