Reed (Cold Fury Hockey 10)

"Later, Sutton," Reed says, then shoots me a wink. "You're so buying a TV so I have something to do after I wear you out."

My jaw drops as I have no response to that. The room is silent as Sutton and I watch Reed walk out my door, almost strutting like only a man can do who just had some amazing oral wake-up sex.

"No wonder it took you so long to answer the door," Sutton breathes out appreciatively.

I groan and turn to face her. "I'm so sorry about that. He got carried away this morning...and well, then so did I."

Sutton makes a dismissive wave of her hand and starts to make the coffee. "Girl, please. I'm just happy someone's getting laid. It's been way too long since Alex and I had sex."

I lean a hip against the counter as I watch Sutton move around my kitchen as if she was born there. "Let's see...if memory serves me from a rotation I did in obstetrics, you have to wait a month after childbirth?"

"Four to six weeks," Sutton says with a grimace. "Damn better believe we're going to try at the four-week mark, though."

I laugh and then push off the counter. I head to the cupboard with my mugs and pull two down.

"So...you and Reed, huh?" Sutton asks slyly.

With a sigh of complete acceptance that we are apparently a thing, I admit, "Yeah, me and Reed."

"He's such a good guy, Josie," Sutton practically gushes. "He's only been with the team a few years, and he's an amazing hockey player, but Alex really likes him a lot. I mean, as a person. Said he's just got really good values."

"He's a great guy," I affirm, but she hears that "thing" in my voice.

"But," she prompts.

"But I don't know what we're doing. We started out as friends. Buddies. Hell, he'd been banging his blond Barbie chicks while we were friends. And then, boom, now he's banging me."

Sutton snickers as I pass her the creamer from the fridge. She sets it by the pot that's starting to brew and turns to face me. "Just go with it. Enjoy it. There are worse ways to start a relationship, you know."

A sudden wave of jubilation--a lightness of heart--sweeps through me. She's so right. What could possibly be wrong about starting out as friends and going to lovers? It makes the basis of what we have stronger, and if I think about it, it established a mutual trust between us. How many casual flings fizzle out because you find out while the sex might be good, the person isn't so great?

Well, not that I'd know about that. I've never been into casual sex, and my last relationship was supposed to be for the long term, but still...I know that's solid reasoning, and I am a logical person if anything.

I grin back at Sutton and nod firmly. "You're right. I'm going to enjoy it and just go with the flow. Why not?"

"That's my girl," Sutton exclaims with a tiny pump of her fist.

Yes, I'm feeling very good about this.

Chapter 13

Reed

I see Josie walking across the darkened parking lot toward me. Well, toward her car. Her head is tucked down and she looks tired. When she finally looks up and locks her eyes on me, the exhaustion melts away and I'm rewarded with a happy, welcoming smile from her.

"You really have to stop stalking me in parking lots," she quips as she walks closer.

Then closer still until the tips of her shoes touch the tips of mine and she's offering her mouth to me for a kiss. I, of course, take it, because who wouldn't? It's Josie, and her lips are perfect. She tastes like mint gum and smells faintly of antiseptic, and for some reason that's sexy to me.

When she pulls back, she tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear and asks, "But seriously, what are you doing here?"

"Taking you somewhere," I tell her as I grab her hand and turn her toward my Tahoe that's parked the next row over.

"Where?"

"It's a surprise."

One of the things I've come to appreciate about Josie is that she's opening up to spontaneity. Finding joy in it. I love pushing her to explore and out of her little narrow world.

She looks delectable tonight in her scrubs, and it might possibly be the sexiest outfit I've ever seen her in. I'm sure that has to do with the fact that I respect her so much as a doctor that it just heightens my attraction to her, and I wonder if she will play dress-up games with me in the scrubs. I certainly would not mind getting a thorough exam from her.

Within minutes I have her loaded in the passenger seat and we're heading down the inner beltline. The sky quickly goes from the orange of a mid-summer sunset to the purplish black of twilight.

I'll give Josie continued credit. She doesn't ask where we're going and we lapse into the same easy conversation we've had every night since we began sleeping together a little over a week ago. I tell her about the charity golf game I played in today with a few of my teammates and she fills me in on all of the exciting cases she had at the emergency room, which included a toddler swallowing a rare coin from his father's collection.

"Holy shit. How did you get the coin out of the kid?" I ask her.

Josie laughs and leans across the center console to slap me on the arm. "You don't take it out. You just have to let the kid pass it naturally."

"Really?"

"Well," Josie says with a chuckle. "I did take an X ray to make sure that it was small and could pass safely. It's not like he swallowed something the size of an Olympic medal or anything."

"Okay, okay, okay...What's the weirdest thing you've ever had to remove from a patient?" I ask her with childish curiosity.

I glance across at her, and even in the dim interior lights I don't miss her eye roll. Still, she gives me a straight answer. "I once removed a piece of okra from a woman's rectum."

My head snaps to the right to look at her as my jaw drops open. "You're kidding me?"

Josie starts to cackle and bends over holding her stomach. When she finally is able to take a breath and look over at me, she says, "Of course I'm kidding you. Who puts okra up their ass?"

I'm not daunted. "Seriously, what's the weirdest thing?"

Her laughter dies down and she shrugs. "I really haven't seen much weird stuff. I guess maybe a bag of heroin from a drug dealer who swallowed it before the police caught him in a foot chase. I didn't do the actual surgery, but I diagnosed it."

I smile and shake my head as I see the turn I'm looking for up ahead. "You neve

r cease to amaze me, Doc. But it's so cool what you do for a living. Impressive as hell."

"Thanks, Reed," she says softly. "That means a lot."

I don't respond as I put my blinker on, and when we slow down Josie's looks out the passenger window. "Where are we?"

I point out of my driver's window across the highway. "That's the airport over there. Hawke told me about this place and said that he and Vale come out here sometimes to watch the planes taking off and landing."

"You brought me here to watch planes?" she asks in a teasingly droll voice. "That's kind of sweet. I guess."

I make a mental note to myself never to bring her here to watch planes, as that's clearly not an interest of hers.

I turn onto a gravel road that winds back through dense bushes and foliage at least ten feet high. The farther back we drive the farther we get from the glow of the airport lights and it's practically pitch dark when I pull into a small clearing.

I turn the car off, but before I open the door I turn to look at her. "Didn't bring you here to look at planes."

"Oh, you brought me out here to seduce me?" Josie asks with knowing exaggeration.

"No, I did not bring you out here to seduce you. Although that still might happen actually, but let's forget about that. Get out of the car."

Josie laughs as she pops the door open and hops out. I do the same and meet her at the back cargo door. I open it up and pull out a blanket and a six-pack of beer. I nod toward the interior. "Grab the basket."

Josie blinks in surprise as she grabs the picnic basket I had packed earlier. "Dinner?"

"I made some sandwiches. Threw in some chips."

I lead her a few feet away and lay the blanket out on the ground. Josie and I both drop down to it.

"It's kind of dark out here," she says as she looks around. "Kinda creepy, actually."

I laugh as I pull out a beer from the six-pack and twist the top for her. I hand it over and say, "Don't worry. I'll protect you from any killer clowns that might be lurking."

Josie takes a sip of her beer as I open one for myself. After I take a swallow I nod toward the blanket. "Lie down."

She cocks one of those beautiful modelesque eyebrows at me. "I thought you said you didn't bring me out here to seduce me."

"Lie down," I say little more forcefully, giving her a no-nonsense look. "On your back."