Only a few feet separated us, but he felt too far away. He took a step, and my heart leapt when he reached out for my arm. He had touched me before, but it was like the first time I had felt his skin against mine.
“We gotta talk, Doc. You think your buddies can stay in the car?”
I looked over my shoulder at the happy whale hanging out of the window. “I guess they can hang out for a little bit.”
His hand trailed down my arm, and his fingers intertwined with mine. I led the way up the walkway to my apartment, through the lobby, and over to the elevator.
“How did you find out where I lived?” I asked after I hit the button to call the elevator.
“Delaney.”
I wanted to call her a traitor, but I was happy she had told him.
We stepped into the elevator, and I pressed the button for the fifth floor.
“All the way to the top?” he asked.
I nodded. “Isn’t that where all doctors who are on TV live?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t think that will ever not be funny.”
“Agreed.” His hand was still holding mine, and he stood close to me. “So, ah, we have stuff to talk about?”
He looked down at me. I hadn’t realized how tall he was before. I was used to him being sitting down all of the time.
“Couple of things to go over.”
My heart leapt even though I knew I needed to keep my head about me. The doors slid open, and I led the way to my apartment.
I twisted the key into the lock, pushed open the door, and stepped aside for Roc to walk in. He gave me a wink, then walked in.
“Ah, make yourself at home.” I closed the door behind me and leaned against it.
Roc Krinston was in my apartment.
A week ago, if you told me this was going to happen, I would have told you that you were crazy.
I watched him walk, noticing his slow gait, but he was steady on his feet. “I still can’t believe you are walking.”
He looked at me over his shoulder. “Neither can I. It seems like yesterday you were trying to cram me into the car for the first time.”
I laughed and pushed off the door. “We did get a good system going after a while.”
“We made a good team,” he murmured. He stood in front of the large picture window in the living room.
“Uh, can I get you something to drink? Beer?”
“Beer is good, Doc.”
I grabbed a beer for him and a wine cooler for me. I handed it to him and stood awkwardly next to him.
“Gonna get right to it, Doc, because I’m not one to beat around the bush.”
I nodded and gulped. “Yep, that is something I definitely learned when I was with you those couple of weeks.”
He popped open his beer and took a long drink. “Harlyn told me she mentioned to you that I was dating another woman.”
Well, hell. He really was getting right to it. “She mentioned it.”
“I was talking to someone. Never even met her in person. It was one of those apps.”
I nodded. “I used to have one of those apps.”
No point in denying it.
“After the accident, I didn’t even open the damn thing, let alone talk to any other woman than you. Before Harlyn even told me why you were upset, I had messaged the woman I was talking to and told her I had met someone.”
My jaw dropped, and I remembered the message I had received a few days ago. I set my drink down on the window sill. “RocTime?”
Roc took a step back and squinted at me. “JanuaryGirl?”
I timidly raised my hand and set my wine cooler on the table behind us. “Guilty.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You mean to tell me we were talking to each other before the accident?”
I bit my lip and nodded. “I don’t know why but I guess I never put you and your username together.”
His eyes popped open. “Doc, my user name literally had my name in it.”
“But your profile picture was of The Rock. I thought you were just doing a play on words to get women to talk to you so they would associate The Rock with you.”
He frowned. “You were only talking to me because you thought I looked like The Rock?”
I shook my head. “No, I was the opposite of that. I was talking to you because I thought it was hilarious you had your picture as The Rock.”
“So you got mad at me for talking to a woman when that woman was you.” He set his beer down and sighed.
I cringed. “That is what it appears to be.”
He dropped his chin to his chest. “This is unbelievable.”
I thought he was pissed off but then his shoulders started shaking.
“It’s not funny,” I scolded. I personally felt like an idiot for not connecting the dots sooner.
Roc pulled me into his arms and wrapped me up in a hug. I inhaled his scent and decided to forgive him for laughing at me.
“I don’t think we have anything else to talk about,” he chuckled. “Us figuring that out just solved everything.”
I buried my face in his chest and sighed. “We’re both idiots.”
“Yeah. How about we don’t ever tell anyone about that.”
“Agreed,” I giggled.
He pressed his lips to my ear. “I’ve been dying trying to remember what you felt like in my arms.”
I leaned back and looked up at him. “I remembered other things.”
“Like?”
I bit my lip. “Well, it was more like I remembered things and wondered how they would be…” I trailed off unable to finished my sentence.
“Naked?” Seemed like Roc was thinking about the same things as me.
My cheeks heated. “Oh, well. I might have wondered about it once or twice.” How was it this man could make me blush to hard?
Or all of the time.
Roc took a step back, bent over, and planted his shoulder in my stomach. He lifted me over his head and headed down the hallway.
“Your legs!” I shouted. “You can’t be carrying me, Roc.”
“I can make it a good twenty feet before I’ll drop you, Doc. Now tell me which door is your bedroom.”
“Third on the right.”
He pushed open the door and tossed me on the bed.
I bounced up and down and pushed my hair out of my face. “Are you okay?”
He grimaced and toed off his shoes. “Never better. Been wanting to see you in bed for a month. Even better than I had imagined.”
He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor. You would think I would have been immune to seeing him shirtless but my breath still caught.
“I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me again.”
He unbuttoned his jeans and dropped them to the floor. “I know, Doc. I plan on making up for lost time right now.”
He stepped out of his jeans, climbed onto the bed, and covered me with his body. He caged me in with his arms and his lips pressed against mine. They were soft, warm, and everything a kiss should be.
His hands moved over my body, and I finally got to run my hands over his chest without counting backward to not get turned on.
“You know what I didn’t think was fair?” he whispered against my lips.
“What wasn’t fair?”
“You got to see me naked, and I never got a glimpse of you.”