Loving the Nurse by Piper Sullivan

Gus

“You’ll see. That’s what he said,” I sighed and looked across my kitchen table at Megan’s smiling face, a box of pastries between us and an iced tea pitcher beside it. “What in the hell does that mean?”

“I’m not completely sure, but Antonio is right. You really don’t see how wonderful you are.” She shook her head, dark ponytail swinging behind her, and reached for a lemon bar. “Maybe that’s why you end up with jerks and losers, and not because of your need to take care of everyone. Men see that you don’t know how wonderful you are and they prey on that, make you feel that you’re not great, so you’ll keep taking care of them.”

I shook my head instinctively at her words but they gave me pause. Was that true? Had I been blaming my childhood and my dad for my terrible choice in men when the truth was, I was just insecure? I don’t really think so.

“I’m not all that great, Megan. I’m all right and that’s plenty.” Everyone couldn’t be fabulous and beautiful and kind and all that. Some of us had to be plain and nice enough, smart enough. Just, enough.

“Wrong,” she shouted loud enough to make me jump in my seat. “You are pretty damn great, Gus. You moved to this town a few years ago and already you’re one of us. You pitch in when you’re needed and every kid in town thinks you’re the bee’s knees.”

“Bee’s knees?”

She shrugged. “It’s retro and I’m bringing it back,” she insisted. “The point is that you are great, and the fact that Antonio knows it and wants you so badly, means he sees it too. Better than you.”

“How do I know it’s not just pretty words to get me in bed again?” Not that I was opposed to more sex with Antonio, but I couldn’t with how I felt for him. Not now.

Megan rolled her eyes and took a long sip of spiked tea. “Men love sex, Augusta. It is just a fact of life. Casey is insatiable, he always wants it, even after hours spent in the operating room. Does that mean he only wants me for my body? No.”

“You’re not seriously comparing your relationship with your childhood sweetheart, your husband, with my fling with Antonio?”

She laughed. “Why not? The outcome doesn’t matter, Gus. The fact that Antonio sees you means he will value you for the woman you are, successful and stunning and smart and sweet. And sexy.” She wiggled her eyebrows with the last part.

I laughed. “Did you read the ‘S’s’ on the thesaurus toilet paper today?”

“No, smart-ass. I just figured alliteration would bring my point home better.”

It worked, dammit. “Good job.”

“Thanks.” She flashed a wide smile and refilled our glasses. “What are you going to do about Antonio?”

“No idea.” I wish I knew what the right move was, but I didn’t, which meant I—probably—would do nothing.

“But you want him?” It wasn’t really a question but I nodded anyway.

“I do. It’s a terrible idea, but I do want him. A lot.” It was a fool’s errand to want Antonio, to wish things were different. I knew that. “I also want a three layer caramel cake and to be a size five.” My baking skills left much to be desired and I’d been stuck at a size ten for more years than I cared to count.

Megan nodded. “The man you want desperately can help you with the cake, and his body,” she said with a grin. “The rest, you’ll take care of it when you’re ready.”

“What if I’m never ready, Megan?” If I was strong enough or brave enough, maybe I would just jump into things with Antonio and hope for the best. But I wasn’t. I was scared, terrified actually, that he would break me worse than the others.

“If you’re never ready, then you’ll miss out on what could be something really great, or at least really hot. And worse? You’ll have to watch him move on.”

That was the worst part, knowing he would move on eventually, probably to a woman who was everything I wasn’t, which would confirm my fears. “This sucks.”

Megan laughed. “Right? But this is the sucky part, once you figure out what you want and go after it, the rest is pretty damn great.”

“Spoken like a woman who has hot sex with the love of her life on a regular basis.” The doorbell rang and I sighed.

“Expecting someone?”

“No,” I frowned and got up. “Maybe it’s cookie season,” I sang and made my way to the front door.

“Oh, if so, invite them in with all the boxes!”

I laughed at Megan’s sweet tooth. It made perfect sense for her to work at a bakery. I opened the door and froze at the sight of Antonio. It was the same man I’d grown used to over the past few months, bad boy sexy with tattoos and panty-dropping smile. But, gone was the black t-shirt and grey jeans, replaced with blue. Light blue denim and a deep blue t-shirt that highlighted his olive toned skin, gave it a magnificent glow in the early afternoon sunshine. Down girl.

“Antonio, what brings you by?” There was nothing I could do about the husky nature of my voice so I ignored it.

And that crooked smile he flashed that said he heard it too. “You. Of course.”

“Damn.” Megan’s whispered the word loudly and when I glanced over my shoulder, I found her fanning her face. “I think I’m gonna go home, maybe see if Casey has room in his schedule for a little afternoon delight.” She wiggled her eyebrows and grabbed her purse off the table beside the door. “Call me later. Much later, I hope.” Then she slid past Antonio and disappeared.

Traitor.

I turned back to Antonio and smiled shyly as I took a step back. “Come in.”

He stepped inside and I backed up against the wall. We stared at each other awkwardly, for a long moment. “You’re here.”

