Chapter 8
Anthony
Skylar looked up at me with a half-smile on her face as I passed. “Morning,” she said.
It was more than I’d gotten in the weeks since I’d been working with her.
After leaving her at the club on Friday night, I’d done exactly as I said and went next door to Jace’s.
I had her scent and the sound of her body moving in that dress stuck firmly in my ears.
Installing myself at a table against the wall that separated the bar from the club, I’d focused and tracked her all night.
By sound, mostly. Then, when she and her friend left, I hadn’t stalked them, but I’d watched from the sidewalk in front of the bar until they’d gone into her father’s shop.
One of her friends had walked to the apartments down the road, and Skye and her other friend had gone to one of the apartments above the shop.
I knew he and Skye had lived above the shop in an enormous apartment when we were kids.
I’d heard them say something about staying there for the night so I felt good about going home.
What the hell was I going to say to Skye now?
I had no freaking clue. The one thing I knew was that there was no way I was ready to tell her the full truth.
Not while I didn’t have a clue if she was remotely interested in me.
After the connection we’d had this weekend, I had hope, but hell, there was every chance that she didn’t even remember that happening.
I didn’t want to bring it up, either, and have her give me a blank stare. I had to go slow, at a snail’s pace.
As the day wore on, I was pleased to find her attitude had lightened somewhat.
She either remembered the conversation we’d had or subconsciously it had affected her feelings toward me.
She’d been positively chipper all day. “You’re slacking,” she called as she rushed past me.
I had tucked myself into one of the cubbies in the hallway.
They had one stool and one shelf, perfect for putting in notes and logging data.
Before I could refute her claims that I was slacking, she’d disappeared into a room. The woman was a beast when it came to seeing as many patients as possible, yet somehow, I never heard complaints that they felt rushed.
Shaking my head, I finished my notes and headed into my next appointment with my stomach growling. Breakfast hadn’t stuck with me today.
An hour later, I was tucked back in the cubby, logging the notes for the four appointments I’d managed to squeeze in before the office closed for lunch.
They always took an hour and a half, which was a nice change from what I’d had at my last hospital, where it was grab lunch on the go.
This way gave us time to play catchup and eat, and also room to squeeze in an extra few appointments during flu season or other times of emergency.
“Are you still there?” Skye asked as she closed an exam room behind her down the hall. “That’s the same spot you were in the last time I saw you.”
I shut off my voice recorder and backed it up two seconds so the transcriber wouldn’t pick up Skye’s teasing tone. “Yes, but I did manage to take a few appointments in between. When do you chart?” I looked at her as she walked past, but she just waved at me.
“During the appointments,” she said. “I don’t leave a room without putting most of the notes in.” Her voice echoed in the quiet office. All of the nurses and staff were down eating lunch. “Are you coming?”
Grinning, I threw down my recorder and hurried after my mate. She did remember. “Let’s slip out of the hospital,” I suggested as we reached the elevator. “If nothing else, it’ll help keep us from dealing with stares or whispers.”
Skye nodded and reached up to twist her hair up and put a clip in it that she’d pulled from who knew where.
She didn’t carry a purse. One of those girly things, I guessed.
“Plus, if my ex shows up, that would cause more drama.” She sucked in a deep breath.
“I haven’t been following the advice of my favorite teacher in medical school, anyway. ”
“What advice was that?” I asked.
“Always leave for meals,” she said. “Whenever possible, get out of the hospital.”
“Makes sense. It would help with the fatigue just walking out in the sunshine halfway through the day.” The elevator ride was comfortable, which was an enormous improvement from even the last week.
My inner dragon, the wild part of me, was more at ease the more time we spent with Skye without any strife between us.
A mate was like a tether that kept the magical side of me steadier than I had been in years, even though I had a good hold on it before.
Now, the shaky world had settled itself, and the base of it was between Skylar and me.
My heart thumped in anticipation of what it would finally feel like to claim her.
“You’ve got to figure out how to do all these appointments,” she said in a teasing tone.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I got them done just fine.”
