Hush (Just This Once) Page 7

  He traces my erect nipple with the tip of his index finger. “All I know about you is that your name is Chloe Jones and you fucked every last ounce of energy out of my body just now.”

  I could say the same for him.

  We didn’t waste a second once he closed the hotel room door. We both stripped quickly. There wasn’t any need for foreplay. He knew that I wanted his cock and he happily pulled me onto his lap and let me ride him until I came.

  When he flipped me over onto all fours and took me from behind, I screamed into the sheets on the bed. I couldn’t control it. He was so deep and every grunt only drove me closer to another intense release.

  “This has to be fair.” I watch as he licks my nipple with a long, gentle stroke. A shiver runs through me. “If I tell you something about me, I expect you to tell me something about you.”

  He doesn’t look at my face as he answers. “I can do that.”

  I debate about what to confess. Most of my secrets are buried so deep that I’d have to wade through a river of tears and pain to pull them to the surface. I decide on something intimate, but not revealing.

  “You were my first one-night stand.”

  “I know.” His fingers skim over my stomach to the top of my mound. He drags them across the seam of my pussy in the most painfully slow way. My thighs clench as I feel desire pool in my core.

  “How did you know?” I ask breathlessly as he circles my clit with the pad of his thumb.

  He finally looks into my eyes. “You were nervous. You looked scared. I was tempted to tell you to take more time to think it over.”

  I inch my hips off the bed to create more friction with his touch. “I wasn’t scared. I was unsure. Why didn’t you tell me to take more time?”

  He keeps his gaze locked to mine as he increases the pace of his thumb. “I wanted you too much. I had to have you.”

  I close my eyes. It’s all too intense. His words, his touch and the feelings that are crowding my common sense and urging me to let go.

  Chapter 19

  Evan

  I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight in my life than Chloe letting go. Every time she’s climaxed, I’ve watched her intently. This last time, I was in awe.

  I was fingering her while she confessed that I was her first one-night stand.

  It made me want to tell her everything. All of my past mistakes, my regrets, and every way I’ve allowed myself to be as vulnerable as she was being in that moment.

  She didn’t have to tell me that, but she chose to.

  “You’re not getting off that easy, Evan.” She rolls on her side to face me. “You promised that you’d tell me something too.”

  I take in every curve of her body. I’m grateful as fuck that she didn’t pull the sheet up to cover herself.

  She lets out a sigh. “When you look at me that way, it makes me think you’re going to fuck me again to avoid confessing a secret.”

  I palm my semi-erect dick. “Is that an invitation because I can go again?”

  She swats her hand on my bare shoulder. “If your confession is a good one, a blow job might be in order.”

  My cock swells instantly and I give it a leisurely stroke. “I’m thirty-four.”

  Her tongue slicks her bottom lip. “I need more.”

  “I work in medicine.” I swallow with that one because I learned early on that when a woman meets a cock she likes, she’d go to great lengths to track it down.

  That unwelcome awakening came one night when I was paged to emergency because a woman I’d fucked a week before had come in with a pain in her pussy that only ‘ Evan with the blue eyes ’ could treat.

  I have yet to live that down.

  Chloe slides her hand along my thigh until she’s inching my fingers out of the way to grab my dick. “You have one hell of a bedside manner.”

  I groan when she slides her palm up and down in steady, even strokes. “I could say the same for you.”

  “Are you a doctor?” She follows that question up with a dip of her head and a soft lick to the tip of my cock. “What’s your last name, Evan?”

  I part my lips to confess that it’s Scott. I don’t give two fucks if she knows my name, my address and my social security number.

  I’d give her anything for the chance to shoot my load down her throat.

  All I can manage is a guttural growl when she takes me in her mouth and moans around my dick.

  ***

  “Evan, we need to talk.” Jordan steps in front of me just as I’m about to slip out of the locker room after a twelve-hour shift.

  I’ve been pulling long days since I saw Chloe a week ago. As much as I want to exchange numbers with her, I didn’t ask.

  I’m not one for analyzing myself but I hate the bitter sting of rejection and after the mind-blowing sex we had, I’d be bruised if she would have shut me down by not giving me her number.

  I let her walk out of that hotel room with a kiss and nothing more. I haven’t been back to the Roasting Point Café since that night. Since she hasn’t shown up here at the hospital, I take that to mean that she didn’t bother to drop by the hospital reception desk looking for a tall, dark and handsome doctor named Evan.

  She might have done an online search but that would have netted nothing. I don’t do social media and I’m not listed in the online directory at the private practice I work at because my boss sees me as a rank amateur even though I have more skill than he’ll ever possess.

  “What do you want, Jordan?” I glance down at his canary yellow socks. “I see that your tailor is still up to his old tricks.”

  “These are the same pants I was wearing last week.” He shakes a leg. “I can give you his number. I’ll have you know that I scored wearing this very outfit.”

  “Scored what?” I roll my hand in the air with impatience. “What exactly did you score other than a draft up your pant leg?”

