“I can’t believe you seriously did that to me,” I mutter out of the side of my mouth to Josie. It’s the first time tonight I’ve been alone with her.
She laughs mischievously and looks up at me. She’s sipping from a bottle of water, as she’s on call tonight, and she waves it at me. “You all but dared me to set you up on a date, Reed.”
This was true, and I’m regretting it now.
“Yeah, well…what I imagined a Doctor Barbie to be and what you imagined are two different things.”
Josie laughs again, and in this moment, I realize she intentionally set me up with the dullest person she could find. Granted, the woman is a knockout and has the tall, busty, and blond thing going on, but past that…I almost fell asleep talking to her tonight.
I was really proud of myself for strong-arming Josie into coming to Alex and Sutton’s party. This entire summer is going to be party after party as the Cup circulates its way through the organization, every person getting a day with it to do what they want. Tradition demands you throw a hell of a party, and I knew Josie would have a good time.
I knew I’d have a good time, but it would be even better with Josie there, because I’ve found out these past seven days since the pool that she is a hell of a lot of fun. Conversation with her is like a never-ending merry-go-round and she makes me laugh a lot. I also like looking at her, an added bonus.
What I did not count on was when I showed up at her door to pick her up she had someone there with her. She invited me in and then promptly introduced me to her fellow ER doctor Kathy Krantz. Not going to lie, but that first visual impression was good. She was smokin’ hot. But the minute I heard her voice—all flat and monotone—I knew I was in for a bad evening.
I was able to shoot a glare at Josie when Kathy went to the restroom before we left. She just shrugged and said, “What? When I told you I didn’t want to impose on this team event, you told me that it was open invitation and you were allowed to bring whoever you wanted. So I thought it would be the perfect time to set you up with someone who had a bit more going on upstairs.”
And Kathy is smart, no doubt. But she’s like that teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off who speaks in that nasally, monotone, drawling voice, “Bueller, Bueller, Bueller.”
“Do you know what she talked to me about tonight for a solid twenty minutes? How to diagnose appendicitis. I swear, Josie, I almost smashed my beer bottle on the edge of the Cup so I could stab my ears with the broken end.”
Josie laughs again and I’m glad I amuse her.
No seriously…I like her laugh, so it’s all good.
Right now, it’s all good because Kathy ended up running into another doctor friend of hers who’s a urologist, and I swear, they both speak in the same dull tone. Last time I saw them they were discussing penile warts or something.
“And what’s the lesson we learned here tonight?” Josie asks me with a smirk.
“Never to let you set me up on a date,” I mutter as I look down at her.
“Anything else?” she prods, her smirk getting, well…smirkier.
“That I like them dumb and quiet?” I ask hesitantly, because I’m not sure what the lesson is.
“That attraction is much more than just looks,” Josie says primly as she turns to face me fully. “It’s as simple as that. For some reason, women just know and accept that. Men have a harder time coming around to it.”
“That’s your backhanded way of saying I’m shallow?”
“I’m just trying to show you that what’s on the inside is more important than what’s outside. I think you were already getting that, but it should be drilled home now.”
I chuckle and take a sip of my beer. It’s totally drilled home, and yes, I already knew it. But Kathy Krantz proved to me that physical beauty provides that immediate attraction, but it can be completely eradicated if your insides don’t match your outside.
Like Josie for example.
Beautiful both inside and out.
“You’ve made your point,” I admit to Josie.
“That meaningless sex without something deeper isn’t very fulfilling,” she pushes at me with a sly grin. “I think you’re evolving, Reed.”
My eye rolling is involuntary and I can’t help but ask, “You talking from experience, Doc?”
“I am.” Her voice is soft and her smile turns so wistful my heart aches a little for her.
“Want to talk about it?”
She shakes her head quickly and lets a brighter smile shine through. “Nothing to talk about.”
Movement behind Josie catches my attention and I see Kathy heading our way. I groan audibly enough that Josie looks over her shoulder, then back to me with a wink. “Better buckle up.”
“Please, please don’t make me talk to her, Josie,” I implore.
