Reed Read online

  The argument could be made that in a month, Reed's going to be starting the preseason, so his time is going to be limited again and thus our time together is going to get cut anyway. Why not have a professionally satisfying project going that would put a published paper under my name?

  This makes sense, but the only thing that truly sucks about that proposition is that Reed and I had just talked about this very thing last night while we were lying in bed. He asked me if I would travel to some of his away games with him if my concurrent days off matched up to his travel schedule.

  "Yes," I'd exclaimed without any thought. As I learned more about hockey and Reed's career, I had been getting really excited about watching him play. I had only ever thought to catch his home games, but the fact he wants me to go see some of his away games caused my heart to squeeze in pleasure.

  Reed had laughed and pulled me into him. He buried his face in my neck and murmured, "I can't get enough of you, Josie, so I want you close to me as much as possible."

  I almost dissolved into a puddle of tears, because those words were so damn special. Reed wanted me near him. Even though his career would take him away for a good chunk of our time, he was already planning on ways that we could be together. It only served to highlight the disparity in my relationship with Aiden, who essentially didn't want to be with me bad enough.

  "Josie?" Aiden's voice penetrates my silent musings.

  I blink. "Yeah...um...I think I could commit to that. But I might want to knock those hours out in just one day so I can still maintain a few days off for myself."

  "Totally understand," he says with obvious delight in his voice I've accepted. "This is going to be awesome to work on this project with you. Just like the old days."

  I laugh, because Aiden and I used to butt heads all the time in residency, but I think that might have just been our total familiarity with each other since we were a couple. "Well, thanks for asking me."

  "Sure thing," he says, and turns for the door. Just before he reaches the knob, it opens and a nurse pokes her head in.

  She looks to Aiden, then me, and smiles big. "You got a delivery, Josie."

  She pushes the door open further and she's holding the biggest bouquet of flowers I've ever seen in my life. Hydrangea, Gerber daisies, roses, and some purple flower on a stalk that I have no clue what it is. The vase is tall and thick, and there's a box tied to it with a ribbon.

  "Wow," Aiden says in awe. "Reed sure has the romance thing down."

  I quickly analyze Aiden's tone, but I don't detect any snideness or bitterness. He seems genuinely impressed by the display.

  The nurse brings the vase all the way in and sets it on the desk. I stare at it in disbelief because of its monstrous size. I've never had anyone send me flowers before, but I've seen other people get them and I've never seen arrangements this big.

  "Enjoy your flowers," Aiden says with a wink, then walks out of the office with the nurse. When the door closes, I reach to pull out the card from among the blooms and giggle nervously as I realize my hand is shaking.

  I stare at the words curiously, not understanding what they mean.

  If it's meant to be...

  Password: 4593

  Thoroughly confused, I untie the box from the vase. When I lift the lid, I see an iPod nestled inside some blue silk fabric. I pull it out and turn it on. When the password screen lights up, I type in the password from the note card.

  I stare at the home screen, not sure what I'm supposed to do with it, but since it's an iPod, which is first and foremost about music, I pull up the iTunes app. There's only one song listed, "Meant to Be," by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line.

  Never heard of it or the people who sing it, but I push play and listen.

  Immediately the hair stands up on the back of my head from just the first few words sung by a male country singer. He's joined by a female singer with a voice so beautiful my eyes sting. They sing a song of finding each other and wondering where their relationship is going, the key message being if it's meant to be, it will be.

  I find myself softly singing the chorus, So won't you ride with me, ride with me? See where this thing goes.

  When the music fades away, I blink my eyes hard to dispel the moisture and let out a sigh of pure happiness. Who thinks to do something like that?

  And how in the hell had Reed gone from banging every Barbie doll in the free world to bestowing the ultimate in romantic gestures?

  I know it happened sometime in the past several weeks, and I also know that I'm falling hard and fast for this guy.

