Chasing Ava: A Bachelor of Shell Cove Novel (The Bachelors of Shell Cove) (27 page)

“Ava, look at me.” Nothing. He roughened his voice. “Ava,” he repeated her name once more. “Tell me you see me, Logan.” And just like that, sad eyes looked up at him. She was back. His Ava.
 

Her breathing was ragged, but she was looking at him. Unable to stop himself, he pulled her into his arms. God, some man had hurt her badly. Rage at knowing she’d been hurt had him tightening his hold on her. “Tell me what happened, sweetheart. Who hurt you?”
 

“No.” Tears swam in her fearful eyes as she held her lower lip between her teeth.

Logan could see her pain. He felt the heat from the emotional blade slicing through him.
 

“What we have is real,” he said stroking her hair. “I’ll always be here for you. I would never hurt you, Ava.” Witnessing the horror of what she must have experienced for the second time. Knowing some poor excuse for a man in her past hurt her so deeply that retelling the story brought both pain and fear to her eyes.
 

She pushed at his chest. “It’s nothing.” The words incongruent with the tremors he felt holding her this close. He looked down at her then, remnants of pain still visible on her face.
 

“You look ready to collapse.” She turned away, but he captured her chin, turning her to face him. He placed a tender kiss on her lips.
 

“Talk to me. You can tell me anything.” The way her face remained fixed he knew she didn’t believe him. At her silence, he continued on hoping something he said would cut through her doubts. “I triggered something last night and it happened again. I can’t help but touch you. I want it to feel good for both of us. Tell me how to stop causing you pain.”

“I wish I knew. I had a bad relationship in college. I don’t want to talk about it.”
 

 
He took her face in his hands, cradled her as gently as he knew how. Those tear filled eyes squeezed his heart. “I don’t need your submission, Ava. I need your trust.” He pressed his lips to hers and breathed in her vanilla and honey fragrance. The caress along the length of his jawline had him lingering in her taste, relishing her touch on his skin. As the seconds passed his pulse rate normalized and he ended the kiss. He pulled her into his arms, pressed her head to his chest. “Your heart is safe with me. Give it to me.” He felt her body tremble, before her arms came around his middle.
 

“I am going to put you in bed and feed you from my hand. You like that idea?” She nodded her head without lifting it from his chest.
 

“Then we are going to make new memories together. Maybe, do a few things to make you scream my name. Keep the faint at heart from dropping by uninvited. Huh?” He felt her smile against his chest. The fist squeezing his heart released its grip.
 

“Okay,” she replied. He was proud of her. His Ava had pushed her pain and fears away for him. For them.
 

He reluctantly released her. She gave him a half smile before turning in the direction of the bedroom. Logan grabbed the bags from the table, followed her into the bedroom and closed the door.
Mine.

Chapter 13

Ava was on day two of her emotional high. For the first time in her adult life, she felt complete. A patient occupied every bed in her pod when she started her shift at six forty-five this morning. Late breakfast trays nearly triggered an international incident and the pharmacy hadn’t supplied her the medications for the day. But not one of those things dampened the melody in Ava’s heart. Thoughts of falling asleep in Logan’s arms tonight had her humming love songs in between comforting parents and calming babies.
 

Kathryn had left a message for Ava to stop by her office. She could hear the beep of the telemetry monitor located at the central nurses’ station from her patient care area. Being able to hear the monitoring equipment over the unit activity was as good as any indication that the morning rush had come to an end.
 

Ava motioned to Patty, the round faced, gray haired woman who worked as the nursing assistant on her team.
 

“Patty, I’m going to meet with Kathryn before her day ends. Please update each patient’s intake and output record before lunch arrives. Our patients are stable, but I’ll ask Spencer to cover while I’m away.”

The woman nodded her head in agreement and went back to reading the computer screen.
 

The physician teams wouldn’t return until the end of the day. The procession of gurneys that formed a make shift human train leading to the radiology suite had dwindled to one.
 

It was best to use the reprieve wisely. Ava locked her computer terminal then headed in the direction of Kathryn’s office. She exited her work station, covered the short distance to where Spencer sat in a swivel chair that strained at the rivets under the weight of his muscled physique. Spencer looked up from his computer terminal and smiled with pure devilment in his eyes.
 

Ava didn’t want to know what had put that smile on his sculpted face. “Cover for me while I meet with Kathryn?”

“Sure thing. How long?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes.”

“Done and done.”
 

She wouldn’t linger in the nurse manager’s office. Kathryn was one of the few administrative nurses who still could provide direct patient care with ease. Though she’d worked in the position for two years, Ava knew Kathryn took great pride in being a floor nurse first and an administrator second.
 

Ava knocked on the door, announced herself, and then waited for the invitation to enter.
 

“Come on in,” Ava heard the woman say.
 

Kathryn’s face looked solemn. Ava wondered what could make this usually jovial woman look so glum.
 

“Hi, you wanted to see me?”
 

The small, windowless center hall office was located off the inner corridor of the pediatric unit. The desk was uncluttered and color coordinated photo frames of Kathryn and her husband Cannon occupied both front desk corners.

