Man Cave, page 3
“Otis, you’re a guy,” I said.
He was older than us. Cute. I’d date him if he didn’t seem like a brother since he was good friends with my brother, Arlo.
“I’m glad you noticed.” He inhaled, puffing up his chest beneath the pizza place t-shirt.
“And single,” I added.
He took a step back and held his palms out, glancing between us. “Whoa, Bridge is taken. Very taken. Have you seen her man? He’s a fucking lumberjack. And you’re… well, you’re you. No way are we dating.”
I frowned. “If I didn’t think of you as a weird brother, I’d be insulted.”
He huffed and dropped his hands. “What’s the question? I know you’ve got one.”
“Are you looking for talent in a vagina?”
His dark eyebrows rose so far, they were hidden by his unruly hair. “What the hell does that mean?”
“If you started dating a woman and found out she didn’t have lots of experience in bed, would that be an issue for you?”
“Is she legal?”
We both frowned and said, “YES!”
“Then no. I’m not looking for a talented vagina. It’s fun to see what a woman finds hot. What makes her get all–”
Now it was my turn to hold up my hand to stop him. “Okay, we get the idea. Stop there before I get too nauseated imagining you having sex to eat our pizza that better be in the oven.”
His hand went to his chest. “I’m not that bad.”
“Do you want us to talk about Aspen’s sex life?”
He shivered, just like any brother would. “Fuck no.”
“Fine. So no talent needed. Thanks.”
He nodded, then once again backed away slowly and carefully.
“See?” Bridge asked, which was totally annoying.
“I’m getting birth control and getting laid.”
“I get all that, but why now? Why all of a sudden? You’ve been all hot and bothered for Theo for months.”
I wasn’t going to tell her there’d been a wet spot on the back of my paper gown when I got up to get redressed earlier. I was hot for Theo James. H.O.T.
That was when I thought he didn’t live in town. Now? I could run into him anywhere, anytime.
“Me and my vagina aren’t sitting around waiting for a guy like him to notice me. I was naked, Bridge, and he turned me down.”
“Okay, what you’re suggesting is a little creepy if I think about it a little too long.”
“What you’re saying is if you think about it a little less, it’s kinda hot.”
She looked away because she was right there with me. “Fine, but he didn’t turn you down. He was working.”
I shrugged. “I’m horny, Bridge. I want sex. I’ve earned it.”
“I agree. So have it with Theo. Not on an exam table. You know, the guy you’re going to marry.”
I shrugged and waved my hand through the air to try to downplay the fact that she mentioned that three times. Maybe I’d overdone it in the past few months. He was gorgeous and up close, in person, gah. I melted. My brain turned to mush or baked beans or something.
“It’s just talk and no one woman wants to have an ugly vagina. Obviously. You know me, gab, gab, gab.”
Yes, I wanted him, and I lusted after him. Did I ever really think he’d want me? No. But Bridge knew I was a big blabbermouth and usually just smiled and nodded like I did with my first graders when one told me she wanted to be an ant so she could carry things over ten times their body weight.
Sure, it was one thing to want Theo and feel hurt when he referred me to a gynecologist, as weird as all that sounded; if I didn’t have those baked beans for brains, I’d see that it was the proper response.
It was another thing to actually marry the guy. I learned from my parents not to expect much. I’d been emotionally hurt by them often enough to know better. That a guy like Theo wouldn’t love me. It was easier just to be casual, to talk a big game and sleep with Tom the History Teacher.
Dr. Theo James was in a completely different league. He had it all. Brains, brawn, beauty, and billions. And most likely a big dick.
She studied me. “You sure, because I saw him with his beard and he’s really hot. Don’t tell Mav.”
I rolled my eyes. Like Maverick James would feel threatened by any man, even his brother.
I played it off even more. “Seriously, I want to take something for a ride besides my vibrator and Tom’s not a bad option.”
The history teacher would do.