  Chapter 19

  Reed

  Not sure how it's become my favorite thing to surprise Josie in the parking lot when she gets off work, but I find myself doing it more and more. Most often, I'll just take her somewhere close by for a late dinner and then back to her car, where I'll follow her home.

  Sometimes I'll just bring her home with me in my Tahoe and we'll eat pizza in bed and rock the headboard hard. On those nights, I get up early to take her into work the next day if she has a shift.

  I know all of this is going to change drastically when the training camp starts in less than thirty days, so I suppose I'd better take advantage of my free time and use it all on Josie so we cement what we have into something solid and long lasting. I'm definitely ready for more.

  I'm sure Josie got that message today when I had flowers and a song delivered to her at the hospital. God, she was fucking adorable when she called me.

  Reed, she'd said in a breathy, awed voice. What am I going to do with you?

  Whatever you want, Doc, I'd replied.

  The flowers are gorgeous, she had murmured, and as if she was taking a moment to reflect internally for the right emotion, she added, That song...it's just...perfect.

  Man, the feelings she provoked within me right at that moment were overpowering. All I could do was respond lightly, saying, I'm glad you liked it, Josie.

  I loved it, she'd said, and I knew I was a goner.

  It's muggy out tonight, but that won't dissuade me from taking Josie to see an outdoor movie at the NC Art Museum. They're showing Forrest Gump, and it's her second favorite movie, only losing to Titanic by a little bit harder crying at the end.

  Or so she said.

  I hear her voice across the parking lot before I see her. I can't make out exactly what she's saying, but her tone is serious and professional. As she comes into view, I see her walking beside Aiden, and I push up from the hood of her car where I'd been leaning.

  They stop a good fifty feet away and continue what looks to be an intense discussion. I thought it would bother me that Aiden is working at the same hospital as the woman I currently like and whom he formerly screwed over, but it actually doesn't. All I have to do is remember she's in my bed at night and it's my name she's screaming when she comes.

  Josie nods at something Aiden says, and then he reaches out and cups her elbow briefly in farewell before turning around and cutting across a row of cars until he's out of sight.

  Turning toward her car, Josie locks eyes with me and I get that same beautiful smile I get from her every night I come out here to meet her. She walks toward me, hitching her leather satchel over her shoulder a bit.

  "So, what's the plan tonight?" she asks as she gets closer to me.

  I don't answer her direct question, and instead ask one of my own. "Where are your flowers?"

  "I decided to leave them since I'm on shift tomorrow so I can look at them all day," she replies as she steps right into me for a kiss.

  When she pulls away, I tell her, "You're so smart."

  Her grin lights up and she pats the satchel. "But I've got the iPod and I plan on listening to that song all night."

  "You do, do you?" I tease her. "How do you know you won't be listening to me talk dirty to you?"

  "Oh, that's a given," she says with a sexy purr. "But I'll have the song playing in the background."

  I loop my arm around her neck, pulling her into
me. Her hands go around my waist and we share a quick squeeze.

  When I let her go, I take her hand to guide her to my Tahoe, which is two rows over.

  "Where are we going?" she asks. "Do I need to get changed?"

  "Outdoor movie," I tell her. "Forrest Gump. And you're perfect the way you are."

  Josie groans and I look down at her as she walks by my side. "What? You said you loved that movie. Second favorite and all that."

  She looks up to me and smiles. "First, it's totally sweet you remembered that. Second, I don't know if I'm ready for you to see me cry yet. I don't like being vulnerable."

  I release her hand to drape my arm over her shoulders. "Oh, Doc...I totally want to see you cry. Want you a puddle of melted goo in my arms. Gives me all the more reason to touch you and feel you up."

  Josie laughs and gives me a tiny elbow to the ribs. "Seriously, though. I'm not a big crier and it embarrasses me. Let's skip the movie and just go straight to the dirty talk."

  "Movie first," I say adamantly as we reach my car. "Dirty talk later."

  "You're sadistic," she mutters as I help her into the passenger seat.

  "You're adorable," I tell her just before I shut the door.

