He reaches us and comes to stand beside my chair, gripping the top edge. I peer up at him from beneath my lashes but don’t say a word. From this angle, his jaw looks especially chiseled.
Victoria is actually the first one to speak, and her voice is light and amused when she explains, “I’ve just been chatting with your surgical assistant, Matt.”
The look he aims down at me cuts me deep. Furrowed brows, sad eyes—it’s like he thinks I introduced myself to her as his surgical assistant and nothing more.
“I also told her we’re dating.”
Well…we were.
Relief floods his gaze before he turns to Victoria.
She’s beaming at us.
“You two make a striking pair in your matching scrubs,” she says, waving her hand up and down us. “Though I have to be honest, I already told Bailey she’s way too good for you.”
He smiles tightly and shakes his head. “Well, let’s hope she doesn’t listen to you. I hear pregnancy brain is a real thing.”
She tosses her head back and laughs, and I sit like a statue, suddenly uncomfortable to be sitting here with them. Maybe I should give them a moment of privacy. I shoot to my feet and my sandwich hits the ground with a dull smack.
Oh, right, my lunch. My stomach lurches in protest at the sight. I couldn’t finish it now if I tried.
Matt’s hand hits my shoulder and his grip is just the slightest bit too tight. The message is clear: he doesn’t want me to leave, but I need to. I want to give them the chance to talk, and I want to absorb what Victoria just told me. I want to gather myself a bit before I have to speak to him in full, comprehensible sentences.
His gaze implores me to stay, but I shake my head and step out of his reach. “You two have things to discuss. I’ll be up in your office.” His brows rise in shock at my promise, and I offer a reassuring smile before turning to Victoria. “It was really nice to meet you.”
She grins and hands me the last half of her chocolate bar. “Want it? For the road?”
Of course I do. I eat that chocolate bar on my way up to Matt’s office and I half-expect Patricia to block my entrance, but I breeze right past her as she continues flipping through her magazines.
“Been wondering when I’d see you again,” is all she says before I shut his door behind me.
I stand there at the threshold as my gaze sweeps from the couch to his desk to the open bathroom door. Memories fill every nook and cranny as Victoria’s words replay in my mind.
Matt’s not ever going to change.
Work will always be his mistress.
It makes perfect sense for him to fall for someone like you.
The way you two worked together, almost as if you were one person instead of two.
Yes, Matt’s passionate about his career and he’ll always be pulled in a million different directions. He won’t answer every one of my calls or be able to make it home for dinner every night. I’ll always have to share his attention. For some people, that might be a deal breaker. For me, it only solidifies what I already love about him.
I understand Matt in a way not many people do. I’d never ask him to pick me over his career. It’d be like trying to split a heart in two. Matt lives and breathes medicine, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, it’s enough for me just to be a part of it, to watch him save lives, to walk alongside him as he strives to make a difference in the world around him. I want to help carry some of the burden. We could build that clinic together. I could be his right hand in life just like I’m his right hand in the operating room.
We’re a perfect fit, and maybe I’m the last one to realize that.
Maybe it’s time I tell him exactly how I feel.
When he throws open the door to his office a few minutes later, his eyes rove wildly across the space, looking for me. I push up off the couch as he steps in, and he sighs with relief when he sees that I fulfilled my promise to wait for him here. He shuts the door, and the heavy wood shoves my good sense and restraint out into the hallway. All that’s left is the wild beat of my heart, my feet carrying me toward him in quick strides. Without a moment’s hesitation, I fling myself into his arms.
My face is buried in his scrubs. I inhale his cologne as his hand caresses my hair. His arm is clamped around my waist and we stay like that for so long, just breathing one another in. My feet are a few inches off the ground. His chest is broad and warm. I think he took the stairs to get up here—he’s breathing heavy and his heart is racing and I’m floating and Matt’s telling me he’s sorry again for doing this to us, for keeping a secret, for our shit luck and bad timing.
I squeeze my eyes closed and wrap my arms around his neck and hang on, hang on, hang on to him and to this moment before real decisions get made. Life continues outside his office, but right now, it’s just us, squashed together so tightly neither one of us can catch a full breath. He sets me down slowly and his hands cradle my face. He tilts my head up and I wet my bottom lip instinctively.
“Bailey.”
He sounds hoarse, and there’s a deep crease between his brows.
My hands fist the front of his shirt and I’m up on my toes, eyelids fluttering shut as his mouth descends on mine.
Our kiss is slow and gentle, a testing of waters. I’m the one to increase the tempo. “I need this,” I beg breathily, and Matt delivers. My knees buckle as the kiss intensifies. Our tongues touch and there’s a flutter in my stomach. I have a need only Matt can satisfy with his big hands and his impatient growl. I’m lifted up off my feet again and carried to his couch.