“I’m not looking for roses and candlelight, Bridge. I’m also tired of waiting. It’s happening. I want up against the wall kind of sex. Maybe bent over a couch or something. I’m twenty-four. It’s time.”
“But Theo–”
I cut her off. “You can’t set me up with Tom and then be Team Theo. It’s just sex, Bridge. So shut up and go get our pizza.”
5
THEO
* * *
“After Dr. Footsie, I’m surprised you’re not a born-again virgin.”
Mav and I were on the couch in Dex’s little rental house. Or my rental now. Dex’s contract on the place expired when he returned to the Silvermines at the start of the hockey season. Since he and Lindy were hot and heavy, they had her house to stay in when they came back to town.
Silas–the other brother–and I agreed we’d keep this renovated miner’s shack for ourselves since it seemed we popped into Hunter Valley often enough and we didn’t want to stay with Mav and Bridge like the first few visits. The very first time we checked on him back in July, Bridget had bolted from the place in only a sheet.
Yeah, a different house was required.
When I accepted the job at the medical practice, I already had a place to stay.
“Maude? Why are you bringing her up now?” I asked, tipping back my beer.
Mav brought a six-pack and we’d settled in to watch one of Dex’s games on TV. It was in Buffalo, and he’d already scored two goals. Between finding his woman and being one of the season’s top scorers, he was one happy fucker.
“Wondering if she’s the reason you bailed on being a trauma surgeon and took a job in a small Montana town.”
I had no doubt he, Bridget, Dex, Lindy, Silas… hell, even the head of surgical operations, wanted to know the real reason I bailed on that kind of career track.
I sighed, slumped lower on the couch. Scout, Mav’s dog, was between us, belly up, short little legs toward the ceiling, snoring. He didn’t stir. He had zero shame, and I was a little jealous.
“You think I let a woman dictate my life?” I pushed. I hadn’t thought about Maude since the day I walked into the third-floor doctor’s lounge and found her and one of the colorectal guys getting it on. And by getting it on, I meant they were on the bench in the locker area, and she was using her bare feet to work his dick.
I’d had no interest in seeing the dude’s dick and I definitely didn’t need to know Maude had some kinks she hadn’t pulled out when we fucked. Of course, we fucked in the same locker room, but I had her pressed against a locker and my dick was surrounded by her pussy, not her feet.
It meant I hadn’t been all that interested in finding out Maude’s needs, and she hadn’t been interested enough in me to share hers.
So when I turned on my heel and left them to their fun, I hadn’t looked back. Literally and figuratively.
For some fucked up reason, I had a different woman who filled my head these days. Mallory, the complete opposite of her best friend, Bridget. Mallory was outgoing, vivacious, a loudmouth and… hot. Now I knew things about her that only made her hotter. And I couldn’t tell my brother or anyone else because of patient privacy laws. Not that I would ever announce that Mallory was pretty much a virgin or that she was on the prowl. While I might not act like one when fucking, I was a gentleman. I wasn’t going to sit around and tell Mav such private things about Mallory. We weren’t women with wine. We were men with beers and hockey. But knowing her secrets… I was going to be the gentleman who fucked Mallory instead of some rando high school teacher.
She said she wanted to have sex. That it was time. Time. As if it was something to check off one of Lindy’s infamous to-do lists. Although if it was on Lindy’s list, no doubt Dex would happily check that off for her. Mallory didn’t seem to want rainbows and fucking unicorns. Harps and candlelight. It seemed sex to her didn’t have to mean a relationship.
I could totally relate. Who wanted a relationship? All they were was fucked up. Being raised by a narcissist would do that to a guy. Except Mav and Dex were proving finding the right woman didn’t mean a fucked-up love.
They fell for their women. Fell hard, and fast.
As for me? With Mallory, it would be a community service to her, offering her my dick and other skills where her clit was concerned. And her nipples. Shit, and her pussy, which had to be so fucking tight.
I shifted on the couch because my dick was fucking hard at the wrong time. Again. Second time in one day.
