Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
ELLIE
I haven’t seen Matt in almost a week. I know that’s not that long, and I did talk to him on Saturday at least, but I’m getting addicted. Fuck buddies was a great idea.
I think he gets back from his away games today…or maybe last night? So hopefully I can see him soon. It’s been nearly impossible to meet up on the days I work, but maybe that will change soon when I give him his present.
My half-eaten turkey sandwich is midway to my mouth when a commotion at the other end of the cafeteria catches my attention. I pause my eating and scan the small crowd that’s gathered there to see what the fuss is about.
I feel a swoop in my belly when my eyes land on a familiar black baseball hat resting on a tall figure.
Is Matt at the hospital? Do I have magical manifesting powers?
I put my sandwich down and watch as, yes, the Matt Anderson politely engages with his growing entourage, all the while discreetly peering around.
His eyes eventually land on mine and stop. The swoop turns into full-fledged butterflies. He’s criminally handsome.
And he’s at my hospital.
Looking at me.
I wonder what he’s here for. Maybe some publicity thing? That’s probably it, as much as eleven-year-old me believed in having magical powers. It is almost nine p.m. though, which is past normal visiting hours, professional or otherwise.
Matt’s still chatting with the staff as I gather my leftovers and trash.
I check my watch and calculate I have eighteen minutes left on my break.
Perfect. I thank my lucky stars the ER is having a slow night, otherwise I wouldn’t have been on a break at all.
And bless Maggie, our charge nurse, for encouraging us to take them.
I probably would’ve eaten my sandwich at the nurses’ station like I normally do otherwise.
I give Matt a quick, secret smile across the room when I see his eyes still on me and casually walk my way past him down the hallway that leads to the ER. I look over at him once before letting myself into a private exam room on my right. I shut the door behind me and wait.
In the movies, he would instantly understand the assignment, give people an excuse, and follow me in here, but in real life I’m not sure if I was obvious enough.
He might just think I went back to work.
Shit. He might not even know what kind of room I walked into.
Oh god, he might think I went to the freaking bathroom.
Maybe I should peek my head out to give him—
“Hey.” Matt’s voice startles me out of my spiral.
I turn around to face him and, like a mirror image, I watch his smile stretch across his face at the exact same pace as mine until we’re both cheesing at each other like idiots.
Matt pockets his phone and then backs up a step to shut the door behind him with his body, looking down quickly to flip the lock before facing me again. Cheesy smile still in place.
Criminally handsome.
“Hi,” I say back to him through my own smile, fighting the surge of shyness that just washed over me. How is someone this good-looking smiling at me like that?
“C’mere.” Matt gives a little head jerk.
I walk over until I’m right in front of him, looking up at that perfect face.
Matt grabs my wrists and puts them up and over his shoulders before bending slightly and wrapping his arms tightly around me.
His big frame envelops mine as he buries his face in my neck and takes a deep breath, lifting me so I’m resting on my toes.
I push up as far as I can to hug him tighter and hopefully lessen any strain on his back.
“I missed you,” he breathes against my neck.
I think I might legitimately swoon if it weren’t for Matt’s arms holding me snug against him. I inhale his scent and close my eyes, content to stay like this for…as long as I can. Maybe longer.
There’s something about the way he smells that simultaneously puts me at ease and excites me.
It’s an addictive combination. Is this what the hard drugs feel like?
Because if so, I get it. I would huff Matt’s scent all day if I could without looking like a freak.
I’d like to be high on this feeling twenty-four seven.
“You saw me like a week ago,” I tease, as if I haven’t missed him too. “And we talked on the phone. How was the road?”
Matt drops a kiss on my neck before pulling back to look at me. “It was fine. Long,” he says. I feel his shrug under my arms that are still looped around his neck. His eyes are bouncing around my face, cataloging who knows what.
“Why are you at the hospital?”
“I had the day off, so I was just doing some visits to the kids over in oncology. They let me come past visiting hours to avoid making more of a scene. And selfishly, I was hoping I’d get to see you.
I feel like my eyes have a slight strain from constantly looking for you everywhere I went,” he adds with a smile and barely visible blush tinting his cheeks.
“Had to fake a phone call to follow you in here.”
“You just came here on your day off?” I ask him, mouth ajar.
