~Joy~
“Room two needs her temperature taken again, please,” I say to Susan, one of four techs on the staff today. “And three needs some immunizations drawn. I made a note in her chart.”
“Done,” she says with a smile. “You have a visitor in your office. He’s hot and he brought lunch.”
I sigh and throw my latex gloves into the trash. “I don’t really have time today.”
“Take twenty. I’ll draw up the meds and take the temp. Dr. Myracle is caught up on his patients, so we’re not behind today.”
“Well, that is a miracle,” I reply with a wink, wash my hands, and hurry into my office.
Jace is sitting at my desk, eating a burger from Red Mill. “Hungry?”
“So hungry, and I have seventeen minutes.” I root around in the bag and retrieve my burger and fries, digging in immediately. “Mell me mm happnn.”
Jace cocks a brow and chews his fries. “Come again?”
“Tell me what happened,” I repeat after I swallow. “At your meeting.”
He shrugs one shoulder. I can see by the tense lines in his face that it didn’t go the way he wanted. Jace had his second meeting with the attorneys this morning.
“More of the same,” he says. “They think they’re closer to getting the family to settle out of court, and to say that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Do they want money? Is that what this is?”
He shoves a fry into his mouth. “Maybe. In their shoes, if I was convinced that the doctor caused the death of my father, I wouldn’t settle. It wouldn’t be about the money for me, it would be about proving that the doctor was in the wrong.”
“Right. So, if they’re willing to settle for a certain amount of money, which I’m assuming isn’t peanuts, and say you did nothing wrong, it tells me they’re just after the money.”
“Exactly.”
I sigh and chew on my burger. “I hate that.”
“Me, too.”
“I’m going to have to run for about ten miles after this burger,” I say with a smile. “But damn, it tastes good.”
“You work hard, you’ll burn it off,” he says and scowls. “I, on the other hand, need to step up my workout game since I’m not working. I don’t want to lose these abs that you seem to enjoy.”
“I’m not worried,” I say, waving him off.
“You’ll still love me with a dad bod?”
I laugh and toss my wrappers into the paper bag, then pull out a mirror to make sure I don’t have anything stuck in my teeth before I stand. “You won’t have a dad bod. If we’re going to your house tonight, do you mind picking up Carl from my place? I don’t want him to be alone all night.”
“I can do that,” he says with a smile. “I already got a litter box for him.”
“You did?” He smiles, making my stomach clench. “You’re so good to me.”
I lean in to quickly kiss him, but he yanks me into his lap and kisses the fuck out of me.
“I have to remember how to be a doctor,” I remind him when he comes up for air. “And I can’t do that when you kiss me that way.”
“I’m not sorry,” he says with a satisfied grin as I maneuver my way out of his lap. “Have a good day, dear.”
“See you later.”
I hate keeping my patients waiting, even if it was just sixteen minutes. I do feel better after eating something, though.
“How is Daisy?” I ask as I walk into room two. Daisy, a Great Dane weighing in at almost two hundred pounds, hurries over to say hello to me.
“I think she might have eaten socks. Again,” her owner, Alec, says with a sigh. “And she obliterated my carpet and subfloor the other day.”
“Did you leave her alone all day again?” I ask as I feel around on her abdomen.
“I have to work,” he insists, “so I can pay for all the damage she’s doing to my house.”
“She needs chew toys that are safe for her,” I remind him and frown. “Yeah, there’s something here.”
“Shit,” he mutters, rubbing his forehead. “Another surgery?”
“Let me do an X-ray to see how big it is, but if it might obstruct her intestines, yes, she’ll need surgery again.”
“Fuck,” he whispers. “I don’t know if I can keep her.”
“I warned you when you adopted her that she would grow to be the size of a small horse and that she would be difficult for the first few years until she mellowed out.”
“I know.”
“And you didn’t believe me.”
“I thought the kids would help with her more,” he admits. He’d divorced from his wife, and as an apology, he bought his kids a dog. “Not sure why, considering they only see me on the weekends.”
“Maybe Daisy could go back and forth with the kids?” I suggest, but he shakes his head.
“My ex is allergic,” he says. “She’s already pissed that the kids come home with dog hair on their stuff.”
“If you decide to rehome her, please don’t surrender her to the animal shelter,” I plead with him. “The odds of her being adopted there are slim, due to her size.”
“I’ll let you know first,” he says with a nod. “But let’s find out what the damages are today.”
“Okay, I’m going to take her back for an X-ray real quick, and then I’ll bring her back to you.”
He nods, and I take Daisy’s leash, leading her through the back door of the exam room to our work area. This is where we do X-rays, blood draws, and kennel the patients that have to stay with us longer than a few hours.
“Daisy needs an abdominal X-ray,” I inform Susan. “Can you help me with this real quick?”
“Sure,” she says, setting aside what she was doing and walking with me to the X-ray machine. As usual, she talks while we work. “I have a question.”
“Shoot.”