  When we're headed to the museum, which isn't far from the hospital, I ask her, "How do you feel about going to the mountains day after tomorrow for a little getaway? You've got three days off and I thought it would be cool to go kick around Asheville."

  "That sounds awesome," she says with clear delight in her voice, only to slap her palm on her forehead. "Crap...I can't. I forgot I committed to work on this project with Aiden, and while it won't take up all my time, we're just getting started on it and we're going to buckle down on these next days off to get started. He's got the same shift schedule as I do."

  "What project?" I ask curiously, although I've got deep disappointment swirling within me. Not only does that mean no mountain trip with Josie, but I won't get to do anything with her.

  "He's going to do a comparison project on field versus urban medicine, and what practices can be used across the two fields to further better the treatment. He's hoping to get it published and asked me to coauthor it with him."

  "That sounds like a pretty big deal," I say, and I'm happy I don't have to force enthusiasm into my voice. I get off on the fact that my girl is a doctor and I'm proud as shit of her. I want her to have every success she can. I also refuse to be bothered by the fact it's Aiden she's going to be working with. Aiden has easily insinuated himself back into her life, and now he's actually commanding her attention away from me, but past the whole teddy bear gift thing, he's acted like nothing but a friend to Josie.

  "It is a big deal," she says, and continues to chatter on about the project. I listen to her talk with an excitement I've not heard from her before about anything, which makes me realize that there are layers upon layers that go into the makeup of Josie Ives, M.D. I knew she got off on the thrill of emergency medicine and was immensely fulfilled from her work, but I didn't understand that there was more. That she is still striving to learn and pioneer her field, and that fucking makes me even more proud of her yet.

  When she winds it down, I ask a few follow-up questions. "So you think it will take three months?"

  "Maybe four," she says, and turns slightly in her seat to face me. "But I told Aiden that I wasn't giving up all my free days to it. He said we'd put ten to fifteen hours in a week, as it's really just compiling existing data, and I can do that in just one day off. Except for this week when we start it."

  This satisfies me, because really, I would never stand in the way of her doing this. Doesn't matter that it's with her ex-almost-fiance who has come back into her life, or that as my summer off winds down, my time with her will be more limited. Nothing about this even makes me think about looking elsewhere for my jollies, because Josie is the only one I want them with.

  That makes me snicker, and Josie asks, "What's so funny?"

  "Nothing But you tell Aiden if he tries any funny business, I'm going to kick his ass."

  Josie is the one who snickers. "I'll totally tell him that."

  "Seriously," I say a bit hesitantly, because Aiden hasn't been a subject between us at all. "He might be doing this to get close to you."

  I know those were the wrong words by the way she turns even more in her seat to face me. I glance at her and her expression borders on livid. "You don't think he could ask me to do an important research project because of my brains and medical talent?"

  "Jesus, Josie," I chastise her. "You know that's not what I was saying. I know you're brilliant and talented, and so does Aiden. I'm just saying there could be an ulterior motive."

  As quickly as she was pissed at me, I can actually feel her surrender as she leans back into her seat. "Sorry. Not sure why that made me so testy."

  I reach over and take her hand in mine. "I think you're amazing, and Aiden is lucky to have you on this project."

  She blows out a hearty gust of air and squeezes my hand. "Actually, I hate to say it, but that was the first thing I thought when he asked me, but you know, he's been nothing but professional at work. He was even there when I got your flowers, and he didn't seem bothered by it at all. So I think he's really moved on too."

  "You're probably right," I tell her as I cruise down Wade Avenue, noting traffic starting to slow for the turn lane into the museum parking lot. "But you see, I've got you now, Josie. So I know what he's missing, and he'd be fucking crazy not to want it back again."

  "Well, he can't have it," she says with a firm nod of her head and another squeeze to my hand. "Because I've had me some of Reed Olson and I don't want anything else."

  I laugh and Josie joins in. I release her hand so I can make my left turn into the museum, following the cars to the lot nearest the outdoor area they use to project the movies. I've not been here before, but I figure everyone in front of me knows where they're going.

