by Natalie Ann
“I’m just stating a fact,” he said.
“Well, since you are stating facts—my phone calls tonight were because my cousin is having somewhat of a shotgun wedding in three weeks. I should get the invitation in a few days. My mother tried to set me up with a lawyer for it.”
“I’m hurt. You’d date a lawyer over a doctor? I won’t argue all night with you.”
She grinned and got comfortable at the table, her dinner turning cold and all but forgotten. “I don’t like to argue.”
“Then you’d be better with a doctor than a lawyer.”
“Is that your way of saying you’ll go with me to the wedding? It’s in Buffalo. We’d have to spend the night.”
“In a hotel?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“One room or two?”
“Considering our earlier conversation, I’d say one.”
“Then I’ll be honored to be your date.”
13
Action or Suspense
It’d been ten days since Grey agreed to go with Sierra to her cousin’s wedding. The wedding that meant they’d be sharing a hotel room together in a week.
Even though they’d agreed to push this friends with benefits thing a bit more, she was still unsure how to proceed. Part of her would like to spend some time with him before they actually started to roll around in the sheets. At least the first time.
But last weekend Grey was on call and actually spent quite a bit of time working. So she used it to her advantage and went dress shopping. If she was going to have all eyes on her at this wedding, she was going to make sure she not only sparkled, but was on fire. After all, with the hot man on her arm—his career and all—there was bound to be talk.
Tonight, they were going on a date though. A real one. She had no idea how the night would end and was willing to just play it by ear.
Would she like his lips on her ear and any other part of her body? Yeah, she would. But she wasn’t going to ask for it either.
When her doorbell rang, she didn’t hesitate to rush toward it. She shouldn’t be so excited to see Grey again. She’d had lunch with him a few days ago at work and they talked a couple of times at night, even texted once or twice during the day. She was actually shocked at the amount of interaction the two of them had as she fully expected he was only doing this to get laid.
Wasn’t she thinking of those benefits herself? She’d never been one of those women before but found that the past year of her life had been so miserable that she needed some kind of comfort.
If that came in the form of a hot surgeon that was pleasing to look at, had a great personality, and wanted to spend time with her, then, well, she should consider herself lucky.
Her interactions with male doctors over the years had left a lot to be desired. Sure, some were nice, but they were older and married and kind of old school. Those that were younger, or anyone under fifty, tended to be cocky and think their shit didn’t stink. All it did was remind her of the jocks that picked on Bobby and many other kids growing up. The mean girls that wanted to put down others.
Things she detested in people.
Some male doctors strutted around the hospital collecting women like kids did shells at the ocean. The female doctors might push their best friend into oncoming traffic if it meant getting ahead.
The cutthroat actions she’d witnessed left little to be desired.
Were all male doctors like that? No. She wasn’t stupid enough to think that, but she’d been around enough to taint her opinion. Just like she felt the same way about any man that thought they were better than others. But since she worked with doctors, that was who she’d witnessed it with the most.
Or maybe it was the fact that one cocky doctor cost her the life she loved back home. And when others sided with him, well, her taste turned more sour than a mouthful of freshly squeezed lemon juice. All those she defended and stuck up for in her life…well, karma wasn’t a bitch in her case because no one did a nice thing for her when she needed it the most.
Then why was she giving Grey the time of day? Because he didn’t come off like those she’d been around before. Because he made her laugh when she was struggling to find much to laugh about at times.
And because he was hotter than most of the doctors she’d spent her time around. Not just hot...but down to earth along with it. How was it possible her opinion was changing? Because he was normal. Real. Not cocky in a bad way. Not arrogant. Not stuck up or condescending.
And here he was standing in her doorway with jeans and a fleece pullover on. It was in the fifties earlier today but now several degrees colder and the sun was gone.
“You look nice,” he said to her.
“Thanks.” She just had jeans on herself with black ankle boots and a fitted black and red shirt that showed off the little curves she had on top. She’d never thought she had much and though many told her she should enhance it, she chose to rather embrace it.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Let me get a jacket and we can go.” She actually chose to get a black puffer vest to put on over her shirt and then grabbed her purse and followed him out the door.
“Did you want to go anywhere special?” he asked.
“I’m game for anything,” she said. “We are just going to dinner, right?”
“That was the plan. Unless you wanted to do something else. Maybe a movie?”
She smiled. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone to the movies. Even a late one. “That might be fun if you don’t mind.”
“Why not?” he said. “I haven’t been in years myself.”
Once they were in his SUV, Grey was trying to figure out why he agreed to go to the movies. He hadn’t been since he was in college. That was a date night for him and Molly. Something that was on the cheaper end, they could enjoy themselves, and get away from the noise of the dorms.
He didn’t care what kind of movie he watched, but she always wanted to watch RomComs or chick flicks. They were fine once in a while, but sometimes he wanted a little action or suspense.