“Why do we have to change the way we store the surgical instruments?”
I frown at her over Daisy’s back as I adjust the camera on the dog’s belly.
“We don’t.”
“According to Dr. Crawford, we do.”
I blink, confused. “Did he tell you that?”
She nods as we take the photo and then adjust Daisy and the machine for another view. “He was looking at the instruments and told us to switch it up because it would be more convenient for you and the other doctors during surgery. I’m sorry if the way we’ve been doing it has been a problem for you during procedures.”
I take a deep breath and then blow it out, trying to keep my temper at bay. “You don’t need to change anything. I like it exactly the way it is. Hell, I trained you all to do it that way because it’s the way I prefer it.”
She nods, clearly not happy that Jace made himself at home in my clinic, and I agree with her.
Once Daisy is finished with the X-ray, I turn to Susan. “Will you please take her back into room two. I’ll be there in just a few moments to go over the X-ray with Alec. I’m going to have a quick chat with Jace.”
“You bet,” she says, leading a happy Daisy away from me.
I go in search of Jace and find him in my operating room, looking under the sink.
“It’s really clean under here,” he says without looking at me. “I’m impressed.”
“Surgery requires cleanliness,” I remind him, and he glances up in surprise.
“I thought you were Susan.”
“No.” I prop my hands on my hips. “What are you doing, Jace?”
“Just looking around,” he says casually. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Well, I do.” His head whips up in surprise. “Jace, you’re not a vet. I need my surgical instruments the way they are for the kind of surgery I do. This is my clinic, not Seattle General.”
“Hey, I was just—”
“I know,” I interrupt. “But I need you to go, please. I’ll see you tonight.”
He holds up his hands, clearly hurt, and marches away, through the door and out of the clinic without a word.
I feel bad for about three seconds. He was just trying to help. But he can’t just come in here and take over. This is my business. This is my staff.
So, I hurry back to give Alec the bad news of another surgery to remove socks from his dog’s abdomen, determined to worry about Jace later.
I’m bone-tired. It’s three hours past the normal end to my day. I had to perform surgery on poor Daisy, and had two more emergencies come in.
I’m on call tonight, and I’m praying that no one has any needs overnight. I could use a good night’s sleep.
First, though, I need to make up with my boyfriend. Because even though I wasn’t in the wrong, I did hurt his feelings, and I hate that with every fiber of my being.
I pull into Jace’s driveway and walk through his door, carrying two cobb salads from our favorite place. I figured we could both use something healthy after our burgers and fries for lunch.
“Hello?” I call out, but I don’t see Jace. The lights are on in his kitchen and living room, so I set the salads on the island and walk back to the bedroom, hoping to find him there.
And boy, do I find him.
He’s doing pull-ups on a contraption that he’s attached to his doorframe, easily moving up and down in smooth motions. His feet are tucked up so they don’t brush the floor.
He’s topless.
And I’m immediately turned on to a level ten.
“Well, hello there,” I say, crossing my arms and watching as he finishes three more, then he stands, breathing hard. There’s a thin sheen of sweat on his olive skin.
I want to lick him.
“Hey,” he says. He doesn’t exactly seem ecstatic to see me.
“I brought dinner.”
“I ate,” he says. “After you texted and said you’d be late.”
“Okay, your salad will keep.”
He nods and moves into push-ups. I’m silent and enjoy the flex of his back and how his core engages as he pounds out twenty-five of them. The dimples above his ass show above the low-slung basketball shorts he’s wearing.
Good lord, the man is sex on a cracker.
When he stands again and still doesn’t talk to me, I rush to him and wrap my arms around his waist, holding on tightly because I just can’t stand the silence from him. We don’t do the silent treatment.
He doesn’t hug me back, but he doesn’t push me away either, so I take that as a win.
“I need you to talk to me,” I murmur against his skin. “I don’t even care that you’re sweaty. I’m not moving until you talk to me.”
He finally, finally, buries his lips in my hair and kisses my head, and my world is set to rights again.
“I’m going crazy,” he admits quietly. “I know I have projects here, and things I could do, but I need to work, Joy.”
“I know.” I pull away and tip my head back so I can look at his face. I hate seeing the torture in his gorgeous grey eyes. “I’m so sorry this is happening.”
“What if I can’t operate anymore?”
I scowl. “What?”
“What if I’ve spent too much time away and I just can’t do it?”
“That’s not even an option,” I reply immediately. “Jace, it’s been two weeks. You are the leading cardiothoracic surgeon in the fucking country. You haven’t forgotten it.”
“It’s not like riding a bike.”
“And you don’t have dementia,” I remind him. “I understand that you’re going stir-crazy. You went from working sixty-plus hours a week to none, and that has to be incredibly frustrating.”
“You have no idea.” He pulls out of my arms and walks to the windows that look out over Seattle. It’s dark now, and the city is lit up. I can see Jace’s reflection in the glass. “I’m sorry,” he says before spinning around to look me in the face. “I’m sorry for intruding on your business today.”
