The Surgeon's One Night to Forever Read online

  “What?” Cort asked, the corners of his lips lifting.

  “You know what would make my mother very, very happy? If you came to the wedding with me.”

  “What?” he asked again, this time with a tone of such horror it actually made her snicker.

  “She’s asked me a million times if I’m bringing anyone, and it would be a huge favor to me if you’d come.”

  “But—”

  “Cort, listen. We both know you’ll be gone on to your next adventure in a few months, and this thing between us will be over, but my mom doesn’t know that. It’ll make her happy to think I’m in a relationship, you’ll have a great time, and it might even pave the way to my having that difficult conversation with her.”

  The last part she threw in for effect, knowing nothing would make that talk any easier, but also cognizant of Cort’s belief in the importance of it. Manipulative? Maybe a little. But having Cort around would make the wedding more bearable.

  She really was dreading it.

  “First off, isn’t it dishonest to let your mother think our relationship is more than it really is? And, secondly, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t fit in with your family and their friends.”

  “Yes, and no,” she answered succinctly. “It is sort of dishonest, but you have no idea how much pressure I feel every time she asks me about my relationship status. It would get her off my back, at least for a little while, and genuinely make her happy. I don’t see the problem with that, as long as we’re on the same page.

  “As for you not fitting in, besides the fact that Robbie and Giovanna have a wide variety of friends, and my family, both sides of it, are a mess, you’re a handsome, charming doctor with a sterling reputation. Believe me, you’ll fit in better than I will.”

  The look he gave her made her feel twitchy. It was the kind of expression that said, louder than words, that he saw through her argument to the heart of the matter once more.

  And her instincts were proven correct when he said, “You really aren’t sure of your place in your family, are you?”

  How could she explain it to him when it was something she’d grappled with all her life? But she felt as though she owed it to him to at least try.

  “I know they love me,” she said slowly, “but I’ve really never felt as if I fit in. They’re charming and sociable and, in their own way, affectionate. I’ve always felt a little distant, never knew how to get along in the world they traverse so easily, and always knew I wasn’t able to meet my parents’ expectations. So I set my own, and decided to live my own life, and that just widened the gap.”

  Without warning, he reached across the table and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, the smile on his face both gentle and conspiratorial.

  “Can I say, from my perspective, it’s a life well lived? I’m so glad we met, because you’ve opened up my horizons in the best of ways. I think you’re amazing, and shame on your parents if they don’t too.”

  Warmth flared up into her face. Dear goodness, when was the last time she’d blushed? Maybe fourth grade? It made her want to duck her head, but Cort held her gaze with his effortlessly. Best to capitalize on the moment, if she could.

  “So you’ll come with me?”

  His lips quirked, and although he shook his head he also said, “Yes.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  BEFORE LIZ COULD even touch him, the patient jerked away.

  “Whaddaya doing? Haven’t yah poked me enough?”

  As his alcohol-soaked breath blew across her face, Liz tried not to inhale too much of it. While he’d been given thiamine and glucose intravenously, and had been in the ER for a while, he was still intoxicated enough for some symptoms to potentially be masked. Frequent examinations were necessary to make sure nothing had been missed, although she suspected the old saw about drunks and children being protected was true of this patient. His injuries were minor, considering he’d been struck by a car.

  “Mr. Kendrick, I have to keep checking you to make sure you don’t have internal injuries.”

  “But I’m fine.”

  As if to prove it he tried to roll, perhaps to sit up, but was stopped by both Liz and the attending nurse holding him down.

  “I’m afraid that isn’t true. You were hit by a car. At the very least you have a broken nose and I suspect a fractured ankle.”

  “Jush get thish thing off me and let me go home. I tell you, I’m fine.”

  Liz and the nurse, Marta, then found themselves in a bit of a wrestling match with the inebriated patient over the cervical collar. Although Liz hadn’t detected any neck or back injuries, she wasn’t taking any chances and had ordered a C-spine X-ray, which hadn’t been done yet. Just as Mr. Kendrick gave up, apparently deciding instead to treat them to a mangled, off-key rendition of a song Liz was sure she’d never heard before, the door opened and Cort walked in.

  For a moment even Mr. Kendrick went still, and Liz’s knees went ridiculously weak on seeing him, her entire body thrumming to life.

  She refused to think about how attached she was getting to Cort. How he’d invaded every facet of her life. A part of her wanted to just enjoy it all, but the realist in her kept reminding her that he wasn’t going to stick around so she should start rebuilding her defenses.

  That was proving extremely difficult.

  Which was why she made sure to keep her work persona intact with him.

  But it didn’t help that just seeing him filled her with warmth and still made her sometimes forget what she was doing.

  Like just now.

  Gathering herself, she asked, “Can I help you?”

  The words came out sharper than she’d planned, but Cort didn’t seem fazed.

  “I was called down to examine an accident victim. I could have sworn this was the room they told me to come to.”

  “Oh, no.” There was clear annoyance in Marta’s voice. “We have a trainee on the desk today, and she’s been messing things up terribly. I know I told her Dr. Nolan Smith, the orthopedic surgeon. I’ll go and rectify the situation, Dr. Prudhomme.”