“Please have a seat.” She gestured to the two aluminum and cloth office chairs positioned in front of the desk. Kathryn’s impersonal tone had the hairs at Ava’s nape standing on end.
 

“Has something happened?”
 

Kathryn was having trouble maintaining eye contact with her. The hairs on the back of her neck had little arcs of electricity flowing through them at that.
 

“Ava. There’s been a complaint filed against you.”
 

Ava’s throat constricted, her stomach roiled at the words. She felt nauseous.

“A patient complained about me?” Oh no, not now, a complaint could jeopardize her receiving the endorsement for her commissioning package.
 

“No.”
 

No? Ava furrowed her brows in confusion.
 

“But, you said.” Kathryn interrupted her by holding up one hand.
 

“It’s not a patient complaint. One of the foundation’s donors filed a complaint against you.”

At the mention of the foundation, Ava instantly knew the source of her trouble and anger coursed through Ava’s veins. It had to be Commando Barbie.

“What are the allegations in the complaint?” Ava inquired.

“That’s the concerning part.” At Ava’s obvious confusion Kathryn continued.
 

“Randall Lester paid a visit to my office this morning. Apparently, he was personally made aware of the complaint. Mentioned that he didn’t consider you a qualified candidate for a professional endorsement and returned your commissioning packet.”
 

The breath froze in Ava’s chest. A fissure opened in her heart, a sharp burn filled her chest.
 

“However,” Kathryn continued while Ava sat paralyzed the feeling of doom threatening to pull her to her knees, “he did not provide me with a written statement detailing the allegations against you.”
 

If Randall knew about the complaint Ava knew the rest of what Kathryn had to say would only be worse for her. She couldn’t let him do this to her. But what power did she have to stop him?

“Kathryn, what’s going to happen now?” Ava could hear the quake in her voice, the desperation as she forced the words past trembling lips.
 

“I can’t be sure, but I thought it unusual that the Director of Operations personally delivered the message, rather than informing the nursing director.”
 

Ava offered a cautious nod, leery of trusting Kathryn with the details of Randall’s increasing advances and threats. She had no doubt he would use this new information to his advantage. Would she ever be the master of her own life, again? So lost in her own misery, she barely heard the words Kathryn spoke.
 

“I took the liberty of asking Mr. Lester’s secretary if any correspondence pertaining to you had been received by his office. Nothing beyond your commissioning packet and endorsement request has been routed through his office. It would appear that your package was being held in his inbox for signature. Sheila, his secretary, and I were in the same military spouse support group a few years back when our husbands were on deployment.”

Ava released a shaky breath. Closing her eyes she fought to hold back the tears threatening to fall. Her dreams were sifting through her fingers. Dear God, she didn’t think she could stand. Her whole body started to shake.
 

“Ava you’re going to be okay. Why has Randall Lester taken a personal interest in you?”
 

Ava shook her head in denial. Nothing was going to be okay. Randall knew she was vulnerable now. He would move in for the kill and she would be a casualty in the game he played. Her job, her reputation, her dream would crumble with the force of a mortar round striking concrete because she would never give herself to a man like Randall.
 

A single tear slid down her cheek. “It’s never going to be okay again.” Kathryn stood and came around her desk to sit at Ava’s side. Taking Ava’s trembling hand.

“You can trust me. I won’t do or say anything to make the situation more difficult for you. Tell me what’s going on and I’ll do what I can to help.” Ava respected Kathryn. She had seen her be an advocate for nursing with the medical staff and administrators. There was no reason not to trust Kathryn’s offer to help. Could she trust her own judgment when her dream was at risk? The protective circle that shielded her heart broke open and she told Kathryn everything.

Ava had been distracted for days, Logan noticed. When he’d questioned her, she denied that there was a problem. But she seemed more fragile and solitary. Even with him in the room, she withdrew inside herself. Afraid to maintain the connection between them. The Shell Cove Medical Foundation social was fast approaching. He wanted her at his side when he made the final push for the board position.

“Ava.”
 

She looked up from the novel she was reading. Her feet curled protectively under her on the other end of the couch. She had tried to leave him, but it was like she wasn’t expecting him to stay.
 

“Hmm?”

“I want you to come with me on Tuesday to the foundation’s social at the Tower Club. It is a business meeting masquerading as a social because they provide refreshments.”
 

“Logan, I think we should keep your career and our relationship in separate corners. I don’t know those people and they probably don’t want to know me.”
 

Her tone was apologetic and laced with regret. Was his world as shallow as she believed it to be?

Why didn’t she want to be a part of every aspect of his life? Something she refused to share with him was holding her back from truly being with him. What more could he do to reassure her he was not going anywhere? They would be together. The tingle in the back of his cranium reinforced that something was wrong. Her reluctance to share his life did not make sense.
 

“Are you seeing someone else?” As the color drained from her face, Logan mentally berated himself for uttering the hurtful words. She closed the novel, both hands lay still in her lap then she raised her chin and leveled him with the disbelief etched on her face.