He sighed. “He’s such an ass. He can’t lighten up for anyone and the patients need to be treated better. I thought that might be helping him, or at least making the patients laugh who had him.”
“Oh, they were laughing all right,” she said. “The patients thought it was great, but Dr. Jones was embarrassed and put a stink up about how unprofessional you are. Maybe you need to be a little careful in the future. You say you hate that people get on your case for not taking things seriously and you argue you do with your job…but do you if you’re doing things like that?”
He narrowed his eyes at her and she thought for sure they’d start fighting, but his shoulders dropped. “I’ll go play nice and make it up to him. I was hoping it was a lesson but guess it’s more of one on me and not him if he files a complaint.”
“Exactly.”
“Are you worried I’ll get in trouble? Did you defend me?”
“Yes, I’m worried. No, I didn’t defend you even though I kind of wanted to. I think that would open up the line for more gossip that I’d like to not get involved in right now.”
“I get it. But there isn’t anything wrong or bad about what we are doing. We are two single consenting adults. You need to stop thinking otherwise.”
“I’m trying,” was all she said. They had just circled back to the building. “I need to go back now.”
“I’ll call you when I get home,” he said. “Dinner tonight?”
“We could do that. Bye, Wyatt.”
“Bye, Adriana.” She didn’t like the way he said her name. All smooth as if he had the green light and might have just leaned down to give her a kiss even though he said he never did at work. Either he was playing with her—everyone knew how much he loved to joke, didn’t she just lecture him on it with a coworker—or she was seeing something she needed to get a better grip of control on.
The next morning, she was sitting at Wyatt’s island while he was pouring their coffee. It was only the second time she’d spent the night with him. He asked her more often, but since he was on call and busy she used that as an excuse not to.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to as much as she didn’t want him getting too used to it being something to expect every weekend. Or during the week.
They weren’t even close to being there yet in her eyes. But she caved last night and stayed because she wanted to.
“Here’s your creamer,” he said, putting it down in front of her with her coffee.
“You bought it for me?” she asked. Talk about sweet, considering she didn’t drink coffee except in the morning, so again, only the second time. He drank it strong and black. Bitter even. She couldn’t even choke it down with milk in it last time. “Could you get a bigger container of it?”
“As you can tell it’s the largest container I could find. I’d have bought a gallon of it if I could find it.”
“You like to push, don’t you? Is this your way of wanting to make sure I don’t have an excuse not to stay again?”
He laughed. “Maybe,” he said, then winked. “I just wanted to make sure you had enough. There might be another one in the fridge too just in case you use all of that this morning.”
“Jerk,” she said, laughing. He didn’t often play jokes on her. Not like everyone else said he did, but he had really given her crap about not being able to finish his coffee last time with the milk in it.
The more she thought of it, she’d only heard he was the joker of the family more than witnessing anything with the exception of Dr. Jones.
She added her creamer to her coffee, took a sip and had to add more, then caught his smirk. “How do you drink this? It’s like sludge.”
“It keeps me awake. I lived off of it in med school and during my residency.”
“I bet this is the reason you never sit still,” she said, taking another sip. It was almost tolerable right now. As much as she wanted to add more creamer she wouldn’t. That would just prove his funny point he tried to make.
He took her cup out of her hand and dumped it, then turned on the Keurig in the corner. “I’ll make you one of my mom’s. That’s lighter. No reason to drink something that makes you shudder with each sip.”
“You have coffee here just for your mom? And why didn’t you make me that last time? You said you were out.”
“Because it was funny watching you gag last time. And I don’t have the flavors she likes anymore. She likes flavored ones. I forgot which, but Noah and Drake never let me live it down that I don’t have what Mom drinks in the house. She won’t drink it out of the pot when I make it. My father bought me this months ago and said that he got sick of my mother complaining after she left my house that she couldn’t have a cup of coffee. He gave me a bunch of the flavors she drinks, but they are gone now. Only the plain ones are left.”
“Your mother is here that much that she drank it all? And can I say that is super nice your father did that for her.”
“It was more a shot at me for not having it here for her,” he said, laughing. “My family gets me every time they can. And no, she isn’t here that much, but she has two cups when she is and then everyone else that comes over drinks it too. Since the last time my mother was here she was complaining all her favorites were gone, I’m starting to
