Chapter 22
Being forced to spend time with your work colleagues outside work should be illegal.
The hospital had gone all out for the fundraiser. They’d hired the local football stadium, inviting all staff and their family members to attend, as well as members of the public who wanted to come and support the hospital.
Local businesses offered their time not only to feed everyone, but also to sponsor a huge raffle at the end of the fundraiser, which local businesses also contributed to.
Lorenzo held this event every year, usually with Adam’s help.
From what I’d heard, the pair of them were a match made in heaven when it came to creating events in aid of the hospital.
From the moment we arrived, it was impossible not to think about my old friend, knowing full well he would have loved every goddamn minute of it.
It wasn’t just that I saw Adam’s face everywhere that had me wanting to run far away from the event.
But between the overly friendly smiling faces that greeted us when we arrived, the fact that it only took five minutes before Minnie appeared and introduced me not only to her parents but to her six siblings too, and the way Lorenzo was purposely ignoring me at every chance she got, I regretted coming instantly.
How was I supposed to show her that I was the right man for the promotion if she ignored me the whole time?
The oh so familiar claws of anxiety threatened to slice through my chest. My mind fogged up, my attention slipping away from me as all I could focus on was how much I was screwing this up.
How no matter how hard I tried to make things right, I was nothing more than a fuck up.
An addict. A liability. A shit brother. A horrible uncle.
A disappointment, not just to everyone around me but to myself, too.
“Hot dog or burger?”
Forcing myself to stop tracking Lorenzo’s movements, hoping she’d make eye contact with me like some shitty stalker, I looked down at the five-foot-six brunette holding my hand.
Merde, she never failed to take my breath away.
And don’t get me started on those jeans that hugged her hips, giving me teasing glimpses of her midriff—they were the most delicious kind of torture.
Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Livi, I’d have hightailed it out of here the second I arrived.
But as if she picked up on my unease, she, without hesitation, slipped her hand into mine and locked our fingers together like two missing jigsaw pieces. Such a simple act, yet I felt a wave of calm that I only ever experienced with her.
Since childhood, I have been convinced that my body was hardwired for solitude. Even with Cassandra, as much as I thought I loved her, I still knew deep down that I was destined to be alone.
That was until I met Livi. There was something about her, something that I couldn’t ignore.
All those years of learning how to survive and live with only myself to rely on threatened to come tumbling down around me with each passing moment I spent with her.
I didn’t believe in any gods, but I was starting to believe that she might be my savior.
Too bad it’s all fake…
“Be warned, there is only one right answer.” Surveying the cooking grill, she playfully nudged my arm. “So be warned, if you pick wrong, I will judge you for the rest of our lives.”
“Is that so?”
“Gotta make sure I am associating with someone who has good taste, is all.”
“Anyone in a file mile radius and with a pair of working eyes knows that I have more than good taste.”
She arched a brow. “How so?”
“Because I’m here with you.”
For four months…
Vibrant pink scorched her cheeks.
“Now back to this immensely important food decision.”
She cleared her throat, her face beaming brighter by the second. “If you hadn’t guessed already, I take this sort of thing very seriously. So, pick wisely.”
“No pressure then.” I tapped my fingers on my chin. “Hotdog?”
She clapped her hands together in delight. “That’s the right and only answer.” Grabbing two hot dogs, she covered them with a healthy serving of mustard, ketchup, and crispy onions. “Anyone who picks a burger over these bad boys is criminally insane.”
I chuckled and took the hot dog from her.
Unable to stop myself from watching her, she hummed in pleasure—the sound shooting straight through me and into my crotch—after her first bite.
My mind instantly thought about her making those noises in a completely different scenario. A lot less innocent, and a lot sweatier one.
Especially when she wrapped her lips around the hot dog again.
Fucking hell, I was no better than a horny teenager.
A dollop of mustard stained the corner of her mouth, and without thinking, I caught it with my thumb.
She inhaled sharply, her eyes widening as I slowly wiped the sauce from her skin and popped my mustard-covered thumb into my mouth. Savoring the taste, I hopelessly imagined it was her that I tasted. “Tastes like heaven.”
