Heart of Stone: A Small Town Enemies to Lovers Medical Romance (Mountainview Hospital Book 2)

by Kaylin Evans

  Her pussy immediately clenches around me and I can tell she’s close to another orgasm. I wrap one arm around her hips to support her and put my other hand between her thighs, fingering her clit while I slide my cock slowly in and out of her.

  “Faster,” she pants, trying to buck against me.

  I’ve got her in my arms though, holding her steady. “Not yet.”

  She lets out a little whine, but she’s only pouting for a few seconds. A couple more long, slow strokes and she’s coming again, her legs shaking so hard I’m sure she’d be on the floor if I weren’t holding her up.

  “Come with me,” she says, thrusting hard and already hungry for more. “Come with me and tell me you love me.”

  Oh Christ… she knows just what I need to hear.

  I wrap her up in my arms and turn her to face me, then lift her up and carry her over to the couch. I lay her down on her back and slide into her again, my cock aching for release by now. Alyssa is the most beautiful, sexiest, smartest, most terrifying and most amazing woman I’ve ever known. And I sure as hell know I love her.

  So I tell her. I look deep into her big, bright eyes and say, “I love you, Alyssa Grant. I’d do anything for you.”

  “I love you too,” she says, but her eyes are squeezing shut and she’s coming again. She wraps her legs around my hips and pulls me even closer, and that’s when I lose it. I come deep inside her, feeling connected to her like I’ve never felt before.

  Feeling like one.

  This is what it feels like to make love and not just fuck.

  But the fucking is incredible with her too.

  27

  Alyssa

  I’m lying with my head on Sawyer’s chest, listening to his heart rhythm slowly return to normal. He’s got one arm wrapped around me and I feel something that I have not felt in a long time.

  Maybe ever.

  I feel secure. Safe. I feel like I’ve found my person, and I honestly can’t believe that we just said we love each other, but it felt so right, and it still does.

  I tilt my head up, my nose brushing against the scruff on his chin. “What happened between you and my dad?”

  “Nothing much,” he answers. “I just told him that you don’t deserve to be treated like he treats you, and that I better not see him around again until he’s prepared to act like a real man and a good father.”

  I scoff. “So, I’ll never see him again.”

  “If you don’t, good riddance,” he says, then holds me a little tighter. “But I hope for your sake he takes the wake-up call to heart.”

  “Me too.”

  We just lie together for a long time. It’s got to be about two a.m. by now and I know we’re both tired, but neither one of us seems to want to let this moment end in sleep. I enjoy the steady rise and fall of Sawyer’s chest, our bodies curled up together.

  And at last, I say, “I think you should call your brother. Make amends.”

  It’s not my business, but every time I think about my own screwed up family lately, I also think of what Sawyer told me about his own family and how he hasn’t spoken to his oldest brother since med school.

  I prop myself up on one elbow so I can look him in the eyes and add, “I know it’s not my place, but it doesn’t sound like your brother is anything like my dad—it sounds like you’ve actually got something to lose by not having a relationship with him.”

  For a moment, I think Sawyer’s going to put up his walls again, become that distant, cocky guy he was when we first met. But instead, he nods. “You’re right. I’ve been thinking about Silas a lot lately and it’s probably time to bury the hatchet.”

  “Good.” I smile, run the flat of my hand across his chest and feel his nipple pebbling against my palm.

  “Hey,” he objects, “you can’t do that to me while you’re talking about my brother.”

  I laugh, but he’s already lifting me off the couch, carrying me in his arms down the hall to the bedroom. He tosses me onto the bed then jumps in after me, a grin on his face.

  Morning comes entirely too soon. I can’t say I regret staying up half the night with Sawyer, but I do feel more like a zombie than a fully functioning human as I shuffle into the kitchen around six-thirty and try to figure out how Sawyer’s coffee maker works.

