11. Riley
11
RILEY
W hen Riley got out of surgery late Sunday, she was shocked to see that she had a text message from Jett awaiting her. Riley wasn’t sure what was going on between the two of them and her usual confidence had faltered. She had even resorted to talking to Dr. Everett about her personal life and asking the other trauma surgeon about Jett.
She wasn’t trying to be nosy, but she did want to know if anything had happened in Jett’s life to warrant the distance that Riley had been given. But when Dr. Everett said no and was just as confused as Riley, Riley didn’t know what to think.
In a way, Riley wasn’t upset to trade her Sunday shift with Lucinda. She’d enjoyed last week with Jett’s family, but if something was off between her and Jett, Riley didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Riley just didn’t know if she had done something to upset Jett. She’ thought that everything was going well between the two of them, even moving a little too fast, but for Jett to suddenly pull back, Riley was found questioning herself.
Riley was wondering whether maybe Jett was beginning to regret the growing relationship that the two of them shared. Maybe Riley was unconsciously coming off as too pushy. She wasn’t sure.
A large part of her wanted to further their relationship, but she was scared to admit it, and now she really wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.
After Riley finished giving her patient’s family the good news and checked her phone, she just stared at it for a moment.
Jett: Hey I don’t work Tuesday. Can we hang out then?
Jett: We can cook together. I can teach you.
Riley was confused, but she couldn’t ignore her excitement about seeing Jett again. Still, she did try to dial it back a little bit. Riley wasn’t the most expressive person in the first place, but she worried that any previous expressiveness had pushed Jett away.
Riley: Of course. What time?
Jett: When is good for you?
Oh gosh, and now Riley had to make a decision. While normally decisive and blunt ,Riley found herself second-guessing everything when it came to relationships, especially Jett. Riley knew, however, that she had to come up with something.
Riley: Anytime after 11
That was good. It was an answer, but it also allowed Jett to have an input. Plus, if Jett was coming over Tuesday, she really needed to clean her apartment and go grocery shopping. Normally, Riley’s apartment was spotless, but lately she had been in such a slump that she had fallen behind a little bit. And, of course, she needed groceries before they could make food. Her fridge and cabinets were embarrassingly empty.
Jett: 11:30? We can make lunch together.
Riley: That works.
Riley felt like a little schoolgirl—and that embarrassed the hell out of her. She couldn’t stop smiling at her phone when Jett texted, but she was a little apprehensive. Jett had been pulling back a little bit, and Riley was sure that she hadn’t been imagining that, but maybe it had nothing to do with Riley. Maybe Jett was just having an off week. Riley didn’t know, but she wanted things to keep as they were. She didn’t like the idea of the woman she was beginning to grow deep feelings for not liking her back.
* * *
Monday was an early day, which benefited Riley, because when she got home earlier in the afternoon than the day before, she was able to focus on cleaning her apartment rather than on sleeping.
She went through her bedroom, bathroom, living room, dining area, and even swept and mopped the hallway. The only area she left uncleaned was the kitchen because when she finished with everything else, she was tired and ready to watch TV and crochet her socks. She figured that she could clean the kitchen tomorrow before Jett got to her place.
Besides, Riley had to go grocery shopping in the morning, and it made more sense for her to clean the kitchen as she put the groceries away.
When Riley woke up at seven thirty Tuesday morning, she was excited for the day, but also a little apprehensive. What if Jett was still having second thoughts about their relationship? But still, the two of them were meeting and Jett was fulfilling her promise to help Riley learn to cook, and Riley took that as a positive sign.
Riley skipped breakfast, which she knew was a bad thing, but was also a habit of hers. She struggled to eat anything before ten in the morning, and also if she was going to cook with Jett, she wanted to make sure that she had an appetite.
When she went to the grocery store for ingredients, Riley was shocked. She normally bought premade or easy-to-cook box meals that she still somehow managed to butcher, but she didn’t know that grocery stores had so many different kinds of food.
Riley knew the basics of what to get—eggs, bread, milk, and cheese—but she didn’t know what else she needed, and she was surprised at the variety of foods that there were.
When she was looking at cheese alone, she was shocked to see over a dozen different kinds. Riley didn’t know what any of them meant, but she decided to get several, just in case.
She did the same with pastas, sauces, and other types of food. Riley was at least familiar with vegetables and fruit. She wasn’t a great cook, which just meant she’d snack on produce when she didn’t feel like attempting to make something a little more filling.
