Page 58 of Starting Back
“Because I’m actively trying to not repeat it and make dating these clowns from the app even sadder.” I chuckled, keying in the last of the fields, and turned to Buck. My stomach twisted at his still-grim expression.
“Jesus, Buck. What?”
He still said nothing, his head falling back as he burst out laughing.
“You may want to sit down.” He jutted his chin to the small folding chair next to the bed.
“No, I don’t want to sit down.” I moved away from the computer and approached Buck, his shoulders still shaking with a hearty laugh. “Whatever it is, just spit it out.”
“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said this room was small.”
A familiar chuckle reverberated through me. The last time I’d heard it, I was naked and resting my cheek on Leo’s bare chest.
I prayed I’d heard wrong, that the conversation with Nicole before my shift had dredged up memories of our days together and my mind had conjured his voice in my head.
When I spotted Leo’s smile as he stepped into the room, my heart didn’t know whether to slam against my chest or fall to my stomach. The golden eyes I couldn’t forget widened as they met mine, draining air from the room and oxygen from my lungs.
Leo was in my hospital. Hell, Leo was in mytown. How? I never told him that I lived in Kelly Lakes, as the likelihood of anyone knowing where it was usually was slim to none, unless they had to pass through here at some point.
The sight of him made my head spin enough to have to hold on to the counter behind my station.
Albany was a big place, and he had no idea I lived in this random small town. So while it hurt that he didn’t contact me to let me know he was here, it was what we’d agreed upon, regardless of any deep regrets about not contacting him myself that I’d wrestled with since.
The town’s one fire station was only five minutes away from my house. Wasn’t this what I’d dreamed of whenever I thought of Leo?If only things were different. If only he didn’t live so far away.
Now that dream had somehow come to fruition, and I couldn’t get away from him fast enough.
“I’d introduce you, but I think you’ve already met.” Buck’s eyes lost the mirth they’d had a minute ago. Now he regarded me with a wary sympathy that made my urge to escape even worse.
“We have,” Leo said, his eyes boring into mine as a slow, cautious smile crept across the mouth I could still feel on mine. He was even more gorgeous than I’d remembered, even sexy in blue scrubs. “Hi, Kristina.”
“Hi,” I said, clearing my throat. “You can bring the patient in. I need to get something in the other ultrasound room.”
The other ultrasound room had a broken machine that we never used, but it had air, which I couldn’t find in this one, so it wasn’t a total lie.
“I’ll be less than five minutes,” I said, attempting to casually maneuver around them instead of pushing past them in a panic.
I’d deal with this new and shitty life development later. I had a job to do, but I needed to get myself together—somehow—before I had to share such a tiny space with the now-former man of my dreams.
Now, he was a man of my reality, a reality that I had no doubt I’d keep running into.
I rushed inside, shutting the door behind me and grabbing on to the edge of the counter with both hands as I took slow breaths in and out.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I was behaving as if I’d seen a ghost, but maybe, in a way, I had. Leo wasn’t a real entity in my life, just someone who’d hovered in the corners of my mind.
I’d be able to tell Nicole I’d finally give up the fantasy because I had no choice, but the loss over it was deeper than any of this should have been.
I dropped my chin to my chest at the creak of the door behind me.
“Buck, I just need a minute. I’ll be right out.”
“So do I.”
My head whipped around to Leo, his jaw tense as he bored his eyes into mine.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
