Page 25 of As Long As You'll Have Me
“Hanna, that wassofun. Tonight has beensofun. Thank you for being my best friend and coming out with me.” Rae is talking at a million miles a minute and hanging onto me as if she’ll fall over if she lets go.
“Ohh, who’s this? Han, he’s cute,” she gushes and I can’t shush her fast enough. Being more than a little inebriated, I accidentally spit on her which causes the two of us to burst into a fit of laughter.
“Be quiet, you drunk. I’m sorry for her, she has no idea what she’s saying.” I look up at Miles and apologize through my laughs.
“So you don’t think I’m cute?” he quips, and damn that lazy smile for getting me to almost tell him I think he’s more than cute.
“I think I’m duck. Duck.Drunk. We’re drunk and need to go home.” I lift a hand and drag Rae towards the door to call an Uber.
“Here, I have my truck outside, let me take you home,” Miles offers, taking a few steps towards us.
When I turn around to decline, he’s closer than I think and I run smack into his chest. He’s built like a brick wall under his clothes and I nearly bounce off of him but he catches me around the waist so I don’t hit the floor. My eyes roll and I can feel my head spin as I blink hard, trying to focus.
“No, that’s okay. We’re going to get a ride, it’s not a big thing,” I say, my words starting to slur.
“Hanna, it’s not safe for you two to get in a car with a stranger like this,” he argues, still not letting me go. I reallyneed to create some distance before the scent of his aftershave forces me into early ovulation.
“We’ll befine,I promise. We know how to take care of ourselves. We don’t need some big, strong fireman like you to take care of us.” The corner of his mouth tips up when I pat him on the chest and force myself away from him, taking a step back.
“Well I’m at least going to go outside to wait with you.” When he glares at me I know arguing is a worthless endeavor and give up without any more of a fight.
Thankfully, our Uber driver pulls up quickly to take us home. Miles opens the back door and helps Rae and I tumble inside. The driver lowers the passenger window when he bends at the waist to look through it.
“I just want you to know that I took down your plate number and the model of your car. My buddy inside? He’s a police officer with Charleston P.D. and will happily hunt you down and let me gut you like a fish if these two women go missing. Do you understand?”
The man behind the wheel swallows hard and only nods in reply. Miles then taps on the window for me to roll down.
“Go home and drink some water, doc. You’re going to want it.”
“You’re kinda cute when you’re protective, you know that?” The words tumble out of me before I can stop them.
He chuckles once and shakes his head at me. “Goodnight, doc. Be safe.”
Then he stands and knocks twice on the hood of the car. Pulling away from the curb, Rae and I head home after the best night out we’ve had in a long time.
12
HANNA
My eyes squeeze together when the undeniable sensation of my stomach rolling over itself pulls me from my dream. It had been a nice dream. The kind of dream I haven’t had in a long time but a dream I’d welcome again. One that included an attractively thick fireman who towers over me with brown eyes that warm my core more than they should, seeing as how he’s my patient.
My patient.
Suddenly my eyes shoot open but throb instantly as the morning sun hits them. I had a dream,a sex dream, about a patient. My mind starts to recount the events of last night and I groan loudly as it remembers how Iflirted with a patientwhile drunk at a bar. I can count several ethical infractions I racked up in the last twelve hours since seeing him.
It was just a drunken mistake,I think to myself.He was there with friends, you were a little drunk, and you said some things. At least you didn’t kiss him.
Can’t say the same for what happened in your dreamthough, can you?a different voice perks up in the back of my mind.
Groaning to myself, I pull the overstuffed, expensive comforter I gifted myself for my thirtieth birthday over my eyes. Both in part from the killer hangover that’s threatening to make me sick and the sheer stupidness of my actions. I’m ready to hide under the covers like a little girl for the rest of the day when I feel my phone buzz from somewhere in my bed. Hands searching, I hunt for it and pull it close to my face once I find it. My eyebrows squint when I see the message is from an unknown number. The device unlocks after typing in my password and pulls open the message.
1 New Message: Unknown
Morning doc. How’s your head feeling? Drink lots of water, it’ll help with the hangover.
My heart sinks in my chest as I realize who it is and then even further when I see this isn’t the first time he’s texted me…or I’ve texted back. There’s a string of messages from last night that I don’t even remember sending but the digital proof is right there in our text thread.
Hey, I just wanna make sure you got home okay. If you could text me when you see this, I’d appreciate it. Hope you had fun tonight, Doc.
