Grumpy Doctor’s Holiday Twins (Forbidden Doctors #17)

22. Ethan

22

ETHAN

W hen I parked my car near the float and no one was there working on it, I thought I missed my chance to see Melody this evening. I had cocoa and flowers, which I purchased to give her in hopes it would open the lines of communication. I’d done a lot of thinking over the past few days. When she asked me to stay, my answer was an immediate no because every bit of momentum I'd had in my life up until now was aimed in one trajectory—away from here.

I had a plan, and that plan was to put distance between me and the things that hurt me. But Melody had become this strange enigma. She was the one who hurt me, but being with her was healing me. It was reminding me of how I loved her and how life was better when I had hope that our future was bright. I couldn’t just leave town knowing we still had a spark and not get closure.

I sat in my car for a second feeling sorry for myself for missing her, then noticed that her car was still here, parked only a few spaces down. It sent a shot of hope into my heart that maybe she was just inside somewhere, and it was little moments like this that proved to me that there was still a chance for us. Doctors Without Borders was my dream job, but Melody Winters was my dream woman. How was I supposed to choose between them?

I took the flowers and cocoa and climbed out of my car with renewed purpose. If she was here, I had to talk to her. I didn’t want to take this to her house where her twins were and interrupt her evening, so this was the ideal moment, the pinnacle of my day. I felt lighter and less stressed as I strolled toward the main entrance, but the closer I got, the clearer my view came into focus.

Melody sat on a bench next to Dr. Hart, smiling and laughing. It was a sight I could never get out of my head, how she seemed so at ease with him. She used to laugh with me like that, but since she'd gotten back from Chicago, she hadn't laughed with me once, and her smiles were stiff or put on. I wanted to turn and go back to my car, but my feet disobeyed me. They continued to carry me toward the scene of what would be a crime if I didn't get my temper in check.

Jealousy surged through my veins and my heart started hammering. Melody didn't need me to stay. She had another man fawning over her and trying so desperately to win her attention, if not her affection. I didn't stand a chance. She made it clear what she wanted a long time ago, and that was a committed man. Hart was clearly committed to his pursuit, and if she turned to look at him for a single second, he'd be committed to her too.

She told me there was nothing going on, but that smile on her face told me otherwise. People don't fake happiness like that, like the joy in her expression or the way their smile reaches their eyes. Melody was happy with him, and I was the joker who kept telling her I was leaving. Even if she wasn't having sex with him or even dating him, she was affected by him because I left a space open for doubt.

"Ethan?" I heard, and my mind snapped out of it. I was standing a few yards away, between her and the door, and she was standing with a look of concern.

I dropped the coffee and flowers and turned on my heel, marching through the sliding double doors that opened in front of me. It was stupid for me to think she would hold out hope that I'd change my mind. Of course she was already moving on to another man. I made it clear I was leaving multiple times. This was what happened last time.

I had told her it would never work, that we were coworkers and she was my best friend's sister. I painted the picture of a man who was off limits, and she left town thinking exactly what I told her to think. This time, I was the one supposed to leave town with her thinking I was off limits, but I'd changed my mind. I might even have been willing to throw away my entire future for her. She was only doing what I told her to do, though. She was believing I was leaving.

"Ethan!" I heard her shout, but I was already at the elevator pressing the button. My brain went into autopilot after my stupid mental spiral, and I didn't even know why I was trying to go to my office. "Ethan, wait."

The doors wouldn’t open and I felt stuck. I pressed the button a hundred more times, and she was there, standing beside me.

"Ethan, talk to me."

"Why? You have what you want out there." I was foolish and irrational and angry, so very angry.

Melody grabbed my elbow and I jerked it away. "What do you mean? Lucas was?—"

"I mean, go sit with the fabulous Dr. Hart. He makes you laugh. All I do is make you angry." The elevator was infuriating me. No matter how many times I pushed the button, the carriage didn't arrive and the doors didn't open. I was so upset, I turned abruptly and headed for the stairs, though it was a long trek to the end of the hall.

"Would you stop and let me talk?" she hissed, following me.

I walked determinedly, but she kept up with me, and though I said nothing, she was still frustrated. When we passed an open storage closet, she caught me off guard and pushed me in. I stumbled a few feet to my right and found myself inside the tight space staring at the shelves while she shut the door and firmly planted herself in front of it.

"You're going to listen to me!"

I turned around to see her scowling and her arms folded over her chest. I felt upset with her now, not the situation. Not Hart, not my job, not leaving town, not the heartbreak. Her.

"Move," I barked, but she refused.

"Lucas was just sitting with me while I waited for John to finish up. My car battery is dead, and if you must know, I made him laugh when I told him about how Noel pooped in the bathtub last night." The comment was funny, and she cracked a smile, but I was too upset.

