Rock Bottom (Dawson Family 6)

I gasp, bringing my hand to my mouth. “Are you trying to take advantage of me, Dean Dawson?”

He wiggles his eyebrows. “Is it working?”

I unbuckle my seatbelt. “It is. And yes, I want you to fuck me in the kitchen,” I say as a joke, though I really mean it. We’ve had sex on the living room couch and his bed, and that’s it for his house.

“That can be arranged.” Dean kills the engine and hurries out of the car, opening my door and carrying me inside. And—holy shit—he fucks me good and proper, and I’m too tired to drive home. We shower together and collapse into his bed. I set my alarm for half an hour earlier than normal, giving myself enough time to run home, feed Figaro, and change into scrubs.

I fall asleep in Dean’s arms and do my best not to disturb him as I rush around to leave in the morning.

“I’ll call you later,” I say, kissing him. He’s half-asleep but kisses me back. Then it’s a mad rush to do everything I need to and get to work on time.

I yawn my way through shift change, but I’ve made it, mind drifting to Dean and how perfect things seem between us. My shift starts with an emergency surgery followed back-to-back by a scheduled gallbladder removal. I’m more than ready for a break when the time comes to finally take one. Yawning, I head to the hospital cafeteria to buy myself a hot lunch and some coffee. I scroll through my phone as I eat, not thinking too hard over the fact that Dean hasn’t replied to my texts yet. He’s working as well, and I know he has a busy day at the office.

My allotted time for lunch ends too quickly, and I go back to the OR, dragging my feet the whole way.

“More roses came,” Hilary says, picking one up and smelling it. “Thank you.”

“You are most welcome,” I tell her with a smile. “Who are those for?” I ask, looking at the dozen or so roses left on the desk.

“You,” she says and wiggles her eyebrows. “From some guy named Dean.”

“What?” Shaking my head, I hurry to the desk and pick up the little card.

Rory-

Anyone who didn’t send you a rose before is a damn fool. You are perfect the way you are. I can’t wait to see you tonight.

-Your half-elven admirer (aka Dean)

I’m smiling ear to ear. How the hell did Dean know about this silly fundraiser?

Right. Dr. Jones—Archer—is best buds with Dean. He heard me say I never got anything like this sent to me when I was in high school and mentioned it to Dean.

“I thought you said you two weren’t serious.” Hilary plucks the note from my hands.

“We aren’t,” I counter.

“This seems serious to me.” She beams and gives the note back. “He did good, girl. Jeremy didn’t even send me a single fucking rose.”

“He probably didn’t know,” I say, reading Dean’s note over again.

Hilary waves her hand in the air. “I purposely left the flyer about this on the table. Three times.”

“He shows you he loves you in other ways, right?’

Hilary rolls her eyes. “Sometimes.”

An emergency surgery comes in, and we don’t have time to talk about Dean or relationships anymore. It’s nonstop until shift change, and I leave the hospital exhausted. I call Dean on my way, but his phone goes right to voicemail.

He didn’t plug his phone in last night, having left it on the island counter when we went upstairs together. His house in on my way home from the hospital, and I plan to swing by and see if he’s home before going to my place. I want to invite him over for the night.

My phone rings as I near Dean’s neighborhoods, but it’s not him. The number comes up as unknown, and I only answer because I recognize the area code.

“Hello?”

“Rory?”

“This is her.”

“Hey! It’s Michelle, from Silver Ridge General.”

“Oh.” I blink a few times. Why is my old nursing director calling me? “Hi.”

“I know you’re wondering why I’m calling, so I’m going to cut to the chase. We got some additional funding from the higher ups, and I was given the green light to hire a handful of nurses back who were cut. You’re at the top of my list.”

“Oh, uh, wow,” I say, slowing to a stop at a red light.

“But not only that, I’m looking for a unit manager.”

I pause. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale again. “You want me to be a unit manager?”

“I do. The job comes with a significant pay raise to what you were making here before as well.”

“Wow,” I repeat, and my mind flashes to Dean. “I…I don’t know. I really like what I have going on here.”

“It’s a lot to consider, I know, and this is out of the blue. How about I check back in with you tomorrow after you’ve had time to think things over?”