He smiled. “I am.”

“To see me.” It wasn’t a question and I bit back a smile.

“Yep.” That nervous smile of his was almost as hot as the cocky one, only more endearing.

I knew I was in trouble. “You’ve seen me, so…” I let the word hang in the air, curious to see what he would say, or do, next.

“I see you, Augusta.” His words were deep and gravelly, thick with lust as his brown eyes raked me up and down, several times. His nostrils flared with heat. “You look beautiful today.”

My instinct was to deny his words, to reject them outright, but I remembered his accusation from the other day and sighed. ‘Thank you, Antonio.” I wore a simple denim skirt and a t-shirt from a charity run several months back. I didn’t look beautiful, but I wouldn’t argue.

Not this time.

He flashed a knowing smile and took another step closer before he kicked the door shut behind him. “I brought you something.”

“You don’t have to bring me anything, Antonio.”

“I know, but I wanted to.” He produced a small white box with a gold ribbon wrapped around it. “For you.”

My hand shook as I accepted the gift that he seemed shy about giving, and I looked down at it. “What is it?”

“Open it up and see.”

My other hand shook as I tugged on the ribbon until it unfurled, and lifted the flap on the box. “Antonio,” I gasped at the sight of the small chocolates. “They’re beautiful.”

“Thanks. There are dozens of discards at home, damn shaky hands,” he growled with a self-deprecating smile.

“Why?”

“That day at the hospital when I kissed you, your mouth and tongue tasted like you’d just finished indulging in a piece of quality chocolate. It was delicious, and all I’ve been thinking about is making you some.”

“You made these?”

He nodded. “There are four different flavors.”

I reached inside to take one and he took the box from my hand. “Hey, those are mine!”

“They are,” he said softly and reached for my hand. “But I made them and I want to see you enjoy them. Completely.”

I didn’t know what that meant but the heat in his gaze and the clench of his jaw, rendered me speechless and I let him pull me into the living room and guide me onto the sofa.

Antonio sat beside me, body twisted so we faced each other. He set the box on the coffee table and plucked one from it with his thumb and forefinger. “Open up.”

I should have argued, I should have done anything other than part my lips at his command.

“Good girl,” he growled and put the chocolate on my tongue.

My lips closed around the chocolate, catching the tip of his finger in the process. I moaned as the taste exploded in my mouth, chocolate and rum and coconut. “Damn, that’s good.

“Never wanted to be a piece of damn chocolate more in my life.” My belly clenched at the heat of his words, his gaze.

My breath hitched and I squeezed my legs together. Tight. “Next,” I demanded on a shaky breath.

Antonio’s smile was dark and promising and it never left me as he reached for another. “Open up.”

I did just that and stuck out my tongue.

“Augusta,” he growled.

“Yes?”

“Temptress,” he grunted and brushed the chocolate across my bottom lip. “Lick.”

I did. “Bourbon and coffee?”

“Impressive, but it’s whiskey.”

“More.”

He placed the candy in my mouth and I closed my lips around the chocolate and his fingers. “Mmm.”

It went on and on like that, the hottest experience of my life.

Dark chocolate and vanilla.

White chocolate and key lime.

“Which one did you like best?” Antonio asked the question, his dark gaze focused on my lips.

I looked at him and, feeling bold, I smiled. “I might need a second taste before I make up my mind.”

“Whatever the sexy lady wants,” he pulled me into his arms a flash of a moment before his lips crashed down on mine. It was a chaste kiss at first, no tongue but full of heat as our lips collided again and again, then his tongue teased me, back and forth, back and forth until my lips tingled.

Our mouths crashed together in a mash of lips and tongues and teeth, frantic and hungry, intense and needy. Oh, so needy. His big hands gripped my shoulders and slid down my back to settle at my waist to bring me closer to him. My hands went to his face, cupped his rugged jaw that was two days past needing a shave, and I let my thumbs slide up and down his jaw, the scrape against my thumbs sent a shiver through me.

I pulled back and looked into his eyes, dark with desire and need. “Antonio,” I whispered.

“I’m right here, Augusta.”

He was, right here, his gaze begged me to choose him. To kiss him.

“You are,” I grinned and nipped his bottom lip. In one swift move, I was on top of him, straddling his hips and deepening the kiss.

His hands slid down to my ass and pulled me right up against where he was long and hard between my thighs. I groaned into his mouth and ground against the erection that tempted me beyond all reason. We kissed like old lovers engaged in a familiar dance, instinctively we knew how to come together, how to execute the right move that would make the other just a little wilder. A little more aroused.

A little mad.

Madness was the exact right word for how I felt in that moment. Wild and reckless too, but mostly just madness. The chocolate and the man drove me to the edge, so consumed with his body and his taste, that I couldn’t think straight.

It was the only explanation for the words that left my mouth next. “Nothing better than a gorgeous man and handmade chocolates.”

Antonio flashed a crooked grin and stood, palmed my ass with a grunt. “Let’s test that theory,” he grunted and carried me to my room.

We spent the afternoon doing just that.