She grabbed her favorite fruits and vegetables, as well as some that typically needed to be cooked, like squash. Riley hadn’t thought to ask Jett what she wanted to cook, and now she was regretting that decision, but at least she would have lots of food for the next couple of weeks. And for the most part, anything extremely perishable could be eaten without cooking. Like the vegetables.
When Riley got back home, she didn’t have much time to put everything away and clean the kitchen, only about an hour. But she figured that if Jett came to her apartment while she was still cleaning or putting things away, she probably wouldn’t mind that much. At least, she hoped not. But now she was second guessing herself on things that she never used to.
Riley did actually manage to get everything put away and cleaned in time, working at super speed. And when Jett knocked on her apartment door, Riley opened it with a smile, her hair a little disheveled.
“Hey,” Jett said, standing in Riley’s doorway with a backpack on her shoulders.
Jett looked beautiful in denim cut offs and a casual green t shirt. Her skin shone with good health and her eyes were hopeful. Her smile was shy.
Riley smiled at Jett. “Hi,” she said. A backpack was a good sign. It meant Jett was planning to stay. There was a small, mostly ignored part in the back of Riley’s brain that was worried that Jett was coming to break things off, but seeing the backpack reassured her that wasn’t the case.
Jett came inside and put her things away and went straight for the kitchen.
“Let’s see what you have to work with,” Jett said.
“I just went grocery shopping,” Riley said, “so it’s definitely a lot more than it was yesterday.”
“Perfect,” Jett said and continued to look in the fridge and cabinets. “Oh, great, you have everything for one of my favorite foods. Let’s make lasagna.”
“Okay,” Riley agreed and watched Jett go through and lay things on the counter. Noodles, sauce, different types of cheese, a can of spinach, an assortment of vegetables and a casserole dish.
“So, I don’t usually add meat to my lasagna,” Jett said, “but I do like to add spinach to the sauce. You know, make it a little healthier.”
“Sounds good,” Riley said, and Jett began to show her how to chop veg and they set to work.
Riley was amazed that Jett knew how to do it without any kind of written recipe, only using her memory.
“I do sometimes use recipes when I cook, especially when it’s something complicated or that I don’t cook often,” Jett said. “But lasagna is pretty easy and it’s also one of my favorite foods, so I make it whenever I have all the ingredients, which actually isn’t that often. Most people don’t have what they need just lying around.”
Riley felt proud that she managed to get the ingredients for one of Jett’s favorite foods even while having no clue what she was doing.
Jett started by preheating the oven and showed Riley how to mix the spinach into the sauce and beat an egg into the cheeses.
“Do we have to cook the noodles?” Riley asked.
“Nope,” Jett said. “When we layer the lasagna, the liquid in the sauce and cheese will seep through and cook the noodles as it bakes.”
“How long does it take to cook?”
“About an hour,” Jett said. “Sometimes longer.” Jett frowned. “I probably should have shown you how to make something that doesn’t take as long. You’re probably already starving.”
“It’s okay,” Riley said. “I’m not super hungry yet, so waiting a little bit is good with me.”
Jett smiled at her, but Riley was definitely lying. She was starting to regret not eating breakfast that morning, but it was okay. She was used to going entire shifts while barely eating if she ate at all. She could wait another hour or so.
They worked together with the same ease that they always had. There still seemed to be a lot unspoken between them, but Riley was sure they would get to that. For now, she was content to just be and enjoy the little moments with Jett.
Watching her skilled fingers prep the food was seduction in itself.
When they finished preparing the lasagna and Jett showed Riley how to layer everything into the casserole dish, the oven had already preheated, so they put the food inside and decided to chill on the couch with some TV while Jett put a timer on her phone.
“I’m going to check in on it at forty-five minutes, and then see how much longer I think it needs after that,” Jett said. “But if you ever make it on your own, I would recommend checking on it after forty minutes and every ten minutes after that until you get the hang of it.”
Riley nodded and turned on the TV. She was happy to have Jett around again, and things didn’t seem as weird as they had been, but Riley did notice that when she put on a movie, Jett didn’t go to cuddle with her the moment the title screen played. That was definitely out of the ordinary, but Riley didn’t know what to do about it.
Maybe putting on a movie was a bad plan, but Riley didn’t know what to say. It seemed easier to avoid the elephant in the room.
She didn’t want to confront Jett in case it pushed her away, but her imagination was running wild with all kinds of negative possibilities. She wanted to know what was going on in Jett’s head. Riley had never wanted to be a mind reader as much as she did in that moment.
When the lasagna was finally finished, the two of them enjoyed the food in mostly silence. Riley was definitely hungry and managed to devour two large pieces. When the two of them were done eating, there actually wasn’t much left in the way of leftovers and Riley laughed as she covered the dish in aluminum foil.