I’d never gotten hard for a patient before. Never. Then one twenty-four-year-old teacher in a paper gown and duck socks and the damned thing wouldn’t go down.
Mav turned his gaze from the TV and eyed me.
“Maude’s long gone,” I promised. “Thank fuck. But you? You’re so whipped you’re sitting here for the hour your woman’s at yoga.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders, completely unaffected by me taking a swipe at his man card. “Maybe, but she’s going to be all nice and flexible when she’s done taking the class with Mal. She does the bending and stretching, and I get all the perks.”
Mav grinned. Actually grinned.
I frowned. The fucker just had to drop that Mallory was doing yoga as well. Instantly, an image of her in tight leggings, bent over with her ass in the air, filled my head. Maybe I’d take her that way first and show her how good it could be from behind. I’d pull her hair and she’d–
Fuck. Fuck! Stop thinking about it. Her. If Mav saw how I was getting hard, there would be problems. I didn’t have a laptop to hide behind.
So I switched back to Maude, which was a perfect dick deflator. “You know I didn’t move here because of Maude.”
“Then why? It’s like that hospital was your man cave.”
I’d shown up the week before in an early snowstorm, unannounced and dropped the bomb on him and Bridget that I was moving here. Six months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it either.
“All I saw in Denver was the inside of the hospital or inside of a body. For years. I’m unfeeling.”
“Cleary, since you fucked Maude.”
I frowned but didn’t argue with him. She was definitely a sign of my numbness.
“A kid came in. MVA. Stupid parents didn’t put his seatbelt on him and got in an accident. Ejected. Lost an arm from that, barely alive in the ER. Ended up dying on the operating table.”
“Shit, dude. I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, remembering looking at the clock on the wall in the OR and calling the time of death.
“I didn’t feel anything. I think back, still don’t. I should. Fuck, I’m totally broken. A child died horribly when it was completely preventable. I could’ve been at the grocery store picking out toilet paper for all the emotion I felt over it.”
Mav stayed quiet, just took a pull of beer. The hockey announcer’s voice followed the game on screen, but I wasn’t paying it any attention.
“Last week I was at a conference in Arizona and Bradley called me and told me about this job opening and I–”
“Yeah, what the fuck’s that about?” Mav cut in to ask. “He was head hunting for you?”
I sat up, placed my beer on the chunk of wood that served as a coffee table, rested my elbows on my knees. “No. I never asked him to do anything like that. He’s your assistant. But he’s a horse whisperer or something.”
“That make you the horse?”
I shrugged. “He called me and said there was an opening at a practice here and I should consider it. Said it was Monday through Friday and every other Saturday morning. No surgery. No one dies.”
“Hell, I’d take that job,” he replied. Before he met Bridget and pretty much relocated to Hunter Valley, he worked sixty to eighty hour weeks. Now he focused solely on the James Inn sector he was building, but the one here in Hunter Valley specifically. “What makes you think you’ll start caring for patients here?”
I shrugged, thinking of the mix of locals I saw today. STD, vaccinations, ear infections, strep throat, and… Mallory.
I sure as shit felt something when I was with Mallory. Lust. Desire. Attraction. Need. Jealousy. Possessiveness.
Probably not the correct emotions and feelings, but what the hell did I know? I was fucked up when it came to relating and empathizing with others.
“I was standing there in the middle of the conference and I said fuck it,” I continued. “Fuck it all.”
I couldn’t believe I did it, but here I was. Drinking beer with my brother instead of pulling another twenty-four-hour shift at the hospital. That was exactly where I’d be at this moment.
“You’re going to miss surgery though,” he said, mansplaining my job to me. “The ER. The rush. I mean, it’s what you do.”
I shrugged because what did he know about being a doctor or dealing with dying patients day in and day out? But he wasn’t talking about them. He was talking about me.
“Maybe I’ll see if they’re looking for a part-timer at the hospital here. A sub like Bridge at the high school. But for now? Today? I get to sit on my ass drinking beer with my brother while my other one is on TV scoring goals.”