Molly never wanted to compromise and he didn’t want to fight over the little time they had together. He’d always felt bad that he spent so much time on his schoolwork, but he was on a scholarship and not only had his GPA to maintain to keep it, but he needed to be at a certain level to get into med school too.
Though his parents paid for his first four years of college, they didn’t pay for his expenses if he wanted to go out. He busted his ass every summer to put away as much money as he could and he tutored during the semester for extra cash. Molly’s parents gave her everything she ever wanted.
She was used to getting her way and when she didn’t get it with him, she’d had enough. He should have seen the writing on the wall. His family had told him often enough, but he didn’t listen.
He was in love and thought she felt the same way. Different kinds of love, he later found out.
“What are you in the mood to eat tonight?” he asked Sierra.
“I’m easy. Whatever you want or where the car takes us is good for me. I can find anything I like anywhere.”
Another thing he liked about her. She wasn’t fussy. Wasn’t demanding. Other than her being adamant she didn’t date doctors, Sierra was pretty laid back.
“If we’re going to go to the movies, we might as well hit one of the restaurants at the mall. One just opened up and their menu is easily twenty pages long.”
“Good grief,” she said. “It’d take me an hour to read it and then two hours to decide on what I want. Why the heck would they make a menu that big?”
“No clue,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, so if you’re game let’s give it a shot.”
He turned to make his way to Crossgates Mall, then parked. Both of them got out and walked to the entrance of the mall. It was just after five, plenty enough time for dinner and to catch the seven o’clock movie.
Once they were seated with the massive menu in front of them, h
e ordered a beer, her a wine. “This menu is nuts. I’ll never decide.” She shut it, put her hand on the top and then said, “I’m going to close my eyes and whatever two pages it opens too, I’m ordering something from that.”
He laughed, then shut his too. “I’ll do the same. On the count of three.”
She snorted, then gave him a wink. “I don’t need to count,” then opened it up. “Looks like I’m getting either chicken or seafood tonight. How about you?”
He was shaking his head at her, then slid his finger in between two pages and flipped it open. “Steak or pasta for me.”
She lifted her head a little. “What’s that a picture of?”
“No,” he said. “You’ve got your two pages and I’ve got mine.”
“Maybe we could share?” she asked coyly.
“If you insist,” he said.
“Oh, I do,” she said back, her eyes twinkling. There was laughter there and a hint of something else that was making his body tingle with anticipation. Next weekend couldn’t come fast enough.
“That was a great movie,” she said four hours later. Their dinner had been great. She’d gotten a seafood casserole and he’d gotten beef medallions over pasta. They did share their meals too. Another thing he hadn’t done since Molly.
Why was Molly in his mind so much tonight? He’d done his damnedest to push her away the same as she did him. She’d moved on with her life and married and had a few kids the last he knew. Even though she wasn’t from this area, she followed him here when he attended Albany Medical College. He wanted to be close to home and she said she didn’t care.
He’d thought she’d go back to her parents that had spoiled her rotten when she left him, but she moved on to some executive that was older than her. Stay at home mom was what she wanted and that was what she got.
“It was. Bruce Willis may be old, but he knows how to pack a movie full of action.”
“That man is ageless when it comes to those kinds of movies,” she said.
“You like action?” he asked.
She bumped shoulders with him. “I like anything. I’m easy to please. I told you that.”
“Did you just say it to be nice or do you really mean it?”
“Man, someone burned you good. I’m easygoing. I always have been. Too many times in life things have to be taken seriously. You need to know when to fight and when to cave. Choosing food or movies isn’t a time to take a stand.”
There were more to those words, he knew it, but he was still trying not to react to her comment about him getting burned. She’d said it as a joke and kept talking so there was no reason to even address it. He’d mentioned his ex to her before, but not in a massive amount of detail.
Which was why he wasn’t asking her to explain her comment more.
“So where to now? Ready to go home?”
“How about you take me to Paradise?”
He laughed. “You want to see my house?”
“I guess you could look at it that way.”
He was slow to get her meaning. “Oh no,” he said. “First time is in the hotel. I’m making you wait.”
“Why is that?”
“Because we are friends and that is a benefit. What if we don’t mesh well and then you decide not to bring me and you have to go all by yourself and listen to your mother talk about how she could have set you up with that lawyer.”
“That’s just cruel,” she said back when she climbed into his car.
“What is? The statement or making you wait?”
“Both. Because my mother would damn well make that comment if I showed up alone. And I’m sorry, but I just don’t see us having a problem meshing.”
He didn’t think so either. “Guess we have to wait to find out. It’s not like we are dating in the traditional manner. This was just friends going to dinner and catching a movie.”
“Then you would have let me split the tab with you,” she said.