  I'm here with Josie. She's here with me. We're going to enjoy a nice evening watching a movie, then we're going to go back to her place where I can fuck her brains out. Or she'll fuck mine out. Whatever. I'll wake up early with her and take her into work, and everything is going to be awesome.

  Besides, I've got another surprise for Josie tomorrow and she's going to flip out when she sees it.

  Chapter 20

  Josie

  "Code blue. Room 4304. Code blue. Room 4304."

  I lurch out of my chair where I'd been doing some charting and check the pager at my hip, which is also showing a code blue, or in other words, cardiopulmonary arrest.

  I'm on the code team today, which consists of multiple nurses and doctors to respond to such an emergency and to have a redundancy system in case some on the team are stuck in another emergency. I take off out of the emergency department because my patients are all stable and there are plenty of others to cover the load. I hit the transport elevators, which aren't slowed down by visitors to the hospital, and make it to the fourth floor in under a minute.

  I've perfected the brisk walk, which is almost a run in these emergency situations. Turning a corner around the nurse's station of the cardiac unit, which comprises the fourth floor, I run smack into a solid wall of muscle. Before I can fully bounce back, a pair of large hands grab my shoulders and I'm blinking up into the face of Reed.

  He smiles at me in pure delight to have me in his arms, but I don't have time. "Not now. Gotta go."

  Reed immediately releases me, concern washing over his face. I have no time to wonder why he's here in the cardiac unit because I've got more important things to do. I brush past him and jog the rest of the way to room 4304, but I can feel Reed's eyes on my back the entire way.

  When I arrive, I see a nurse already doing compressions on an elderly man with snowy white hair and a gray complexion. He's completely flat lined on the monitor.

  "Where are you at?" I ask her as I hit the antiseptic dispenser on the wall and coat my hands quickly.

  "Second cycle
," she says, indicating she's in the second round of thirty chest compressions with two breaths.

  Another nurse bursts into the room pushing a crash cart. Without any need to exchange words, I smoothly take over the chest compressions while the nurses get ready to intubate the patient.

  My pager starts vibrating on my hip but I ignore it. Nothing takes precedence over a code blue. At the end of the thirty compressions, I do two one-second breaths into the patient, and when I pull back, the nurses start to insert the breathing tube.

  Before I can make it halfway through the next round, Dr. Levenson--a cardiothoracic surgeon on the code team--comes into the room with another nurse with an IV setup. I update him on where we stand, and he takes my place while the nurses work the airway bag compressions. Dr. Billroy, an internist, also slides in with a tight smile. She hates being on the code team because she doesn't like people dying, but she's very good at her job.

  I take a moment and look down to my pager. Multiple GSVs. ETA 5 minutes.

  Multiple gunshot victims heading into the Emergency Department.

  "You got this?" I ask Levenson and Billroy.

  Levenson says, "Go," in response, and that's all I need. They know that I would be the first release from the code, since emergency medicine is my game and I easily could be needed elsewhere.

  I rush out the door and immediately see Reed standing in the hallway outside a patient's room four doors down. His worried eyes are pinned on me as if he had been waiting for me to come out.

  Approaching Reed, I glance at my watch. I can spare thirty seconds. When I look back up, Reed is nodding at the patient's room I just left. "Is everything okay?"

  "They're working on him now," I say briskly, but there's no hiding the affection I have for him that comes through in my tone. "What are you doing here?"

  He smiles and nods over his shoulder toward the room behind him. I lean to the left and peek in to see Marek standing there with the Stanley Cup and the Cup attendant who accompanies it wherever it goes. A man in his fifties is talking to Marek from his bed.

  "I was going to tell you, then thought I'd keep it a surprise," Reed says, and I lean back to look up at him. "I decided to use my day with the Cup here at the hospital taking it to all the patients who want to see it and have some pictures taken. I plan on being down in the ER a little later. The hospital administrator coordinated everything."