Road to Redemption (11 page)

Two days later on New Year’s Eve, Jack wasn’t surprised to see Cori rounding the corner into his office at the end of her shift. If he were honest with himself, he was more surprised that it had taken her so long to seek him out. He was actually starting to think she took his comments to heart about not being able to give her what she wanted. He was wrong. And glad about it.

She walked in and sat in the chair across from him, crossing her arms over her chest. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Well?” she asked.

He leaned back in his chair. “Well, what?”

She blew out a breath and shook her head causing the sparkly stars hanging from her ponytail to bounce around. “We’re having dinner together tonight,” she said suddenly. “Pizza, because I can’t cook. You’re coming to my house for pizza tonight,” she said firmly.

“Is that so?” His other eyebrow rose as he pulled off his glasses and placed them on the desk, then slowly crossed his own arms over his chest mimicking her.  This talking thing wasn’t so hard anymore, it seemed.  Maybe he just needed to have sex with her, because now his brain cells were working again.

“Yes, it is. And I’m not leaving here until you do. So finish up your work. I’ll sit right here and wait.”

“OK.” He saw he surprised her and smirked.

“Really?  Just like that? Wow, that was easier than I thought,” she said proudly.

“Don’t get use it,” he warned. “I’m hungry, that’s all.  Be aware I’m on-call tonight, so there’s a good chance we won’t even get through dinner.”

“No surprise there. That you’re on-call, that is. Or that you might not make it through the night. But I’ll take what I can get,” she said, making herself more comfortable across from him.

When he sat there and continued to stare at her, she asked, “What? I told you I wasn’t leaving until you did. I don’t trust you to get out of here within the next hour. No excuses. So go on.” She put her hands in front of her, waving the back of her knuckles at him. “Finish up.  Just ignore me, pretend I’m not here.”

“That’s not likely to happen,” he mumbled and put his glasses back on.

“I heard that,” she said, narrowing her eyes.  “Stop being such a chatterbox. Get to it. Chop, chop.” Then spoiled her demands by giggling.

***

Cori had waited two long days for Jack to make another move. She was trying to listen to her Nana’s advice of “Let him come to you,” but she was sick of waiting.  There was a time to wait and a time to push. It had been the time to push.

When she went into Jack’s office earlier today she had no intention of asking him to come to dinner. But once it was out of her mouth, she just went with it.  She was still shocked he agreed so easily. But she wasn’t going to press her luck. Because if the truth were known, she didn’t remember much of their conversation—other than the fact he talked more than normal. She was too busy trying to prevent herself from drooling over him sitting in front of her with his glasses on again.  Watching him put them on and off had her mind veering off track.

Now, she was pacing back and forth in front of her apartment door. And she was working herself into a lather.  He better not stand her up.

When she heard a car door shut, she rushed forward. Only it was the pizza delivery guy walking up the stairs.  Paying him quickly, she took the pizza and walked it to the kitchen to place it in the oven, hoping it would stay warm that way.

The second knock at the door seconds later had her running back through her living room and throwing the door wide open. Boy he was hot, standing there in his faded jeans, an open jacket with a worn gray sweater underneath. His wavy hair was still damp, most likely from a quick shower. 

Earlier she had run in the door, pulled her scrubs off and dashed into the bathroom. She took a fast shower and pulled on yoga pants and T-shirt. Clothing that would be as easy to pull off as it was to put on. 

“You’re late,” she accused him. “The pizza guy beat you here.”

Walking past her, he shut the door. “Barely five minutes, dock my pay,” he said sarcastically.

“Ha, ha, you’re funny. And cute.  Love the stubble.” She reached up and ran a hand across his cheek. “Very hot.”

He shrugged, clearly embarrassed, then took his jacket off and tossed it on the back of her chair. “You really need to find a place to hang up jackets.”

“The couch works.” She grinned, tilted her head at his disgruntled look. “I decided our pizza will be cold,” she said suddenly. Leaning up on her tiptoes, she pulled his head down for a kiss. After a moment he placed his hands on her hips and lifted her gently off the floor. She promptly wrapped her legs around his waist and groaned. He lowered his hands, placing them under her backside, and started walking toward her bedroom. Fast. That was the fastest she had ever seen him move. And she loved every minute of it. Loved how he seemed to read her mind, too.

Gently lowering her on the bed, he followed down on top of her, careful to keep most of his weight on his hands.  Her legs were still wrapped around him like glue as she hummed noises deep in her throat.  She was beyond caring at that point. 

