Facing West (Forever Wilde 1)

I squeezed my eyes closed and let out a breath. There was that L-word again. “Thanks.”

Large hands rubbed up and down my spine until his strong fingers threaded into my hair.

“Fuck this. Let’s pack up the Pipsqueak and go somewhere—maybe a walk down by the lake before I have to be on call again at the ER. What do you say?”

I thought about how easy it was to be in his company sometimes. How nice it felt to spend down time with someone like West—smart, kind, happy. I pictured us walking along the lakeside trail with Pippa in the stroller and how incongruous the image was with my real life. No city crowds or noise. Nothing but the clean, fresh air blowing off the water and through the trees and the light sounds of the water lapping along the shoreline. The quiet companionship of Dr. Sweetheart by my side.

“Yes please,” I said before reluctantly peeling myself out of his embrace.

The rest of the afternoon passed easily with the hot doctor whose bedside manner was beginning to settle around me like a healing balm. Spending time with West made being back in Hobie feel almost like a good diversion from my regular life. It made me wonder if perhaps I’d fallen into a rut back home of busting my ass at the shop and forgetting that there should be life outside of work. Friends and family. Fresh air and the late afternoon sun sparkling warmly off the lake water.

Spending time with Weston Wilde was supposed to have been temporary—like a stick-on tattoo at a child’s birthday party. But with every touch of his fingers in my hair and every brush of his lips over mine, I found myself wanting to cement those feelings into my skin forever with permanent ink.

I had to remember it was a delicate house of cards. And when Tuesday morning rolled around, all it took was one surprised phone call from Honovi Baptiste to send the whole thing tumbling down.

Chapter 26

West

After spending Sunday with Nico, I probably walked through my shift at the hospital that night with cartoon hearts floating around my head. I felt like a lovesick fool, but I didn’t care. I was content to enjoy the feeling as long as I could before he left and my life went back to normal.

Not only had we had hot sex on and off all weekend, but we’d also talked for hours. I felt like I finally had a glimpse into the person Adriana had implied he was. Nico was the guy who tried to protect his family in the only way he knew how—by leaving. And now here he was having to do it all over again. He had to spend this time bonding with Pippa, just to hand her over and walk away from Hobie for the second time.

I had grown up with nine siblings, armloads of aunts and uncles, and more cousins than I could count. Grandpa and Doc were like a second set of parents to me, and half the town was close enough to me to be considered family. And there was Nico—the complete opposite. After leaving Hobie, he’d had no family. None.

While he’d dozed on the sofa, I’d noticed the spiral notebook lying on the coffee table. It had Adriana’s name on it, so I reached to flip through it to see what was in it.

I’d been shocked to read page after page of Nico’s childhood memories of his sister. Funny things she’d said, crazy hijinks they’d gotten up to together, and even what her bedroom had looked like when she was younger with posters of her favorite bands and handwritten inspirational quotes by Maya Angelou stuck around her cheap vanity mirror.

He’d drawn cartoon versions of some of the things he described, and some of the drawings had even shown the funny crinkle of Adriana’s nose when she was frustrated with someone. The love he had for his older sister shone through those stories and drawings like hot beams from the sun. He must have spent all his waking hours on that book since he’d been there taking care of Pippa.

And I had to admit that after seeing it, I’d fallen just a tiny bit in love with Nico Salerno.

When my shift had finished, I’d stumbled back to my place for a few hours of sleep before the first patient appointment later that morning. I showered, slept, and woke up for a quick bite and coffee before making my way downstairs to begin my day.

Mondays after weekend overnights at the hospital were never fun. The practice was slammed with patients who’d gotten sick or injured over the weekend but didn’t want to pay hospital rates to visit the emergency room.

I hit the ground running and didn’t stop until I poured myself into bed that evening. The next day, the craziness started all over again as soon as I got downstairs to work.