God, we have so much to talk about, but even more than that, we have moments to make up for. Moments we lost this last week. Moments in which his mouth drags down my neck. Moments in which his hands dip under my scrub top and untie the little bow at my waist. My pants are loose enough that it’s easy for him to slide his hand down, skimming across the seam of my panties and then confidently dipping his hand right past it.
We absolutely have to stop. We’re in his office in the middle of a work day. The sun gleams bright through the window behind his desk and I can hear Patricia on the phone outside, yet my hands are tugging angrily at his scrubs. I want to shred the fabric into pieces.
I’m stripping him quickly, but he still beats me to the punch. Our clothes are kicked off and forgotten on the floor and Hello, Matthew’s firm ass. I’ve missed you.
Cold leather hits my back as he lays me down. Our fingers entwine as his mouth finds mine and then he forcefully moves my hands up over my head and holds them against the cushions. His hard chest crushes me and our hungry kisses turn hot and teasing. I’m an animal as I bite his lip and grind my hips up against his.
More.
He lets go of my hands and I hook my arms around his neck, keeping him pressed against me as his knee spreads my thighs apart. He skims a hand down across my breasts, teasing each one before he moves down to my navel…and then lower. My eyes squeeze closed as his middle finger finds my wetness. Slow, torturous circles spin me right out of control. I arch my back and meet his hand, encouraging him to continue, and I think he’s as impatient as I am because our foreplay lasts about thirty seconds and then he’s finding his wallet. I yank it out of his hand and find the condom tucked inside. No, crap—he’s better at this than I am and now I’ve delayed us even longer. He laughs as he takes it out of my hand and rolls it onto his hard length. My tongue lolls out of my mouth and my eyes are as wide as saucers, but he’s too focused to notice my reaction. Thank God.
“Bailey?” he asks gently, glancing up at me from beneath his dark brows.
I wish I could frame a photo of him exactly as he appears in this moment. With his black hair tousled from my hands and his lips dark red from my kisses, he’s my fantasy come to life.
I nod and bite my lip, more than ready when he slowly thrusts inside me.
It’s there, in that slow roll of his hips, in the deep, real connection that I finally feel clarity sink into my bones. I grip his cheeks and force his gaze up, and then I say very simply, “I want to come with you.”
He’s shocked—obviously—because he stops mid-thrust and asks me to repeat myself.
I laugh and kiss him quickly. “I want to come to Costa Rica. It’s wild, but not totally out of the realm of possibility. I’ve been looking into it all week.”
Victoria is actually the first one to speak, and her voice is light and amused when she explains, “I’ve just been chatting with your surgical assistant, Matt.”
The look he aims down at me cuts me deep. Furrowed brows, sad eyes—it’s like he thinks I introduced myself to her as his surgical assistant and nothing more.
“I also told her we’re dating.”
Well…we were.
Relief floods his gaze before he turns to Victoria.
She’s beaming at us.
“You two make a striking pair in your matching scrubs,” she says, waving her hand up and down us. “Though I have to be honest, I already told Bailey she’s way too good for you.”
He smiles tightly and shakes his head. “Well, let’s hope she doesn’t listen to you. I hear pregnancy brain is a real thing.”
She tosses her head back and laughs, and I sit like a statue, suddenly uncomfortable to be sitting here with them. Maybe I should give them a moment of privacy. I shoot to my feet and my sandwich hits the ground with a dull smack.
Oh, right, my lunch. My stomach lurches in protest at the sight. I couldn’t finish it now if I tried.
Matt’s hand hits my shoulder and his grip is just the slightest bit too tight. The message is clear: he doesn’t want me to leave, but I need to. I want to give them the chance to talk, and I want to absorb what Victoria just told me. I want to gather myself a bit before I have to speak to him in full, comprehensible sentences.
His gaze implores me to stay, but I shake my head and step out of his reach. “You two have things to discuss. I’ll be up in your office.” His brows rise in shock at my promise, and I offer a reassuring smile before turning to Victoria. “It was really nice to meet you.”
She grins and hands me the last half of her chocolate bar. “Want it? For the road?”
Of course I do. I eat that chocolate bar on my way up to Matt’s office and I half-expect Patricia to block my entrance, but I breeze right past her as she continues flipping through her magazines.
“Been wondering when I’d see you again,” is all she says before I shut his door behind me.
I stand there at the threshold as my gaze sweeps from the couch to his desk to the open bathroom door. Memories fill every nook and cranny as Victoria’s words replay in my mind.
Matt’s not ever going to change.
Work will always be his mistress.
It makes perfect sense for him to fall for someone like you.
The way you two worked together, almost as if you were one person instead of two.
Yes, Matt’s passionate about his career and he’ll always be pulled in a million different directions. He won’t answer every one of my calls or be able to make it home for dinner every night. I’ll always have to share his attention. For some people, that might be a deal breaker. For me, it only solidifies what I already love about him.