He slid his hands under the bottom of her shirt and slowly started to edge it over her waist, up her ribs, then froze. A shocked look crossed his face and he leaned back. “Nice—no bra.” He pushed the shirt up further, stopping with it just under her arms, and moved his head back down to place his lips over her nipple. His hands cupped and kneaded her while his mouth went to work.

She couldn’t lie still, was squirming everywhere. She tried to get him to move lower, to move faster, and to do more. But he had taken control and was setting the pace this time, much to her frustration. And the pace was much slower than she would have preferred.

Cupping both breasts in his hands at the same time, he sucked, and then bit, then sucked again, alternating back and forth while she cried out in pleasure.  It felt amazing, but it wasn’t enough.

While his mouth continued to lavish attention on her nipple, he moved his hands lower into the waistband of her yoga pants and started to push them down.  He didn’t seem as surprised this time to find she was as naked under them as she was under her shirt.  “Someone was thinking ahead,” he murmured appreciatively.

Trailing his tongue from her breasts to her waist, his hands spread her legs wide now that her pants had been removed, then held her still. She liked to move, but he wasn’t letting her.  It was frustrating, because it felt
so
good.

His large hands covered the majority of her inner thighs while he massaged and teased her there, moving closer to where she wanted his touch the most.  Then he withdrew his mouth at the last minute, just when she thought he was getting to the good part.

“Jack,” she said with a groan. “Stop teasing me.”

“Why?” His breath whispered against her moist sensitive spot. “You always tease me. It’s my turn now.”

Groaning in frustration, she said, “Not the same thing.” Her hips lifted off the bed, begging him to end his torment.

The tip of his tongue came out and touched her, causing her to reach out and grab his head, demanding him to come closer.  He continued to tease her with his tongue as he slid one finger inside of her, spreading her wetness around.

“Enough.” She moaned and pulled his head up, trying to get him to move up her body. “Now. Inside me, now,” she demanded.

She finally got through to him. He pulled the packet out of his pocket, shed his clothes quickly and climbed back over her.   In one quick motion he was inside of her. She gripped him tight and pulled him in deep.  Her hips pumped up fast and urgent, timing their movements perfectly. 

He grabbed her hands and held them above her head, one large hand covering both of her smaller ones when she tried to pull his body down further.  He resisted, obviously wanting to get some control of the situation, but she was having none of that.

“Oh God, now, harder, now.” She moaned, then wrapped her legs around his waist needing more contact.

She was close, so close, and knew he was on the edge. She needed them to fall together.  “Touch me,” she demanded. He complied, his other hand sliding between their bodies, touching her where she needed it, where he knew it would bring her to the brink. And it did—he sent her exploding around him, gripping him so tight he had no choice but to follow.

***             

“Sorry about the cold pizza,” she said around a mouthful, then leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “But it was worth it.”

“Glad you approve,” he replied, helping himself to his second slice from the box lying on the bed between them.

When she was done chewing she reached over and grabbed her own second slice.  “You know, this is one of the best New Year Eves ever. What?” she asked when she saw his doubting expression. “I’m serious. Fantastic sex, a hot man and cold pizza, everything a girl could want,” she explained, her eyes landing on his bare chest, then traveling down to his unbuttoned jeans.

He grunted and continued to eat. After a few seconds he turned to look at her. She was wearing his gray sweater that almost reached her knees. She had thrown it over her head when she went to get the pizza out of the oven.

“I figured you more as the New Year’s Eve party type.”

“The opposite actually.  To be honest, I don’t really like going out all that much.”             

“Somehow I don’t believe that,” he said dryly.

“It’s true,” she told him eagerly.  “At the end of the day I’m pretty tired.  By the time I get home I want to throw on sweats and relax.  Plus I like to sleep and it’s hard to sleep if I’m out partying,” she said with a grin.

“I never would have figured that,” he said, dubiously.

“I’m telling you, it’s true.  Nights like this are the best,” she said sincerely, leaning up and kissing him on the lips. He tasted good. She licked her lips, kissed again and again, and then lingered there until he returned her kiss. 

What started out playful turned passionate fast.  Moving her paper plate off her lap and throwing his empty one on the floor, she straddled his hips and placed her hands on his chest.  He was so big and strong.   A sprinkling of hair ran down the center of his chest to his waist and disappeared into his open jeans. She could look at his body all day long and never grow tired of it.

The phone on the bedside table rang, causing her to sigh regretfully.  Jack’s. She picked it up, recognized the hospital’s number flashing across the screen, and handed it to him. “Good thing I jumped you earlier,” she said, pursing her lips.

He answered the phone, listened for a few minutes, then replied to say he was on his way. “Sorry about this,” he said, searching her face.