He nods.
“To visit sick kids?”
Another nod. Redder cheeks.
Matt Anderson is visiting tiny humans with cancer. On his day off. Voluntarily. It’s not even some contractually obligated publicity thing.
That is so…I don’t even know. An act like that is kryptonite to us healthcare workers. Something almost painful squeezes the heart in my chest. Something new.
I swallow the lump in my throat and push the scary feelings away for now.
We’ve only known each other for a little over a month.
Time to distract myself with something else—something I’ve been wanting to do with Matt, but haven’t mustered the nerve for.
I kiss him quickly on the lips and then unhook my hands behind his neck and drop down to my knees.
“What are you doing?” he asks me with…alarm?
I grin up at him from the floor. “Taking a page out of the Matt Anderson handbook—being selfless.” I stick my tongue out at him and then start slowly undoing the perfectly tied drawstring on his joggers.
“Ellie,” Matt warns. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Don’t you have to get back to work?” He looks behind him at the door and then back to me.
I stare at the growing bulge clearly visible in his briefs and lick my lips. Then I pull them down shakily, letting his rapidly hardening cock bounce up toward his stomach.
“I have…” I look at my watch. “Eleven minutes.” I grab his thick length and lean forward to swipe my tongue across the drop of pre-cum in front of me. I hum at the taste—not bad.
“Fuck.” I hear a thud as Matt’s head hits the door behind him.
I move my hand up and down twice before licking from the base up to the tip. Then I guide him into my mouth and swirl my tongue, slowly taking him deeper. Matt’s hand works its way to the side of my face, his thumb resting on my cheek, fingers reaching behind my ear into my pulled-back hair.
I look up at his face and see his jaw is clenched and his eyes are closed. Hmm. That won’t do. I pause and move back to release him, hearing a soft pop as he bobs out of my mouth. I rest back on my heels.
“You don’t want to watch?” I try really hard to keep the disappointment out of my voice.
But isn’t that part of what makes it so hot for guys?
I look down at my teal blue scrubs. They aren’t exactly sexy, but I didn’t think they were offensive.
Heck, I find them kind of cute. “Is it the scrubs?” I ask him, face twisting to the side.
Matt groans. “Ellie, whatever you’re thinking, stop. I love your scrubs.” He sighs and starts again. “If I try to look at you down there on your fucking knees, pretty eyes focused on me, I’m going to finish in fifteen seconds.”
Oh. Oh.
“That’s okay. We’re on the clock anyway.” I push back to my knees and lick my lips again before leaning forward to take him in my mouth.
I look up to see his Adam’s apple bob on a rough swallow.
On my second pass, I make sure to hollow my cheeks and suck, moving my hand in unison with my mouth.
Up and down, adding pressure with my firm grip on him.
I don’t really have a ton of expertise, but I take him as far as I can each time, letting my eyes water at the gagging sensation.
I’m getting lost in the act, feeling a heavy desire pool low in my belly, when I’m abruptly pulled off Matt and up to my feet.
An involuntary pout takes over my face as I look down at his now slick cock.
“Go bend over that table.” Matt chucks my chin up toward him, his chest heaving and pupils blown.
Oh shit, that’s hot.
I scamper over to the exam table and try to assess how to bend over it.
Do I lean forward, resting on my palms? Do I go on my elbows?
I’m standing there, still staring, when I feel a hand press against my back, pushing it down until my entire front is flush against the table’s surface. Oh, fuck, I like that.
Matt reaches a hand in front of my hips to untie my scrubs. He hooks his thumbs under the waistband to my underwear and tugs them down over my butt. Matt slowly smooths his hands up over my ass to my hips, where he grips the dip of my waist and pauses.
“You said you have an IUD?” he asks, remembering what I told him during a recent hookup.
I nod. “I just got a new one when I moved here,” I tell him over my shoulder.
“Are you okay without a condom? I don’t have any with me,” he says a bit reluctantly.
I think of his past and know this is not a minor concession for him—offering to go without. I also think of the hospital’s stock of condoms and how there are probably even some in this room somewhere.
Then I think of why Matt’s here today and our exclusivity conversation on Saturday and how much I realize I just…trust him. So I give him another nod. “Are you okay without one?”