“Jace, it wasn’t that big—”
“No, it was completely disrespectful and out of line,” he says. “If you’d walked into my operating room and started rearranging things, I would have spanked your ass before throwing you out on it.”
I bite my lip, trying to hide a smile.
“Can we still try the spanking thing?”
He blows out a breath with a chuckle and props his hands on his hips. “I’m trying to be serious here.”
“I know.” I hurry to him and hug him again. “Apology accepted. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. How was your day?”
“It sucked.” I sigh, my ear against his heart. I love the thump thump thump. “I had three emergency surgeries. That Great Dane you saw?”
“Yeah?”
“She ate four socks, and they were stuck in her small intestine.”
“Ouch.”
“She has behavioral issues, mostly because of the owner, who doesn’t want to listen to me. And then I had a pug come in with a laceration to his eye, which he lost, four spay or neuters, and a dog I couldn’t save from being hit by a car.”
“Oh, baby,” he says, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. “That’s a rough day.”
“I hate it when the animal dies,” I admit. “It’s just so sad. Did I tell you that I’m getting the additional licensing and building my own crematory behind the clinic? So I can cremate the animals there?”
“No.” He kisses my forehead. “You didn’t mention it.”
“I just secured the loan for it,” I reply. “I want to offer it to my clients.”
“You need to eat and get some rest.”
“I know. I’m on call tonight, and I’m praying that no one needs me. I’m beat.”
He takes my hand and leads me out to the kitchen. “Sit.”
“Yes, sir.” I grin as I prop myself in the stool at the island, watching as he plates my salad and brings it to me with a bottle of water. “Thank you. What did you eat?”
“Pizza.”
“Jace!”
“I know.” He cringes. “Why do you think I was doing all the exercising when you got here? I have to change this diet.”
“This weekend, I’m going to do some meal prep,” I announce. “So we’re not tempted to keep eating out.”
“I’ll help,” he says with a smile. “Can we have pizza?”
“No.”
“Killjoy.” He winks at me. He thinks he’s funny.
I smirk and take a bite of my salad. “Salad is delicious.”
“It’s rabbit food.”
“You’re a cardiologist,” I remind him. “You know better than anyone what bad food does to your heart.”
“Well, then they shouldn’t make it so delicious.”
“You’re a hot mess.”
“But I’m hot,” he says with a cocky grin that makes my lady parts come to life. “That’s what you’re saying.”
“You’re not bad,” I concede.
“I saw the way you watched me doing those pull-ups,” he says as he saunters around the island. “Admit it.”
“I mean, you were half-naked, so . . .”
“Are you done with that salad?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
He lifts me onto the island and pulls my scrub pants down my hips. I lift up so he can peel them, along with my panties, down my legs and toss them aside.
“The countertop is cold.”
“I’m about to warm you up.”
And good to his word, he spreads my legs and presses his lips to my core, sucking and licking and sending me over the moon faster than I knew was possible.
“Holy fuck!” I cry out as I lean back on my elbows and give in to an earth-shattering orgasm.
He kisses my thighs and, before I know it, he’s inside me, his hands framing my face and his eyes on mine as he slowly pulls his hips back and then slams back inside.
“Is this makeup sex?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“I rather like it.”
He sets a punishing rhythm, in and out, hard and fast until he comes, biting my shoulder.
“No more fighting,” he growls against my neck. “I don’t like it.”
“But it leads to this, and this is pretty fantastic.” I bury my fingers in his hair, brushing it softly.
“We can do this without the fighting.” He kisses my cheek, and then my lips. I can still taste myself on him. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
I know we’ll have arguments from time to time. We’re human, after all, but I agree that fighting isn’t my thing. Some couples thrive on the bickering and the drama, but I don’t.
And I’m relieved that he doesn’t either.
He pulls out of me and swears.
“Um, Joy?”
“Yeah?”
“I forgot a condom.” His face is sober. “I’m sorry, babe. I can’t believe I did that.”
“We should be fine,” I reply as I hop off the counter and reach for my clothes. “It’s not the right time of month for me to get pregnant.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I pat his cheek and lean up to kiss his lips. “Don’t worry.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to take a shower and then probably go to bed. I’m beat.”
“Do you mind if I read while you sleep?” he asks.
“Not at all.”
I take a quick shower, not bothering to wash my hair, and when I walk into the bedroom, Jace is sitting on the bed, reading his iPad with Carl curled up next to him, purring like crazy.
“More bloodless surgeries?” I ask as I smooth lotion over my legs and then climb under the covers.
“No, this is on a quadruple bypass,” he says, already absorbed in the article. His beautiful hands move as he reads as if he’s performing the surgery himself.
He blows me away. As if he could forget how to perform surgery. It would never happen.
He’s too incredibly talented.
I yawn and turn away from him so the light is to my back and check my phone to make sure the sound is on in case I get called.
I close my eyes and fall asleep.