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“Alright, Mr. Brooks, you are a free man.” I hand over his discharge paperwork. “Your wife is waiting out front with the car. Suzie here will take you downstairs.”
Suzie wheels him out of the room and I hurry to finish charting his discharge notes. The afternoon slowed down to a snail’s pace and it’s late enough I might luck out at getting a new admission before my shift ends, which would be a hell of a treat before the weekend starts.
In the middle of emptying bags off the IV pole and stripping linens from the bed, I hear a knock on the door. Ryan slides the curtain open and looks around the room to make sure we are alone before fully entering. “Everything alright? Your text sounded urgent.”
In three long strides, I’m in his arms, using the lapels of his white coat to pull him to me and crash his lips to mine. He freezes for a second before his whole body relaxes and his armswrap around me. One comes to grip the back of my head and the other finds its home on my lower back.
He pulls me away and looks deep into my eyes before licking his lips and kissing me once more. “Are you that insatiable that you have to text for a little pick-me-up during the day?”
“Maybe. But that’s not why I texted you.”
His stance changes and he reaches for my hand to give me a gentle squeeze. “Everything okay? “
Everything is better than okay. I can’t remember a time in my life where I’ve been so happy—where things have been going so well that I could pinch myself every morning. I work a job I love with my two best friends; I have the hottest and biggest secret teddy bear of a man; I’m finding where I belong and am standing on my own two feet. The life I had two years ago belongs to someone else. “I just checked my voicemail, had a call from my advisor earlier today.”
A smile stretches across his handsome face. “And?”
“And it’s official.” I slap my palms to my cheeks and squish them together. “Ryan, it’s happening. I’m officially declared in the NP program. I’mdoingit.” I’ve been a bundle of nerves ever since my advisor called to confirm the paperwork was complete. But it’s the good kind of nerves, the kind that make you want to dance and squeal and scream with delight.
Ryan wraps his strong arms around me, trapping me since mine are still up around my face, and crushes me into his body. I bury my head in, muffling a squeal against his broad chest.
“I’m so fucking proud of you,” he says into my hair.
“I haven’t technically started yet, and I could still completely bomb and fail out, but at least I’mtrying.”
“Shut up,” he teases. “There is no way you will bomb and fail out. It may feel overwhelming and scary, but you will begreat. And I’ll be there to support you every step of the way – designated study buddy.”
He loosens his grip on me a little but keeps hugging me, slowly rocking back and forth.
“I owe you a big thank you.”
“Me?” He pulls back, looking down at me with a furrowed brow. “I didn’t do anything, just pointed out what you should have already known.”
He doesn’t get it. Doesn’t realize how every push, every vote of confidence helped make this possible. He took the time to explain patient cases to me, to do a procedure at the bedside that could have been transferred out so he could take the opportunity to teach. When someone you respect and admire as a colleague shows faith in your abilities, it’s hard not to gain confidence.
“We need to go out, celebrate this. Do you work this weekend?”
“I’m off tomorrow, but on call Saturday and Sunday.”
“Let’s go out. Can I take you to dinner?” he asks, all boyish and charming as if he even needs to field the question. “Dinner and celebratory drinks after.”
He kisses me once more before whispering that he has to go, but as he leaves, he pulls me in for another hug, flooding me with compliments about how proud he is of me, and how he can’t wait to see me succeed.
Once he reaches the door, he turns around and looks at me for a moment, watching as I bundle up the dirty linens and stuff them into the cloth hamper. “And Lainey, maybe Friday after dinner and drinks,” he pauses, his eyes roaming over me before looking out the window, a hint of a flush crossing his face. “Maybe after you can come over to my place … spend the night.”
~
“Lasso’s? Lasso’s is what you meant when you said after dinnerdrinks?” Not that I have a problem with Lasso’s at all, but a bar with a flickering neon sign and peanut shells on the floor is a far cry from the very fancy Mexican restaurant he just took me to.
“I thought it’d be nostalgic to take you back to the place where you first had the hots for me.”
His comment sinks in as I’m fixing my hair in the passenger mirror and a very unladylike snort comes out of me. “Right. My panties were on fire and that’s why you claimed me from across the bar.”
He puts the truck in park and groans as he shuts it off, leaning forward into the steering wheel. “You can’t bring that image up right now, leave me to walk into a busy bar with a boner.”
I climb across the console and curl my fingers into the crisp collar of his button-up to pull him into me. I give him my most sultry kiss, nipping his lip as I pull away.
“Tease,” he mutters as he climbs out of the cab, adjusting himself slightly. He comes over and opens my door, offering me a hand. I hop out and let myself fall into him, wrapping my arms around his waist because each touch is never enough. He wraps his arm around my lower back and pulls me close, kissing me hard before tucking me under his shoulder as we walk toward the bar.
