The Predicament (The Proposition #3.5) (9 page)

Standing back from the mirror, she appreciated her appearance. “Looking pretty sexy there,” she murmured. After quickly reapplying some makeup and fluffing out her hair, she pulled on her black, ankle length rain coat that if it had been brown, would have made her look like a detective in a trench coat.

After grabbing her purse and phone, she headed out of the office. She then made the twenty minute drive over to Nate’s hospital, in a break-neck fifteen minutes. Drawing her shoulders back, she stilled what little nerves she had and got out of the car.

When she reached Nate’s floor, she drew in a breath and stepped confidently off the elevator. She was secure in the knowledge that in just a few minutes she would be giving Nate the surprise of his life. Just the idea sent tingles up her spine and heat between her legs.

She paused at the nurses’ station. “Hi, Mrs. Rossi, how are you?” Amelia, the charge nurse, asked. Most of the nurses knew her from the holiday parties.

“Good, thanks you. Can you tell me where my husband is?”

“I think he just stepped inside a patient’s room. Would you like me to have him paged?”

“No, no,” Casey said a little too quickly. At Amelia’s raised brows, she said, “I wanted to surprise him.”

“Ah, I see. I think he’s in Room 415.”

“Thank you.”

Ignoring Amelia’s curious expression, Casey turned and started down the hall. When she finally reached room 415, Nate was just stepping out. At the sight of her, a pleased but confused look came on his face. “What are you doing here?”

Without answering him, she demanded. “Where’s the doctors’ lounge?”

His brows furrowed. “Down the hall. On the right,” he answered almost robotically.

She grabbed his hand and then proceeded to drag him down the hall, which considering his size and build was no easy feat. “Casey, what’s going on?”

When they reached the door, she grabbed him by both sides of the face and jerked him down to where she could lay one on him. Once they were both breathless from her kiss, she pulled away. Taking a step back, she untied her raincoat and flashed him.

His dark eyes bulged as his jaw dropped to his chest. “W-What the hell?”

“Now that I have your undivided attention, I want you to obey your Hippocratic Oath by giving me the best care possible.”

Dumbfounded, Nate replied, “You want me to what?”

She giggled. “Just how plain do I have to make it, Dr. Rossi?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered.

“If it’s not abundantly clear, I came here for you to fuck me.” When she tried the door on the doctors’ lounge, she found it locked. Eyeing the card reader on the wall, Casey then jerked Nate’s keycard off the lapel of his white coat. “I want you right here and right now.”

When she slid the card into the reader, it beeped approval and entry. As she shoved Nate inside, he shook his head. “Wait, Casey, not here—”

“Yes. Right here and right now.” Reaching for his pants, she tugged on his belt. “Let’s get that fabulous cock out so you can fuck me until I scream.”

It was then she noticed Nate appeared to be frozen in place. Gazing up into his face, she saw he was staring past her. Whirling around, her eyes bulged in horror at the sight of five interns sitting scattered along the couches. “Holy shit,” she muttered.

While most of the group sat open-mouthed with pens hanging in midair above their clipboards, a blond rose to his feet. With an amused smirk, he brought his hands together and started clapping. “You go, Dr. Rossi. Get ya some!”

Laughter broke out at his outburst. “Oh. My. God,” she moaned, as a fiery mortification burned her cheeks. She snatched the lapels of her trench coat shut and furiously wound the belt tight.

“Go back to your fucking paperwork, Farnsworth,” Nate growled before he grabbed her arm and led her into the adjoining room.

Once again, she moaned, “Oh my God.”

“I’m sorry babe, I tried to tell you.”

She knew she couldn’t blame him. He had tried, but she was too focused on her master fucking plan that she hadn’t listened to him. Great, not only had her plan gone down in flames, but she had embarrassed Nate in front of his interns. “I’m sorry.”

When she expected to find the usual understanding Nate, she got a big surprise. With a somber expression, Nate said, “Casey, this sex obsession nonsense has got to stop.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“No. Not until we’ve recaptured the heat,” she pleaded helplessly.

Nate shook his head adamantly. “It’s too much. It ends now.”

Casey threw up her hands. “What? You don’t want to have sex with me anymore?”

“Of course I want to have sex with you.” He motioned to her trench coat. “But not like this. Nor with all the other over-the-top antics you’ve been pulling lately.”

A strangled cry escaped Casey’s lips. “’Over-the-top antics’? That’s what you think of what I’ve been doing? Jesus, Nate, I’ve been busting my ass trying to please you, and that’s what you have to say about it?”

“It’s never been about me,” Nate said in a low voice.

“Excuse me?” Casey demanded.

Nate chewed on his lip in his hesitation. “This is all about you and your insecurities.”

“You asshole!” Casey shrieked.

“I’m sorry, but deep down, you know it’s the truth.”

Ignoring him, Casey pushed past him as she started for the door. “Casey, wait. We need to talk about this.”

“Fuck off,” she called as she stormed down the hall to the elevators. After slamming her hand against the down button, the doors opened up. She then punched the lobby button. To her frustration, Nate ducked inside just as the doors were about to shut.

Jabbing a finger at him, Casey hissed, “I am not talking to you right now.”

“Oh hell yes, you are.”

Casey opened her mouth to protest when Nate turned and hit the emergency button on the elevator pad. The car came to a screeching halt, causing both of their bodies to shudder. “What the hell do you think you’re doing trapping us in here?”