Her throat bobbed thickly as her tongue swiped along her bottom lip, the movement of her tongue alone leaving me dizzy.
Kiss her! Kiss her like before! Kiss her until it’s all I can think about!
Before I let myself give in to the voice screaming in my head, someone from behind us yelled, “Everyone gather round! It’s time to pick the teams!”
Livi broke from under the spell first, her brow creasing as she devoured the rest of her hot dog and watched my colleagues gathering in a huddle.
“Are you coming, Dr. Dade?” Minnie called over, practically tripping over her own feet to join everyone.
“What’s happening right now?” Livi asked.
“Touch football.” Lorenzo appeared like a silent assassin. “We do it every year. A good way for some healthy competition and team bonding.”
Zara refused to look in my direction; I may as well have been a ghost. Instead, she was laser-focused on Livi.
I knew Zara recognized her.
And I also knew I was in deep shit.
Doctors weren’t allowed to treat family members or anyone we had a personal connection to. It blurred lines and allowed emotion to take over in vulnerable situations.
Giving the way Zara stared at her, it was clear as the sky above us that she remembered Livi from the emergency room.
“Zara, this is my girlfriend Livi,” I said after several seconds of awkward silence. “Peaches, this is the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Zara Lorenzo.”
“You’re Elliott’s boss,” Livi beamed, looping her arm through mine like it was the most natural thing in the world. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. Elliott’s told me so much about you.”
Zara’s smile did not reach her eyes. “Pleasure.”
Well, this is painfully uncomfortable.
If the ground opened up right now, I’d have happily jumped headfirst.
“I hope you’ll be joining in.” Zara motioned to the crowd, who were dividing up into teams of six. “Like I said, it’s a great team bonding game. Shows real teamwork and commitment.”
Before I thought of an excuse, a way to get the hell out of there, Livi said, “Absolutely, we are! And we are going to kick some ass, aren’t we, baby?”
Baby.
One word.
One throwaway and simple fucking word.
I knew it meant nothing.
It was all pretend. An act, nothing more.
Yet, my whole nervous system shot into life as if struck by a bolt of lightning.
I wanted her to say it again.
I needed her to say it again.
“Good luck.” Zara turned on her heel. “Oh, and Elliott, it’s nice to see you taking what I said on board.”
She walked off without another word.
Given any other time, satisfaction would have been funneling through my bloodstream, but all I could do was replay what Livi called me.
Goddamn, was I that starved of affection that one term of endearment was enough to unravel me?
“Okay, we might have a teeny tiny problem,” Livi said quietly.
“What’s that?”
“It’s nothing major, it’s, you know, a little problem. The small matter being that I don’t have a clue how to play touch football.”
Chuckling, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into me. “The aim of the game is to run the ball to the end zone without being touched by the other team. Nothing else to it, other than get the ball and run.”
“Run?”
I nodded, guiding us toward the other teams.
“You think I can run in these things?” She motioned to the pair of red-toed high-heels peeking from beneath the bottom of her jeans. “I already told you, I look awful running.”
“Stay behind me and you’ll be fine.”
Thankfully, Ferrington, the volunteer referee for the games, put the two of us together in a team alongside my sunny intern, Minnie, and her three brothers, Devon, Lewis, and Nate.
Livi’s leg bounced up and down as we watched the other teams play. She ignored our other teammates, who were too busy talking tactics to notice her nervousness.
By the time it was our turn, her face was three shades paler.
Squeezing her knee, I offered her a smile. “You can do this, I know you can.”
The look she threw me told me she didn’t believe me for a second as the six of us walked onto the field and took our positions.
Livi lined up beside me, her teeth raking over her bottom lip while her panicked gaze flicked between the opposite team before us.
“Remember, all you have to do is run if you catch the ball, that’s it,” I assured her. “Catch and run. Simple.”
“Oh yeah, so simple, thanks,” she scoffed in disbelief, “and what if I drop the ball?”
“You won’t. I believe in you.”
“Seriously, you have way too much faith in me. I’ve never caught a ball in my life. Hell, why did I open my stupid mouth and say we’d play? This is my own freaking fault.”
