A Love Like This (22 page)

Julia’s eyes narrowed slightly but then she
moved to the hall and began putting on her coat. “It’s no bother,
but we should get going. Ryan has an early shift, tomorrow.”

*****

The drive back was quiet. I held Julia’s hand
the entire way and quietly explained why I’d invited Jane and
Daniel and how it had backfired in a big way. She was silent,
turned toward me in the passenger seat, her head resting back, her
eyes drooping as sleep tried to claim her. It took more than an
hour to get Jane back to Queens and I was about ready to pass out
myself.

“I need a shower,” I mumbled and brought the
hand that I was holding to my lips as we navigated our way through
the streets. Her skin was soft. “Dinner was amazing. Thank you for
making it for me.”

“It was for you, you know,” she said softly.
Her sleepy eyes were soft, love radiating out of them. “Always for
you.”

I kissed her hand again, my lips brushing
reverently over and over. “I know. I really wanted to be alone with
you tonight.”

She could have berated me. She had every
right, but she didn’t. Instead; she ran a finger on the hand that I
was holding, down the line of my jaw. “We’re alone now. It’s
okay.”

“Yes, but most of tonight is over,” I said
regretfully. I felt the loss, big time.

“It’s okay. See, the thing is, you’re stuck
with me forever, so there will be other evenings.”

My heart filled. She was fucking perfect. I
ruined our plans and she was still so fucking perfect.

My breath left in a small huff, and I
flashed a smile. “I love you.”

“I know.”

We were silent the rest of the drive, but I
never let go of her hand.

When the door of the apartment opened, the
wonderful smells of the meal still lingered. We both kicked off our
shoes, and I hung Julia’s coat up after my own. Her hand ran down
the front of my shirt to linger on my abdomen. “Go take your
shower.”

I kissed the top of her head and then her
temple. “Okay. It’s going to be short.”

When I left her and went into the bedroom, I
walked through it to the bathroom and flipped on the light and the
water. In a matter of seconds, my clothes had been whipped off, and
I was standing under the comforting spray of the warm shower. The
water felt good. I was tired, but I wanted to be with Julia. I
wasn’t thinking of the baby we were trying to conceive; I only
wanted my hands on her, the silk of her skin next to mine, and her
breath rushing across my skin.

I was so tired. Exhausted was a better word,
and there were only six hours until I’d be back at it again. When
I’d decided to become a doctor, I hadn’t considered the physical
toll it would take. I needed to work out at least three more times
this week. Thank God for the fitness room at the hospital that we
were able to use when the ER was slow. And thank God for the
showers, too.

I squeezed shampoo into my hand and was
scrubbing it briskly through my hair when the bathroom door opened.
“Hey, sweets,” I called. The light flipped off but a soft glow
remained in the room. The steam parted when the shower door opened
and Julia stepped inside. I paused rinsing my hair. “Hey…” I said
again, taking in the glorious site of her naked body in the golden
glow of the candles she’d set on the vanity. It didn’t take a
single touch for my cock to stiffen. She was so beautiful, her
curves were a delicious combination of glowing skin offset by the
shadow wrapping around her from behind and the green eyes,
luminous, as she looked up at me. Her intent was clear and my heart
sped up. I reached for her at the same time as her hands slid up my
shoulders, the remnants of the shampoo leaving my skin slick under
her fingers. Electricity shot through me.

My hands moved from the sides of her
breasts, gently cupping and brushing her already puckered nipples,
down the concave slope of her waist and back, over the voluptuous
curves of her delicious ass. Her fingers curled into my wet hair,
the water running over both of us now. She tilted her head, lifting
her mouth in offering as my throbbing cock pressed into her
stomach, and her eyes slid closed.

I kissed her jaw and down her neck, my mouth
open, tongue laving her delicious skin. I never got tired of
touching her; of feeling her come alive next to me. My body
hungered the sweet-salty taste of her, the feel of her tightness
around me, her heat… and my heart craved her incredible love. There
was nothing like making love to Julia and never would be.

Her fingers yanked at the hair at my nape
and she moaned, deep in her throat, urging me to pick up the pace.
It was so fucking sexy. I bent slightly, enough to part her legs
from behind and lift her against the back wall of the shower. Julia
wrapped her legs around me and I slid one hand up to cup the side
of her face so I could claim her mouth, the very moment I pushed
into her, hard.

“Uhhh…” her breath rushed out as we began
kissing; deep, needy kisses that I wanted to go on for days, so
good I almost forgot I was buried deep inside her. She clenched
around me at the same time as she sucked on my tongue. It was so
hot, and I went into overdrive, thrusting deeper, harder. Julia’s
hips met mine, both of us moving together in our urgent need for
release. I never wanted it to end. We didn’t talk, but hands
teased, mouths worshiped and skin slid over skin and the small
space filled with steam and moans of pleasure.

I was having trouble breathing; I couldn’t
decide if it was the heat and thickness of the air or the fact that
I loved this woman so Goddamn much. I pulled my mouth from hers and
opened my eyes, needing to see her expression while we both got
closer to the edge. I could feel my body tighten and I wanted to
see the pleasure I was giving her; I needed her to see mine. Her
eyes opened, half-lidded and she looked at me. I changed to slow,
long thrusts, but kept the pressure hard. Her body pushed up on the
wall each time I slammed into her. I loved watching her pouty lips
drop open at the same time she kept here eyes trained on mine until
the pleasure got too much.

“Uhhhh,” she sighed and shut her eyes,
turning her head when I reached between us and found her clit. I
moved in slow circles, wanting her climax to be long and hard, slow
building. My body was screaming; each time she clenched around me,
it was all I could do not to let myself go. “Uhhhh, Ryan…” She bit
her lip. “I want…” she panted.

