Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Teddy
Rain is a steady drumbeat in the night. It falls in waves against the condo windows and slides down the glass door that leads to the balcony. It feels private, like the universe queued it up just for us, background music while I try, and fail, to coax Helen into bed.
She’s energetic. Restless. Still riding the high from being reinstated at the hospital earlier today.
To celebrate, we went out to dinner with Jamie and Lindsey.
Helen had argued that we shouldn’t go, that I needed to study, but I countered that every success in life deserved to be celebrated and her going back to the hospital was a huge win.
Finally, she’d agreed, but only if I promised to study for another hour when we got back home.
The restaurant was a seafood joint down by the pier. With Christmas just five days away, the place was decked out for the holidays with twinkle lights strung around the fish tanks and garlands dangling from the ceiling beams. Even the fish statues on the wall were wearing fuzzy Santa hats.
Helen laughed at that, a sound I’d bottle if I could.
As the four of us ate dinner, Christmas songs played overhead and everyone talked at once.
Even with the chatter, I couldn’t take my eyes off Helen.
She looked alive again. Not weighed down by guilt or fear of losing her career.
Not trapped in her head. Just Helen, sharp, witty, rolling her eyes at Jamie’s stories, snorting at Lindsey’s jokes, sipping her wine, and smiling the entire time.
We’re back home, in her bedroom, and instead of winding down she’s pacing like she’s had three espressos too many. She’s already reorganized the bookshelf, fluffed the pillows, and refolded the throw blankets. Now she’s across the room at her desk gathering supplies for me to study.
I’m propped against the headboard, sheets pooled around my waist, wearing only my boxers with my cast propped on a pillow. I watch her move swift and purposeful like she’s a storm of her own. She’s beautiful, focused, and much too far away from me.
“Helen,” I call out, my voice cutting through the patter of the rain. “Come to bed.”
She glances at me over her shoulder as she picks up pencils and a notepad. “We’re not going to sleep yet. You still need to study.”
“I can study tomorrow.” I pat the empty spot beside me. “Come cuddle with me.” I sing out like I’m a used car salesman, “Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Don’t miss out.”
She bites back a smile and shuffles through papers on the desk. I groan dramatically, dragging a hand over my face. “Unbelievable. My doctor girlfriend gets reinstated and suddenly she’s too good for me.”
That makes her pause. “Girlfriend?” she repeats slowly, tilting her head like she’s testing the word.
“Yeah.” I stare directly into her eyes, daring her to argue.
I’ve been wanting to call her that ever since the night with the mirror, but I waited until after her committee meeting.
No need to pile on pressure while she was fighting for her career.
“Unless you’re planning on firing me. In which case, I demand severance pay in kisses.
” I fix her with a look and add, “with tongue.”
Chuckling, she crosses the room and climbs onto the bed. The storm outside pounds harder, a staccato beat, but in here, all I hear is her soft sigh as she settles against me. I have about one second to enjoy that sound before she slaps me in the chest with the thick ASVAB study guide.
“Ouch,” I say, rubbing the spot where paper met flesh.
“Sorry.” Helen places a small peck on my cheek. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” a long pause, then she tacks on a shy, whispered, “boyfriend.”
I think my face might actually split in two. That’s how big I smile.
“Mmm,” I hum, pulling her close. “More kisses would make it feel better.”
I try to pull her face up to me, but she giggles and ducks. “No time for that. You need to study.”
“There’s always time for kissing,” I argue back.
“Not when it leads to…” her cheeks tinging the prettiest shade of pink, “other things.”
“Other things are exactly what I had in mind.” I run my hand down her arm, then around to gently palm her breast. She’s in that white tank top, and the feeling of her nipple stiffening against the ribbed fabric is enough to make desire rise up in me, raging like the storm outside.
Undeterred, she shoves a stack of practice exams onto my chest, and I groan like she’s stabbed me. “Helen. You can’t bring homework into bed.”
“Yes, I can.” She folds her arms, mock glare in place. “Your exam isn’t going to pass itself.”
I pinch the practice exam between two fingers and hold it away like it’s radioactive. “What’s my incentive? Because right now all I see are a bunch of multiple-choice questions standing between me and your mouth.”
She pauses, lips pressing together like she’s calculating odds, then her eyes flash. A slow, sly grin spreads across her face. “How about we make it interesting?”
That spark in her voice has me sitting up straight. I lean closer. “Go on.”
“For every question you get right…,” she says, sliding a finger beneath the hem of her tank top and tugging it just high enough to show smooth, tempting skin, “…I take something off.”
