Drew massaged his temple as he listened to B. J. Clark on the other end of the line. He could always tell how upset B. J. was by the speed of his voice. It’s when the Oregonian in him came out.
His partner was speaking so fast Drew could barely catch the words, which did not bode well for Trident.
“Do I need to come up to New York?” Drew asked.
B. J.’s deep sigh came through the phone. “I think we can handle this remotely. But you, me, and Melissa need to get on this, and fast. I’ve set up a meeting for tonight. We have to do this on Tokyo time.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Drew said. He tried to hide his annoyance, but fuck!
This would make two nights in a row that he wouldn’t be able to spend time with London. How had he become so addicted to having her near that two nights away gave rise to such agony?
“We need to strategize before the call,” B. J. pointed out.
“Melissa is meeting with the contact in Kansas City right now, but let’s conference as soon as she’s done. We are not losing this account to Meacham,” Drew said.
“Damn right we aren’t,” B. J. said. “I’ll fly to Tokyo myself if I have to.”
“We’ll do our best to convince them to go with Trident without anyone having to go wheels up. But keep your passport handy—just in case.”
Drew disconnected the call with B. J. and immediately went in search of London. He’d heard mumblings through the hospital grapevine about some incident that happened earlier between her and another doctor. He figured it was Coleman, but he didn’t bother to seek out more info. He wanted to hear it directly from her.
Drew knocked on her door and was relieved to hear her call for him to come in from the other side.
“Hey,” Drew greeted. She looked past her computer monitor and smiled.
Goodness.
It still struck him as unbelievable that London Kelley directed smiles like that his way. It was a smile straight out of his adolescent dreams.
“I heard you had yourself a morning,” Drew said as he closed the door behind him.
“Nothing but gossips around here.” She rolled her eyes. “Last I heard, I had to be hooked up to an IV.”
His footsteps halted after two steps. “An IV? I thought you got into a fistfight with Frederick Coleman? Why would you need an IV?”
“The gossip is worse than I thought.” She motioned for him to sit down. “Give me just a minute,” she said, returning to her computer. She finished up whatever she had been working on, then rolled her chair a few inches to the right and folded her hands on her desk. “First, it wasn’t Frederick Coleman, it was another resident, Peter Foster from Oncology. And it wasn’t a fistfight that took me out, it was a dizzy spell. Nearly put me on my ass right there in the Jungle Room.”
Drew’s chest instantly grew tight. “Are you okay?”
“I feel fine,” London said. She glanced to the side, then back at him. “My blood pressure was slightly elevated.”
“Stress?” he asked.
“Definitely a factor,” she answered. “And hypertension runs in the family on my dad’s side.” She pushed her fingers through her thick hair. “I’m being forced to take a short leave.”
“Can they force you to take time off?”
“It was strongly suggested and…well, it’s probably for the best. Doesn’t mean I won’t lose my mind, but it’s starting to feel like I’m halfway there already. How much worse can it get, right?”
In all the time he’d known her, Drew had never seen London so off balance. She was self-assured to a fault. He usually found that confidence sexy as hell, but this touch of uncertainty didn’t look bad on her. It made her seem more approachable—more human.
“How long is this forced leave?” he asked.
“A week,” she answered.
“A week? You’re complaining about a week off?”
“Drew, I honestly don’t think I’ve taken an entire week off since my first year of medical school. But my supervisor has warned me that I’m going to burn myself out if I don’t slow down.”
“He’s right,” Drew said. “I’ve been there. It’s not pretty.”
Her brows arched. “How bad was it?”
“Bad,” Drew answered. “It’s not fair to compare our jobs because you literally have people’s lives in your hands, but it can be damn stressful when you’re dealing with people’s livelihoods too. One misstep on my part, one bad decision, and tens of thousands of people can be out of a job, have their retirement accounts go to shit, or lose everything they own.”
“Yeah, I’d say that’s stressful. What did you do when the burnout hit?”
“I powered through it, which I do not recommend,” Drew said. “If you’re going to take some time off, then do it and be smart about it.”
A thought occurred to him. He’d promised Elias that he would drive to the Hill Country to go through his mom’s things. Drew had planned to head out early tomorrow morning, but he was more than willing to postpone it by a day. He knew London was taking her little sister somewhere tomorrow so they could discuss the nude-selfies incident, but maybe he could convince her to join him once she returned.
“When does your leave start?” Drew asked.
“Noon.” She looked up at him. “I’m not flying to New York to see Central Park from your bathroom.”
Drew laughed and shook his head. “That would have been my suggestion if my partner had asked me to fly up there today,” he said. “Thankfully, I think B. J. will be able to handle this current issue Trident is dealing with without my having to leave Texas. However, I am going out of town for a couple of days.”
“When?”
