Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
BLAKE
W ith everything that’s happened at work over the past few days for my girl, we need a night out. Not just a night together but something to distract us from work.
And then I’m going to take her home and make love to her all fucking night long.
When Harper walks into my house after work, I meet her at the door, frame her gorgeous face in my hands, and kiss the fuck out of her.
“Well, hello there,” she says with a grin, and it’s a hit to the solar plexus every time. Christ, those eyes.
“We have roughly thirty-six hours all to ourselves.” Her dark hair is down, and I tuck one side behind her ear, the soft strands moving through my fingers like silk. “And I’m taking you out for dinner.”
Her eyes brighten, and she brushes her fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck, giving me goose bumps.
“Yeah? Where are we going?”
“Anywhere you want. We need a night out, sugar.”
“That does sound nice. Hmm.” She taps her finger on her lips, thinking about it. “The diner?”
I grin down at her. “You want to go to the diner for dinner?”
“Is it weird that I want breakfast for dinner, and they have the best pancakes. I’ll even indulge in the gluten. And all the maple syrup in the land.”
“It’s not weird at all.” I nuzzle her nose with mine, soaking in her sweetness. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m totally fine. I promise.” She steps closer and presses her ear to my chest. “How was the rest of your day?”
“I got schooled by a woman who claims to have gotten her medical license from Grey’s Anatomy .”
Harper’s head pops up, and she laughs. “Seriously?”
“Oh, she was quite serious.”
“You could totally be Dr. McDreamy,” she says. “I can see it.”
“Stop.” I laugh and kiss her forehead. “The rest of the day was pretty standard. Nothing to report.”
A broken hip, an actual heart attack that led to a triple bypass surgery, two motor vehicle accidents, and a domestic violence victim.
It was a shit day.
But I’m not going to unload on my girl. She had a rough one, too.
“I need a shower first, and then I’ll be ready to go.”
“Take your time, baby.” I kiss her lips softly, and then she sets off for what I’ve come to think of as our bedroom, and I take a walk out to the backyard.
One of the reasons I bought this specific house was because of the view.
Growing up on the Double B Ranch, we had panoramic views of the mountains, and I knew that when I bought a home, I needed to see the mountains here, too.
It’s a beautiful early summer day. I can smell the lilacs on the breeze, and it relaxes me.
But knowing that my girl is home safe is what really sets my soul at ease.
Loving Harper is … all-consuming. She’s become the most important thing in my life, even more than medicine, and that’s something I never expected to find. I didn’t want it.
But now that she’s here, I can’t imagine a life without her in it. Yes, priorities are shifting.
“You’re thinking awfully hard out here.”
I turn and find Harper standing in the doorway, her shoulder against the doorjamb, smiling at me.
“Are you ready for dinner?” she asks.
“I’m starving.” For her. I want to sink inside her and never let her go.
“Me, too.” She holds her hand out for mine, so much like I did for her that day at the airport all those months ago, and I slide my palm against hers, weave our fingers together, and bring her hand to my lips.
“Then I’d better feed you. Let’s go.”
“Would you like some pancakes with your syrup?” I stare, stunned, as she drowns the pancakes in the sticky syrup.
Harper smirks. “Hey, I earned these pancakes. They’re the best like this.”
“We should carry a glucose monitor with us.”
Harper’s eyes narrow on me. “Don’t ruin this for me, Dr. Blackwell.”
Holding my hands up in surrender, I take a bite of my eggs. “No judgment.”
“Liar. You’re totally judging me.” She shoves a soggy bite in her mouth and sighs with joy. “Oh God. So good. Want a bite?”
I grin, enjoying the fuck out of her. “No.”
“Good, more for me.” She takes another bite and does a little dance in the booth.
Kay’s Diner is a traditional 1950s soda fountain diner with black-and-white checked floors, white-topped tables, and red-vinyl-covered seats. The walls are covered in classic rock & roll memorabilia, and the jukebox currently plays an old Elvis song.
It’s casual and sweet, and I love that this is where she wanted to come to dinner.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
I tip up an eyebrow and munch on some bacon. God, why is bacon so fucking good? “Like what? ”
“I don’t know. Like I did something funny.”
“You’re just adorable, and I can’t get enough of you.”
She blinks at me and then stuffs another huge, soggy bite of pancakes in her mouth. “Am I funny, Dr. Blackwell?”
I chuckle, then switch to her side of the booth, crowding her so I can whisper in her ear.