  She made a beeline for the door, and Liz replied, “Thank you, Marta.”

  “Doc. Doc!” Mr. Kendrick lifted a hand and waved it at Cort. “Can you get these women off me, please? I just wanna go home and they won’t let me.”

  Cort stepped closer to the bed, into a position where Mr. Kendrick could see him clearly, thankfully on the opposite side from Liz. She’d had to attend Giovanna’s bridal shower, which had been a two-day spa retreat in the Hamptons. While she’d enjoyed the change of scenery and the pampering, the downside had been two nights away from Cort, and she was feeling the lack. The last thing she needed right now was to be too close to him. She might forget herself and touch him.

  Her fingers tingled at the thought.

  “Well, if they won’t let you, it’s because they have good reason. Why don’t you just relax and let Dr. Prudhomme fix you up?”

  “There’s nothing to fix. I feel great.”

  Cort shook his head. “Listen, Dr. Prudhomme is one of the best. Let her take care of you, and you’ll be out of here as soon as possible.”

  Mr. Kendrick replied with a belch, then mumbled under his breath. Cort shot Liz a knowing half smile, then said, “Sorry for the intrusion. I’ll be on my way.”

  Before she realized what he was about to do, Mr. Kendrick grabbed Liz’s wrist, saying, “My face hurts. And my leg.”

  The drip was finally doing its job, sobering him up enough for the pain to break through. “I’m sure they do, Mr. Kendrick. As I told you, you have a broken nose and an ankle injury. Does anywhere else hurt?”

  “No. No,” he mumbled, closing his eyes. “I don’t think so.”

  But something bothered her about the bruising she’d noticed as they’d cut away his clothing. Still, she hesitated. If she let
Cort leave and then called for a surgeon, someone else might respond and she wouldn’t have to deal with working with him right now.

  Realizing what she was doing, she gave herself a mental kick in the butt. Endangering a patient because her hormones were in disarray? Ridiculous.

  “Excuse me, Dr. Smith,” she called out, just as Cort got to the door. “A moment, please?”

  * * *

  As it turned out, Mr. Kendrick had a splenic rupture requiring surgery.

  After Cort left to go and scrub in, while Liz was signing off on her part of Mr. Kendrick’s care, she was still brooding about her almost compulsive need to be around Cort, which led her to think about the days just past.

  The spa retreat hadn’t been all fun for her. Giovanna, caught up in what Liz thought of as “bride fever,” had turned her attention to Liz.

  “We need to find you a good man,” she’d declared to the entire group at dinner. “I don’t understand why no one has snapped you up yet.”

  Thankfully, Giovanna hadn’t mentioned Liz was bringing a plus one to the wedding. Probably because Liz had explained Cort was just a friend from work, invited to get Lorelei off her back about her constantly single state. Giovanna had bought the story without question.

  Liz’s cousin, Moira, had giggled and interjected, “I’m not sure the man exists who could deal with Liz. He’d either have to be a saint or a doormat.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Giovanna asked, obviously annoyed and narrowing her eyes at the other woman.

  But Moira just shrugged. “Liz is stubborn, and cranky. Not to mention obsessed with her job. What man’s going to put up with that long term? He’d have to either deal with constant arguing or give in all the time.”

  “She’s none of those things!”

  Liz loved the way Giovanna had jumped to her defense, but she was forced to admit, “I am dedicated to my job. And stubborn too.” She drew the line at admitting to “cranky,” although all her life she’d had people constantly telling her to smile, and getting annoyed when she refused. If that made her cranky, so be it.

  “And you’re difficult,” Moira pointed out, obviously enjoying herself. “Everyone says so.”

  Unable to resist, Liz gave her cousin a bland look, and rebutted, “People only say that when I won’t give in to them, and they know I’m right. Who has time to pander to anyone’s ego like that?”

  “If you were married, or even seriously involved with someone, you’d have to, just for a peaceful life,” said another woman.

  That started a debate about the fragility of the male ego, and the lengths women sometimes had to go to in order to get their own way. Sitting back and listening to it, Liz knew herself incapable of sustaining a relationship if that was what it took. Yet she didn’t feel superior, or disdainful toward the other women, just pensive and a little sad, as it seemed to solidify all the thoughts she’d had about herself.

  She also couldn’t help wondering if this type of mind-set was what had led her mother to forgive her husband and take in his love child to raise as her own. Yet wouldn’t there be some of the thinly veiled resentment the women she was listening to confessed to feeling and acting out in myriad little ways? Lorelei Prudhomme had never exhibited that, as far as Liz could see. And if she’d done so to her husband, would that bond, that united front they always exhibited as a couple, truly exist?

  The more she wondered about it, the more confused she got. Cort had said she’d need to get to the bottom of it before she could get past it, and he was probably right. But the more time that passed, the more it seemed she was the only one who wanted to know, and the harder it became to bring up. While she was direct and no-nonsense with everyone else in her life, somehow it was almost impossible to be that way with her parents.

  Old habits ran too deep.