“No problem,” she said and hopped off his lap so he could stand up. “I knew you were on-call. It’s New Year’s Eve, not surprised you got called in.”

He stood up and buttoned his jeans, pulled on his socks and shoes, then eyed her. “I need my sweater.”

“Oh. That’s right.” She grinned and pulled it off, making no attempt to cover her nakedness while she sat on the bed.

He grabbed her shirt off the floor and tossed it to her. “Put that on now.  Otherwise I won’t make it out of here.”

She laughed.

He studied her smiling face.  “You’re really OK with this? Me being called in?”

“Of course I am,” she answered, confused. “I’m a nurse, remember? I work with people like you all the time. You know, doctors,” she said in mock alarm. “I know what the job entails.”

“True.” He put his phone in his pocket and leaned in for a one last kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss before he could pull away.  “Something for you to think about later. To get you through the night.”

“So how was your holiday?” Katrina, a fellow nurse in the Pediatrics Office, asked Cori in the break room during their lunch.

“Not bad. I spent most of it sleeping actually.” She grinned and then covered her mouth as she yawned.

“Big night out New Year’s Eve, huh?” Katrina asked.

Cori knew Katrina was fishing for gossip. There was no way she was telling anyone how she spent part of her New Year’s Eve. And definitely not whom she spent it with. “Nope. Pretty tame.”

“Tame? What’s tame for you?” Katrina said with a laugh.

Cori rolled her eyes. She never understood why everyone thought she was this wild party girl. Yes, she liked to have fun when she was out. But she didn’t go out often, and when she did go out it was normally to a girlfriend’s house for dinner and a drink or two. Her barhopping days ended years ago.  “Pizza in bed,” she said with as serious of a face as she could muster. “Then I watched the ball drop, shut off the TV and fell asleep. Matter of fact, I didn’t get up until noon yesterday,” she explained, smothering another yawn.

“Will you stop doing that?” Katrina complained. “You are going to make me yawn, and I’m not even tired.”

“Sorry,” Cori said, grinning sheepishly. “I don’t know why I feel so tired.  Up at noon yesterday, early dinner at my parents and I was back in bed by eight last night. I slept right through until the alarm went off this morning, too.”

“Maybe you’re coming down with something,” Katrina suggested. “It’s going around.”

“What’s going around? I hate when people say that. We work in a hospital, something is always going around.” Cori rolled her eyes. “I doubt it, just tired.”

***

“Ryan,” Jack said, trying to hold on to his patience, “I don’t really feel like going out tonight.  It’s been a long week. I’ve been on-call and worked a lot of hours. I’m looking forward to an early night.”

“You’re young and single; these are the years you have energy to burn. Live it up a little.  I didn’t bug you over the holidays, but now I am.  Come out with me tonight. And don’t say you’re working later than me.” Jack hated how Ryan had already anticipated that argument. “I have a bunch of case files to go over. I’ll wait until you’re done and meet you out.”

Jack took a deep breath trying to pay attention to Ryan, but his eyes fell to his cell phone on his desk. Ryan always called his office phone, always knew he had a better chance of reaching him that way.  Picking up his cell phone, Jack scrolled through his texts again. He hadn’t heard anything from Cori in almost two days. 

He had left her house on New Year’s Eve in a hurry to get to the hospital and the scene that greeted him was horrific.  Multiple teenagers in a car, drinking when they should have been at home, crashed into a tree going at least thirty miles over the speed limit. Several surgeries later everyone was still alive, for now. 

When he was finally finished with the last surgery, he had been exhausted.  He had completely forgotten about his phone until he undressed and pulled it out of his pocket, then noticed two texts from Cori. One at 11:59 p.m. that read,
Out with the old,
and one at 12:00 a.m. that read,
In with the new. Happy New Year. Thanks for sharing my pizza tonight.

He replied back:
Best tasting pizza I ever had.
And he could almost imagine her laugh when she read it.

“Jack.” Ryan interrupted his thoughts. “Are you listening to me?”

“What?” he said and dropped his cell phone back on his desk. “Sorry, what did you say again?”

“I said text me when you’re ready so I can leave the same time and we’ll meet up.”

Jack looked at his watch and saw it was close to noon. He still had half a day to figure a way out of it. “I’ll get back to you at some point later.” Hopefully that would pacify Ryan.

“Good,” Ryan said cheerfully. “Talk to you later.”

At the end of the day Jack still hadn’t been able to come up with an excuse to get out of going out with Ryan.  He didn’t want to tell him about Cori. For one thing, he didn’t even know what was going on with Cori. They had had sex twice. Wonderful amazing sex, but for all intents and purposes they weren’t dating. Because he was still firm about not wanting a relationship.

