Loving the Nurse by Piper Sullivan
Antonio
Islid from my truck in the hospital parking lot with a smile. I didn’t have a lot to smile about, but the way Augusta had run away from me yesterday told me she wasn’t just running from me, but also how she felt about me. That gave me hope because whenever she was around, I had to fight that same urge to run. To flee from feelings I swore I would never feel again.
I wasn’t ready to put a name to those feelings, not yet, but I couldn’t let the connection between us go, which meant I had to make sure I was on her mind as much as she was on mine. The sun was bright and high up in the sky, another sign of hope.
“Back again?” Melanie’s brows rose when I stepped through the automatic doors. “No Rosie?”
“Nope. This isn’t a medical visit.” Melanie was a big gossip, but she also considered herself a matchmaker which meant she would be a good ally. “Augusta around?”
Melanie flashed a wide, knowing grin and pointed up with her pen. “Pediatrics floor. She just finished rounds so you’ll find her up there. Somewhere.”
“Thanks, Mel.”
“Good luck,” she called after me with a laugh.
I would always take good luck when it came my way, but I didn’t need luck where Augusta was concerned, what I needed was for her to trust me. To admit that she wanted me too.
I spotted her in the middle of an empty corridor and my feet moved faster to get to her. She didn’t look up, didn’t notice my approach. “You ran away from me,” I accused, the sound of my voice startled her.
She glared up at me, her green eyes shooting fire in my direction. “I didn’t run. I went home, where I live.”
“Bull. You were running scared.”
She laughed but there was no amusement in it. “Yeah? What am I scared of, Antonio?”
“The heat between us. The chemistry and the connection. I wasn’t expecting either, and it scares the hell out of me too.”
She wanted to argue, I could see it in the tense set of her shoulders, the defiant tilt of her head. “I’m not scared because there is nothing to be afraid of. We have chemistry, sure, but that’s all we have.”
“You keep telling yourself that, Augusta, but this is more than chemistry and you damn well know it.” She opened her mouth, probably to tell me once again how wrong I was, but I shut her up with a kiss. Unlike yesterday’s kiss, I took my time. It was long and slow and hot. I teased her lips and teeth with my tongue, kneaded her hips until they pushed against me.
I couldn’t get enough of the taste of her. Chocolate, like she just finished eating some, because the taste lingered on her tongue. I couldn’t get enough of the feel of her mouth against mine, the way her soft tongue danced so freely with my own. The soft little moans she made when our tongues collided drove me crazy, and when she tilted her hips toward mine, I wished we were anywhere but in a public place surrounded by children.
Shit. Children. I pulled back reluctantly and sighed, my eyes scanned her face which held the same breathless wonder I felt. “Augusta,” I moaned.
She pushed at my chest, frustration replacing arousal. “I’m at work, Antonio!”
“No one saw us. Would it be a problem if they did?” Was she ashamed of her attraction to me? Did she want to keep us a secret?
Augusta nodded. “Yes, it would. We’re not together, and I don’t want anyone to think I’m getting my hopes up for more, only for them to see you making out with your ex on camera. I work here, and the last thing I need is for my coworkers to look at me with pity.”
“Pity? Are you delusional, or just this scared?” The fear swimming in her green eyes told me the answer. “Oh my god, you are that scared.” I couldn’t believe it. “I thought you were so strong and so brave, tough and scared of nothing. But you’re scared of this, of us, of how you feel when we’re together. It terrifies you.”
“It doesn’t,” she insisted in a shaky voice.
“It does, and that’s okay because it scares me too. I just thought you were stronger than me.”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Of course I’m scared, Antonio. I’m not your type and you don’t do commitment, what kind of fool would I be to expect more from you? If I can’t expect more then I can’t waste my time.”
“More excuses.” I smiled, relieved now that I understood she was just better at hiding her fear.
“Go away, Antonio.” Her words were uttered with exhaustion not rejection.
“I will, for now, but know this Augusta. I want you too damn bad to run away, so I’ll be here. I’ll keep showing up and I’ll keep being here for you, until you believe it.”
She gasped at my words.
I nodded and pressed another kiss, hard and too short, to her mouth before I pulled back with a smile.
Then I did what she asked, I turned and walked out of the hospital with a big ass grin on my face.
She was mine.
She just didn’t know it yet.