Mav looked at his watch and stood. Scout stirred, flipped over, and hopped to the floor to stand beside his human. “Speaking of scoring. Gotta pick up Bridge.”
“Fucker,” I said with a grin. I was happy for him. I’d never imagined a twenty-two-year-old would be what he needed, but my life was a cluster fuck. Who was I to question?
“Get a woman of your own,” he snapped, but without any heat since he was grinning. “One who isn’t part reptile or have a foot fetish.”
Instantly, I thought of Mallory. She definitely ran hot, and I doubted she had a thing for feet. I wondered then what she had a thing for. Being sassy and getting punished for it. Definitely. Maybe a little exhibitionism. Or–
Hell, she was pretty much a virgin. She probably didn’t know what got her hot. Fuck, wouldn’t that be fun to find out. To make her squirm and squi–
“Earth to Theo,” Mav said, waving his hand in front of my face.
I blinked.
“Are you having a stroke?”
I frowned. “What? Fuck, no.”
“Then where the fuck did you just go?”
I frowned even deeper. “You don’t want to know.”
He studied me. “Yeah, I probably don’t.”
I stood and he smacked me on the shoulder. “Glad you’re in town. Oh, Bridge says to tell you dinner tomorrow night. I know you’ll be there because one, you can’t cook. Two, you just told me you have a normal person’s schedule. Three, you have no life.”
“You had me at I can’t cook.”
6
MALLORY
* * *
Which said fuck me better? The yellow lace or the red satin? Both were newly purchased off the clearance rack just for tonight. And Vegas. Wearing my ratty flannel robe, I stared at the options I put out on my bed before my shower. I thought of Tom. From the photos I saw, he was handsome. Bridge’s classroom was across the hall from his and she said he was nice. Got along well with his students. A little goofy.
Bridge hadn’t said he was hot. Or sexy. Or had big dick energy. Or… well, she wouldn’t. Compared to Mav, Tom probably looked like a garden gnome to her.
“Done in the bathroom?” Maggie called through my closed bedroom door.
“Yes!”
My roommate and I had gone to high school together but hadn’t ever hung out. But after college, I’d heard she was looking for a roommate to sublet because her old one had moved out. I was desperate not to move in with my parents and jumped at the opening. We were friendly, but not tight, which worked out fine.
As an agricultural rep, she traveled a fair amount. Plus, she had a boyfriend who lived in Havre, a few hours away. She stayed with him as much as she was here. She’d been hinting at moving in with him because they’d gotten pretty serious, which meant I’d have to float the entire rent on my own. A teacher’s salary wasn’t huge, and while it was consistent and had good benefits, renting solo would cost more than owning. At least for the little house I had my eye on. Mrs. Jonsdottir, who’d been a teacher at the elementary school for over forty years, had the cutest little place and I wanted it.
Bad.
Crazy bad. Hopefully Maggie could relocate to Havre at the same time I bought my dream house.
Mrs. Jonsdottir mentioned time and again that she wanted to sell and move closer to her children who’d long ago moved out of state. Every time I saw her, I reminded her I wanted to buy it from her, and she always said she’d talk to me first before she did anything. But she’d yet to sell.
In the meantime, I was saving hard for it and was careful with my expenses. Fortunately, for the Vegas bachelorette trip, I’d only needed to pay airfare and food. Hotel was covered.
I looked around my room. Even though I’d lived here for over a year, it felt… temporary. I felt that way. Like I didn’t know where I belonged. I needed something of my own. A place where I could paint the walls and walk around in my underwear. That I could do with what I wanted. Or fuck who I wanted. When I wanted it. And where. It wasn’t like I could get a guy to fuck me on Maggie’s mom’s hand-me-down kitchen table or over the back of the couch she’d picked up at the thrift store.
“I’m too old for this,” I muttered to myself.
I snagged the yellow lace panties, slipped them on. They didn’t say seductress. I was not one of those. I had no clue what I was doing outside of watching porn and pretending my vibrator was an actual dick.