“When I said we were going to talk about this, I meant it, dammit. You’re not getting out of my sight until we make things right.”

Sneering at him, Casey replied, “Good luck with that one.”

With his hips, he pinned her to the wall. Taking her arms in his, he placed them over her head. “Now you listen to me. I love you—I have since the moment I saw you in Starbucks. Over all those years, we’ve had some ups and downs, but for the most part, it’s been good. Correct?”

“Correct,” she grudgingly growled.

“We’ve been a good team—we’ve learned to give and take from each other and work through our issues as a team. Correct?”

“What does this—”

Now it was Nate’s turn to growl. “Answer the fucking question.”

“Correct, Asshole!” she snapped.

“We’ve gone on some amazing trips and seen cool places, had a beautiful wedding and then honeymoon in Italy, and we’ve had wonderful times with our family and friends. Correct?”

“Correct.”

“During all those years, we’ve also managed to have some scorching hot sex. Correct?”

Her anger receded a little as she wondered where he was going with this. “Yes,” she murmured.

“So when you look back over all those years together, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?”

Closing her eyes, she let her mind momentarily drift. When she pictured them, their years of dating, engagement, and marriage, she saw one thing—and it wasn’t sex. It was the two of them smiling and laughing over the little things.

Tears pinpricked the back of her eyelids. “Oh Nate,” she murmured.

His fingers came to grip her chin, and she opened her eyes to gaze up into his. “It wasn’t the sex you saw, was it?” When she gave a quick jerk of her head, Nate sighed. “Then why can’t you see what we have is good, and you don’t need to fixate on whether we’re having mind-blowing sex 24/7?”

“I’m afraid,” she whispered.

“Afraid of what?”

Once again, she gave a jerk of her head. Although she was used to telling him everything, she couldn’t seem to bring herself to say this aloud. She hadn’t been able to voice this worry to anyone, not even Emma. Somewhere in her fucked-up head she thought that if she acknowledged it into words then it could really happen. So it had stayed festering in her mind.

The intercom in the elevator buzzed. “Everyone okay?”

“No,” Casey muttered as Nate replied, “Yeah, we’re fine.”

“We’re checking the system and should have you out in a minute.”

“Thanks,” Nate replied. He stared intently at her. “Please, Casey. We don’t have a lot of time.”

As she stared into the face of the man she loved with all her heart, her resolve began to waver. She didn’t want to carry around the burden anymore. Swallowing hard, she finally uttered the thought that had been plaguing her. “I’m afraid that without the hot sex, you’re going to find someone else and leave me.”

Nate’s dark eyes bulged. “Have you lost your mind?”

She snorted as she swiped the tears from her cheeks. “Yes, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve officially gone over the edge.”

“No offense, but you would have to be a little off to think I could ever leave you.”

“But don’t you see? You’re the one who is a catch in our relationship—you always were. You’re sweet, smart, and hot as hell. Any single doctor or nurse on this floor would kill to have you—hell, the married ones too I’d wager.” Tears welled in her eyes again. “They could give you something I can’t—something new.”

“Is that why you’ve been forcing all the crazy stuff on us?”

“Yes and no. Don’t get me wrong. You know how important sex is to me, and I selfishly wanted more heat.”

“I don’t think that’s selfish at all. You have needs, and I always want to meet them.”

“And you do—you always do. I guess, it’s just after having Olivia, I was afraid you might get bored with me. After I’d finally given you the child you always wanted, you might not need me anymore. You might begin to realize that you’d been saddled with Crazy Casey for way too long, and that the sexy nurse with the gravity defying breasts and no pregnancy stretchmarks could make you happier.”

When he chuckled at her summation, she gave him the stink-eye. “I’m sorry, but I can promise you that’s last thing I’ll ever think or do.”

“I’m sure a lot of men promise their wives that, and then they change their minds.”

Nate cupped her cheeks with his hands. Shaking his head, he said, “This is me we’re talking about. That’s not who I am or who I ever was. Deep down, you know that.”

As she stared into his eyes that shone with love for her and only her, she realized what a fool she had been. “Yes, I do,” she whispered.

“Babe,” Nate crooned as he pulled her into his arms. When she felt his arms tighten around her, she let her emotions truly go. As she wept inconsolably, Nate rubbed circles across her back while whispering words of love in her ear.

“I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry,” she murmured over and over.

“It’s okay.”

“No. It isn’t. I’ve been such an idiot.”

He gently eased her back to look at him. “How about I think of some way you can make it up to me?”

She smiled. “I’d like that a lot.”

“Good. Now shut the fuck up, and let me kiss you.”

For once, she did exactly as she was told. Just as Nate thrust his tongue into her mouth and deepened the kiss, the elevator doors popped open. But it was the sound of applause that caused them to jerk away from each other. Once again, they were faced with an audience—thankfully this time it wasn’t Nate’s interns. Instead, it was a few of the nurses and doctors Nate worked with.

“I better get going. I’ve caused enough trouble for today,” she said sheepishly.

Nate laughed. “I’ll see you at home.”

She nodded. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

After giving him a quick kiss goodbye, she headed off the elevator into the lobby. Although the day hadn’t turned out like she’d planned, she couldn’t wipe off the goofy, satisfied smile on her face as she walked out to the parking garage.