  “Kylie and I did it.”

  The concept is so foreign that I push aside the suggestion that he had sex with Dr. Newman. “You did what with Kylie?”

  He cocks a brow and winks at me.

  I scowl because that’s about as fucked up as life can get. “You slept with Kylie?”

  “Neither of us slept if you know what I mean.” He elbows me in the side. “I need to tell you what happened while that was going on.”

  I tug a gray hoodie on as I shake my head. “You need to shut the hell up. I don’t want to hear it, Jordan. Have a little respect for Kylie.”

  He laughs. “I’m not going to tell you how good it was, Evan, and it was good.”

  “You just did you bastard.” I push past him. “I have to face Kylie on a daily basis. I don’t think she’d appreciate the fact that I know about her sex life. She’s like a sister to me, Jordan.”

  He grabs my shoulder just as I’m about to take another step. “The condom broke.”

  I look back at his face. “It happens. Kylie seems like the type to use backup protection.”

  He doesn’t respond right away. Instead, he studies my face. “You don’t get it. The condom broke because it was old, Evan. It expired three years ago.”

  I break out into a low chuckle. “You could have picked up a fresh package on your way to dinner, man. Why in the hell would you use a rubber that old?”

  He inches his face closer to mine. “I haven’t bought a package in years. I always carry one in my wallet. The one I was using with Kylie was the second in the pack.”

  I scan his face slowly putting two-and-two together.

  Fuck.

  “You had the first one, Evan.” He points out the obvious. “I’m sure it’s fine and all, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.”

  I scrub my hand over the back of my neck doing the mental math on when I first fucked Chloe. I have no clue what her cycle is and whether she’s missed a period or not.

  “I need to go.” I stalk toward the exit of the locker room hoping like hell that the condom I used with her held strong and that
she’s taken care of birth control on her end.

  Chapter 20

  Chloe

  I sit at my desk and stare out the window at the building next door. I could draw the pattern of bricks in my sleep. There’s nothing unusual about it, but it’s familiar and that’s something that I’ve always needed in my life.

  “You’re daydreaming again?” Gabi steps into my office. “This Evan guy must be something else.”

  He is.

  I haven’t seen him in days but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking about him on an hourly basis.

  I used the sparse details I know about him to try and locate him online. I came up empty handed. After I searched for doctors named Evan, I broadened the scope of my mission to uncover his identity.

  Combing through the staff directories at a few of the hospitals in the city was futile. It didn’t take me long to realize that I have no idea whether he’s a doctor or not. For all I know he’s an x-ray technician or an orderly.

  I don’t care what he does for a living. I doubt that he cares what I do.

  “I like him,” I admit when she takes a seat in front of my desk. “We have a lot of fun together.”

  She tugs at the bottom of her hair. “Are you dating him or is it more of a casual thing?”

  “Is that a diplomatic way of asking if we’re sleeping together?”

  She sits up in the chair, crossing her legs at the knee. “You haven’t talked about him a lot and I know from the security guard in the lobby that you’re here past ten on most nights, so I’m assuming that your time with him is limited to time spent in bed.”

  “You’d make a great detective.” I laugh as I lean back. “That’s exactly what it is. We meet to hook-up.”

  “And you’re fine with that?” Curiosity laces her words.

  “That surprises you?” I volley back. “Why does it surprise you?”

  She heaves a sigh. “Your track record.”

  Those words should sting but they don’t. She doesn’t mean it as an insult. She’s stating the truth. “Sometimes a person needs to try out a new track. I’m doing that with Evan.”

  The corners of her mouth rise. “A new track is exciting but sometimes it comes with twists and turns we can’t predict.”

  “Isn’t that part of the adventure? You see where it takes you and you can take one of those turns if you want to get off that track and onto a new one.”

  “You’ve never had a fuck buddy, Chloe.” She grips the arm of the chair in her hand. “The number one rule is not to invest your heart in that person.”

  I scoff at the idea that I’m doing that. “I’m keeping my heart locked up tight. This is fun and that’s all it is.”

  She pushes to stand. “Feelings have a way of showing up when you least expect them to. Don’t lose sight of that. The last thing you need is to be hurt again.”

  “You know that I love that you look out for me but I’m a big girl and I’m going to enjoy the fun of this while it lasts.”

  “I’m always here if you need me. Just remember, that life is unpredictable even if you think you’re on the right track.”

  ***

  I smile when I see Evan approach me in the café.

  After my discussion with Gabi yesterday, I saw Rocco for dinner. I’d bailed on our pizza date so I thought I’d invite him out for a burger to catch up.

  I needed the sibling bonding time and when he asked about Evan, I reiterated what I told Gabi but with much less graphic detail.

  Rocco understood that it’s casual and he encouraged me to keep doing whatever felt right for me.

  Since I value his opinion more than anyone else’s, I went to sleep last night feeling at peace with where my life is headed, both professionally and now, personally.

  “Chloe, we need to talk.” Evan stops short of where I’m standing.

