Page 23 of Bronx

"Hope you don't mind," she said. "I made some coffee." She turned around and pressed her pink lips against the rim for a sip. She sighed. "Ah, the magic potion of life. Want some or is it too early?" She ruffled her hand lightly over her hair. "You are still wearing the whole sleepy head look."

I smiled and walked over for a cup. "Guess I'm a little worn out." I put the cup down before pouring coffee and gently took her cup from her hand, so I could pull her into my arms. "Imagine my disappointment when I woke to an empty bed this morning. I had all kinds of plans for my wake-up routine." My erection was hard to miss, even in my jeans.

Layla glanced down at it. "You do seem to be primed and ready, but I'm afraid I've got to go to work. I'm covering another nurse's shift this morning." She hopped on her toes and kissed me. "But trust me, I would much rather stay around here and participate in your wake-up routine."

"Could I sweeten the deal by promising to follow up the routine with some of my world famous French toast?"

Her smile sent new pulses of heat through me and straight to my core. Was I really standing in my kitchen with Layla? It was too fucking amazing to believe.

"As much as I would love some world famous French toast, the hospital administrators frown on tardiness."

"That's probably for the best since it's not really world famous. In fact, it's not even my French toast. It comes from the freezer and one of those frozen waffle companies. But I've found with enough syrup, it reaches a level of culinary greatness."

Her laughter filled the kitchen. If only the crummy stucco walls had the ability to capture the sound and hold onto it.

Reluctantly, I released her and returned to my cup for some coffee.

"So, Jack, what do you think? Does our crazy, middle of the night plan still sound plausible? Should we try this thing out?"

"I don't think I can turn back now, Layla. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep this going, but I need to hear from you that you want this as badly as I want it." I held my breath as I waited for her response.

She put down her cup, walked toward me and wrapped her arms around me. "Jack Devlin, I want this. I want you."

We kissed long and hard, making it nearly painful for me to let her go.

"Hey, Layla?" I asked as she rinsed her cup and got ready to go. "Do you have some time off? Specifically, do you think you can take next weekend off? I'm driving out to the ranch. I told Vick I'd take care of the horses while he and my mom have a weekend away. It'd just be us and six horses and three dogs and a dozen chickens."

"You know, I've been doing favors for some of the other nurses, taking shifts while they go off on weekends or family events. I think I can swing it. Is this an invite?"

"Yep, and if we plan it right, you can meet Vick. He's been wanting to meet the woman who led him to the clinical trial. At the moment, his tumors have not grown. Initially, they even shrank some, and the side effects have been minimal. That's why they decided to get away for a weekend."

"I'd love to meet your parents. And I'll be hanging out with horses and the hottest cowboy this side of the Mississippi, and, possibly, the other side too. I'll see what I can do about my schedule." She scurried toward me for a quick kiss and walked out.

It was still going to take me awhile to convince myself this wasn't all just a dream.

18

"Order mine without the cheese," Kingston texted. "I'm getting a belly."

I laughed to myself as I sent back a text. The guy was having me order two double burgers, a large fry and a chocolate milkshake, but he was worrying about calories.

I ordered the food and sat at one of the outdoor tables. My phone beeped. I pulled it out figuring King changed his mind about the cheese. It would be another record for one of his weight loss regimes. He tended to start a diet Monday morning and end it by the time he headed to lunch. This time, the text was from Layla. We'd decided to change her name to Ginger on my contact list just in case. We were taking this secret relationship thing to a whole new level, and frankly, it was pretty fucking fun. She had changed my name to Rocky, for no other reason except she thought it sounded corny. She even came up with a description for mythical Rocky, apparently he had a shaved head, a ton of tattoos and green eyes that could knock a girl senseless. She noted the last detail was actually true.

"I'm on break and just started thinking about you. That seems to happen more and more lately," she texted.

"I couldn'tstartthinking about you because I never stopped." I sent back the text.

"Are you trying to out romance me, sir? Because I meet your challenge and raise you with one out of control shower I had this morning when I started thinking about you."

Her sexy text immediately hardened my cock. "I'm going to need details. You can't just throw out some vague reference to an out of control shower without going into specifics. My imagination is going to be at full throttle trying to decipher just what you meant."

"Hmm . . ." That was the entire first text. Before I could reply about the lack of details, another text popped through. "Well, I was standing there, stark naked, warm soapy water cascading over my breasts and down to my . . . oops, gotta go. Break's over. Guess your imagination will have to take over."

"Tease," I texted back.

My order number was called, but I wasn't exactly anxious to stand up.

King walked up right then. "What? Still no food?"

---