"You sit with him and you're so at ease. You laugh with him, and you enjoy his company. I'm nothing to you anymore, am I? If I told you I want to stay here with you, you'd just tell me to buzz off, that you're dating him." My chest was heaving, heart pounding, and Melody tore her hat and gloves off and grabbed the lapels of my trench coat and put her lips against mine in a heated kiss.

The action took me by surprise, and I put both hands on the wall behind her and gasped for breath as she kissed me and took my breath away. It was hypnotizing, the effect she had on me. When she pulled away, I was unable to speak.

"I love you, you big jerk. Lucas is just a friend, and if I have to tell you that again, I swear I'm going to smack some sense into you. Now, what's this about staying…?" She was panting too, and her eyes were searching mine.

"I'm an idiot, Melody…" I scowled and continued leaning against that door, looking into her compassionate eyes. "I see you with him and I lose it. You are mine, not his. I can't explain it. I don't know how to express what I’m feeling. You really hurt me and it destroyed me, but I know in my heart that you're the only one who can fix this. I need you."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she cupped my cheek and said, "I can't promise to fix anything, but I can tell you that I love you. I loved you back then and I never stopped. And I'm here now, and if you want me, you're right. I am yours."

A surge of possessive energy shot through me and I claimed her lips in a kiss again. There was nothing in this world I wanted more than to hear those words on her lips, and it hit every single spot in my heart that needed soothed. I traced the lines of her mouth while tearing my coat off, then unzipping hers, and she moaned and mumbled.

"Here, though?" she squeaked, and I grunted as her coat fell to the ground.

"Now, Mel. I need you right now and I can't wait." I crushed my mouth against hers again, and she didn’t resist.

My fingers found the hem of her sweater, and I lifted it so I could slide my hands underneath and feel her skin. She jolted at my touch, cold from outside, but she didn't shy away. I grabbed her side, then used both hands to reach for her bra hook and undo it. Being one with her felt like an all-consuming desperation—it would cement our confessions, and I had more to confess.

"I'm so furious with you for leaving me, but I can't stand your looking at another man." I pulled her sweater over her head and tossed it and the bra behind me.

"I think you're a grumpy old man who just needs screwed so you can calm down and be happy with me." Her playful smile as she tugged open my belt and unzipped my pants made my heart skip a beat.

"I have had enough of your badgering me about being a Grinch, and I'm determined to prove I'm still the same man you fell in love with." Her pants were next, sliding down her thighs so she could kick off her boots and step out of them.

"Yeah, well, you have a lot to learn about how to romance a lady." Melody rose up and kissed me, then bit my lower lip and pulled away as she stuck her hand in my pants and stroked me.

I pulled my own sweater and T-shirt off in one swift movement over my head with a single arm, and her kisses rained on my chest like healing balm.

"I'm listening, angel. Give me a lesson." My hands found her breasts and kneaded them as she pushed my slacks down around my thighs. They clung there as she stroked me and grinned into my kisses.

“Well, first of all, I like my Grinches jolly like Santa.” Her playful nips on my lip made me chuckle, and I worked my way down the side of her neck to suck her pulse point while she continued. “And second, it’s helpful to developing a relationship if you stop threatening to leave and just say how you really feel.”

I stopped in my tracks and cupped her cheek in my hand as I said, “I love you so damn much it hurts, but I’m torching my future for you. You understand that? Relationships I’ve had for years, a plan I’ve wanted forever. Nothing matters to me but you right now.”

When she blinked out the first tear, it was more than I could handle. I dipped my hips as I lifted her leg and slid into her body, and it felt like coming home.

“Oh, God,” Melody whimpered, her hips canting forward and backward to meet mine.

The reality was sinking in, that she and I had a future, that I might very well give it all up just to be with her. The longer I stayed buried inside her, pumping in and out, the more convinced I became that this was what I wanted. It never made more sense to me in my life. Nothing had ever felt more right.

“Ethan,” she purred, and her lips pressed against my chest over and over. Then her teeth sank into my skin, and her hands greedily pulled me in harder.

“I’ve missed this, Melody. I’ve missed being the one who gets to hear you moan like this.” I plunged inside her again and again, her leg curling around me as I pressed her back against the door.

“Me too,” she panted, and then she said my name again as she climaxed around me, her nails clawing at my back. I felt like I could go for hours, even with the rhythmic contraction of her hot walls around my dick.

Her head arched back in the throes of ecstasy, and I sucked her neck and listened to her whimper and gasp. Tiny, guttural grunts came from her mouth in time with the spasms in her body. She was putty in my hands, and I molded her to fit my palms.

“That’s it. Come undone for me. Remember how perfect we are.” I lifted her other leg so she could hook her ankles behind my hips, and her elbows pressed onto the tops of my shoulders.

“God, Ethan,” she moaned, coming down from her orgasm, but I wanted more, and this time, I wasn’t making the same mistake as last time.