He was older than us. Cute. I’d date him if he didn’t seem like a brother since he was good friends with my brother, Arlo.
“I’m glad you noticed.” He inhaled, puffing up his chest beneath the pizza place t-shirt.
“And single,” I added.
He took a step back and held his palms out, glancing between us. “Whoa, Bridge is taken. Very taken. Have you seen her man? He’s a fucking lumberjack. And you’re… well, you’re you. No way are we dating.”
I frowned. “If I didn’t think of you as a weird brother, I’d be insulted.”
He huffed and dropped his hands. “What’s the question? I know you’ve got one.”
“Are you looking for talent in a vagina?”
His dark eyebrows rose so far, they were hidden by his unruly hair. “What the hell does that mean?”
“If you started dating a woman and found out she didn’t have lots of experience in bed, would that be an issue for you?”
“Is she legal?”
We both frowned and said, “YES!”
“Then no. I’m not looking for a talented vagina. It’s fun to see what a woman finds hot. What makes her get all–”
Now it was my turn to hold up my hand to stop him. “Okay, we get the idea. Stop there before I get too nauseated imagining you having sex to eat our pizza that better be in the oven.”
His hand went to his chest. “I’m not that bad.”
“Do you want us to talk about Aspen’s sex life?”
He shivered, just like any brother would. “Fuck no.”
“Fine. So no talent needed. Thanks.”
He nodded, then once again backed away slowly and carefully.
“See?” Bridge asked, which was totally annoying.
“I’m getting birth control and getting laid.”
“I get all that, but why now? Why all of a sudden? You’ve been all hot and bothered for Theo for months.”
I wasn’t going to tell her there’d been a wet spot on the back of my paper gown when I got up to get redressed earlier. I was hot for Theo James. H.O.T.
That was when I thought he didn’t live in town. Now? I could run into him anywhere, anytime.
“Me and my vagina aren’t sitting around waiting for a guy like him to notice me. I was naked, Bridge, and he turned me down.”
“Okay, what you’re suggesting is a little creepy if I think about it a little too long.”
“What you’re saying is if you think about it a little less, it’s kinda hot.”
She looked away because she was right there with me. “Fine, but he didn’t turn you down. He was working.”
I shrugged. “I’m horny, Bridge. I want sex. I’ve earned it.”
“I agree. So have it with Theo. Not on an exam table. You know, the guy you’re going to marry.”
I shrugged and waved my hand through the air to try to downplay the fact that she mentioned that three times. Maybe I’d overdone it in the past few months. He was gorgeous and up close, in person, gah. I melted. My brain turned to mush or baked beans or something.
“It’s just talk and no one woman wants to have an ugly vagina. Obviously. You know me, gab, gab, gab.”
Yes, I wanted him, and I lusted after him. Did I ever really think he’d want me? No. But Bridge knew I was a big blabbermouth and usually just smiled and nodded like I did with my first graders when one told me she wanted to be an ant so she could carry things over ten times their body weight.
Sure, it was one thing to want Theo and feel hurt when he referred me to a gynecologist, as weird as all that sounded; if I didn’t have those baked beans for brains, I’d see that it was the proper response.
It was another thing to actually marry the guy. I learned from my parents not to expect much. I’d been emotionally hurt by them often enough to know better. That a guy like Theo wouldn’t love me. It was easier just to be casual, to talk a big game and sleep with Tom the History Teacher.
Dr. Theo James was in a completely different league. He had it all. Brains, brawn, beauty, and billions. And most likely a big dick.
She studied me. “You sure, because I saw him with his beard and he’s really hot. Don’t tell Mav.”
I rolled my eyes. Like Maverick James would feel threatened by any man, even his brother.
I played it off even more. “Seriously, I want to take something for a ride besides my vibrator and Tom’s not a bad option.”
The history teacher would do.
“I’m not looking for roses and candlelight, Bridge. I’m also tired of waiting. It’s happening. I want up against the wall kind of sex. Maybe bent over a couch or something. I’m twenty-four. It’s time.”