Which was another reason why he wasn’t taking her home. She was determined to keep them in that friend category and he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be there. He was going to slide into the dating category slowly even if it meant being a little sneaky with it.
She’d been quiet on the ride back to her apartment, but she offered him coffee so he took her up on it. Just because he wasn’t going to sleep with her tonight didn’t mean they couldn’t get some major lip locks in.
“I had fun tonight,” she said.
“Me too.”
“How long has it been since you’ve been on a date?” she asked.
“This wasn’t a date,” he said back. “At least not in your eyes.”
“You’re right. Okay. Same question though. Not counting me.”
“Months maybe. I just don’t seem to have a lot of time.”
“I bet you don’t lack for offers,” she said, turning the coffee maker on.
“I get my fair share. How about you? You’re not bad looking.”
She started to laugh, then flipped her dark blonde hair over her shoulder. “You think? The last year has been an adjustment for me with the move. The only time I see people is at work or a bar. I’m not keen on picking men up in a bar, but I’ve gotten some numbers and a few dates. Nothing in several months.”
“And we know you don’t date doctors. What about other medical professionals? Any serious relationships in your past?”
“I’ve always kept my work and private life separate for no other reason than it was simpler. As for serious relationships. I had a few. One in college and we just went our way afterward. Another a few years ago. Boy, you are awful chatty.”
“Just curious,” he said, picking up the coffee she set in front of him. “Trying to find out more about my friend.”
She rolled her eyes. “We just didn’t want the same things in life is all.”
That sounded familiar. “And what was it you wanted? Or want?”
“Back then I wanted to stay where I was and he wanted to put in for a job transfer.”
“And yet here you are, not in your hometown.”
“Sometimes we don’t get what we want no matter how much we want it,” she said so softly that he knew there was more going on.
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Speaking from girlfriend experience?” she asked, bringing her own coffee to her lips. “Just asking as a friend.”
“This friend has had enough talk.” He put his cup down and moved toward her, backing her against the wall, his hands coming up and caging her in, his mouth lowering and taking hers.
She’d been teasing him all night and he couldn’t take much more of it. When her arms wrapped around his back and then made their way into his hair to hold his head in place, he knew she was feeling the same way.
Their tongues started to duel with a frenzy that made him think he was a teen trying to sneak a girl in his room. Then she lifted her legs up and wrapped them around his hips and started to grind against him.
“Take me to my room,” she said.
He moved his lips away and dropped his forehead down on hers. “You have no patience. What did I say about next weekend?”
“You’re seriously going to make me wait?”
“I seriously am,” he said and then moved back and helped guide her legs down. He was solid in his jeans and worried the slightest movement on her part would make him burst like an inexperienced virgin.
“You’re one of a kind,” she said.
“Just remember that the next time you want to lump me in with other doctors.”
He grabbed his coat and left, but not before he heard her gasp. Hit a nerve there, only he had no clue which one or why.
14
Real Deal
Saturday morning they were on their way to Buffalo for the wedding. She was still a little irked at how last Saturday ended.
How dare Grey get her so worked up and then walk out the door and leave her standing there shaking...not just from arousal but from his parting words.
/> He’d have no idea how much they hurt or hit home.
As far as she knew, he had no idea about her past or why she moved. He’d never really come out to ask directly. If he did, she’d probably tell him. Of course, going home this weekend and coming face to face with people she might have worked with could raise some flags. With any luck everyone would be cordial and she wouldn’t have to address it.
“I probably should tell you that my family thinks we are dating.”
He turned his head in the car. “Like my family?”
“Yeah,” she said, grinning at him. “No one has to know about what this really is between us.”
“I’m starting to wonder what it is myself,” he said back.
“What does that mean?”
He just grinned and shrugged, then turned back toward the road again. It wasn’t the best time to talk about it anyway. She had too many nerves going through her. Nerves from seeing Marissa again. Sure, Marissa told Beth that she regretted her behavior and actions, but that didn’t mean she’d apologize.
Then there were those past coworkers that might be there and give her the cold shoulder too. She’d just have to push that aside. She’d gotten used to it. Or so she said. It still felt like she had to leave though. Getting a cold shoulder was one thing. Being looked at as if she couldn’t do her job or everyone thought she was watching them was too much for her.
The biggest pot of nerves was from Grey himself.
He’d been great the past week. Friendly, flirty, funny.
But once they checked into the hotel they would be changing clothes for this wedding. And afterward they’d be going back to the room that she reserved with one bed. Regardless of what happened, they’d be sharing that bed, or he’d be on the floor. She wasn’t giving up the bed if he changed his mind or halted them again.
The one thing she was going to do was give him something to look at tonight. To make him want to ditch the wedding and take her back to the room, throw her on the bed and flip her dress up. Not even take the time to remove it, just attack her and get it out of his system first.