He hated being one of those guys. The type of guy who takes advantage of a woman right after a breakup, and then sneaks off in the morning before she wakes up. Not that he took advantage of her; she seemed to have wanted just as much as he did. But, despite Mason Hadley’s calm and normally abrasive demeanor, he was afraid. He was afraid that if he woke up beside her, there would be an awkward confrontation, that she might expect something more. More than what they had; a boss-employee relationship, a colleague-colleague relationship, a love-hate relationship. And the thing was, he kind of wanted more as well, and that scared him to no end. He thought of last night like a dream, a perfect, priceless dream. Now it was time to wake up.

He had to wake up and leave. She had to wake up alone.

And somewhere deep inside of him, he hated himself for it.

* * *

She felt him leave. She didn’t blame him. Last night was definitely a mistake, a beautiful, pleasurable mistake that should never happen again. She didn’t expect him to stay. In all honesty, she didn’t expect him to stay the night with her, but he did.

The light rain tapped gently on her window. She blinked a couple of times before sliding out of bed and slipping on her satin red robe. She walked out into her living room and onto her small balcony, letting the rain drop onto her. Her hair was probably a frazzled mess, but at that moment, she didn’t mind. She felt an inner peace within her as she leaned her forearms on the railing and looked out at the city.

Olivia didn’t feel alone. Olivia felt… content.

She needed last night just as much as he did. The tension between them had built up over the last three years that it was only a matter of time until they had one night of uncontrollable passion.

She smiled. Olivia felt more than content. Olivia felt… free.

* * *

Olivia sat down with her best friend Shelby Woo, head of the nursing station at Boulder Haven Medical Hospital. The two had met there on Olivia’s first day as a resident. In fact, it was Shelby who had first warned her about Mason’s bedside manner but added that “it must be a good sign he took you on as his resident. Either that, or he wants to sleep with you really, really badly.” The two had been inseparable since then.

Shelby Woo was short, about five foot two, but she could be quite intimidating. She was a year older than Olivia was, which made her just recently twenty-eight years old back in September. With her long, silky black hair and porcelain skin, she was beautiful. Originally from China, Shelby moved to the states when she was a senior in high school with the desire to become a nurse. Now, ten years later, she was the youngest woman in charge of the nursing staff in Boulder Haven’s history. She had dark eyes and a clear face. She was slim and spunky, very popular with both her colleagues and her patients.

“You wanted to tell me something?” Olivia asked as the two opened their menus to figure out what they were going to eat for lunch.

Shelby smiled with excitement, closing the menu and setting it to the side. She had come to this restaurant so often she knew exactly what she wanted. “Well…” she said, letting her voice trail off. She glanced down at her hands, and instead of continuing to speak, she showed Olivia the back of her hand. “Andy proposed!” she exclaimed, and the two girls joined in a squealing fit. People sitting at surrounding tables gave them odd looks, and some were even amused at their youthful excitement.

“Oh my gosh, Summer actually did it!” Olivia said, once she had calmed down. She took Shelby’s left hand in hers, looking at the ring on her left finger. It was a small, silver band with small diamonds embroided in the surface of the silver band. When she had finished studying the engagement band, Olivia dropped Shelby’s hand and looked up at her friend. “How long have you guys been together now?”

“A little over six years,” Shelby responded with a smile.

“Well, it’s about time!” Olivia exclaimed. “When did he do it? How did he do it?”

“Well, he did it a couple weeks ago for my birthday,” Shelby told her friend. “I would have told you sooner, but we wanted to tell our parents first.” She paused, a nostalgic smile on her face. “Apparently, when my parents came to Boulder to visit over the summer, Andy asked my father for his permission, so Daddy knew he was going to do it soon.

“Anyway, for my birthday, he took me to Simon’s, that seafood restaurant on the pier,” Shelby continued, and Olivia nodded, indicating that she knew exactly what her friend was talking about.

Before the woman could continue, the waitress came by to take their order. Shelby ordered the shrimp alfredo while Olivia settled on an egg salad sandwich and French fries.

“Okay, go ‘head,” Olivia said eagerly. “Continue.”

“Right,” Shelby said, taking a quick sip of her diet coke. “Okay, so you know how Vince is; he actually had the all the waiters sing ‘Happy Birthday’ for me after dinner, and they even brought a slice of chocolate cake out with a candle on it!” The two women shared a laugh. “After dinner, he took me to the end of the pier, just as the sun was setting. All of a sudden, I hear this music, right? So I turn, and there is this violinist, completely decked out in a tuxedo and everything. When I turn back to look at Andy, he was on his knee and asked me. I don’t know how he managed to time everything so perfectly, but when I said yes, the sun completely disappeared behind the horizon.”

