“Hands down. One hundred percent fuckable,” Maddie murmurs just as Slade reaches me.
“Very true,” I say, glancing over to her before I turn back to Slade, “I should know.”
“Hey, you,” Slade says, his dimples winking as he steps forward and brushes a chaste kiss against my lips before turning to the group. I catch Maddie trying not to choke on her sip of wine when he does. “Hi. I guess I missed introductions, huh?” He runs a hand through his hair, and the aw-shucks expression he gives with it is adorable. “I’m Slade Henderson.” He laces his fingers with mine to make the statement of why he’s here—as if the kiss on my lips wasn’t enough. “Again, my apologies for being late.”
It’s petty, but the look on Heather’s face is priceless—lips formed in the shape of an O, eyes blinking, surprise etched in every line of her expression. She’s in complete shock that this stunner is with me.
I feel shallow for the first time in as long as I can remember, and I don’t care.
“No worries.” Her smile is wide, her eyes darting around the room. “Welcome.”
Slade
“How was that for timing?” I whisper in Blakely’s ear.
“Incredible,” she murmurs, her body tensing momentarily when I put my hand on her back to guide her to the small gathering of people on the far side of the room.
We’re doing some kind of pseudo informal cocktail party where everyone basically already knows each other but where no one seems to be at ease.
Fucking strange.
“Sorry again.”
She stops and looks at me, concern I don’t expect in her eyes. “Did everything go okay?”
Thoughts stack one upon another in my head. The nerves of sitting before the review board. The answers I had to recite—the apologies and the assurances of how it’ll never happen again, that I learned my lesson, that my job is to heal instead of be the judge and jury—when they know damn well the only thing I was sorry for was not being able to protect Ivy sooner. I had to put a damper on my sarcasm and the questions I wanted to confront them with.
Was I supposed to let him be alone with her, the only witness to the crime I know deep in my bones he committed? The only one who could wake up and point the finger at him? Because wouldn’t that be harming my patient too? Wouldn’t that be failing her?
I sat there and nodded like a good little boy who learned his lesson when all I could think about was little Ivy five floors above me and how she needed to wake up.
I had to show that I was using my suspension wisely by handing over the journal pieces I’d written in my time off. They were supposed to help prove I was still committed to being the best doctor I could be.
I picture their stoic faces and unemotional voices as they told me they knew all they needed to know. That they were sorry that calling me in had given me the impression they were going to reach a conclusion on when my suspension would be over, but that they were in a standstill until Ivy was able to give a statement to the police.
So, instead of seeing light at the end of the tunnel, I spent the three hours driving up here replaying the entire meeting in my head, still in limbo whether I’ll be dropped from the program when all is said and done.
That makes room for a lot of noise to live in your head. How my future balances on what an abused five-year-old may or may not say when she wakes up.
Because she has to wake up.
But I’m in the mountains, so there’s that. A great place to quiet some of that noise for a bit. I’m also with her—the woman whose green eyes look into mine and implore me to answer.
“It went fine.” Not wanting her to look too closely, I lean down and put my mouth to her ear. “You holding up okay? No backstabbing happened before I got here?”
Her smile is quick, and it lights up her eyes with a newfound confidence that looks good on her. “Nah. It’s early yet. But your line worked beautifully.” She laughs. “And this group doesn’t need to wait for you to turn your back, they’ll stab you while you’re looking them in the eyes.”
I glance around and laugh. “Not to me they won’t.” With a wink, I grab her hand and lead her over to Horrible Heather so I can introduce myself as the doting boyfriend.
This is going to be fun.
“I’ll have her won over to your side in no time,” I say to Blakely as we lean back on the lounge chairs on the lodge’s outdoor patio.
“Shh,” Blakely says as she looks around in a panic as if I forgot the goal here.
“What?” I say. “It’s the truth.”
“Not even you are that good.”
“Wanna bet?” I reach over, grab her hand, and lift my free hand in a wave to the couple—Oversharing Olivia and her boy toy of the moment, Harley Hal—on the other side of the space. She’s already let me know he is a temporary thing and left a mile-wide invite for me to walk into.
“Oh, please.” She laughs, and it’s such a good sound woven into the rustle of the trees and chirping of birds. “But I’m not going to complain if you accomplish it.”
“I bet you that by the end of the trip—”
“Slade,” Blakely warns again for me to lower my voice.
I slide to the edge of my chair and lean into her so my lips are at her ear. I love the little hitch of her breath she makes when my hand rests on her thigh. “Don’t worry. I know why we’re here. And I bet you that by the end of the trip, Heather will be your new bestie.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she says
