Drew clicked through the half-dozen stock market apps on his phone as he sat on a bench along the greenbelt that lined Waller Creek, waiting for London to arrive. Even the cars whizzing past on nearby I-35 couldn’t detract from the tranquility provided by this little oasis in the heart of the city.
After learning about the marathon heart surgery London had today, Drew decided a little decompression time was in order. He’d asked Larissa to order a picnic lunch to be delivered to this small park near the hospital. Fortunately for him, his assistant never did anything half-assed.
When he arrived at the meeting spot, he found a trio of women setting up a tent made out of gold-painted bamboo and gossamer drapes. Inside were mountains of pillows and plush cushions along with a four-foot-long table that sat about ten inches off the ground. In addition to the china place settings on the table, there were several vases of fresh flowers, scented candles, and sparkling white grape juice chilling in a silver champagne bucket. Drew had no idea when luxury picnics had become a thing, but count on Larissa to be on top of it.
A chef stood next to a portable cooking table a few yards away, waiting to prepare lobster crepes to go along with the salad and chilled lobster bisque that already awaited them inside the tent.
“What’s all this?”
He whipped around to find London walking up to the bench. Drew stood so he could greet her.
“Your lunch.”
Her mouth hung open in utter astonishment as she stared at the picnic setup. A speechless London was a rare sight.
“This is…breathtaking,” she said. She held up a brown paper bag. “But am I supposed to just ditch the PB&J I brought from home?”
“Definitely.” He laughed, taking the bag from her. “Save it for later. For now, we feast on lobster,” he said as he kissed her.
Just a few weeks ago she would have shied away from that tiny public display of affection. Now, she welcomed his PDAs—sometimes she even initiated them.
Drew still alternated between disbelief and outright euphoria when he thought about how far they’d come since he approached her at their class reunion. Whoever said lust couldn’t turn into love didn’t know what the hell they were talking about.
He guided London to the tent, holding her hand as she lowered herself onto one of the cushions. Her awed smile as she took in the furnishings and flowers made Drew mentally tack on an extra five thousand dollars to Larissa’s already sizable yearly bonus.
London lifted a carnation from the bouquet at the center of the table and brought it to her nose. Even dressed in surgical scrubs and her white lab coat, she looked as if she were posing for a portrait by one of the world’s most renowned artists.
She was fucking art.
She was everything. The energy and power she exuded captivated him. Her dedication and drive compelled him to want to do better. Her sensuality and that way she had of unabashedly stating what she wanted in no uncertain terms made him want to give her everything she demanded and more.
But first, Drew had to know if she wanted the same from him. His time at Travis County Hospital was quickly coming to an end, and while he wouldn’t press her for a declaration of love, he had to let her know where he stood. He just had to work up the nerve to tell her.
The amusing irony of his current situation wasn’t lost on him. He’d stared down some of the most powerful executives in the world without flinching, yet the thought of telling this woman he’d loved since she was a girl how he felt about her made his hands tremble.
He would tell her, but he would wait until after he’d fed her. He signaled to the chef to start their crepes.
“How did the surgery go?” Drew asked as he served them bisque from the crystal flask that sat atop a bed of crushed ice.
“The surgery was…eventful,” she said. “The patient coded on the table.”
“Damn, London. Did everything turn out okay?”
“He’s in the ICU and likely to recover, but this is the third time in two years that I’ve operated on this particular patient, and he gets frailer with each surgery. There’s just so much an eleven-year-old’s body can take.” She set the carnation next to her place setting, then looked to him. The despondency in her deep brown eyes pinched his heart. “The toughest part of this job is knowing that, eventually, you’re going to lose some of them.”
She projected this air of detachment when it came to the surgeries she performed, but Drew had expected from early on that it was a coping mechanism. Approaching her job with a certain level of remoteness allowed her to focus on the task at hand and not the mass of emotions undoubtedly attached to each case.
He leaned over and traced a finger along her cheek.
“I’m sure the patient’s family appreciates every second he has on this earth. You’re the reason he’s had more time with his family. Remember to take credit for the wins. You deserve that much.”
She nodded but remained silent. Drew saw the way her throat worked as she swallowed hard.
“You don’t have to be strong with me, London.” He continued to brush his thumb over her smooth skin, keeping his touch light. “Everyone needs to let go sometimes. Allow yourself to feel whatever you need to feel. I’m here to absorb it.”
Her eyes fell shut and she leaned into his hand. Her lips trembled as a single tear fell from the corner of her eye. “It can be so overwhelming,” she whispered.
“I honestly don’t know how you do it.” He brushed the tear from her cheek.
“I don’t know how the parents do it. I’m just doing my job, but those parents continue to go through this day after day after day. For so many of them, their child’s illness becomes their entire life.” She opened her eyes. “I’m blown away by their strength. Having kids is not for the weak.”
Drew tipped his head to the side. He waited a beat before asking, “Do you want kids?”
She vehemently shook her head. “I never have, and I am not ashamed to admit it.”
“You shouldn’t be,” he said. “I’ve never had the desire to have kids either.”
He stopped there, but he didn’t have to put voice to the rest of his statement for it to have an impact. This was yet another example of how perfect they were for each other.
“Lobster crepes?”
They both startled at the chef’s intrusion.
“Thank you,” Drew said, taking the plates from the man.
“This looks and smells amazing,” London said. “My PB&J didn’t stand a chance.”
“I have to give the credit to my assistant, Larissa,” Drew admitted. “My initial expectation when I asked her to set up a picnic was a blanket on the ground with some meat, cheese, and fruit for us to share.”
“That would have been nice too,” London said. She sent him a wry smile. “You’d better watch out. I can get used to this, Mr. Sullivan.”