Josie’s eyes may be twinkling with amusement, but I also see empathy within them. She knows Kathy was never going to be of interest to me and she succeeded in making her point. She also doesn’t want to see me suffer, and that’s the mark of a good friend.
She opens her mouth as if she’s perhaps going to say to me, “I got your back,” but instead a large hand clamps down on her shoulder and Alex Crossman is there, turning Josie to face him.
“It’s Sutton…something’s wrong with her,” Alex says in a full-blown panic.
Alex Crossman is the captain of the Cold Fury and our undeniable leader. He’s calm, assured, and anchors the team solidly. Right now, he looks like he’s about to splinter into a million fragments, because if something’s wrong with his wife, Sutton, it’s probably pregnancy related, as she’s ready to drop at any time.
It’s amazing to watch as Josie morphs into an almost unrecognizable creature. Those brown eyes of her lose the twinkle of amusement and harden into orbs of pure focus and concentration. Her spine straightens and her shoulders square as she pushes the bottle of water she’s holding at me. I grab it without thinking, still mesmerized by Josie’s transformation. Her voice is sharp and crisp when she asks, “Where is she?”
Alex doesn’t even respond but turns and pushes through the crowd. Josie follows and I’m right behind her. He leads us through the throng of people spread all throughout his house. No one seems to notice that anything is wrong and I’m guessing that’s a good thing.
I also have to wonder what it is about Cold Fury women going into labor at hockey parties. Just a month and a half ago, Gray Brannon-Evans, our team’s general manager, went into labor during a large get-together at her father’s house. Brian Brannon owns the team and he cleared everyone out of his house in about five minutes when that happened. Maybe I’ll do that for Alex, but for now, I’m just following in case Josie needs some help.
Alex walks quickly with his head down, and I’m sure he’d throw a couple of elbows if anyone tried to stop him. He leads us down a hallway and through closed double doors that lead into the master suite.
Josie walks in right behind him, and when I step over the threshold, I come up short as I see Sutton on the carpeted floor. She’s on her hands and knees, back hunched and moaning in pain. I stop so suddenly that someone runs right into my backside. I see it’s Kathy, who must have followed along, sensing something was wrong.
I step aside to let Kathy in, and that’s when I see blood all over the back of Sutton’s peach summer dress.
“Fuck,” I hiss out under my breath. I note that Sutton’s cousin Olivia is kneeling down beside her with her hand resting lightly on her back. Olivia’s fiancé and my teammate, Garrett Samuelson, is standing a few feet away with a matching look of panic on his face.
Josie surveys the situation and jumps into action.
She points to Garrett and then looks at me. “You two, out of here. Reed, call 911 and get an ambulance here.”
She then turns to Alex. “Get some clean towels.”
Not bothering to look her way, she merely commands, “Kathy, come over here and help me get her onto the bed.”
Everyone moves at once. I turn from the doorway as my hand dives into my pocket. I grab my cell phone and place the call to 911 as I step a few feet into the hallway. The low din of the party noise fades as I put a hand to my other ear so I can hear the dispatcher. Garrett steps out behind me and shuts the door.
He shoots me a worried look and I tell him, “It will be fine.”
Then I’m connected to emergency dispatch and ask for an ambulance.
“You shouldn’t have waited,” I hear Josie saying before I see her. I’m sprawled in a chair in the labor and delivery waiting room, my legs stretched out while I play Angry Birds to pass the time.
I glance up and she looks exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. I know that feeling. It’s how you feel after winning the Stanley Cup.
She gives me an admonishing look. “I could have taken an Uber home.”
I push up from the chair as I grin at her. “Look at you, all worldly now and using Uber.”
Her hand flies out and she pops me in my stomach with the back of it. I make an exaggerated ooph and she laughs.
“Ready to get out of here?” I ask her.
With a tired nod, she drawls. “Am I ever. That was intense.”
So fucking intense. After I called for an ambulance, I sat outside the closed doors to Alex and Sutton’s bedroom in case something else was needed. Garrett went out to advise people what had happened and to wind the party down, as well as direct the ambulance attendants where to go. He managed to get most everyone dispersed before the ambulance got there about five minutes after my call.
After they arrived, they went into the room without closing the doors behind them. I kept my back turned and guarded the door from a few feet away, but I could hear everything that transpired.