The girls shared another squeal fest before Olivia stood and pulled Shelby into a tight hug. When she sat, they both couldn’t keep the smiles off their faces.

“That is so…. Summer,” Olivia said, shaking her head. “Wow, that’s great. You both deserve it; you guys are so good together.”

Shelby smiled a knowing smile. “That I know,” she said, “and agree with.” Her face became serious, however. “Olivia, I wanted to ask you something though.” She paused and Olivia nodded, encouraging her to continue. “I wanted to know if you would be my Maid of Honor.”

Olivia’s mouth dropped open in surprised, before quickly spreading into a smile. “Of course!” she exclaimed. “I mean, are you sure? Of course, only if you’re sure.”

“Of course I’m sure,” Shelby said, pushing her friend playfully.

“I feel so… honored!” Olivia said.

“That is why they call it Maid of Honor,” Shelby retorted with a teasing smile. “Okay, okay, enough about me. Tell me about you and Owen. Are you guys still fighting like cats and dogs?” She arched a brow, obviously not amused by Owen’s antics.

Before Olivia could reply, the waitress quickly set down the food before inquiring if there was anything else she could do. When the two girls responded politely that they didn’t need anything else, she left them to their food.

“Actually, I broke up with Owen last night,” Olivia stated before taking a bite of her sandwich.

Shelby nearly choked on her soda. “Are you okay?” she asked her friend with concern.

“Oh yeah,” Olivia said with a smile. “After I did it, I realized I should have done it a lot sooner.”

“I never liked that guy,” Shelby pointed out before taking a bite of her pasta. She watched her friend closely as she chewed. “There’s something else, though, isn’t there? You have this… glow surrounding you. Not the pregnancy glow or anything, but the I-jus-got-laid-and-it-was-good look.” She looked at her friend inquiringly.

Olivia blushed, and grinned, but said nothing, opting to stare hardly at her sandwich.

“Oh my gosh, you did get laid!” Shelby exclaimed, causing the surrounding restaurant clients to glance over at them again. “And not by Owen.”

“Oh, God no,” Olivia said, scrunching her nose in disgust. “Definitely not by Owen. You know how I am with guys. If we break up, I just shut off. It’s like a switch; I don’t care anymore.”

“If not Owen, then who?” Shelby asked with raw curiosity.

“You cannot say anything to anybody,” Olivia said, thrusting her finger at her friend. Shelby put both her hands up in a manner of defense and nodded, her mouth full of pasta. “Okay. I kind of, you know, with…” She sighed. “With Hadley.”

Luckily, Shelby had just swallowed her mouthful of food when Olivia announced the name of her most recent lover because Shelby appeared to have difficulty comprehending the fact.

“Oh. My. God.” Shelby stated, completely dumbfounded. “I mean, I knew you guys had this whole sexual tension thing going on, but wow. Was it good?”

“The best,” Olivia said smugly.

“So, are you guys… you know, going to do it again?” Shelby inquired, tilting her head to the side.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t think that it’s going to happen,” Olivia said after a long pause.

“Do you like him?” her friend asked.

“I… don’t know,” Olivia replied honestly.

“Well does he like you?” Shelby tried, her brow raised expectantly.

“I… don’t know,” Olivia repeated.

“I know how to solve this,” Shelby said after a quick pause, her pointer finger extended towards the sky in a manner of explanation. “Okay, you know how Andy is a general physician for the clinic, right?” she began, grinning wickedly. “Do you think Hadley has ever seen Andy?”

“Hadley doesn’t pay attention to anyone,” Olivia said, “beside himself, of course.”

“And obviously you,” Shelby teased and then her face became serious. “I only ask because I want to, you know, experiment.”

Olivia groaned. “Not another one of your experiments,” Olivia mumbled.

“Hey, give me some credit,” Shelby said with a smile. “All I want to do is figure out if Hadley likes you. Sometime next week, I’ll send Andy up to ask for your assistance in a consult. Hadley’s reaction will tell us everything.”

“How?” Olivia asked skeptically. “He’s just going to think I’m consulting.”

“Will you just trust me?” Shelby asked with exasperation.

“What good is this going to do?” Olivia questioned. “I mean, what am I- what are we supposed to get out of this?”

“If nothing else, it might get you laid more often,” Shelby stated and grinned at her friend mischievously. “However, if this plan is cake, we need the icing, and I know exactly where to find it.” Olivia said nothing, but looked at her friend expectantly. “The mall.”