Page 52 of Hearts on the Table
I sounded normal, I think. She brightened as she talked. I could feel her love for her work all the way over here. On my left, Smithson—old codger that he was—smiled. So, I spent the next forty-five minutes staring at the woman I adored, imagining her coming on my cock in about twenty different positions, while she interviewed for a job that might make it impossible for us to work together. Only time and HR would tell.
Chapter 19
Lainey
I laughed when Sam sent back an emoji of two eyes looking speculative. The day after my interview, I was on top of the world. The heady combination of nailing it with the interview panel, precluded by the best orgasm of my life, made me feel likeI spewed rainbows every time I opened my mouth. It had been so hot. And unexpected.
Medical training took a long time, and Sam and I weren’t even close to being in our twenties anymore. I wasn’t sure what had compelled us to fold ourselves into my backseat and claw at each other like we were in heat, but I’d loved it. I wanted it again. I was so obsessed I could hardly even hear the worried voice in my head reprimanding me over what I was about to do.
An unfamiliar sound bleeped from my phone.Samuel Reese wants to share his location with you.
I stopped so fast a nurse nearly ran me over with a crash cart. I offered her a smile as I scooted to the side of the hallway, out of the flow of traffic. The little green notification pulsed on my screen.
Samuel Reese wants to share his location with you.
I swallowed, fingers stupidly unsteady when I clicked ‘Accept’ and shared my location back to him when prompted. The little screen loaded and there he was, a few yards away in one of the conference rooms.
Against my better judgment, I thought about Nate as I walked. I’d asked more than once for us to share locations, to make it easier to track each other down around campus and at the hospital. After a while, he’d snapped at me uncharacteristically,“Jesus, Lainey, we’re around each other all the time. Can’t we get some space?”
He’d apologized for it later and I’d forgiven him. Or maybe I hadn’t, because here I was in a completely new city, walkingtowards a completely different man, still unable to forget every detail of the interaction. Maybe I’d known even then that something wasn’t quite right.
Sam beckoned when I knocked on the door. I cracked it open, an excuse on my tongue for whoever he was meeting with, but he was alone. Smiling a little smile just for me.
Nate who?
“You’re alone.”
“I’m alone.”
I glanced at his laptop. “You okay with some company?”
“Only if it’s you.”
I tried to suppress my smile. “Good, because we need to straighten this out once and for all.” I plopped my laptop next to his and scooted a chair closer, showing him the screen for our schedule request portal.
“You want to sync our calendars.”
I paused. When next month’s schedule request had gone live an hour ago, this had seemed like a great idea. Maybe it was the orgasm talking, but I was no longer interested in just seeing him once a week for rounds or if our schedules opened up. I wanted every minute of his free time I could get, and even some of his professional time, too.
He’d already told me that the board had green-lit his ablation, and I’d be standing right next to him through the whole thing in two weeks. One surgery with him wasn’t enough. I wanted to be a burr stuck to his side.
Only it had just now occurred to me he might not want that. Nate’s stupid freaking face flashed in my head. “I mean. If you’d like to. We don’t have to request every day off together. But it would be nice to see you more.”
“Thank fuck.”
I barely heard it, he whispered so low. “What?”
“Thank God,” he said louder, self-correcting his curse. “I’ve wanted to do this for years.”
“Years?” He nodded, guiding his cursor across his screen to the request portal. “Why didn’t you?”
He hummed as the program opened. “Creepy.”
“Ah, but consent can turn creepy into fun.”
“Here, here.”
His gruff admission reminded me of all the things he’d whispered to me in the backseat. No one had ever spoken to me like that before, in bed or out. Sex would never again be the same.
