6. Ethan
6
ETHAN
I ’m staring out of the window in my office, watching as the cars speed down the highway in front of the hospital.
The sun set long ago. The sky is black with thick gray clouds, and only a few stars are out while the moon stays hidden.
I can feel the cold from outside coming off the glass.
There’s a soft tap on my door. I turn, but before I can get a word out, it opens, and Ally steps in.
She should have left hours ago.
She looks to have showered as her dark hair is now wet as it hangs around her. She’s also changed out of her navy-blue hospital scrubs. Her legs are bare, and she’s wearing a pair of black heels that give her toned legs a nice shape.
I don’t know if she’s wearing a skirt or a dress—she has her coat on, the sash wrapped around her waist tightly, holding it closed.
“Taking off for the night?” I ask, raking my eyes up her impossibly long legs.
“I’m about to,” she replies, walking closer. “I wanted to tell you goodnight before I left, though.”
I wet my lips as I watch her walk closer. “Goodnight,” I whisper, my eyes locking with hers as she comes to a stop before me.
She gives me a sexy little smile. “That’s not the goodbye I had in mind.”
My mouth falls open as I watch her untie the sash. Her coat comes open, and she pushes it over her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor behind her. My eyes roam her body as she stands in front of me in nothing but a pair of black panties.
Her body is just as magnificent as I thought it’d be, tight and toned but still soft in all the right places. Her breasts are perky—not so large that they’re weighed down, but not too small to enjoy. Her nipples are pebbled, a dusty pink color in comparison to her ivory skin. Her stomach is flat, and there’s a soft curve from the bottom of her ribcage to the width of her hips. Looking at her makes my mouth go dry.
“What did you have in mind?”
She looks up at me from beneath her dark lashes. “I think you know exactly what I have in mind,” she replies, reaching for the waistband of my pants. “I’ve seen the way you look at me.” She begins to unfasten my belt.
“I know you’ve thought about fucking me since the day we met. Why put it off any longer? We both want it.” That’s when she drops to her knees before me, tugging at my pants and boxers until my hard cock springs free.
She wraps her hand around my shaft. With her dark eyes meeting mine, she starts to work me from base to tip.
She looks sexy as hell as she wets her lips and leans forward, sucking my tip into her hot mouth. My eyes roll back, and a moan slips free ? —
My eyes open, and I find myself in bed with the early-morning sun streaming through my windows with my alarm clock blaring beside me. My head pounds with every beep. “Fuck,” I groan as I roll over to silence the alarm. I smack my hand against the top of the plastic alarm and that’s when I notice the time. 7:34.
“Damnit,” I curse, throwing the blankets away from my body. My alarm is set for six A.M. How in the hell did I sleep through that noise for an hour and a half? I sit up on the edge of the bed, putting my feet on the floor, and that’s when I see the half-empty bottle of bourbon.
That’s how.
Annoyed with myself, I get up and rush to the bathroom. I like waking up early so I have time to get in a morning workout, shower, and have breakfast and a cup of coffee. Today, I don’t have time for anything but getting dressed and getting out the door. Morning traffic is always awful, so I’ll have to grab coffee at work, and order in for breakfast if there’s time.
I get dressed as quickly as possible, packing a gym bag in case I need a spare set of clothes, and climbing behind the wheel without thinking about anything else. By the time I make it to the hospital, I’m in a shitty mood. Traffic sucked, I’m still tired, and my day has been a shit show since my eyes opened this morning. I walk down the hallway and person after person greets me. It takes everything I have to bite my tongue and nod rather than rip into them. Good morning? There isn’t a single good thing about it. Surely, they can all see that by looking at my face.
I dodge everyone as I make my way to the cafeteria to get that cup of coffee. Luckily, there is a coffee shop in the hospital cafeteria, so I’m not stuck getting garbage from a machine.
Noah walks in and gets in line behind me. “Good morning, bud. How’s your day going so far?”
I turn and glare at him.
He doesn’t back down like most would. He chuckles. “That good, huh?”
I clench my jaw and nod. “Doesn’t anyone get coffee before coming to work?”
“I don’t know. You’re standing here with us. Did you get coffee before coming to work?”
“No,” I spit. “I was running late and didn’t have any at the house.”
“Maybe that’s the case for everyone in line.”
I look at him now, watching as he tries to hold back his grin. “Were you running late this morning?”
He waves his hand through the air. “No, I’ve been here four hours. This is my third jolt.”
“Your heart is going to explode one of these days.” I turn back to face the front.
“If you think my heart is going to explode from three cups of coffee, you’d hate to hear about all the energy drinks I washed it down with yesterday, and we won’t even get into my cocaine addiction.”
I glare at him over my shoulder and that makes him burst into laughter.
“Just joking for anyone close enough to think I’m serious.”
“Nobody thinks you’re serious,” I tell him. “Your whole life is a joke.”