  It’s one of those fancy chrome-plated ones that also makes espresso, and I’m just getting ready to give up and make black tea instead when Sawyer appears behind me, wrapping his arms around me. He’s fresh out of the shower, wrapped in a robe and smelling incredible as he folds me into him.

  “How do you make this do the thing?” I ask, gesturing to the coffee maker.

  I can feel him smiling against my cheek. “Do the thing?”

  “Shut up, I need caffeine before I can be coherent.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he says, then picks me up off my feet and deposits me about two feet to the left of the coffee maker. I giggle—lord, when did I become a giggler?—and he takes over the caffeine production.

  About five minutes later, we’re both settled on the bar stools at the island and I’ve had a couple long, satisfying sips of coffee. “Thank you,” I say, starting to feel human once again.

  “My pleasure,” Sawyer says. “Is your brain functioning enough to have a conversation now?”

  I smile. “As long as you don’t ask me to do any math.”

  “Nothing that strenuous,” he says, his foot nudging mine. “I was thinking, though.”

  “Good thinking or bad thinking?” I’m wondering if he wants to take back all the sweet, spontaneous things he said to me last night, or even ask me to kindly get the heck out of his apartment now that my dad problem is solved.

  “Good thinking,” he assures me, and he takes my free hand as if to prove it. He lifts it to his lips, kisses my knuckles, and I melt a little bit right there. “I think you should have the chief of surgery job. It means more to you than it does to me.”

  My jaw drops, and I feel like I’m going to have to scoop it up off the counter. “What?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it,” Sawyer goes on. “You need that job to help you get out of the debt your dad saddled you with. I just wanted it for the prestige.”

  “And you don’t want that anymore?” I ask, wary. Now I’m wondering if he’s planning on leaving Hemlock Hills, and the idea twists painfully in my chest.

  He shrugs. “It’d be cool… but it would still just be about the vanity of it for me. I think you would actually enjoy the job, and be good at it.”

  “I’m sure you’d be good at it, Sawyer.” Why am I talking myself out of a job? I don’t know, but I hate the idea of him giving up something he wants for my sake.

  “I really loved the research aspects of my last job,” he says. “We were doing really cool stuff with 3D technology, and I gave that up to come out here because Ryder needed me to.”

  “You’re not leaving, are you?” I ask. There’s that chest pain again.

  “No,” he says, so fast it’s like a cool breeze washing over me. He squeezes my hand. “I’m not going anywhere, but I don’t see why I can’t stay here and do my research.”

  “Mountainview isn’t exactly teeming with cutting-edge technology,” I point out.

  “I can apply for grants.”

  “And we’re pretty far from other major hospitals with doctors who would be working on similar innovations,” I add. “It’d be harder to collaborate.”

  “That’s what the internet is for,” Sawyer says, and I have to hand it to him, he’s determined.

  I swivel in my chair to face him, taking my hand back so there are no distractions as I ask, “Why do you want me to have the chief job so bad?”

  “It’s not about the job,” he says, “it’s about you—making you happy, keeping you here… with me.”

  My heart just about melts, and all that tension in my chest is miraculously gone. I slip my hands into Sawyer’s again. “You really meant all that stuff you said last night, didn’t you?”


  “That I love you?” Sawyer asks, suddenly looking a little sheepish. “Of course. Didn’t you?”

  I nod because words have escaped me. I really do love him, and I can’t believe he’d give up the job we’ve both been vying for all this time just to make me happy. How the hell did I get so lucky?

  We kiss, and I find my voice again so that I can tell him I love him. And then I say, “I can’t let you just take yourself out of the running like that… but I’ve got an idea you might like.”

  28

  Sawyer

  The next morning, Alyssa and I are sitting in the newly furnished outer office of Chief Cane’s executive suite. His brand-new assistant, Melody, has asked if we want coffee or water while we wait, and now she’s busily answering phones and checking the morning emails.

  She seems happy here, and from what little I’ve seen, she’s definitely not a slacker. I get a funny little twinge of pride at the fact that Alyssa and I picked her. I’ve never had that kind of responsibility in a job before, and I sort of like it.