Besides, they hadn’t even been on a date, so they obviously couldn’t be considered dating. He hadn’t even given her his cell number, and had figured out by now that she had gotten it from Brooke. And he was fine with that.

Cori hadn’t brought anything up in terms of dating or where they were going from there. He sort of expected it and was a little surprised she hadn’t pushed the issue, but was glad too, saving him from having to explain again. Maybe he was wrong about her. Maybe she
was
only out for a good time. 

He decided he would go for a run in the gym, not because he had hoped to catch sight of Cori there, but because he needed to think, and he always thought best when he was running. 

When he walked through the gym on his way to the locker room he noticed Lucas on the bench press and figured Brooke—and most likely Cori—would be there too. But after looking around the gym he didn’t see either of them.  Maybe they were changing. It was only a little after five. They could be running late. 

But when he came out of the locker room a few minutes later he only saw Brooke on the treadmill.  He walked over and climbed on the one next to her, then said a brief hello when she glanced his way.  She greeted him in return, then turned her attention back to the TV mounted on the wall as she continued her run.

“How’s your back?” Jack asked a few minutes into his warm-up.

Brooke smiled politely. “Good.”

A few more minutes passed and Jack asked, “Have a good holiday?”

***

Brooke was trying not to laugh. Jack, never, ever made small talk. She knew all about his two nights with Cori and she suspected Jack knew she was aware of it.  She hadn’t missed his eyes moving around the gym when he came out of the locker room, most likely in search of Cori.  Brooke was also aware of the fact that Cori was giving Jack space. For once in her life, Cori was trying to show patience. It was killing her to do it, but she was trying as best she could.

“Very nice.” She smiled politely at him. “It’s always nice to see my brother, Mac. I’m not sure you had a chance to meet him at Lucas’s over the summer. The weather kept him home the night of our party a few weeks ago,” she answered, then watched him frown and look toward the entrance. She held back another chuckle.

Several more minutes passed and Brooke could sense Jack looking over at her, then turning his head away when she looked back at him. She was known for having an abundance of patience, and even being stubborn, but Jack put her to shame.

When her run was complete, she got off the treadmill, grabbed her towel, wiped her face and was ready to walk away when she decided to take pity on him.  “Cori’s home sick.”

He turned his head sharply. “What’s wrong?”

“I think she has the flu. I checked in with her earlier, but she only yelled at me for waking her up,” Brooke explained. “I was thinking of going over to check on her before we went to Lucas’s for the weekend.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll check in on her.” When Brooke raised her eyebrows at him he replied, “I’m a doctor, remember?”

“Very true,” Brooke said, trying to smother a laugh. “Take good care of her.”

***

The loud banging noise hurt Cori’s head.  She had finally gotten back to sleep on the couch after grabbing her third blanket to wrap up in.  Her body ached and she couldn’t stop shaking.  She knew she was running a fever and was only waiting for it to break.

“Cori, open up,” Jack yelled from the other side of the door.

“Argh,” she moaned, then wrapped as many of the blankets as she could around her before walking to the front door and pulling it open to see a concerned-looking Jack on the other side.

“You look horrible,” he stated.

“Why thank you, Dr. Obvious,” she said, shutting the door behind him and pouting. “And don’t talk so loud. My head hurts.”

He followed her to the couch and sat next to her when she lay back down in her cocoon of blankets. “You’re running a fever,” he said with his hand to her forehead.

“Duh,” she replied sarcastically.

He ignored her. “What have you taken for it?”

With a sigh, she snuggled closer to his hip trying to grab some warmth from his body. “Two Motrin, then two Tylenol two hours later, four hour gap for each.”

He frowned. She watched as he most likely was trying to calculate the amount of medicine she had taken considering the fact she was still running a fever. “How high was the fever?”

She shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“Didn’t you take your temperature?”

“No, I don’t have a thermometer here,” she said defensively and then winced at her own rising voice.

He grunted, then asked, “Any other symptoms? Have you at least been drinking?”

“Vomiting,” she added. “Last time a few hours ago. Everything I drink comes back up. Leave me in peace, please. I don’t want you to get sick, too,” she said pathetically.

“Stay here for a minute.” He stood up.

“Where would I go?” she said with a whine.

“You know, you’re a horrible patient,” he said scolding her.

She huffed as best she could. “Haven’t you ever heard nurses make the worse patients?”

He closed the front door behind him and returned a few minutes later with a bag of emergency medical supplies he always kept in his truck. She never felt him sit back down on the couch though, because her eyes drifted shut and she was back to sleep.