Page 14 of Be My Reason

~ ~ ~

Back in our suite, Emma orders bar service and I head into my room to call Michael at the hospital.

“Hey sweetheart.” He picks up on the first ring. It is so good to hear his voice. I admonish myself at how I could possibly let another man get to me. Michael is my life, he is my future.

I start to choke up a little. “Hey Michael, can you talk for a minute?”

“Lyn, what’s wrong? You sound sad.”

“Nothing, I just really miss you,that’s all.”Nothing—there’s another word that, just likefine, can mean the exact opposite. The problem here is that men tend to take women so literally. When we say nothing is wrong, they move on, when we say we’re fine, they are freaking dandy.

“I miss you, too.Did you have a good time today?” I can hear the smile in his voice.

Did I have a good time today?Uh, let’s see, today was probably the worst day of my life since junior year of high school. And that includes the day my six-year-old cat, Wiggles, got run over by a car. “It was fine.” I mentally smack my forehead. “The conference was huge and there were a lot of cool design displays. I can’t believe Emma knows how to do all that stuff.”Why am I not telling him? I tell him my plans for tomorrow when she is at the conference and he reminds me to be safe when I’m running in new surroundings.

“Lyn, I have to go, there is a new kid being admitted right now.I’m sorry.”

“No,it’s okay, I know. Just text me later if you can.” I learned pretty early on with Michael being a doctor that sometimes, a lot of times, he has to go and go quickly and that for the time being, I get put on the back burner. That is fine with me. I think. I mean, he is saving lives and all. It’s not like he is cutting me off to go draw a stupid sketch of a building or something.

“I will.I love you, Lyn. Have a good night.”

“Love you, too.”

He hangs up and I hold onto the silent phone a little longer, wondering why I didn’t say anything.

I hear some voices in the living room and go out to see Emma thanking someone for our drinks, all four of them.I think I heard her ask him to bring more in an hour.Geez, drink much?

“How’s Michael?” she turns to me, handing me one of the Cosmos.

“Huh?” I squeak about an octave too high.

“Michael.You called him, right? What did he say about you seeing Nate? Did he freak out? I bet he asked you to come home, didn’t he?”

“What?” I don’t meet her eyes while I slurp my drink and move over to the couch.

“Oh my God, you didn’t tell him, did you?” Her eyes widen. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Uh, I guess I just didn’t want him to worry about me. I don’t see the need to upset him when I’m going to be gone all week. He needs to concentrate on his work. I’ll tell him when I get home and he can see that I’m okay.”I’ll be okay by then, right? “Plus, I’m never going to see Nate again so it really is no big deal.”

She narrows her eyes at me and takes a drink. “I guess that makes sense.You know we can talk about it if you want to, right?”

“I know, and thanks, but I’m done talking about Nate Riley.Let’s just please watch this movie so I can figure out who the hell Thelma is.”

Chapter Four

My eyelids flutter and struggle to open against the early morning light dancing through the heavy curtains in my room.I think I’ll sleep a little longer; after all I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn and start baking today.

Why am I so warm?Then I smile as I feel Michael run his hands over my stomach and up to cup my breasts. He has his leg draped over both of mine, holding them captive and is moving his hands in a sensual way I’ve not felt before. He is paying special attention to my nipples. Pinching, tugging, running his thumb around each stiff peak, sending little shock waves down to my core and turning me on in a way I’ve never experienced.Mmmm, that feels good.A moan escapes my throat.

“Oh, baby, let me hear you,” he says.

Wait . . . that’s not Michael’s voice!I stiffen and in a millisecond, my mind goes over the events of last night and the five . . . no, six Cosmos I had with Emma.Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, what did I do?I look down to see the top of a dirty-blonde mess of hair just as my nipple is being sucked into his hot, wet mouth. I try to ignore the incredible sensation rippling through my body as I attempt to process what is going on and what the ramifications might be.

He looks up at me with those deep blue eyes and that magnificent smile, the one that is only for me, and he says, “Brooklyn, I’m leaving you.”

I blink down at him.Leaving me?

“Lyn. . . Lyn . . . Brooklyn, I’m leaving now.” I snap awake and frantically look around the bed, under the sheets and behind Emma who is now looming over me with a very confused look on her face.

---