Page 93 of Only This Once
He let out a surprised laugh, groaning at the thought. “Yeah, no, I wouldn’t like that.”
She kissed his shoulder, and the rest of his lingering panic faded. “Come on. Let’s get you a pill and your first hit of coffee.”
He trailed her to the kitchen. Moving around it together, the small amount she let him before she shooed him to a chair, was something he could get used to, but he chased that thought away, too. She’d been staying with them ever since his near drowning. Charles was more than fine with it, probably because they’d been able to gang up on him and force him to rest.
His brother came in as Jesse swallowed his antiviral pill and some Tylenol to help with the fever. He frowned at him in worry. “You look worse than yesterday.” He crossed the kitchen, doing the same forehead check Julia had done.
“Just a bit,” Jesse admitted. “I’m going to take another day off.”
“Smart. There’s no reason to push it.” Charles crossed the kitchen, taking the coffee mug Julia held out. “I didn’t schedule any surgeries until this afternoon. Want to spend the morning here with him?”
She smiled at Charles. “Best boss ever.”
“Hey, I don’t need a babysitter,” Jesse mumbled.
Julia lifted an eyebrow. “Are you telling your girlfriend you don’t want her around?”
Jesse couldn’t get used to her calling herself that. She seemed so happy about it, not hesitant at all. The hope from earlier spread. “I’d never tell you that.”
“Good.” Julia crossed to the table to sit beside him.
Charles rummaged in the cabinet for his typical breakfast bar. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He slipped it into his bag that held his laptop and tablet and any papers he’d brought home. “These last few days have been nice. I’ll miss it when you’re back at your apartment.”
Julia shook her head. “I can just imagine what people at the hospital would say if they found out I was having sleepovers at my boss’s house.”
Charles frowned.
Julia waved him off before he could argue. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t care what people say, not when I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Charles nodded, but his face didn’t clear. “I’ve been considering some changes. There are a few other private practitioners with separate surgical facilities in town. State-of-the-art, too.”
Julia shrugged. “I go where you go, but don’t change things for me.” Her eyes found Jinx again. “There’s someone I wouldn’t mind running into on our days at the hospital.”
A smile tugged at Charles’s lips. “I never thought I’d see the day when you would get all serious about someone like this.”
Julia’s ears turned red. “Don’t start.”
Charles chuckled, moving to the table to ruffle her hair. “Still the same Julia.” To Jesse’s embarrassment, his brother kissed the top of his head as he passed. “Sometimes I think my brother is actually one of the luckiest people around.”
Jesse blushed.
Charles closed the door behind him.
“Like hell,” Julia muttered, scowling. “Did he forget that the universe just proved it was out to get you?”
Jesse reached over, his fingers brushing over the red shell of her ear. “But I’m here. People were close by to fish me out of the pool, quickly too. Maybe that is a form of luck.”
She leaned into his hand. “Luck would be it not happening at all. Though…” she trailed off, staring at the table with that embarrassed look he’d caught her wearing more than once over the last few days.
Jesse’s pulse throbbed behind his ears. “There’s something you haven’t been saying.”
“Yeah.” She turned toward him, her hands lifting to cup his face, making him grow still as his heart thudded. “I love you, Jinx.”
The racing inside only got worse. He stared at her, taking in the softening of her eyes and her spreading smile.
“I’m such a cliché. At the hospital, it hit me hard, how much I would lose if you were gone. You’re important to me, Jinx. I love you. No, I’minlove with you.” She leaned forward, kissing him and taking away even more of his air.
She pulled back, still so close her breath fluttered over his damp lips, her sparkling emerald eyes laughing at him. “Breathe, Jinx.”