“But Theo–”
I cut her off. “You can’t set me up with Tom and then be Team Theo. It’s just sex, Bridge. So shut up and go get our pizza.”
5
THEO
* * *
“After Dr. Footsie, I’m surprised you’re not a born-again virgin.”
Mav and I were on the couch in Dex’s little rental house. Or my rental now. Dex’s contract on the place expired when he returned to the Silvermines at the start of the hockey season. Since he and Lindy were hot and heavy, they had her house to stay in when they came back to town.
Silas–the other brother–and I agreed we’d keep this renovated miner’s shack for ourselves since it seemed we popped into Hunter Valley often enough and we didn’t want to stay with Mav and Bridge like the first few visits. The very first time we checked on him back in July, Bridget had bolted from the place in only a sheet.
Yeah, a different house was required.
When I accepted the job at the medical practice, I already had a place to stay.
“Maude? Why are you bringing her up now?” I asked, tipping back my beer.
Mav brought a six-pack and we’d settled in to watch one of Dex’s games on TV. It was in Buffalo, and he’d already scored two goals. Between finding his woman and being one of the season’s top scorers, he was one happy fucker.
“Wondering if she’s the reason you bailed on being a trauma surgeon and took a job in a small Montana town.”
I had no doubt he, Bridget, Dex, Lindy, Silas… hell, even the head of surgical operations, wanted to know the real reason I bailed on that kind of career track.
I sighed, slumped lower on the couch. Scout, Mav’s dog, was between us, belly up, short little legs toward the ceiling, snoring. He didn’t stir. He had zero shame, and I was a little jealous.
“You think I let a woman dictate my life?” I pushed. I hadn’t thought about Maude since the day I walked into the third-floor doctor’s lounge and found her and one of the colorectal guys getting it on. And by getting it on, I meant they were on the bench in the locker area, and she was using her bare feet to work his dick.
I’d had no interest in seeing the dude’s dick and I definitely didn’t need to know Maude had some kinks she hadn’t pulled out when we fucked. Of course, we fucked in the same locker room, but I had her pressed against a locker and my dick was surrounded by her pussy, not her feet.
It meant I hadn’t been all that interested in finding out Maude’s needs, and she hadn’t been interested enough in me to share hers.
So when I turned on my heel and left them to their fun, I hadn’t looked back. Literally and figuratively.
For some fucked up reason, I had a different woman who filled my head these days. Mallory, the complete opposite of her best friend, Bridget. Mallory was outgoing, vivacious, a loudmouth and… hot. Now I knew things about her that only made her hotter. And I couldn’t tell my brother or anyone else because of patient privacy laws. Not that I would ever announce that Mallory was pretty much a virgin or that she was on the prowl. While I might not act like one when fucking, I was a gentleman. I wasn’t going to sit around and tell Mav such private things about Mallory. We weren’t women with wine. We were men with beers and hockey. But knowing her secrets… I was going to be the gentleman who fucked Mallory instead of some rando high school teacher.
She said she wanted to have sex. That it was time. Time. As if it was something to check off one of Lindy’s infamous to-do lists. Although if it was on Lindy’s list, no doubt Dex would happily check that off for her. Mallory didn’t seem to want rainbows and fucking unicorns. Harps and candlelight. It seemed sex to her didn’t have to mean a relationship.
I could totally relate. Who wanted a relationship? All they were was fucked up. Being raised by a narcissist would do that to a guy. Except Mav and Dex were proving finding the right woman didn’t mean a fucked-up love.
They fell for their women. Fell hard, and fast.
As for me? With Mallory, it would be a community service to her, offering her my dick and other skills where her clit was concerned. And her nipples. Shit, and her pussy, which had to be so fucking tight.
I shifted on the couch because my dick was fucking hard at the wrong time. Again. Second time in one day.
I’d never gotten hard for a patient before. Never. Then one twenty-four-year-old teacher in a paper gown and duck socks and the damned thing wouldn’t go down.