She nodded and I followed her off of the elevator. “You did, but you had fewer appointments than I did, and if I’m not mistaken, you’re not finished with your notes, are you?”
I narrowed my eyes at her as we stepped out the front doors of the hospital. She was still full of spice. She’d always challenged me when we were kids, too, keeping me on my toes and pushing me to be ever better no matter what we did.
“Let’s not talk shop,” I said with one eyebrow raised.
“Besides, you could give me a few more weeks to acclimate. I’m used to being in an operating room far more than a sick room.
” And it hadn’t been the easiest thing to get used to.
I longed for those days that I’d signed up to pick up a few shifts over in the main part of the hospital.
Most of those shifts were just appys and gallbladders, but still.
“Where would you like to eat?” I asked before she could jump back in and give me shit.
But I did it with a smile on my face, so she knew I wasn’t truly avoiding the subject.
We continued down the sidewalk toward the small shopping center across the road from the hospital that included several restaurants and a couple of food trucks.
Nurses and other staff from the entire hospital loved to come over here to eat. I noticed people noticing us and realized our attempt at avoiding stares had failed.
Still, walking around with Skye made me feel like a kid again. Light and carefree.
“Let’s grab a coney,” she suggested.
I wrinkled my nose and gave her a crazy look. “Are you nuts? It’ll take me an hour to get back on my feet and go to my next patient with a loaded hot dog in my stomach. How about the deli?”
Eating heavy during a work shift made me queasy. Always had.
Skye burst out laughing. “As much as you eat, you don’t want a heavy meal for lunch?”
I shrugged and looked at her out of the sides of my eyes. “I still like to eat a lot, but putting a big greasy meal in my gut, then doing a surgery just always feels gross.”
She turned toward the deli. “Well, that’s fine. I can do a sub.”
I ordered a chopped salad, and Skye got an enormous meatball sub with chips and a huge drink.
When she plopped her tray down, I couldn’t help staring at her. “I remember you barely eating… ever. I always felt like a pig around you.”
She grunted and took a big bite of her sub. After chewing thoughtfully, she shrugged. “I guess that’s one of the few things good that came from my relationship with Bret.”
At least there was something. “What do you mean, did he teach you how to eat?” I laughed and mixed in a little dressing with my salad.
“No, but when we first started dating, before we’d even had a meal together, he asked me what was one thing I disliked about the opposite sex in regard to dating and stuff. I said I hated how guys seemed to so easily drop girls and disappear.” She arched one eyebrow, and I winced.
“Okay, how does that relate to food?” I asked.
“He said he hated when girls pretend they don’t eat when he knew darn well they went home and chowed down. Apparently, that was something his older sister always did, and he saw the latter half of it, where she would come home and eat everything but the refrigerator, starving after her date.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “I never thought about that. I’ve had dates and hookups and stuff, but I’ve never lived with a woman.”
Her jaw dropped. “Never? How is that possible at your age?”
I looked down at my chest. “I figured I’d be bleeding from that direct hit.” I mimicked clutching at my heart. “That one hurt.”
Skye burst out laughing and the sound of her mirth lifted my spirits even higher. “Well, it’s true. You didn’t have a real relationship in all this time?”
Stuffing my mouth full bought me a few minutes to think of a reason that wasn’t centered around her being my mate. “Nope.” I went with simple. “I spent all my time focusing on my work and school before that.”
“Well, that’s understandable, I guess.” We got quiet, both of us eating and thinking about how we’d spent the last two decades. I was, at least, and assumed she was until she blurted out her next question. “Why did you leave, really?”
Thank goodness I’d just taken a bite. I set down my fork and chewed thoroughly, then made a show of wiping my mouth and getting a drink.
“It was very complicated.” I didn’t want to lie, but neither could I tell her the full truth.
I gave her all the honesty I could. “My parents thought I was losing focus on the important things in life and felt sending me away to clear my head was best for me and my future.”
She didn’t like that one bit and narrowed her eyes. “Was it me that was causing you to lose focus?” she bluntly asked.
Well, I’d decided to go with honesty. “Yes.”