And before I can finish the litany of things I want to say, Slade’s lips are on mine. I try to keep talking, to keep explaining, to plead with him, but he just puts his hands on both sides of my face and slips his tongue between my lips to stop me.
I’ve never been told to shut up so perfectly.
I don’t care that we’re in the middle of this trendy bar where people are probably thinking how tacky we are because they don’t matter. Not a single person or any of their opinions do. The only thing that matters is him and this moment and the hope that is surging through me.
He ends the kiss with a brush of his lips and then pulls back ever so slightly with his hands still framing my face. “Boil-bunny crazy?” He quirks an eyebrow. “Something tells me that should concern me.”
“Okay, Ted Bundy.”
His grin is as wide as mine as we stare at each other like teenagers, drinking in the moment.
“Touché.” His thumb runs over my bottom lip. “So, about this guy?”
I laugh. It’s loud and rich and carefree and feels so damn good after the stress of the past week.
“I think maybe my fear was preventing me from accepting how I felt about him and I think he felt about me.” Hope resonates through my voice and the little boy look on his face has me melting.
“Love is sometimes hard to accept,” he says.
“And sometimes it’s so effortless it’s scary.”
“Maybe that’s when you know it’s right.” He brushes his lips against mine again.
“Wait. Love?” I ask trying to pull back, but he holds me in place as his lips smile against mine.
“Yes, love.”
This time he leans back, our eyes locked as our hearts beat in synch.
“Whew.” I look around the bar. “I sure hope he shows up tonight.”
It’s Slade’s turn to throw his head back and laugh, drawing the stares of those around us.
“Why’s that?” he asks over the rim of his glass, playing along.
“Because I have something important to give him.”
“His walking papers?”
“Nah.” I slide the Blade’s To-Do list across the bar top so it sits in front of him. “This.”
“What’s this?” he asks as he looks down, the soft chuckle on his lips falling silent when he sees it.
“A little something I crossed off tonight before I came here. It may have been a tad presumptuous, but there was no way in hell I was leaving anything to chance this time around.”
“A woman who takes charge. I kind of like it.”
“Someone taught me confidence was attractive.”
“It is. Howling at the moon is even sexier.”
“I believe I may have done that a time or two.”
“Don’t ever stop.”
The smile toys with the corner of his mouth as his fingers slide down and link with mine.
“This true?” he asks of the napkin, eyes intense, voice thick with emotion.
“Is it crazy if I say yes?” I whisper. “I never believed in love at first sight, but, Slade . . . I think you owned a little piece of my heart that first night when I walked out of here.”
“You’ve owned me since your first rant.”
Lovely. But isn’t that so perfectly us?
“I’ll make mistakes, but I’ll try to fix them.”
“I appreciate that.” He leans forward and kisses me. The kind of kiss that makes the ache begin to burn and the need begin to beg. “You know what I appreciate even more?”
“Hmm.”
“A completed To-Do list.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Is that all you needed?” I tease. “Is that all it takes to turn you on?”
“No. You’re all I need, Blakely. You’re who I’d pick every time. Hands down.” Our lips meet again. “Just you.”
Blakely
Eighteen Months Later . . .
“Uneventful is good, right?”
“Uneventful is great, but while I admit that I’ll welcome the extra sleep next month when my residency ends, I’ll definitely miss that thrill of it all.”
“I’m sure you will,” I say as I look at the trees towering above us as we drive down the stretch of country road.
He asked if I wanted to go for a Saturday drive—somewhere out of the city, off the beaten path. Maybe grab a bite to eat at some unknown hole-in-the-wall or sit and watch the sunset at one of the many lakes not too far from the city.
Country-nature-y stuff I used to roll my eyes at but now realize is one of the ways Slade decompressed after a long week of saving and losing patients.
He squeezes my knee. “Everything going good with the party planning?”
“So far so good.”
“I’d tell you again that my mom is willing to fly in early to help, but that means she’d want to stay at my house, and my house means her being nosy, and her being nosy means no sex when you stay over so—”
“So no inviting her to help then.” I laugh and tilt my face up and close my eyes, enjoying the cool wind and warm sun coming in the open window. I love his mom. She’s everything I never had in a mother and more than anyone wants. God love her, her twenty questions, and her endless meddling.
I had considered trying to involve her in the planning stages of Slade and his friends’ graduation-type party for completing their residency and passing their boards, but the no sex thing made that a nonstarter. “Can you believe you’re almost an official attending?
