Chapter Nineteen
“Hey, sweetie,” Amanda said as she held her cell to her ear.
“Hey, girl! You’re on your lunch break, right?” Kat asked.
“Yep. Perfect timing. How’s the trip going?”
Kat was on a fact-finding mission somewhere in South Dakota, posing as a biker chick just looking to party for a few days with an MC as she passed through town. It didn’t matter what logic or reason Amanda had thrown at her, Kat was determined to see this through. So determined, she’d quit her job at the local news station and was living off her savings.
“It’s, um, good. Kinda intense, but, uh, that’s pretty much what I expected,” Kat said.
Amanda frowned. Kat’s voice held a false note of cheer. It wouldn’t be obvious to most, but as someone who’d known Kat twenty years, Amanda knew all her tells. And something was always wrong when she used that fake, chirpy voice.
“Do you feel safe, Kat? Why don’t you come home? We’re both well overdue for some time off. Let’s take a few days and make a road trip to Salt Lake. We can stay at that spa we’ve always wanted to check out.” Anything to entice her friend back home and away from danger.
“Amanda, I didn’t call so you could talk me out of this. I’m here and I’m staying until I get what I need. So if all you’re going to do is be negative about this, I’ll just go.”
“No!” The last thing she wanted was to push Kat away. They’d been friends forever and she couldn’t imagine not having Kat in her life. “So, uh, John Michaels came by the house yesterday.”
She crossed her fingers as a few seconds of silence ticked by, but then Kat caved at the change of subject.
“Really? What did that creeper want?”
Amanda filled her in on everything that had happened over the past few days beginning with the traumatic stairwell encounter and ending with the sort of fight between Nick and Michaels.
“Holy shit, girl! You’ve been busy. You better report him now. He’s gone beyond asshole and crossed the line into dangerous.”
Amanda sighed. Calling the hospital and filing a report with HR was on her to do list for the day yet she kept bumping it for every other menial task that came her way. It wasn’t going to be pleasant and it wasn’t going to be pretty. “Yeah, I’m going to.”
“Do it, girl. It’s too bad Nick isn’t back in tip top shape yet. I bet he could have wiped the floor with Dr. Douche if this happened a few months ago.”
If the man wasn’t in top shape now, Amanda was almost afraid to see him in action at the top of his game. His body was…something else. She shifted in her chair and grimaced at the tenderness between her thighs. No sex for a year, then she went and had the most intense, roughest, most powerful sex of her life. Yeah, she was pretty damn sore today. And the problem was, that soreness kept her thinking about Nick. All. Day. Long.
Had they really had sex outside, against her front door, when it wasn’t quite dark enough to be hidden in the shadows? No, they’d fucked. Nick’s favorite word, but that’s what it had been. By the time he’d caught her and backed her against the door, she was dripping for him all over again and he was as hard as steel. The second time was no less intense than the first. No one would have ever guessed that they’d just finished the first round of mind-melting sex just fifteen minutes before.
He’d had her just as forcefully as he had the first time. She’d loved every second of it, crying out into the night and begging for more as though they weren’t out in the open. When she came, it was just as hard as the first two times and she didn’t even try to censor her cries. She just screamed her pleasure into the quiet night.
Then they’d stumbled into bed and passed out wrapped around each other. Amanda had never felt so safe in her life. She slept like the dead until the feel of Nick’s fingers probing her soft folds, seeking entrance, woke her a few hours later. She’d opened for him immediately, despite the soreness. There was no denying him, not when she knew this might end at any time.
He’d made her come two more times, first with his fingers then while buried deep inside her. She wouldn’t call it making love since they hadn’t even had a conversation about what they were to each other, but there was an undeniable deep connection brewing. She just hoped she wasn’t the only one to feel it.
“Hellooo?” Kat said. “Did I lose you?”
“What? Oh sorry, my mind wandered off for a few seconds there.”
“Hmm, did it now? Where’d it go? Anywhere good?” Humor laced Kat’s questions.
“Uh, no. Just work stuff.”
“You liar!” Kat laughed. “That was way too long a pause to be work related. That’s a sexy-thought pause. Are you thinking about—oh my God, did you have sex?”
