Page 5 of Wild Promises

"It was good seeing you. I'm glad you stopped by," I said, my mouth dry. Why was I so nervous? This was Tori. I'd walked her to her door a million times when we were teenagers. Why wasthis time different? Was it the mention of the pact? The idea that I could be with Tori?

She tucked a chunk of blond hair behind her ear, her skin translucent in the dim lighting. Then her arms came around my neck, and she was hugging me, her body pressed against mine. After a few seconds, my arms banded around her waist. I held her tight to me.

She was obviously working through something. That's why she'd come home. But I didn't hold out hope that anything would change. She'd go back to New York and fall back into her amazing life with Hugh. They'd get married and have a couple of kids. Her life was there, and mine was here.

Every time she'd come home, I'd lose her all over again.

With a quick press of her cool lips on my cheek, she opened the door and slipped inside. "Good night, Xander."

Then she was gone. The door shut. I'd lost my opportunity. My opportunity to do what? I couldn't tell her she was making a mistake in walking away from her childhood dreams. I didn't even know who she was now.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and hunched my shoulders against the cold night air. There was no way she took that silly marriage pact seriously. Tori was destined for bigger things than me or this small town.

2

TORI

Ever since I returned to New York, something was off, as if I'd missed something important but I couldn't figure out what it was. I quickly fell back into my routine of working long shifts. Even though I lived with Hugh, I rarely saw him.

It was an endless stream of work and take-out. The winter had blended into spring then summer, but nothing had changed. I felt unsettled, as if I wasn't supposed to be here. Yet the city was my chosen home, and I was happy with Hugh, wasn't I?

How many times had a nurse remarked on how lucky I was to be dating a surgeon, as if that was everyone's end goal? He never failed to mention that to me, that he had an important job when I asked when we could see each other, and spend time together.

If I wanted to see my boyfriend, I'd have to go to him. Maybe I could cook him a meal to take to him on his break. I called and talked to the nurse on duty. She gave me a good idea of when he'd be free, so I cooked a casserole and packed it in a container to take to the hospital.

For once, I was taking things into my own hands. We didn't have to schedule time together. A spontaneous meal was just as good. I was positive he would appreciate it, and I'd get usback on track. There were no stolen kisses in the closet at work or flirty texts. But that was normal when you'd been seeing someone for a while.

I chalked it up to being busy at work, but I wondered if it was more than that. If the pressure to succeed was too much.

At the hospital, I set the container in the kitchen, then went to search for Hugh. I figured he'd be trying to catch a few minutes of sleep in one of our rooms that were reserved for the doctors. I opened the door to his preferred room. The lights were off, but I heard the rustling of sheets. "Hugh? Is that you?" When I heard a grunt, I flipped on the lights without thinking about whether I was disturbing another doctor’s sleep.

Hugh was laying in bed, his hand on the hip of a woman who was straddling him. A very naked woman who looked a lot like one of the nurses we worked with.

Her wide eyes met mine as she scrambled off my boyfriend and gathered her clothes from the floor.

"I don't understand." My brain couldn't catch up with the fact that this woman had been fucking my boyfriend.

Hugh didn't seem to be in any hurry to get dressed.

The woman slipped past me and mumbled a quiet sorry I didn't bother to acknowledge. My hands were curled into fists. "What is this?"

Hugh folded his hands behind his head, not making any effort to cover his bare chest. "I was having a good time."

"How long has this been going on? Is she the only one?" I asked, my throat tight. Why did that make it so much worse?

"Tori, I'm a surgeon." His voice was patronizing.

I ground my teeth so hard I was worried they'd crack. "How can I forget?" He reminded me every time I talked to him that he was big and important surgeon, and I was just an emergency-room doctor.

"This is expected."

"Does everyone know that you're sleeping with the nurses behind my back?" Anger finally seeped into my tone. He hadn't said it, but I sensed that this woman wasn't the only one.

Hugh smirked. "This is the life of a doctor. You know what you were signing up for when we started dating."

"I expected you to be faithful. I had no idea you were cheating on me." I forced myself to keep my voice level. I didn't want the nurses listening in on our conversation.

Hugh chuckled as he slowly got out of bed, his naked body on display as the sheet fell away. Usually, I would have admired how he took care of himself on so little sleep, but he disgusted me now. "Don't be naive. Everyone wants to marry a doctor. That's where I thought we were headed."

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