It was possible that his mind’s capacity for wishful thinking had reached epic levels, but Drew could swear he’d noted a touch of despondency in her single-word question.
“This weekend,” he answered. “I need to see about my mom’s house. It’s been sitting empty for the past year, and my uncle thinks it’s time I go there and figure out what I want to keep and what needs to be donated.” He hunched his shoulders. “I’ve been putting it off for obvious reasons.”
“It’s tough to see things that remind you of her?”
She didn’t know the half of it.
“Something like that,” Drew answered. He sat back in his chair. “Anyway, there’s some really nice wineries on the way there, along with a few day spas. If you’re going to take some time off to unwind, maybe we could make use of both?”
The smile that slowly formed on her lips was hesitant at first, as if she still wasn’t sure she could trust him. It killed him that she continued to hold back, that she couldn’t have just a little more faith in these feelings he knew damn well she was starting to feel for him.
She lifted a pen with a bright yellow sunflower attached to it and tapped it on the desk. Studying him with an arched brow, she said, “Are you threatening me with a good time, Drew Sullivan?”
“I don’t make threats, Dr. Kelley. I make promises.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and allowed her eyes to travel the length of him. “When were you planning to leave?”
Drew reined in the urge to pump his fist in the air, though he did allow himself a moment to release the breath he’d been holding.
“Saturday morning,” he answered. “But we can put it off until late afternoon or evening. I know you have your outing with your little sister tomorrow.”
“Actually, I don’t,” she said. “Believe it or not, she’s on a band trip with the same boy she was going to send the nudes to.”
“What?” Drew’s head reared back. “Just how long has it been since your dad and stepmom were teenagers? They have to know better than that.”
“Don’t get me started.” London shook her head as she tossed down the sunflower pen. “I’ve decided to keep my opinions to myself. I’ll eventually talk to Nina.” She set her elbow on the desk and rested her chin in her upturned palm. “I’m not sure about going away with you for the weekend, though.”
“Two words: couples massage.”
She rolled her eyes, a bemused smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. “You are just determined to make me admit that we’re friends, aren’t you?”
“Friends? When was the last time you had a couples massage with a friend?”
“Oh, so we’ve moved past just being friends?”
Drew leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach. He projected an air of nonchalance, but inside sat a knotted ball of anxiety. He may have pushed too far. She could decide right here, right now that she wasn’t interested in going beyond what they already had. She could decide that the sex was good while it lasted, but a weekend getaway implied more than she was willing to commit to, and she’d rather just cut things off completely than continue moving in the direction he obviously wanted to take them.
He could laugh it off. He’d made a career of finessing himself out of prickly situations, of salvaging the unsalvageable. He could go through the motions of pretending it was only a bluff, a way to ruffle her feathers. He could.
But he wouldn’t.
“Yes,” Drew finally answered. “Does that scare you to think of us in those terms?”
She stared at him for a heartbeat before asking softly, “What terms, Drew? What exactly are we doing here?”
He rubbed his fingers over his lips, contemplating her question and a subsequent answer that wouldn’t send this suddenly consequential discussion careening into a guardrail.
The truth was, he wasn’t sure how to define them. In his opinion, they’d moved past the random hookup stage after that Sunday afternoon when she’d come back to his hotel room to retrieve her bag. He’d had a couple of friends-with-benefits relationships over the past fifteen years, but this felt different. Deeper. In the span of just a few weeks, he’d formed a more intense connection with London than with any former girlfriend.
Did that say something about her, or about how resistant he’d been over the years to put himself out there? Maybe it was both.
“I don’t know,” Drew answered honestly. “Maybe this weekend away will make exactly what this is a bit clearer.”
“Or maybe it will become clear when you finish this job at County and go back to New York,” she said.
“That won’t have the effect you think it will,” Drew said. “Trident owns a private jet. And if it’s in use, I can charter a flight to Austin every single week if I have to. Or you can fly to New York on your days off. It’s only a few hours.”
“It’s even closer from Chicago,” she murmured.
Drew frowned. “Chicago?”
She shook her head. “Forget I said that.”
“No, what did you mean?”
She looked past his shoulder, toward the door. “I’ll tell you about it later. On the drive to the winery.”
He couldn’t hold back his triumphant grin, even though he knew she’d probably give him shit about being cocky. Drew pushed himself up from the chair and flattened his palms on her desk.
Leaning forward, he whispered against her lips, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“The morning?” She jerked her head back before his lips could connect with her mouth. “Not tonight?”
Drew grimaced. “Yeah, sorry. I forgot to mention this earlier, but I have what promises to be a long conference call with my two partners tonight.”
“So, no sexy shenanigans for the second night in a row? You’re killing me, Sullivan.”
“I will make it up to you this weekend,” Drew promised. He leaned closer, seeking permission.
She met him halfway, gracing his lips with a sweet, quick kiss. “You’d better.”