He deliberately chose to disregard the amusement in her voice when he answered her.
“I want you to get used to it,” he said.
“Picnics in the park with you?”
“Every weekend,” he said. “And maybe even during the week. All the time.”
Her fork arrested on the way to her mouth. “What are you saying, Drew?”
“You’ve done something that I never thought would happen,” he said. “You made me fall in love with Texas. Well, maybe I’m not in love with Texas per se.” He sucked in a breath before continuing. “But I am in love with you, London.”
He felt as if all the air escaped his lungs as he watched London’s expression change from surprise, to what was possibly joy, but then to unmistakable apprehension.
She set her fork on her plate. “No, Drew. It’s too soon.”
He shook his head. “Not for me.”
“This thing between us…it…”
“It’s real,” Drew said. “I’ve been in love before, London. I know what it feels like. And what I feel when I’m with you is so far beyond anything I’ve experienced in the past. I’m not ready to let that go.”
“So you’ll uproot your entire life?”
“You say that as if it would be difficult. I’m based in New York, but I can work from anywhere. I’m willing to move back here if it means I get to be with you.”
“I’m leaving,” she blurted.
Drew’s head snapped back. “What?”
“Shit,” she released with a sigh. She dragged her palms down her face, then gripped the back of her head. “It’s a possibility,” she said. “Remember that extremely competitive pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program in Chicago I mentioned the other day? They’re pulling out the big guns in their effort to recruit me.”
Drew sat back. “This sounds serious.”
“It has done wonders for my ego—not that my ego was suffering,” she said with a short laugh. “I’m starting to think that hypertension isn’t the only thing my dad passed down to me. The line between being proud of your own accomplishments and being a narcissist is thin.”
“You are not a narcissist,” he said.
“What makes you so sure?”
“I was a hedge fund manager. I’m pretty sure if you research the profession with the most narcissists, that would be at the top of the list. You, on the other hand, were driven to overexcel because of your dad, and in the process became this badass surgeon hospitals around the country are willing to fight for.”
She shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. And these hospitals are putting up a fight. This offer out of Chicago is unlike anything I’ve heard of for a fellowship. I would have the chance to work with some of the top pediatric heart surgeons in the country, and the salary is so generous that it would allow me to pay off a huge chunk of my med school loan debt.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to offer to pay off her student loans, but Drew already knew what her answer would be. And that wasn’t what she wanted from him. She’d demonstrated in so many ways that she didn’t care about his money. It made him love her even more.
“That actually makes it easier for me,” Drew said. A confused frown creased her forehead. “I already have an apartment in Chicago,” he said. “In a high-rise on Lakeshore Drive, overlooking Lake Michigan.”
“That’s almost as impressive as the one overlooking Central Park,” she said.
“Almost.” He chuckled, but then he sobered. “Is this what you really want? This job in Chicago?”
“It is, hands down, the best move for my career,” she answered.
“But is it what you want?”
“It’s not that simple, Drew.” She hunched her shoulders. “I have to consider what makes the most sense for my future. Although, now that I think about it, what’s best for my career has never been the top deciding factor.”
She fiddled with the petals of the flower she’d lifted from the centerpiece earlier. When she spoke, a trace of that unapologetic self-assurance he’d come to love had entered her voice.
“I could have had my pick of residencies when I finished medical school,” she started. “Honestly, I was more aggressively recruited for residency programs than for these fellowships. You should look me up online. Some of the articles written about me back then really made me look like a rock star.”
“I’ve read some of them,” Drew said. “You are a rock star. County is lucky you chose to do your residency here. The more prestigious institutions would all love to have had you.”
“I began my residency at one of those more prestigious private hospitals, but when Doug Renault contacted me about joining him at County, I didn’t hesitate. It was a calling. I needed to be here.”
“Do you still feel that way?”
“I do.” She nodded. “Not only because of my patients, but I feel a bit possessive about the sensory room after fighting so hard for it. I don’t want to leave it in someone else’s hands.” She blew out a breath. “More than anything else, I want to be the big sister that my siblings need me to be. This incident with Nina really put things in perspective. I can do better when it comes to those kids. I should do better.”
“It sounds as if you’ve made your decision.”
“I just…I don’t know.” She massaged her brow. “Feeling this discombobulated is completely foreign to me, and I do not like it one bit. I pride myself on having my shit together at all times, but not these days. And now I have this thing with my dad to contend with.”
Drew frowned. “I thought you were done with your dad?”
“So did I.” She swirled her spoon around in the cold bisque, but didn’t sample it. “April texted me while I was in surgery. She said that Kenneth wants to meet with me, to talk things over.” She hunched her shoulders. “Maybe me calling him an asshole to his face affected him more than I first thought.” She finally took a spoonful of the bisque. “Oh, yeah, I can definitely get used to this. This is delicious.”
She alternated between the crepe and the soup. After taking a sip of sparkling grape juice from the champagne glass, she asked, “Are you really willing to move back to Austin just to be with me?”
“You ask that as if it isn’t reason enough. It is, London.”
An unhurried smile slowly made its way across her lips. “Liking you is a lot more enjoyable than not liking you,” she said.
Drew swallowed past the lump that lingered in his throat before asking, “How do you feel about loving me?”
Her pause was agonizingly long, but then her smile broadened. “It doesn’t feel nearly as scary as I thought it would,” she finally answered.
The intense, vibrant emotions that crashed into him left him breathless. Drew braced his hands on the table and leaned over it, then captured her lips in a slow, deep, decadent kiss.
“I’ve been in love with the idea of you for more than a decade,” he whispered against her lips. “But now, after getting to know the real you, to say I’m in love feels inadequate. I’m not sure what the words are for how I feel, I just know it’s a feeling I never want to lose.”