Love, Doctor (Inner Harbor 1)

“Yours is elevated too.” My hand continues its travels pulling his head down to me. We are so close the only thing separating us is the faint scent of sweet apples from the juice. I lick my lips and taste them. It doesn’t satisfy me nearly as much as Milo’s lips.

“I was going to wait to kiss you, but fuck it.” Milo presses his lips against mine, chins extending to breach the distance. I don’t know why he would want to wait, heck I don’t want to wait. His nose rubs my face as he inhales.

“Piper.” Crooning his lips find mine again and our kiss deepens.

His mouth tastes mine, his tongue licks swirling inside my lips sucking on my tongue. I twirl my tongue with his stroking inside his mouth meeting his for each step of this slow dance. His mouth devours mine until he stops kissing my cheek with a tenderness I don’t expect.

“I guess you like apples?” I say feeling strangely shy.

Grunting he replies, “I like you.” It feels like he’s holding back and I don’t press him again.

I try diffusing the moment with humor. “An apple a day?”

“You’re not keeping me away.” He kisses me again drawing me deeper into his spell. I don’t have time to think about anything but him and where this is and isn’t going.

Temporary, right?

Divorce after a year, maybe two?

I hesitate needing something firmer to stand on. Maybe it’s too late to question our decision but I do it anyway. “We don’t even know each other.”

Milo frowns. “We don’t, but we could try. That’s why I wanted to wait to kiss you, but I’m not very good at denying myself.”

He laughs but it sounds strangled.

“What are you saying?”

“People have married for lesser reasons. In my country, marriages have often been arranged. When I think about it, is this really any different?” Milo moves in to kiss me all over again, but I lean back hands pressing his chest to put space between us. He obliges but doesn’t seem to like it. I’m still wrapping my mind around what he said.

“Arranged marriages?”

“Yes, I’m from Georgia. I’ve been in the US since medical school.” I hadn’t thought about what this would mean to him.

“So you’ve already thought about all of this.”

His hands run down my shoulders. The juice perked me up, but his eager kissing mouth left me hazy.

“I have. I think we can make this work. We’re a little short on time to court each other, but we’re adults.”

“Court?” Such an old fashion word, I hope he didn’t think I would turn into some pliant housewife kneeding bread at dawn.

“Ah, date.” Milo clarifies catching my hair in his hands pulling me in and I wonder what the hell I agreed to after all.

“Do we really have time for that?” I ask as I calculate the days in my head.

“For you I’ll make the time.” He tells me with a kiss on my forehead that lingers and I believe him.

4

Milo

“We should celebrate.” It’s day thirty-two before I’m kicked out of America and we’re standing inside the county courthouse holding a stamped packet of papers. We have our official marriage license with all three copies notarized. The packet feels awfully thin to be so official.

Piper eyes me suspiciously. “Celebrate how?” I like keeping her on her toes and ponder what to do next. It’s early afternoon and if this could lead to kissing her again I would be fine with that. She tastes delicious and apples are my favorite snack when I’m not around her.

Don’t judge me.

I brush her loose hair back behind her ears catching the pink lock between my fingers. “Maybe we should have one date, or at least dinner so we can get to know each other. No friends, just us, okay?” The week has been busy. We both got blood tests and I squared away putting Piper on my health insurance plan once we got married official since it made better financial sense.