My breath catches. Heat pools low in my stomach. “Strip studying?”
She nods, her lips curving into a devious smirk. “Exactly.”
“What if I get it wrong?”
“You lose something.” Her eyes flick deliberately to the waistband of my boxers.
I glance down at myself, then back at her. “Not fair,” I protest. “All I’ve got on is boxers. You’re in shorts, a tank top, a bra, underwear, and socks. You’re basically bulletproof.”
An impish smile curves her lips. “Guess you better not miss any questions.” She arches her brow and lifts her shirt again, this time high enough that I get a peek of lacy black bra.
“Suddenly I’m feeling very motivated.” I snatch a pencil off the nightstand and grin. “Either way, I win.”
“Not if you flunk the exam.”
Her reminder slices through the heat and humor, sobering me. Shit. I’m defaulting, sliding back into old Teddy. The one who knew what he should do but did whatever he wanted to.
That Teddy won’t last here. He won’t be able to keep a woman like Helen.
Which means he has to go.
“Okay, Dr. Chu, game on,” I say in my best evil villain impersonation.
She smiles back, pleased. Wasting no time, she shuffles the packet and clears her throat. “Question one,” she says. “A boat travels 30 miles in 2 hours. What’s its average speed?”
I frown, thinking, lips pursed in a way that makes Helen stare at them. “Fifteen miles per hour.”
Helen sighs dramatically, peeling her socks off one by one. “Correct.”
“Wow, cotton, so hot,” I say sarcastically as I roll my eyes.
She flings her socks at me, and I bat them away, laughing.
“Don’t get cocky,” she warns.
“Too late.” I point to the erection that already tents my boxers.
She snorts and asks, “Seriously? We just started.”
I hold my hands up, the picture of innocence. “I can’t help it. It’s a medical condition, Helen. I get turned on every time you walk in the room.”
Her lips twitch, but she refuses to comment. Instead, she flips to the next page with forced seriousness. “The hypotenuse of a right triangle…”
“Oh, come on,” I groan. “More math? You’re evil.” I squint, thinking. “Pythagorean theorem. A squared plus B squared equals C squared.”
Helen’s jaw drops. “Correct.”
“Ha!” I point at her tank top. “That’s mine.”
With exaggerated reluctance, she tugs it off and tosses it at my face. I snatch it out of the air and bury my nose in it like a lunatic. “Smells like victory.”
That makes Helen laugh with her head thrown back, the sound loud and bright. I laugh with her, but then my humor fades, replaced by something heavier. “You really think I can do this?” My voice drops. “Pass the exam?”
My bravado slips. Insecurity rushes through me, a drowning wave. I know that from the outside I usually look confident, unshakable, but right now I doubt everything. Myself. My future.
“You’ll pass.” Helen leans forward and cups my jaw, steady and sure, forcing me to meet her gaze. “To succeed, we have to practice, to prepare. Just like how you helped me talk to Lindsey. Taught me to surf.”
I swallow and drop my eyes to the bedspread. “Sometimes…in the past, I think one of the reasons I didn’t try too hard was because if you don’t try, then you can’t really fail.”
Her hand smooths up and down my arm, slow and calming.
“Or you can try and prove to yourself that you can do it.” Her touch is gentle, but her voice turns to pure steel, like she won’t baby me through this.
“You’re way smarter than you think, Teddy.
The only way to fail is to give up, and I won’t ever let you do that. ”
She sounds so confident it makes my throat tighten. I can almost see it now, the version of me she believes in. The one who’s not afraid to take risks, who rises to the occasion.
“You’re right.” I crack my knuckles, stretch my neck like a fighter stepping into the ring. “Next question.”
Her eyes narrow as she reads the paper. “Latitude lines are—?”
“Horizontal.” My gaze drags deliberately down the length of her body, heat curling low in my stomach as memory sparks. “Like the way you spread out for me last night.”
“Teddy!” Helen’s cheeks flare pink. She swats my thigh with the packet, but she’s biting back a laugh.
“What?” I laugh, raising my hands in mock innocence. “Relating it back to real life helps me remember.”
She rolls her eyes, lips twitching.
Without a word, I point at her shorts.
Helen shakes her head at me but stands anyway. She shimmies them down over her hips, then steps out, first one leg and then the other, with the effortless grace of a dancer. Once that’s done, she stands before me wearing only a black lace bra and matching panties.
I stare, mesmerized by the sight. “I have a sudden urge to become a lifelong learner. Can you tutor me every night?”