His chuckles die down. “Wow, you really are a grump this morning. Watch, this is what you do.” He grabs my shoulders and pushes me forward. “Excuse me, everyone!”
Everyone turns and gives him their attention as he pushes me toward the front of the line. “We have a very important doctor here who is running late and hasn’t had a single drop of coffee this morning. Unless we want to start toting patients out in body bags, it’s best just to let him get to the front of the line so he can go back to saving lives. Thank you.”
We’re at the front of the line now. He’s at my side and motions for me to order by waving his hand. “Well, are you going to order, or do we need to go back to the end of the line and try this again?”
“Large flat white with an extra shot, please,” I order, digging cash out of my wallet.
“Make it two,” Noah says.
I look over at him, and he shrugs. “What? I got us up here, the least you can do is buy me a drink.”
Shaking my head, I pass over enough money for our coffee and a nice tip for putting up with us. Then, I set down a hundred-dollar bill. “For cutting in line. Coffee is on me,” I tell the cashier quietly. I don’t want anyone in line to know I’m buying their coffee because I don’t want to be thanked. I don’t want anyone to speak to me, and I sure don’t want to shake anyone’s hand. I just want to be left alone with my coffee.
When the barista sets my coffee down, I grab it and take off, heading toward the elevator. I stop and push the button as I take my first magical sip. I savor it, my eyes falling closed.
“Not too bad,” Noah says.
My eyes open, and I look to my left.
“I’ve never had one of these,” he says. “They’re not too bad.”
“Don’t you have work to do?”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m getting on the elevator. What’s got your panties in a bunch this morning?”
The elevator doors open and we both step in. “I slept through my alarm. I woke up an hour-and-a-half late. I didn’t have time to hit the gym or shower. Then I was out of coffee. I got stuck in morning traffic and then I get here, and everyone wants to greet me like I’m a pleasant person to be around when all I want is to be left alone to enjoy my coffee.”
He chuckles and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You better be careful. You keep doing thoughtful things like buying everyone’s coffee and people might think you’re a nice guy.”
“Don’t even joke about that.”
Luckily, my office is located through a back hallway where hospital visitors can’t just wonder in. Not many people walk through the back hallways, so I can move through the building without being bothered. Once safe in my office, I close the door behind me, set my coffee on the desk, and replace my jacket with my lab coat. Then, I sit down, turn on the computer, and dig through the morning’s correspondence. There are e-mails from the Dean of Medicine, reminders for events I RSVP’ed to, and invites to charity balls. Then, my eyes land on an invite to the one event I’ll never attend: The Amelia Walden-Cole Remembrance.
I want to delete it, but instead, I open the email. A large picture of the digital invite fills my screen. There’s a picture of her in the top left corner, looking as beautiful as ever. She could’ve been a model. She had it all. Grace and beauty. She was funny, sweet, caring, and she had a good heart. She only ever wanted to help people. I don’t know what she ever saw in me. Meeting her was the best day of my life, and losing her was my worst. The pain of that day has turned into an echo that has seared its way through me day, after day, after day for six long years now.
The invitation is for her remembrance with drinks and dinner. There will be a candlelight vigil and prayer circle at sunset, leading up to this year’s donation to the IVF fund for underprivileged women. I love that her mother is doing all of this in Amelia’s name. I know it would make her proud, but I hate that this good comes from my loss.
***
I’m just coming back from lunch when I hear the alarm go off. I jog to the end of the hallway and look down, finding the flashing light above one of the patient’s doors. I rush inside to find a panicked couple and a new male nurse. All three are just staring down at a lifeless child.
“What happened?” I ask, rushing over to the bed.
“She was just eating and then she choked,” the mom cries. “We were patting her back and everything, but we couldn’t get it out, and she passed out.”
I push everyone out of my way and scoop up the little girl, performing abdominal thrusts. I only have to do a couple before something flies out of the girl’s mouth. She gasps and starts to cry, reaching for her mother. I hand the girl over with my heart racing. My eyes land on the chunk of red fruit snack that landed on the bed. “And that is why patients are only supposed to eat foods that are prepared by the hospital,” I tell her, pushing my way out of her room.
I step out into the hallway and spin around, looking for everyone.
“Dr. Cole,” the male nurse says, running out of the room, “that was amazing. Thank you so much for helping me out in there.”
My anger gets the best of me, and I point my finger in his face. “I was not helping you out in there! What in the hell were you doing in there, anyway? That child was choking! She could’ve died! And you just stood there, staring like a dumbass who hasn’t been trained for this?” I glare at him. “If you can’t even perform something as simple as abdominal thrusts, you don’t need to be here.” I turn and find Taylor approaching. “And where the hell have you been?”
“I needed to use the restroom. I’ve only been gone two minutes. What happened?”
“Oh, you know … just more patients trying to die. Next time, make sure the newbie is covered before he kills someone.” With that, I turn back to my office.