  Which is why I’m excited with the idea that Alyssa has come up with in rebuttal to my offer to cede the chief of surgery position—and I’m hoping the chief will go for it.

  About five minutes later, the inner door opens and Chief Cane emerges, smiling and joking with an older man in an expensive suit. I’m pretty sure I remember him from the grand opening gala last fall and I clock him as one of the hospital’s benefactors—no doubt that’s the reason Xander Cane is laying the charm on so thick.

  “See you on the links next weekend,” Xander says to the man, who doesn’t acknowledge our presence as he heads out the door. Then the chief turns to Alyssa and me. “Hey, do we have an appointment I forgot about?”

  Melody jumps in. “Drs. Stone and Grant asked to meet with you. Your calendar was open this hour so I fit them in—is that okay?”

  He nods reassuringly. “Perfectly fine. Come on in.”

  The two of us go into the inner office and Chief Cane closes the door behind us. We sit down and chitchat for a couple of minutes about Melody, and he says she’s been great so far. We did a good job picking her out… which makes the segue into what Alyssa and I came to talk about that much easier.

  “So, what is the purpose of this impromptu meeting?” he asks.

  “The chief of surgery job,” Alyssa says, sitting up a little higher in her seat.

  Chief Cane gets defensive. “Now, now, I know this whole competition thing hasn’t been fun, but–”

  “Actually, we came to the conclusion that it’s been good for us,” I say.

  Xander arches an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

  “We’ve learned a lot about working together and splitting responsibilities, and one thing we’ve discovered is that we make a good team,” I say, then nod to Alyssa to take over. It’s her idea, after all.

  “We’d like to share the job,” she says.

  “Co-chiefs?” Xander asks, a little wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows.

  Alyssa hurries to add, “It wouldn’t cost the hospital any extra money. We’ve each got specialties that we would like to pursue—Sawyer has his 3D technology research and I’ve discovered a joy for pediatrics. I’d love to partner more closely with Finn Carter in that department. We can each apply for grants to cover our salaries and grow the department.”

  “But Dr. Grant has got to stay eligible for student loan forgiveness,” I add. I know how much it means to her, but I also know she’s not the type to make selfish demands in a group meeting like this—so I’ll do it for her.

  “Of course,” Xander says. “That wouldn’t change as long as she stays at Mountainview.”

  Alyssa cuts a look my way. At first I expect it to be one of reproach for speaking for her, but instead her eyes are filled with gratitude. Then she looks back to Chief Cane. “So, what do you think?”

  He leans back in his big leather executive chair. “Well, if the two of you continue working well together and don’t mind taking on the responsibility of grant writing to cover the salary difference, I don’t see how I could possibly argue with two surgical chiefs.” We’re both getting ready to celebrate when he sits forward, leaning over his desk to give us a stern look. “But if you two go back to bickering like you were before–”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Alyssa says, and this time she surprises me by reaching over and taking my hand. She gives the chief a slightly bashful look, then says, “We’ve worked things out.”

  Xander’s eyebrow wrinkle deepens, but this time I don’t think it’s from worry—I’m pretty sure that’s surprise. Hey, it’s not like anybody in the Cane family really expected me to settle down.

  But I’m ready for this—ready for Alyssa. Ready to be hers.

  “While we’re here, maybe we should fill out one of those Declaration of Personal Relationship forms?” I suggest. “Or whatever they’re called.”

  Xander just laughs, that wrinkle melting away. “Well, I have to admit I’m more surprised by this development than the co-chiefs idea. I don’t suppose for HR purposes I’m allowed to ask how long this has been going on, and I’m not really sure I want to know… but if my surgical co-chiefs are happy, so am I.”

  Alyssa squeezes my hand. “Thank you, Chief Cane. We won’t let you down.”

  “You haven’t so far,” he says, turning in his chair to retrieve a blank form from his file cabinet. “Keep up the good work and we won’t have any problems. Fill this out and return it to Melody, and I’ll start processing the paperwork for your promotions.”