Mav turned his gaze from the TV and eyed me.
“Maude’s long gone,” I promised. “Thank fuck. But you? You’re so whipped you’re sitting here for the hour your woman’s at yoga.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders, completely unaffected by me taking a swipe at his man card. “Maybe, but she’s going to be all nice and flexible when she’s done taking the class with Mal. She does the bending and stretching, and I get all the perks.”
Mav grinned. Actually grinned.
I frowned. The fucker just had to drop that Mallory was doing yoga as well. Instantly, an image of her in tight leggings, bent over with her ass in the air, filled my head. Maybe I’d take her that way first and show her how good it could be from behind. I’d pull her hair and she’d–
Fuck. Fuck! Stop thinking about it. Her. If Mav saw how I was getting hard, there would be problems. I didn’t have a laptop to hide behind.
So I switched back to Maude, which was a perfect dick deflator. “You know I didn’t move here because of Maude.”
“Then why? It’s like that hospital was your man cave.”
I’d shown up the week before in an early snowstorm, unannounced and dropped the bomb on him and Bridget that I was moving here. Six months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it either.
“All I saw in Denver was the inside of the hospital or inside of a body. For years. I’m unfeeling.”
“Cleary, since you fucked Maude.”
I frowned but didn’t argue with him. She was definitely a sign of my numbness.
“A kid came in. MVA. Stupid parents didn’t put his seatbelt on him and got in an accident. Ejected. Lost an arm from that, barely alive in the ER. Ended up dying on the operating table.”
“Shit, dude. I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, remembering looking at the clock on the wall in the OR and calling the time of death.
“I didn’t feel anything. I think back, still don’t. I should. Fuck, I’m totally broken. A child died horribly when it was completely preventable. I could’ve been at the grocery store picking out toilet paper for all the emotion I felt over it.”
Mav stayed quiet, just took a pull of beer. The hockey announcer’s voice followed the game on screen, but I wasn’t paying it any attention.
“Last week I was at a conference in Arizona and Bradley called me and told me about this job opening and I–”
“Yeah, what the fuck’s that about?” Mav cut in to ask. “He was head hunting for you?”
I sat up, placed my beer on the chunk of wood that served as a coffee table, rested my elbows on my knees. “No. I never asked him to do anything like that. He’s your assistant. But he’s a horse whisperer or something.”
“That make you the horse?”
I shrugged. “He called me and said there was an opening at a practice here and I should consider it. Said it was Monday through Friday and every other Saturday morning. No surgery. No one dies.”
“Hell, I’d take that job,” he replied. Before he met Bridget and pretty much relocated to Hunter Valley, he worked sixty to eighty hour weeks. Now he focused solely on the James Inn sector he was building, but the one here in Hunter Valley specifically. “What makes you think you’ll start caring for patients here?”
I shrugged, thinking of the mix of locals I saw today. STD, vaccinations, ear infections, strep throat, and… Mallory.
I sure as shit felt something when I was with Mallory. Lust. Desire. Attraction. Need. Jealousy. Possessiveness.
Probably not the correct emotions and feelings, but what the hell did I know? I was fucked up when it came to relating and empathizing with others.
“I was standing there in the middle of the conference and I said fuck it,” I continued. “Fuck it all.”
I couldn’t believe I did it, but here I was. Drinking beer with my brother instead of pulling another twenty-four-hour shift at the hospital. That was exactly where I’d be at this moment.
“You’re going to miss surgery though,” he said, mansplaining my job to me. “The ER. The rush. I mean, it’s what you do.”
I shrugged because what did he know about being a doctor or dealing with dying patients day in and day out? But he wasn’t talking about them. He was talking about me.
“Maybe I’ll see if they’re looking for a part-timer at the hospital here. A sub like Bridge at the high school. But for now? Today? I get to sit on my ass drinking beer with my brother while my other one is on TV scoring goals.”