“I’m there baby…” I groaned as she tensed
and shuddered around me. Julia’s head fell back and I latched onto
her mouth, thrusting my tongue inside to meet hers. She clutched
the hair on both sides of my head as she kissed me back deeply,
riding out her orgasm as I gave in to mine.

My head fell to her shoulder as our
breathing evened out, the water still pelting my back and the steam
so thick it was like we were inside a cloud.

I kissed her lips again; soft and gently
caressing. Needing her to know with just my lips how much she meant
to me. I ran my nose along hers and kissed her one more time before
I opened the shower door and I walked out holding her to me, still
connected. I pulled two fluffy white towels from the rack and
wrapped one around her, sliding out and setting her on the floor.
We dried each other off as if we were still making love. It was
soft and thorough and reverent.

Her eyes got glassy. I could see the emotion
there, and it was all the same for me.
Jesus Christ
! I’d
never get used to how much we loved each other. She lopped another
towel over my head and rubbed as I softly dried the water from her
hair with one of my own. When I was done, I ran the pad of my thumb
across her cheek. I wanted to touch and keep touching.

The bedroom was several degrees cooler than
the bathroom, and we quickly slid beneath the covers. I pulled
Julia to me, and she came easily into my arms. We fit like a glove,
curled around each other, both content while the warmth between our
bodies seeped out to slowly warm the sheets. I was satisfied, yet
unsatisfied at the same time; always wanting more of her.

“I never want to leave this bed,” I said
into the darkness, my lips pressed to her forehead, her damp hair
tickling my chin.

“I never want to leave your arms,” she
murmured sleepily.

My arms tightened around her as her hot
breath fanned my chest
.

Fucking perfect
.

~7~

My pencil tapped against the hard surface of
my desk as my tired eyes stared out across Manhattan and Central
Park. The sky was grey, winter robbing the trees of leaves and the
buildings on the other side of the park blurring into lifeless
oblivion as thoughts of the morning flooded my mind.

I rushed out of bed when a loud clatter from
the kitchen, followed by a grumpy expletive, jolted me out of
sleep. I ran down the hall, pulling one of Ryan’s discarded
t-shirts over my head and pushing my arms through the sleeves.

Ryan was already dressed in black scrubs and
bent down picking up the pieces of a broken coffee cup. My hand
slid slowly over his back, unable to resist even the slightest
opportunity to touch him before I grabbed some paper towels to soak
up the coffee. The aroma was pungent, much stronger than I would
make it, but Ryan was working nearly 80 hours a week and needed the
reviving effects of heavy caffeine.

His head snapped around at the touch of my
hand. “Baby, don’t step in this. You might cut your feet.” Ryan
dumped the broken cup in the trash and lifted me up to sit on the
counter in one smooth motion, his right arm wrapped around my waist
as if I weighed nothing. I loved how strong and capable he was, his
muscles flexing only slightly with the movement. When his arm began
to slide from around me and his left hand reached to take the
towels from me, I couldn’t help but cage him in with my arms and
legs. An overwhelming feeling rushed over me, and I just needed a
moment to hold him close. I missed him as if we still lived two
hundred miles apart, and I hated that he was leaving me again.

Instantly, his arms enfolded me in a tight
embrace, one hand threading through the hair at the back of my head
to press my face deeper into the curve of his neck and
shoulder.

Silently we just held each other and he
kissed me long and deep, forgetting the wet mess on the floor. I
wanted the whole fucking world to go away. “I wish we could just
lie on the couch, all wound up in each other, for the whole day,”
I’d murmured into his neck. He was warm and smelled of fresh soap
and Ryan.

“
Sharing the iPod?” he asked.

I could only nod against him as a lump in my
throat swelled painfully. I tried to content myself with the
briefest of moments, like this. I could feel his pulse against my
forehead as I wound my arms tighter around his waist.

“
Me, too, baby.”

My heart tightened and my eyes stung. I
could still feel the urgency of his embrace; my body remembering
his hard contours pressing into my softness, as much as my mind
remembered his words. Remembering should leave me fulfilled, but it
left me hungry and aching. I didn’t know if I was blinking back
tears or trying to rid the burning caused from lack of sleep. The
few minutes this morning would have been perfect if it weren’t for
that stupid hospital phone going off and ruining the moment. That
phone was just a more efficient version of a pager. He’d glanced at
it briefly before clipping it back on his waist, his eyes touching
mine then looking away. Ryan left after gulping down another cup of
coffee and shoving the lunch I’d made the night before into a bag.
The call had to be from Jane. Before she got hurt, that phone never
went off at home, and I was far from stupid. The single benefit to
working in the ER was that someone else was on call when Ryan was
off-duty. If it were a medical emergency, they would have paged
someone on site. I could tell by the guilty look in his eyes that
he knew I was well aware of who originated that call and that it
had nothing to do with work. I guess I should be thankful she
wasn’t calling his personal phone. I huffed in disgust.

I blinked at the layout on my desk next to
the final guest list for the gala that Andrea had mocked for me. It
was just after two, and I groaned. The end of the day couldn’t come
soon enough to suit me. Even though I faced another evening without
Ryan, I wasn’t concentrating and couldn’t wait to get the hell out
of here. Other than a check-in with Ellie earlier that morning, I
hadn’t accomplished a single thing. Even that was unproductive. I
regretted calling considering that the call ended with her bawling
her eyes out and me unable to comfort her at all. I sighed deeply.
I’d told her over and over that Harris loved her and wasn’t
cheating. He’d told her the same thing, but she didn’t believe
either one of us, and we were both at the end of our respective
ropes. I loved Ellie; I felt sad for her, but she was being an
idiot. I felt even sadder for Harris.