“Well, I, uh…” Amanda glanced around the break room. Thankfully she’d taken a late lunch and was the only one around.
“It was Nick! You slept with Nick, didn’t you? Damn, you hussy!”
What the hell? Was Kat a mind reader? “You’re the one who is always telling me I need to get laid more and now I’m a hussy?”
Genuine laughter filtered through the phone. As embarrassing as the conversation was, it was nice to hear Kat sounding more like herself than she had moments ago. “Don’t keep me in suspense. How was it?”
“It was, uh, well, I’d call it, um…”
“Holy shit girl. You can’t even speak. It was some damn good fuckin’ wasn’t it?”
Amanda snickered. Nick and Kat hadn’t had much time to get to know each other, but they’d get along swimmingly if the amount of swearing they did was any indication. “Kat, it was about a million times better than damn good fuckin’.” She lowered her voice for the last few words.
Kat whistled. “You go girl. How’s your cooch feeling today?”
“Ugh,” Amanda said with a groan. “Did you really just ask me that? I’m not answering that question.”
“What? Oh yeah, uh, sure, baby. I’m coming.” Kat’s voice was muffled as though she was holding a hand over the phone.
“Kat?”
“Hey, girl. I gotta run. Be home in a few days, okay? You enjoy the hell outta that man.” The falsely happy tone was back.
“Oh, yeah, okay. Be caref—” The line went dead and Amanda sighed. Maybe she should have taken a few days off and made the trip with Kat for no other reason than to keep her friend out of trouble.
What did it say about her as a friend that she was glad she never made the offer? It would have meant missing out on the night with Nick.
This morning she’d overslept, worn out from the hours of sex. Quiet as a mouse, she’d showered and dressed for work. Nick had remained asleep the entire time, so they never had a chance to talk. She had no idea what she’d be walking into when she returned home. For all she knew, one night was all she’d get.
It was an unbelievable night, that was undeniable, but she’d be lying to herself if she said she wouldn’t be disappointed if that was all it was. And unfortunately, it wasn’t just the return to celibacy that would be disappointing, it would be losing the connection she felt to Nick.
Three more hours and she’d be done with her shift. Two unpleasant tasks awaited her attention: the phone call to report Dr. Michaels, and the inevitable awkward conversation with Nick.
She groaned and lifted her phone. One of those tasks would have to wait. The other she could deal with now. No time like the present. At least it would be done and over with.
Her stomach rolled as she waited for, Liz, her human resources contact, to answer the phone. After a few moments of pleasantries and small talk, Amanda got down to business and filed her complaint. Just as she was about to give a verbal two weeks’ notice, the HR rep cut her off.
“Amanda, I’m so sorry that happened to you, and normally I’d pass your complaint up the chain, but you should know Dr. Michaels quit this afternoon.”
Amanda opened and closed her mouth at least three times. What the hell?
“Amanda, you there?”
She blinked and refocused. “Um, yeah, sorry. I’m just stunned, I guess.”
“As were we,” Liz said. “It was so sudden and unexpected. No notice or anything. Pretty unprofessional if you ask me, though in light of what you just told me I shouldn’t be surprised. You just never know about people. Anyway, Amanda, I really suggest you file for a restraining order. There isn’t anything we can do here on our end since he’s no longer an employee of the hospital.”
“Yeah, thanks for the advice, Liz. That’s a good idea. I’ll look into it.” It was hard to concentrate on the conversation with her brain running a mile a minute.
“No problem, Amanda. Have a good day.”
She disconnected the call and flopped into a chair. The day, and her life, had taken more than a few unexpected turns over the past few months and she was beginning to feel like she was drowning in all the changes.
What the hell would have made him quit so abruptly like that? Could it be remorse for the way he’d treated her? It didn’t seem likely that he’d change his tune overnight and go from giant asshole to so overcome with guilt he’d quit his job.
No one at work had ever seen him mistreat her so he wouldn’t have been confronted on his behavior. And she’d only told two people. Kat and Nick.
Nick.
She bolted straight up in her chair.
Nick was there yesterday when Michaels accosted her. Nick heard all about her problems with the doctor. Nick slept with her last night.
Nick did something to make Dr. Michaels quit his job.