  Now, as the nurses were wheeling Mr. Kendrick up to the surgical floor, Liz’s phone vibrated, and her heart missed a beat when she realized it was Cort texting.

  You busy tonight?

  No.

  Thankfully, Robbie’s friend Simon had taken on the stag party organization, and since it was being held at an exclusive, men’s only club, Liz not only didn’t have to go but was actively not invited.

  Meet me at my apartment after work? Got my uniform back from the cleaners. You need to tell me if it still fits.

  Sure.

  Looking at her laconic reply and comparing it with the eagerness she actually felt at the thought of being with Cort that evening made her snort. Just the thought of him in his uniform made her mouth water.

  He’d be lucky if he got a word out before she jumped all over him. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, she’d missed him that much.

  * * *

  The city had been struck by a rare mid-June heatwave, catching many people by surprise. Apparently including the maintenance people at Cort’s apartment building, which he realized when he got home that evening to find the air-conditioners weren’t working.

  Letting himself into the apartment, he found Liz lying on the couch with a couple of fans blowing directly on her. All she was wearing were her panties and a thin cotton camisole, sweat making them stick to her luscious curves, revealing more than they concealed.

  “Why didn’t you call and tell me what was going on here?” he asked, closing the door behind him, wanting only to go over there and make her even sweatier. “We could have met at your place instead.”

  “I don’t mind,” she replied, stretching one leg out and pointing her toes at him. The motion was erotic, electrifying his blood, making him instantly hard. “I like the heat. Makes a nice change from the winter and cold, damp spring. Hopefully it’ll go away before the wedding, though, or I’ll be a sweltering mess.”

  He dropped his backpack and toed off his shoes, his eyes never leaving her. They knew each other well enough now to know the signals. Liz wasn’t in the mood to talk and, truth be told, neither was Cort.

  It had only been a couple of days that she’d been gone, two nights when he’d tossed and turned and woken up in the morning, disappointed not to have her draped across his chest. The sense of danger rising inside him ever since that day on the hospital roof had grown almost too insistent for him to ignore, but once more he pushed it aside. There was no way he could ignore his visceral attraction to her as he watched her eyelids slide almost closed, saw her lick her lips in anticipation.

  He unbuttoned his shirt. Once it was off, he made short work of the rest of his clothes. Liz shifted on the couch, her fingers curling into her palms.

  She was waiting for him to take control, and the sense of power her quiescence gave him sent a streak of fire through his blood. He could never get enough of that feeling. Never get enough of her.

  The thought made his heart miss a beat, but it didn’t make his hunger for her abate, his ravenous desire, his heart-deep want.

  Later he’d deal with the fallout, plan his exit strategy, before it became impossible to contemplate. Before he made a fool of himself and opened the way to the heartbreak he knew this glorious woman would cause.

  Right now, though, all he could see, all he could think about was her.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  THE DAY OF the wedding dawned bright and warm, the heatwave thankfully having dissipated. Cort took a last look at himself in the mirror before leaving the house, making sure his mess uniform was pristine.

  It felt strange to have it on again after all this time. He’d contemplated renting a suit for the wedding but had decided not to. He wasn’t going to go to Liz’s brother’s wedding as anyone or anything other than himself. While being an army medical officer no longer defined him, it was still better than pretending he was the kind of man who had a morning suit hanging in his closet, no doubt perfectly pressed by his valet.

  Did men even have valets anymore? And if they did, did those valets p
ress their suits?

  Those were the kinds of questions Liz, and most of the people he was about to meet, would have answers to, whereas Cort had no clue.

  Weird, the types of things that went through his mind when he was on edge. And he definitely was on edge. He’d go so far as to say nervous, which wasn’t a sensation he enjoyed in the slightest. Neither he nor Liz had been at their best the last few days. Cort had tried to put it down to the fact the hospital had problems with some of the new equipment and staff, making normal activities more difficult than usual. And, of course, there was the upcoming wedding, which necessitated her running up and down and them spending less time together.

  But he knew there was more to it than that, at least on his part. He couldn’t shake the feeling this wedding was going to prove the beginning of the end for his intimate relationship with Liz. He didn’t believe in precognition or anything like that, but had felt something building between them, like the precursor to lightning. Or a harbinger of a turning point, and he had no reason to believe it would be a positive one. Cort did believe in following his instincts, and those instincts were telling him to brace for whatever was coming.

  Better yet, get out in front of it, which was what he’d been trying to do. He always felt better with a plan B in his back pocket.

  Cort just didn’t want to think about telling Liz his plans. Not that she’d care one way or the other. But he cared. Thinking about saying goodbye to her made him feel slightly nauseous.

  Not the time to think about it, he told himself, checking his appearance one last time then brushing at a barely visible speck of dust on his service cap. Getting through the day was going to be stressful enough.

  Right on time, the car service called to say the town car was downstairs, and Cort let himself out of the apartment.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Liz had said yesterday, before heading off to the hotel where all the wedding party was staying. “I told Giovanna and Robbie you were just a friend I invited to keep Mom off my back and neither Mom nor Dad are the kind to question you about our relationship. Although Mom will make a fuss over you, wanting to make a good impression, in case you stick around.”