Mav looked at his watch and stood. Scout stirred, flipped over, and hopped to the floor to stand beside his human. “Speaking of scoring. Gotta pick up Bridge.”
“Fucker,” I said with a grin. I was happy for him. I’d never imagined a twenty-two-year-old would be what he needed, but my life was a cluster fuck. Who was I to question?
“Get a woman of your own,” he snapped, but without any heat since he was grinning. “One who isn’t part reptile or have a foot fetish.”
Instantly, I thought of Mallory. She definitely ran hot, and I doubted she had a thing for feet. I wondered then what she had a thing for. Being sassy and getting punished for it. Definitely. Maybe a little exhibitionism. Or–
Hell, she was pretty much a virgin. She probably didn’t know what got her hot. Fuck, wouldn’t that be fun to find out. To make her squirm and squi–
“Earth to Theo,” Mav said, waving his hand in front of my face.
I blinked.
“Are you having a stroke?”
I frowned. “What? Fuck, no.”
“Then where the fuck did you just go?”
I frowned even deeper. “You don’t want to know.”
He studied me. “Yeah, I probably don’t.”
I stood and he smacked me on the shoulder. “Glad you’re in town. Oh, Bridge says to tell you dinner tomorrow night. I know you’ll be there because one, you can’t cook. Two, you just told me you have a normal person’s schedule. Three, you have no life.”
“You had me at I can’t cook.”
6
MALLORY
* * *
Which said fuck me better? The yellow lace or the red satin? Both were newly purchased off the clearance rack just for tonight. And Vegas. Wearing my ratty flannel robe, I stared at the options I put out on my bed before my shower. I thought of Tom. From the photos I saw, he was handsome. Bridge’s classroom was across the hall from his and she said he was nice. Got along well with his students. A little goofy.
Bridge hadn’t said he was hot. Or sexy. Or had big dick energy. Or… well, she wouldn’t. Compared to Mav, Tom probably looked like a garden gnome to her.
“Done in the bathroom?” Maggie called through my closed bedroom door.
“Yes!”
My roommate and I had gone to high school together but hadn’t ever hung out. But after college, I’d heard she was looking for a roommate to sublet because her old one had moved out. I was desperate not to move in with my parents and jumped at the opening. We were friendly, but not tight, which worked out fine.
As an agricultural rep, she traveled a fair amount. Plus, she had a boyfriend who lived in Havre, a few hours away. She stayed with him as much as she was here. She’d been hinting at moving in with him because they’d gotten pretty serious, which meant I’d have to float the entire rent on my own. A teacher’s salary wasn’t huge, and while it was consistent and had good benefits, renting solo would cost more than owning. At least for the little house I had my eye on. Mrs. Jonsdottir, who’d been a teacher at the elementary school for over forty years, had the cutest little place and I wanted it.
Bad.
Crazy bad. Hopefully Maggie could relocate to Havre at the same time I bought my dream house.
Mrs. Jonsdottir mentioned time and again that she wanted to sell and move closer to her children who’d long ago moved out of state. Every time I saw her, I reminded her I wanted to buy it from her, and she always said she’d talk to me first before she did anything. But she’d yet to sell.
In the meantime, I was saving hard for it and was careful with my expenses. Fortunately, for the Vegas bachelorette trip, I’d only needed to pay airfare and food. Hotel was covered.
I looked around my room. Even though I’d lived here for over a year, it felt… temporary. I felt that way. Like I didn’t know where I belonged. I needed something of my own. A place where I could paint the walls and walk around in my underwear. That I could do with what I wanted. Or fuck who I wanted. When I wanted it. And where. It wasn’t like I could get a guy to fuck me on Maggie’s mom’s hand-me-down kitchen table or over the back of the couch she’d picked up at the thrift store.
“I’m too old for this,” I muttered to myself.
I snagged the yellow lace panties, slipped them on. They didn’t say seductress. I was not one of those. I had no clue what I was doing outside of watching porn and pretending my vibrator was an actual dick.
