Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Gaines
“That’s it, my sweet little lamb. Just like that.”
I’ve replayed those words over and over in my mind since that night just over two years ago. I saw how the woman’s eyes brightened when I first called her my lamb. That was right after I approached her at the bar in the club.
She was sipping on a cosmopolitan. Her face was partially obscured by a black mask decorated with red and green crystals.
I’d opted for a plain silver mask to hide my identity.
She offered a name when I took the seat next to her.
“I’m Loretta Lamb,” she claimed in a breathy tone edged with the nervous delight that every person who entered that club felt.
We all knew what we were there for.
Fucking. Raw and primal. Anonymous and forgettable.
At least, it always was for me until that night.
When I looked into her bluish-gray eyes, I saw something I had never seen in a woman’s eyes before. Promise. I knew touching her would be an experience unlike anything I’d known. I could sense that a kiss of her lips would ruin me.
I had never kissed a woman in that club before.
I’d gone down on a few, but actual kissing felt like far too intimate an act to share with someone whose face is hidden behind a veil of secrecy.
But Loretta was different. I wanted a taste of her lips as soon as she pursed them after taking a sip of her drink.
She asked my name, and I responded as I always do when I’m there looking for a quick fuck. “Garin.”
It’s the surname of a poet I’d studied in high school. A reading of one of his works had gotten me laid for the first time, so I used the name as a cover when I was in the club.
Loretta called me out on that in short order. “Garin? Like the poet, sir?”
Sir.
That stuck. It stuck like fucking glue for our entire encounter that night.
“I’m twenty-five, sir.”
She offered that without any prompting from me.
“Please make me come, sir.”
I had a literal hand in that one.
“I need to suck your cock, sir.”
How could I possibly refuse?
And then, just as I was about to drop to my knees to taste her sweet pussy as a prelude to fucking her, she whispered the words I still curse to this day. “I need to go, sir.”
She’d run out of that room and that club with the same swiftness as she had today at the hospital.
I’d watched Eloise leave the cafeteria without a glance back after hearing me say lamb.
That one word had opened a vault to her memory bank. I saw it as she gazed up at me. I felt it as I watched her avoid eye contact with me.
She knows.
“Hey, daydreamer, I believe I have some good news for you.”
I’m not in the mood to deal with Evan’s persistent, glorious mood, but I paste a half-assed smile on my face and turn to look at him. “What’s that?”
“Good news is the opposite of bad news,” he jokes. “The good news is you get to buy me dinner tonight because Chloe and our beautiful daughter are having dinner with her dad and his wife.”
“I can’t tonight,” I lie.
“Why?” he asks. “Are you planning on hanging out here all night? I happen to know that Daxton’s procedure went off without a hitch.”
That it did.
“I have other patients,” I remind him.
“All of them are stable because you, my friend, are a cardiac wizard.”
That draws a hearty laugh from me. “You’re too happy. What the fuck is going on with you?”
“I’m living the life,” he says as he tugs off the ID badge attached to his suit jacket.
He places it on the top shelf of his locker.
“I’m a respected vascular surgeon. I’m married to the greatest woman who ever walked this earth, and my daughter smiles at me in this way that I can’t explain, Gaines. It’s just everything.”
I’ve seen Elena’s smile. I can’t argue with him.
“What’s on your agenda for tonight?” he questions. “Tell me you’ve got a date.”
“I don’t date.” I slam my locker door shut.
He leans closer. “Tell me you’ve got a fuck lined up.”
“How is that your business?”
“You know my story.” He leans a shoulder against his now-shut locker door. “Chloe was supposed to be a one-night stand.”
I’ve heard the story countless times, so I add to it for him, “You knocked her up, and for some reason, I’ll never understand, she agreed to marry you.”
“The reason is the sex is that good.”
I shake my head. “Change the subject, Evan.”
“Let’s change it to the cute brunette you were talking to in the cafeteria.” He nudges my shoulder with his pointer finger.
“What were you doing in the cafeteria?” I ask to avoid discussing Eloise.
“Same thing you were.” He sighs. “Saturday is pizza day, Morgan.”
I chuckle. “I had no clue.”
“You should try it sometime.” He glances at his watch. “You should also invite that brunette to join you. I sense there’s something between you two.”
I know he won’t drop it, so I send him in a direction that will kill this conversation now. “Her cousin married mine a few months ago. That’s all we share.”
“Gotcha.” He nods. “Since you’re leaving me to fend for myself tonight, I’m going home to eat the salad Chloe left in the fridge for me.”
“Your heart thanks you.”
“Your dick would thank me if you followed my advice and went out to have some fun.”
“Don’t go there,” I warn with a wag of my finger.
“I’ll catch you on Monday, Dr. Morgan.” He pats my shoulder as he breezes past me. “I’d tell you to stay out of trouble until then, but we both know you will.”