I understand Matt in a way not many people do. I’d never ask him to pick me over his career. It’d be like trying to split a heart in two. Matt lives and breathes medicine, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, it’s enough for me just to be a part of it, to watch him save lives, to walk alongside him as he strives to make a difference in the world around him. I want to help carry some of the burden. We could build that clinic together. I could be his right hand in life just like I’m his right hand in the operating room.
We’re a perfect fit, and maybe I’m the last one to realize that.
Maybe it’s time I tell him exactly how I feel.
When he throws open the door to his office a few minutes later, his eyes rove wildly across the space, looking for me. I push up off the couch as he steps in, and he sighs with relief when he sees that I fulfilled my promise to wait for him here. He shuts the door, and the heavy wood shoves my good sense and restraint out into the hallway. All that’s left is the wild beat of my heart, my feet carrying me toward him in quick strides. Without a moment’s hesitation, I fling myself into his arms.
My face is buried in his scrubs. I inhale his cologne as his hand caresses my hair. His arm is clamped around my waist and we stay like that for so long, just breathing one another in. My feet are a few inches off the ground. His chest is broad and warm. I think he took the stairs to get up here—he’s breathing heavy and his heart is racing and I’m floating and Matt’s telling me he’s sorry again for doing this to us, for keeping a secret, for our shit luck and bad timing.
I squeeze my eyes closed and wrap my arms around his neck and hang on, hang on, hang on to him and to this moment before real decisions get made. Life continues outside his office, but right now, it’s just us, squashed together so tightly neither one of us can catch a full breath. He sets me down slowly and his hands cradle my face. He tilts my head up and I wet my bottom lip instinctively.
“Bailey.”
He sounds hoarse, and there’s a deep crease between his brows.
My hands fist the front of his shirt and I’m up on my toes, eyelids fluttering shut as his mouth descends on mine.
Our kiss is slow and gentle, a testing of waters. I’m the one to increase the tempo. “I need this,” I beg breathily, and Matt delivers. My knees buckle as the kiss intensifies. Our tongues touch and there’s a flutter in my stomach. I have a need only Matt can satisfy with his big hands and his impatient growl. I’m lifted up off my feet again and carried to his couch.
God, we have so much to talk about, but even more than that, we have moments to make up for. Moments we lost this last week. Moments in which his mouth drags down my neck. Moments in which his hands dip under my scrub top and untie the little bow at my waist. My pants are loose enough that it’s easy for him to slide his hand down, skimming across the seam of my panties and then confidently dipping his hand right past it.
We absolutely have to stop. We’re in his office in the middle of a work day. The sun gleams bright through the window behind his desk and I can hear Patricia on the phone outside, yet my hands are tugging angrily at his scrubs. I want to shred the fabric into pieces.
I’m stripping him quickly, but he still beats me to the punch. Our clothes are kicked off and forgotten on the floor and Hello, Matthew’s firm ass. I’ve missed you.
Cold leather hits my back as he lays me down. Our fingers entwine as his mouth finds mine and then he forcefully moves my hands up over my head and holds them against the cushions. His hard chest crushes me and our hungry kisses turn hot and teasing. I’m an animal as I bite his lip and grind my hips up against his.
More.
He lets go of my hands and I hook my arms around his neck, keeping him pressed against me as his knee spreads my thighs apart. He skims a hand down across my breasts, teasing each one before he moves down to my navel…and then lower. My eyes squeeze closed as his middle finger finds my wetness. Slow, torturous circles spin me right out of control. I arch my back and meet his hand, encouraging him to continue, and I think he’s as impatient as I am because our foreplay lasts about thirty seconds and then he’s finding his wallet. I yank it out of his hand and find the condom tucked inside. No, crap—he’s better at this than I am and now I’ve delayed us even longer. He laughs as he takes it out of my hand and rolls it onto his hard length. My tongue lolls out of my mouth and my eyes are as wide as saucers, but he’s too focused to notice my reaction. Thank God.
“Bailey?” he asks gently, glancing up at me from beneath his dark brows.
I wish I could frame a photo of him exactly as he appears in this moment. With his black hair tousled from my hands and his lips dark red from my kisses, he’s my fantasy come to life.
I nod and bite my lip, more than ready when he slowly thrusts inside me.
It’s there, in that slow roll of his hips, in the deep, real connection that I finally feel clarity sink into my bones. I grip his cheeks and force his gaze up, and then I say very simply, “I want to come with you.”
He’s shocked—obviously—because he stops mid-thrust and asks me to repeat myself.
I laugh and kiss him quickly. “I want to come to Costa Rica. It’s wild, but not totally out of the realm of possibility. I’ve been looking into it all week.”