  I look him over. He’s dressed differently today. He’s wearing dark slacks and a white button down shirt under a dark blue blazer.

  It’s still cold outside so I’m surprised that he isn’t wearing his wool coat.

  I doubt that he’s here to break up with me since we’re not officially anything but people who meet for a good time.

  “What do you want to talk about?” I take a small sip of my tea. “Do you want to grab a coffee first? The line is short right now.”

  He looks toward the counter where two baristas are busy stacking cups. “No. I’m not having a coffee.”

  The nervous energy that is bouncing off of him is palpable. I feel my stomach flip-flop. “What is it?”

  He grabs me by the elbow to lead me over to a vacant table near the door. I don’t have time to sit, but I do because it’s obvious that this discussion isn’t going to be short and sweet.

  “I need to ask you something personal.” He rubs his temples with his fingers. “I’m sorry I have to do this, but I haven’t slept all night and I’m not the kind of guy who sees value in beating around the bush.”

  I rest my tea on the table when I realize that I’m shaking. “All right. I’ll try and answer.”

  He closes his eyes before they pop open and lock with mine. “Are you late?”

  I breathe a sigh of relief. “I have another five minutes before I need…”

  “No,” he blurts out. “I don’t mean today. Are you late?”

  I suck in a deep breath. “Am I late?”

  He rests both hands together in the middle of the table. “Chloe, I am asking if you’ve missed your period.”

  I hang my head. Why the hell would he ask me that? Why?

  “Chloe, I need to know. The condom might have broken that first night. I found out yesterday from the guy I got it from that the package was years old. It might have failed and if you’re late we need to talk about options.”

  Options? I wish I had options . I’ve longed for options for years but some of us don’t have the luxury of options .

  “I know you must be in shock,” he goes on. “If we have to deal with a pregnancy, I’ll help. I’ll be there to discuss what is best for us both.”

  Tears sting the corner of my eyes. I shake my head from side-to-side wishing he would shut up.

  “Say something,” he pleads. “You can scream at me all you want but say something. Are you on the pill? Is your period late? Is there any chance that I knocked you up?”

  I finally look up and into his face. I see nothing but panic and fear.

  “There’s no chance,” I answer softly. “You didn’t knock me up.”

  He bends his neck back and audibly sighs. “Thank, Christ. So you’ve had your period since that night?”

  I’m not going to lie to him. He didn’t have to tell me that the condom might have broke, yet he did. He deserves the truth from me too. “I haven’t had a period since then.”

  He looks right at me. “That was weeks ago. You should have had your period unless you use something other than the pill for birth control.”

  “I don’t use birth control.”

  His eyes widen. “We need to go get a test done. If you come with me I can have someone draw your blood and we’ll have the results within the hour.”

  He’s on his feet before the words leave my mouth. “No one needs to draw blood. I’m not pregnant, Evan.”

  “You don’t know that.” He holds out his hand to me. “I know you’re scared but once we have the test results we’ll know whether this is an issue or not.”

  “It’s not an issue.” I don’t touch his hand. “Trust me when I say that there is no chance that I’m pregnant.”

  “How can you know for sure?”

  “I’m infertile,” I say under my breath so the entire café doesn’t know my secret. “You have as much chance of getting pregnant as I do.”

  Chapter 21

  Evan

  “Are you sure?”

  The look on her face tells me that it was a fucked up question. She doesn’t answer immediately because why the hell would she.

  She looks like I took her
heart and ran over it with a bus. Why the hell didn’t I approach this conversation with the same tact I use when talking to my patients?

  “My ex-husband and I tried to have a baby for years.” She takes a deep breath. “We tried everything and the doctors finally got us both to accept that I’ll never conceive.”

  It’s not my area of expertise but I know that some of the best fertility specialists in the country call Manhattan home. I’m tempted to ask for the name of her physician, but it would do me little good.

  I’m a fucking doctor who is well aware of the ethics of patient confidentiality.

  The fact that she was married catches me by surprise. She has to be a few years younger than me and marriage isn’t even a mirage in my distant future yet.

  “You have nothing to worry about.” She pushes back from the table and stands. I see the unease in her hands when she reaches to pick up the cup of tea. “I’m not pregnant.”

  I’m relieved. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t, but I’m also curious about her history.

  I walked into this café worried shitless that I was about to become a dad. Now, I want to know why she was so desperate to become a mom and who the fool was that let her slip away.

  “I need to get to work now.” She puts the tea back down. “I’m not thirsty anymore.”

  “Chloe,” I say her name before I realize I don’t know how to handle what just happened between us.

  “I can’t be late.” She turns to her side. “Thank you for being honest about the condom. I’m sure there are a lot of guys who would have just disappeared.”

  Maybe. If there are men like that, they deserve a punch in the groin.

  “You had a right to know. “ I stand too, unsure if my legs are going to hold my weight. I feel anxious and confused. I don’t know why I want to hold her, but my hands are aching to reach for her to pull her close.