Page 33 of Perfect Imperfections

“And now?”

The tugging stopped. She dropped her hand, raising her chin to stare him directly in the eye again. “I’m better. I don’t need my meds as often. I see my therapists once a month. I’m not claiming every day is a cakewalk, but I’m managing now.”

He’d say she was more than managing. OCD was a condition with a varying severity. Ellie appeared to be handling it fantastically as far as he could see. Every new thing he learned about this woman amazed him.

“Okay.”

She raised a skeptical brow. “Really?”

“What?”

She crossed her arms over her middle, clearly something on her mind, though her mouth stayed shut.

“Whatever it is, Ellie. You can say it.” He was a hard man to offend, mostly because he rarely cared what people thought of him. If they didn’t like him, so what? No one could like everyone. But oddly, he cared what Ellie thought. He wanted her to like him. Because he sure as hell liked her.

“It’s just, I figured with you being a doctor and all you’d have…an opinion about all this.”

She gestured vaguely to her head.

“I try to leave the white coat at work.”

A euphemism, since he didn’t actually wear a white coat, but he tried to leave doctoring at the door when he came home. Some days were harder than others, especially whenever Charlotte got sick. As a physician, he had seen the worst of the worst and it was hard not to turn every cough and sniffle into the nightmares that had come across his exam table. But over the years he’d learned to trust his fatherly and doctor instincts when his child became ill and not jump to the worst-case scenario. So yes, he could turn off the doctor in him. Or at least mute it for a while.

“Most people, when they find out, either think I’m crazy or think they can fix me. When they discover they can’t, they usually bail.”

“There’s nothing to fix, Ellie. You’re not broken or crazy. You’re a kind, funny, smart, beautiful woman and anyone who can’t see that is an idiot.”

Her eyes widened, arms dropping to her side. “Wow. I don’t think anyone’s ever said so many nice things about me at once.”

He pushed off the counter, taking a small step toward her, encouraged when she didn’t shy away. “Then you know some pretty thick-headed people.”

She tilted her head. “You’re a very strange man, Sullivan Green.”

He grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

She smiled then, a full-fledged, light-up-the-room smile. His heart skipped a beat. Never had he seen a more beautiful woman than the one standing inches in front of him. She’d shared a very intimate part of herself with him tonight. Something he wouldn’t take lightly. It humbled him and he didn’t want to do anything to shatter the trust building between them. Which was why, as much as he wanted to lean forward those few inches it would take to capture her lip, he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed his tea, taking another sip.

“So. Anything else in those bags? You wouldn’t happen to have a real elephant in there, would you?”

Ellie laughed. “Um, no. I don’t think Tammy would go that far to ensure you don’t sue. Besides.” She glanced around. “As big as this place is, it still couldn’t house an elephant.”

“It’s not that big.”

One dark eyebrow arched. “Sullivan, my entire apartment could fit in this house four times over.”

She had to be exaggerating. Sure, his place was big, but it wasn’t a mansion or anything. Counting the partially finished basement where he kept his treadmill and free-weights, there were just over three thousand square feet. Made him wonder how big Ellie’s apartment was. And that made him think of Ellie in her apartment, eating, getting ready for work, washing her endearing animal pun shirts, sleeping. He wondered…did she sleep naked?

His slacks tightened as his body hardened with the image of a naked Ellie covered only by silk sheets, the fabric caressing her soft skin. Since dress pants were notoriously bad at hiding erections, he shut those thoughts down. Tonight was not the time to make a move. Not after what she’d shared. It felt like a big step for her, for them. He didn’t want to move too quickly, push too hard and lose…whatever it was they had going on.

He could be patient. Somehow, he knew Ellie was worth it.

“Okay, so no live elephant. I guess the piñata will have to do.”

“Trust me, when the candy comes pouring out of that thing, it’ll be the hit of the party.”

“True enough.”

Thankfully Charlotte was at the age where candy was still exciting and fun. He had no idea what he was going to do in a few years when she left behind the dolls and sweets for makeup and boys. Or girls. Or whoever she wanted to crush on. As long as she was happy, he was happy. He just didn’t want to think about any of that yet. At times he wished he could keep her his little girl forever, but he supposed all parents wished that. Those who cared and didn’t abandon their kids, that was.

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