It appeared that Sutton was having what was called a precipitous birth and things were moving very fast. Luckily her labor wasn’t so far along, so Josie and Kathy felt she could make the short trip to Raleigh Memorial Hospital and be well settled in before the baby crowned. I winced, though, when I heard Josie tell her it was too late to get an epidural.
Josie rode in the ambulance with Kathy. I brought Alex to the hospital and Garrett and Olivia followed in their car.
I knew the baby arrived safely and in excellent health because Josie texted me that she did about forty-five minutes after they arrived. She had stayed in there for the birth after Sutton’s OB-GYN arrived. Sutton was doing well and the night would be considered a rousing success.
Glancing down at my watch, I say, “It’s only 11 P.M. Still plenty of night left. Want to go do something?”
It’s not that I want to go out and do something in particular, I just don’t want the evening with Josie to end. But Josie yawns and says, “I’m whipped.”
I tamp down the disappointment and refuse to give up. “Come on…how about at least a beer and we’ll work on the Grand Canyon puzzle.”
Josie tilts her head at me, her brown eyes shining at me speculatively. “Reed, why would you want to spend a Friday night doing that? You’re turning into a lame ass like me.”
“Shut up,” I say as I hook an arm around her neck and turn her toward the elevators. It’s a brotherly sort of move, but it also puts her closer to me than she’s ever been for an extended period and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it. “I’ve found that you’re actually kind of fun to hang out with. I mean, where else can I go and watch a hot, sexy doctor perform the miracle of childbirth?”
“Technically you didn’t watch me do that,” she points out with a laugh.
I slap the button to the elevator and refuse to move my arm as we wait for it. “Yeah…but you have the hot, sexy doctor part down.”
Josie laughs again and it’s adorable that I can hear some embarrassment within it. Josie is a fun woman to tease, even more so when you push her way out of her comfort zone. I don’t know what her past romantic life has been like, but I don’t think it was filled with someone telling her those things.
That makes me sad for her, because she is the type of woman who deserves to hear it.
“Are you hungry?” I ask as the doors slide open. I reluctantly let her go so she can precede me into the elevator.
“I could eat something,” she says as she taps the lobby button.
I step back and lean against the wall. “Let’s stop at Five Guys and grab some burgers. I’ve got beer at my house. We’ll work on the puzzle until you’re too tired to see straight, and then we’ll call it a night.”
Josie turns to face me, leaning her shoulder against the wall. She shoves a hand down into her pocket. “This is sort of weird and also not weird, you know?”
“Granted, it’s a little weird someone goes into labor—”
“Not that,” she says with an eye roll. “You and me. Our friendship. It’s really sort of weird, and not weird.”
“Why would it be weird?” I ask her.
I don’t get an eye roll, but a spectacularly cocked eyebrow that’s fully loaded with skepticism. “Name one other good friend that you’ve hung out with that is a female.”
My mind whirs and flits, mentally flipping through all the women I’ve been with in the last few years. Every fucking one of them has been a loose, casual sexual relationship. I even push back further in time, all the way to high school. I’ve never been one to have platonic female friends. I was always the jock who hung with my buddies, much as I do now with Marek and Holt. Women were, I’m ashamed to say, not worth much of my time.
Until Josie, that is.
“Okay, maybe it’s a little weird,” I admit in defeat.
“It’s weird,” she says staunchly. “For me too, though. I’ve never had just a guy friend. It’s kind of cool.”
“So you’re saying sex is off the table?” I ask her with a lewd smile.
Josie looks me up and down, giving an exaggerated grimace as she takes me in. “Yeah…not going to happen.”
“Whatever,” I tease her as I motion with my hand to my fabulous body. “You’d fall down in worship if I let you have a crack at this.”
“I think we need to make a stop in the neurology department,” she quips as she turns away from me. “You need an MRI of the brain or something.”
The doors to the elevator open up to the lobby, and I laugh at our easy bantering, knowing deep in my heart that there’s something underneath all this friendly ribbing. I loop my arm back around Josie’s neck, again the way a brother might do to show affection to his sister, but only I know that I’m doing it because I happen to the like the way she feels against me.