Chapter 2

The closest I’ve come to double penetration is eating both Little Debbies at the same time.

-Text from Naomi to Aspen

Naomi

Oh, my God. Oh, my God, oh my God, oh my God!

I was shaking. Literally shaking.

This had been my very first shift without a training medic either hovering at my side or available to ask questions—though, I was sure if I’d run into trouble the sexy man who was my partner would’ve helped.

Jesus Christ, but a man shouldn’t be as sexy as him. It ought to be illegal, because I couldn’t stop myself from staring at him.

Surely, I wouldn’t be able to function like this much longer.

Oh, God. This place was supposed to get me away from hot men, not put me into close quarters with them!

I washed my hands thoroughly in the sink, splashed water on my face, and then pulled down eight paper towels before roughly scrubbing my face dry.

Holy shit, I’d just delivered a baby!

Once I was as composed as I was going to get at this point, I lifted my shirt up and checked out my new reality…at least for the next few months until I could have the surgery that would reverse it.

Testing to make sure the bag was secure, I sighed and tucked it back under the shirt that I wore to help hold it in place.

Then I tucked my clean shirt in, shoved my dirty one into a Wal-Mart sack and then deep into the depths of my backpack.

Once I had the backpack settled on my shoulders, I opened the door and frowned at seeing my partner there, standing with his back to me, staring at someone like his heart was being ripped in half.

Frowning, I walked up to his side and asked, “What’s wrong?”

He jerked away from me like I’d scalded him with hot water, then cursed. “Sorry. Nothing is wrong. Why would you say that?”

The big man was lying to me.

I knew it with absolute certainty.

I studied his profile as he returned his gaze across the room. To a woman.

The woman was in front of the hospital reception desk standing next to a man that looked to be one of the doctors that worked there. She had long brown hair that was French braided down her back, and she was wearing a pencil skirt and a white flowy blouse that was tucked into the top. She had a wide black belt that covered her waistband, and I hated her instantly.

She was the type of woman who would look good wearing anything.

She probably wore her hair down to the gym, too.

“Who is she?” I asked as if he hadn’t just lied to me.

Sean sighed.

“An old girlfriend.”

The emotion that was in those words made my heart hurt for him.

But not too much.

The man was drop dead sexy, built like a linebacker with a fucking smile that was so beautiful it hurt my heart to look at it. And that beard. God, a man with a beard was my weakness. It always had been.

“Your ex is in love with another man,” I felt it prudent to point out.

He shot me a glare and started walking in the opposite direction of the woman and the man she was trying everything in her power to catch the attention of. Although, the man was trying very hard to ignore her. He’d, of course, seen us standing here. If I had to have my guess, that man was likely a cop and missed nothing.

“Do you know that man?” I asked Sean’s back as he passed through the exterior sliding door.

“Yes,” he grunted.

I hurried after him as his strides became faster.

I made it to the passenger door of the medic as he put it in reverse.

For a second there, I was worried he was going to back up and leave before I’d even gotten in, but he surprised me by staying put until I had my ass firmly planted in the seat.

What he didn’t do was wait for me to put my seatbelt on. He was nearly to the intersection before I’d completely situated myself.

So, me being me, I blurted out my life story.

“I’ve fallen in love with four men over the course of my life,” I whispered. “When I was eighteen, I met a man who was four years older than me. We hit it off, got engaged, and then he cheated on me with my sorority sister,” I started. “When I was twenty-two, I met another man who I fell in love with. We were great until we weren’t. He beat the shit out of me. When I was twenty-five, I met another man I adored. We hit it off, then three weeks into our relationship I found out that he was married with four kids.” I steadied my breath. “It took me nearly four years to try again. And when I did, I watched as that man, who has become a very good friend that I never had a chance with, married another woman. So, yeah, you likely have some heartache on the horizon, but it’s not going to hurt forever.”

Or so I kept telling myself.

It’d been nearly a year since PD had gotten married to July, and it still burned to see them together. Still made my heart ache so much that it was hard to be around him.

“My wife left me.”

I blinked, turned, and stared.

“What?”

“Thought she was pregnant, turned out she wasn’t but we had already gotten married. It was stupid. Neither one of us loved the other. We cared for each other, yes, but it wasn’t love. Not even close. She was a confrontational shithead, and it took me weeks to realize that we weren’t going to work out. But I’d planned to try. Then I was deployed and was gone for six months. While I was gone, she really did get pregnant by one of my best friends. Got home to find them making house together, her belly swelling with their child. I’d apparently missed the letter telling me that she wanted a divorce. Though, I’m still wondering if she ever sent it in the first place.”

I winced.

“When was that?” I asked.

His smile was not pleasant. “Let’s see…that was my first deployment. I was twenty and she was nineteen.”

I bit my lip and reached for the bar above the door to hold on. “What else?”

I could sense there was more.

“At the age of twenty-five, my third deployment, I left a girlfriend behind. Came back home to her shacked up in my house. With another woman.”

I winced.

“My fourth deployment, I met another soldier. Her name was Masha. She and I hit it off great. We were dating by the time we were done with that deployment. But as we made plans to meet back up, I hadn’t counted on the fact that she had a husband she planned on leaving for me. I broke up with her and then promised myself I wouldn’t date another woman.”

I laughed softly. “How’d that work out?”

“Not well,” he muttered darkly. “I met Ellen a year and a half ago. I fell head over heels in love with her the moment I saw her.”

“But…”

He pulled onto the road that led back to the station.

“But she didn’t love me back,” he answered simply.

I picked up one of the curls that’d loosened from my bun, and twirled it around my finger as I tried to figure out what to say to that.

“I’m not going to tell you I’m sorry,” I answered. “I bet you hear enough of that.”

He sighed.

“Yes,” he agreed. “I hear it from Ellen. I hear it from my best friend, who became really good friends with Ellen over the time that she and I were together.”

I felt instantly sorry for him.

“My best friend married a man who is very good friends with the man that I fell in love with.” I one upped him. “I can’t even talk to her now for fear that it will get back to him. And I not only had to work with him, but I also watched him get married and then have a baby. Not only did I work with him, but we had a lot of the same friends. I saw him, his wife and baby everywhere. Every single party or event.”

“The woman, Ellen, she’s the sister of one of my brothers.”

My brows furrowed. “So, she’s a…stepsister?”

Was that right?

He snorted. “No. Tommy Tom, Ellen’s brother, and the man you saw standing next to her, isn’t my actual brother. He’s a member of the Dixie Wardens MC with me.”

“Is that a motorcycle club?”

He nodded.

“We have a few of those around where I lived,” I muttered darkly.

Not to mention that PD had ridden a bike and had nearly joined a motorcycle club of his own. The only thing that’d stopped him from doing it was that he didn’t want to leave Kilgore to join.

“Most do,” he said. “Motorcycle clubs are becoming a lot more popular ever since that show came out on TV. Most are legit. Some are just a bunch of dumbasses on motorcycles with bad attitudes who don’t know the law of the land.”

“And what is the law of the land?” I asked, sitting silently as he pulled into the bay of the station and shut the medic off.

He grinned. A full blown, teeth showing smile that would’ve knocked my socks off if I didn’t have boots holding them on.

“That there is always someone bigger and badder than you are.”

Then he got out and walked inside, leaving me in the seat of the medic trying not to lose my composure.

The man, with his killer grin and dark soul, had the potential to bring me to my knees…and that wasn’t a good thing.

I couldn’t do another heartbreak.

Not now. Not ten years from now. Not ever.

And I needed to remember that.