“That was really good,” Riley said and Jett nodded while patting her stomach.
“I feel like I could take a nap now, though,” Jett said and Riley nodded in agreement while she put the leftovers in the fridge.
“Do you want to go to the bedroom and lay down?” Riley asked.
“Yeah, actually,” Jett said. “I didn’t sleep too well last night anyway.”
“Why not?” Riley asked.
“Thinking too much,” Jett said, and her lovely face screwed up slightly.
“Oh,” Riley said, but she didn’t say anything else.
* * *
The two of them went to Riley’s bedroom and laid down on the bed. Riley pulled the comforter over the two of them and scooted closer to Jett so that the two of them could cuddle. And when Jett didn’t pull away, Riley sighed quietly and fell asleep with her head on Jett’s shoulder.
* * *
Riley was woken up to a light touch across her thigh and she sighed.
The moment the slight sound left her lips, she felt the hand roughly grasp her thigh and she gasped, fully opening her eyes to look down and see Jett with her hands on Riley’s lower body.
Jett looked up at Riley, lust flashing in her eyes as she looked up from under the hair that had fallen in her face. Riley’s breath faltered.
Jett looked like a fallen angel looking up at Riley like that, and as soon as Jett realized that she had Riley’s attention, she moved her touch closer to Riley’s inner thigh and pressed a kiss to below Riley’s belly button where her shirt must have ridden up in her sleep.
Even wearing pants, Jett’s touch on Riley’s thighs was sensual, and she whimpered, wanting more.
Jett looked up at Riley again and grinned before she moved her hands to Riley’s waistband. This was more like the Jett she had missed. Cheeky grin, assertive nature.
Riley was happy to see her again and as much as Riley didn’t think sex would solve all of their problems, she did want to have sex with Jett. She was turned on just thinking about it.
“I want these off,” Jett said, gesturing to Riley’s pants, and Riley immediately obliged, the two of them working to take Riley’s pants, shirt and underwear off of her. When they succeeded, Jett threw the clothes onto the floor and turned her head toward Riley’s thighs, biting along them.
Riley felt exposed, and she liked the way it made her feel. Jett was looking at her body with a fierce hunger and Riley was totally happy to let Jett devour her.
Riley gasped and moaned, but it felt too soon to beg, so she kept her words to herself—even though she wanted nothing more than for Jett to touch or taste her.
Jett bit Riley’s right thigh and grabbed her left one, spreading her legs further, and Riley took it. She started to shake in pleasure, shocking herself. It wasn’t like it had been that long since the two of them had sex, and Jett wasn’t even doing that much yet.
Jett then ghosted two fingers across Riley’s pussy, but she didn’t put them where Riley wanted them the most. Riley whimpered in need, silently begging for Jett to stop her teasing.
But, of course, Jett had no intention of complying with Riley’s desires without a little fun.
Jett laughed and blew on the mark that she had left on Riley’s thigh. “Oh, sweetheart,” Jett said in a condescending voice, “do you want more?”
Riley groaned and bucked her hips before Jett held them down and bit her again, causing Riley to yelp and glare.
“Fuck you,” Riley said, and Jett laughed again.
“Um, not quite,” Jett said and Riley rolled her eyes. Jett thought she was so funny.
Before Riley really registered what was happening, Jett leaned toward Riley’s pussy and licked a long stripe all the way up to her clit. Riley moaned loud and gasped, but as soon as it started, it was over. Jett moved her head back toward Riley’s thighs and was busying herself in placing sweet kisses along them.
Riley whimpered. “Please,” she said, not having the patience or willpower to continue through Jett’s teasing. “Please fuck me.”
Jett smiled at Riley. “Oh sweetheart, you’re asking so nicely,” she said, and almost immediately, put her face back against Riley, licking her clit before she began to suck on it.
Riley gasped and moaned, but after a few minutes of that, it wasn’t enough. Riley wanted more, but she couldn’t seem to form the words to ask for it.
Jett seemed to understand, however, and after a moment, she took her right hand and put two fingers inside of Riley, reveling in the relieved and pleasured sigh that came from Riley as she did so.
It didn’t take much longer after that for Riley to come hard and fast. She gasped heavily, her chest heaving as she orgasmed, and she reached for Jett afterwards.
Jett moved beside Riley and kissed her tenderly on the lips before she took Riley into her arms.
A million questions filled Riley’s head. So much she wanted to ask Jett, but still didn’t dare.