  Alyssa springs out of her chair, letting go of my hand in favor of Xander’s. She gives him a hearty shake, beaming from ear to ear as she says, “Thank you so much, really. It means more than I can say.”

  I stand and shake his hand too, then drag Alyssa out of the office before she can kneel down and kiss his shoes or something. We wave to Melody on our way out, and the minute we’re alone in the hallway, I grab Alyssa by the shoulders and back her up against the wall. We kiss passionately, momentarily forgetting our surroundings as our tongues glide over each other and our bodies entwine.

  “I am so happy right now,” Alyssa whispers.

  “Me too,” I agree, letting my cock demonstrate this fact as I press my growing hardness against her thigh. “I love you.”

  God, that feels good to say. I finally understand what Ryder has been going on about for all these years, looking for love instead of just a night of fun, and I want to tell Alyssa how incredible she is every chance I get.

  I’m just going in for another kiss when someone clears his throat behind us. Oh, fuck. I freeze, thinking it must be Xander. And here I am with a semi, making out with my new co-chief.

  But when I turn around, making a subtle adjustment of my pants, it’s not the chief but Ryder standing in the doorway of his own office a little further up the hall, one eyebrow arched and a coffee cup in his hand.

  “What are we celebrating?” he asks.

  Alyssa slides out from behind me, trying to act like we didn’t just get caught making out in the hallway. Her embarrassment is cute, but I know Ryder won’t say anything.

  “You’re looking at Mountainview Hospital’s first co-chiefs of surgery,” I tell him, then take Alyssa’s hand. “Also, Dr. Grant and I are dating.”

  Ryder makes an exaggerated stumble, like this news is literally knocking him off his feet. “That first part is cool and all, but could you have given a guy some warning before part two? I think I need to sit down.”

  “Oh, shut up,” I say, rolling my eyes.

  Ryder looks to Alyssa. “I already know you’re a great surgeon—it’s why we wanted you here. But are you sure you’re ready for him?”

  She laughs, and I’m grateful. “Honestly, I don’t know, but I’m willing to give it a try.”

  Ryder laughs with her, then comes over and gives her a congratulatory hug. He tries to shake my hand, but we’ve had each other’s backs since med school, and I’ve seen his un
derpants drying on the towel rod in our bathroom. We’re way too close for handshakes. I pull him in for a hug, slapping him on the back to keep it manly.

  “Congrats,” Ryder says as he steps back. “On both counts.”

  “Thank you,” I answer. It feels unexpectedly good to get some validation from my best friend, to not be the playboy fuck-up for once.

  “We should double date again soon,” Ryder suggests. “A real one, not just accidentally. Erin will want to hear all this news.”

  “Definitely,” Alyssa says. Then she checks her watch. “I’ve got a consult with Dr. Carter in ten minutes. I need to get down to pediatrics.”

  “Yeah, I guess I should do some work too, being the new co-chief and all,” I say.

  We part ways with Ryder, and I pull Alyssa into the elevator instead of taking the stairs so we can have just a couple more minutes together. As much as I want to put my arm around her and feel her body against mine, I settle for holding her hand and giving her a few more relatively chaste kisses because I can’t be all worked up and visibly horny by the time we get off the elevator.

  “Are you happy?” I ask.

  “Very. Are you?”

  “More than I knew possible,” I say.

  The elevator doors slide open on the surgical floor and I give her one more kiss—a good one that will last us both til the end of our shifts. Then I step out and Alyssa continues on to pediatrics. As soon as I turn toward my office, I find Trish standing in the hall, a scandalized look on her face.

  “Dr. Grant and I are in a relationship,” I tell her frankly before she can open her mouth to object, or whatever the hell she’s got in her head. “Chief Cane knows, and it will have no impact on our work. I expect complete professionalism from everyone in the department, got it?”

  Trish just nods dumbly.