Her sharp heels sank into the field, causing her to curse colorfully in Spanish. Truthfully, she was more out of place than a polar bear in the desert.
Yet, I couldn’t have been more attracted to her if it were possible.
She pulled a heel from the mud. “If I fall, I’m blaming you.”
In a flash, the ball snapped. Minnie screamed in fear, running the opposite direction despite Devon yelling at her to come back and not be scared of a ball.
Nate, who had the ball in hand, attempted to pass to me, but before I blinked, Mervin, one of the ER nurses, blocked me.
And by hell, Mervin’s shoulders were the width of two doors.
Minnie’s final brother, Lewis, tried and failed to break through his air-tight blockade, which left only one option.
Livi was wide open.
Nate didn’t think twice. Tossing the ball into the air, it spiraled right for her. However, she looked anything but ready to receive. In fact, she was frozen solid in one spot.
I moved toward her on pure instinct.
Before I got close to her, Livi’s hands wrapped around the flying leather—she’d caught the ball!
But she remained a human marble statue on the field. Her body cemented to the ground, her eyes widening by the second as one of the interns, Kyle, from the other team started to gun for her.
“Peaches, run!” I bellowed over the crowd cheering. “Run! Go!”
Brown hues danced between Kyle and me, running at her. Time itself moved in slow motion, my feet wading through quicksand as I attempted to get to her before Kyle.
Thankfully, whatever fear had its grip over her finally relinquished control. She ditched her high heels, leaving them behind in the mud, and took off barefoot.
Running after her, I dipped past anyone in my way, weaving through the other team and keeping my focus solely on her.
“Keep going! You’re nearly there, Peaches! You’ve got this!”
Laughter erupted from her. Breathlessly manic and so full of joy that despite the burning spreading like wildfire through my lungs, I couldn’t help but laugh too and damn it felt good.
Merde, when was the last time I laughed like this?
Or the last time I had fun? Like real fun? The kind that didn’t come at a cost? Too fucking long ago.
Managing to slip between her and Kyle, who chased after her like his life depended on it, I blocked his fingertips that were a whisper away from touching her and ending her run.
I was simply making sure she scored. It had nothing to do with the flash of burning green searing my vision temporarily at the mere idea of Kyle’s fingers so much as brushing the skin on her exposed lower back.
I was being a team player, that was all.
Yeah, fucking right.
A whistle sounded through the air.
She’d done it, she’d scored, she’d crossed the goddamn line.
For a brief second, she stood there, staring down at the ball in her hands in sheer disbelief. Then, without warning, she tossed the ball behind her and threw her arms in the air in triumph. “Holy shit! I did it! I freaking did it!”
Catching up to her, I chuckled between heavy pants as she jumped up and down excitedly.
“I did it! I scored! Did you see?! I actually did it!”
“See, didn’t I tell you that you could do it?”
She turned, and in a flash, she launched herself into my arms. I barely had time to think as I caught her, my hands grabbing her waist and lifting her from the ground. She gripped onto my shoulders and beamed down at me.
Twirling her in the air, everyone else on the field melted away until all I saw was just me and her.
Two dimples pierced her blotchy cheeks. “I can’t believe I did that! I’ve never felt such a rush like that before.”
“You did so well, Peaches,” I said softly. “I’m proud of you.”
She stared down at me, her smile growing tenfold, yet something shifted. A flicker, a moment of uncertainty that she blinked away.
Before I got the chance to question it, my mind fell into complete silence and my heart practically jumped into my throat as her lips melted against mine.
Blame it on the adrenaline, or the fact somewhere out there Lorenzo was watching us, whatever the reason, I didn’t care.
All I cared about was that Livi was kissing me.
Her lips were soft and slow on mine, a kiss that seeped down right to the base of my feet. The gentleness of it, the way it felt as if we had all the time in the world right there on that football field.
In the distance, somewhere between the blood pumping between my ears, cheers and wolf-whistles echoed around us.
But none of that mattered.
Not when her lips felt so goddamn good sealed with mine, the way she slotted so perfectly in my arms, and the sudden burning desire that I wished for this to be anything but fake.
Oh shit.