“You’re fucking everything , sugar. I didn’t know that eating pancakes turned me on so much, but all I can think about is drizzling that syrup on your tits and licking it off.”
“I knew you had a sweet tooth.”
I nibble on her earlobe, and she sucks in a breath. “Yeah, for you. Because you’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. I want to spread you wide open and devour you.”
She turns her head, and her nose bumps mine. I’m so close to her. “Let’s go home, okay?”
Home.
Yeah, I fucking love the sound of that.
“Finish your pancakes, baby.” I run my hand down her hair and kiss her temple. “And then we’ll go home.”
“I’m good.” She wipes her mouth with her napkin and flags down the server. “Check, please.”
“I’ll bring it right over. Was everything okay?”
“Delicious,” Harper confirms and rests her hand on my thigh, giving it a squeeze.
When the server leaves, I plant my lips by her ear again. “Are you that greedy for my cock, sugar? ”
“It’s been a week, Blake. Throw a girl a bone. Pun intended.”
I bark out a laugh just as the server arrives with the check, and I pass her my card.
Within minutes, we’re headed out to the car.
“Buckle in, sweetheart.”
“No way. Drive. I’m going to?—”
“You’re going to buckle your fucking belt, Harper.” I pin her in my gaze. “I had two car accidents in my ER today, and one didn’t end well.”
She blinks and frowns. “You didn’t tell me about that when I asked earlier.”
“I’m telling you now. Please, buckle your seat belt.”
She follows the command, and as I pull onto the highway toward the edge of town to my neighborhood, I feel her hot gaze on me.
“Baby—”
“No, don’t baby me. You watched me fall apart twice in the past twenty-four hours, all because of the job.
I asked you specifically how your day was, and you brushed me off because otherwise, you would have told me that you had a rough day today.
This isn’t a one-sided relationship, Blake, where you console me, but I don’t have any idea what you’re dealing with. That’s not fair, and it’s not healthy.”
“You’ve had a lot going on, Harper.”
“Apparently, I’m not the only one.”
I pull into the garage, and before I can turn to face her, Harper is out of the car and headed into the house.
My girl is good and pissed off .
Following her into the house, I hear my front door slam shut.
“Where the fuck is she going?”
No.
She’s not running away from me. Not today or any other day.
Christ, my heart can’t handle this.
I run out to the porch and see Harper toss her bag in her car, and I get there in time to pull it back out again.
“Put that back. I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not.”
She lifts her chin and glares at me. Glares at me. Those gray eyes shoot daggers at me. But there’s hurt there, too, and that almost brings me to my knees.
She’s never looked at me like this before, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she never looks at me like this again. My heart can’t take it.
“Obviously, we’re in two very different relationships, Blake, and I don’t want?—”
Without another word, I pick her up, push the car door closed with my foot, and carry her back inside. I set her on the kitchen island.
“We’re going to talk this out.”
“I’m going to yell this out.”
“Great. I’m standing right here. Yell at me, but you won’t fucking leave.”
She swallows and pushes me away so I’m not touching her, and that’s a direct arrow to the chest.
“I feel like a fucking fool,” she says as she hops off the counter to pace. “I’ve done this before, Blake. I’ ve been the one whose emotions are on the line, and I get nothing in return. No information. No say. Like I’m the little woman who doesn’t need to know more than he’s willing to give her.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“That’s what it feels like. We both have high-stress jobs. Who is better equipped to empathize at the end of the day than each other?”
She’s not wrong. Not at all.
“I can share you with your job, Blake. I knew going into this that you work sixty hour weeks, and our shifts are all over the place, and there will be times when we just don’t see each other.
Fine. I can deal with that because we both love what we do, and it’s important.
And I’m fucking proud of you! You save lives every day.
That’s a big fucking deal, and I’m here for it. ”
She’s fucking magnificent with her flushed cheeks and bright eyes, in that pink dress that molds her body perfectly.
And I’ve fucked up so badly.
“I tell you when I’ve had a hard day. You see it written all over me, and maybe that’s a mistake on my part. Maybe I shouldn’t show my emotions so freely?—”
“Don’t you dare hide from me, sugar.”
“But you’re hiding from me .” She stops her pacing, faces me and her eyes are practically begging me to understand.
“You never talk about it. You never confide when you lose a patient, or when you’re excited because you found an early diagnosis and can help someone.
For all I know, you sat in your office and played solitaire all day. ”
I cross my arms over my chest and don’t bother interrupting her because she’s on a roll. And she’s not wrong.