Katie Ashley - The Pairing

She nodded. “Out like a light the moment I put him down.”

“Good.” When he started to stand up, she pushed him back down on the couch. Easing down onto his lap, she wrapped her arms around his neck. He brought his hand up to rub lazy circles over her back. She didn’t speak for a few minutes. Instead, she just enjoyed being close to him, the feel of his hand on her, his strong, muscled thighs beneath her.

“Thank you for coming over tonight.”

His brows rose in surprise. “Are you sure? I was afraid I was overstepping my bounds.”

Raking her fingers through his dark hair, she shook her head. “I think we need to talk about our boundaries.”

“Oh?”

She nodded. “You coming over here tonight made me realize something very important. What we’ve been doing has been fun, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. But now—”

Pesh’s dark eyes snapped shut, and the expression on his face shifted as if he were in pain. “Please. You don’t have to say this. I’ll just go.”

“But I don’t want you to go,” she argued.

“Then what are you trying to say?”

“That I need you in my life, and I want more.”

His brows shot up. “More? As in more of us together?”

“Yes.”

He sucked in a breath. “You want us to be an official couple?”

She smiled. “Yes, I do. Well, everywhere except work.”

“I can’t believe it,” he murmured.

“This isn’t exactly the reaction I thought you would have,” she teased.

“Oh, I’m happy. Trust me. I’m just shocked, that’s all.”

She brought her lips to his and gave him a tender kiss. Against his lips, she murmured, “Can you ever forgive me for being so stubborn and so stupid?”

“I can try. But I suppose you’re going to have to work very hard to make it up to me.”

“Am I?”

He nodded. “Yes, very hard.”

“Why do I have the funny feeling that your idea of me making it up to you is entirely different than mine?”

“No more orgasms for dates. Just dates.”

“I can handle that.”

A wicked gleam flashed in Pesh’s eyes. “The first date will be to the Fox to see an opera.”

She groaned. “You don’t play fair.”

He ran his hands up her sides, causing her to shiver. “I would have to argue that you haven’t been playing fair all along. Now it’s my turn.”

“Are you going to punish me?” she questioned in a whisper.

“Mmm, hmm, there will lots of dates and lots of time spent together.” He quirked a brow at her. “A true hell on earth.”

She couldn’t help giggling. “I’ll be a good girl and take it.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

As they lapsed into silence, Megan’s fingers wound through the hair at the base of his neck. “Do you want to stay the night with me?”

Pesh’s brows furrowed as if silently questioning her proposal. “But you—”

“No sex. Just sleeping.”

“You think that’s a good idea with Mason?”

“We’re a couple now. He’s going to be seeing a lot of you.”

Pesh smiled. “Yes, he is.”

Staring into his eyes, she asked, “So you’ll stay?”

“It would be a pleasure.”

Without another word, she rose off his lap. After he got up off the sofa, she took him by the hand and led him to her bedroom. As she sat on the edge of the mattress, she watched as Pesh stripped down to his boxer shorts. When he was finished, he walked slowly over to her. “I’m sorry we can’t do anything else.”

He brushed the hair out of her face and cupped her cheeks. “I don’t mind. I’m happy just to be with you.”

In her heart, she was happy as well and not just about him staying the night. But for how everything between them had worked out. “So am I,” she murmured before lying back on the bed. “So am I.”

For Megan, the next few weeks flew by. She didn’t know if it was because she was so busy at work, or it was because she was so happy being with Pesh. She liked to think it was the latter. Or maybe it was that she was busy being with Pesh. On her off days and his, they spent every second together. Most often, he came to her house. They made dinner together or they went out. Although her parents didn’t entirely approve, he slept over as well. What they didn’t know is that some nights nothing illicit even happened between them. Exhausted from the day’s events, they merely enjoyed lying in each other’s arms.

As she came out of a patient’s room, she glanced up to see Pesh standing across the hall talking to another doctor. For just a moment, his gaze met hers, and although no one else could have possibly noticed it, she saw the longing and the affection. She gave him a brief nod before walking on to the nurses’ station.

Since they had become a couple, their time at work had become almost a game of wills to pretend there was nothing going on between them. Most days, it was harder than Megan could have ever imagined not to burst out in a smile whenever she saw him or to resist the urge not to wrap her arms around him. But somehow they made it work. In the end, the pent up emotions that were suppressed during the day made for a lot of heated fireworks in the evenings.

Megan’s thoughts were interrupted at the buzzing of her phone. When she glanced down at it, she grinned. It was Pesh.

It killed me not to be able to kiss you a moment ago.

I know. Me too.

Dinner at my place tonight?

U cooking? She questioned.

Yeah. Indian food.

Mmm, sounds good. What time?”

7. Does Mason like Indian food?

Megan eyed his text thoughtfully. The last three times she had been with Pesh, Mason had been with them as well. Pesh never seemed to mind, but Megan wanted a night with just him. A true date night.

Not sure. Will get my parents or Papa to babysit.

You don’t have to do that.

I know. I want to.

Okay. See you at 7.

Bye.

She had just slipped her phone back in her pocket when she was ambushed by Kara. Since the day she’d seen Kara grope Pesh in the hallway, Megan had loathed the sight of her. She had managed to keep her distance from her at work, but lately, she noticed that Kara had been creeping around, staring at her.

“Can I do something for you?” Megan asked politely.

“Yeah, for starters, you can drop the sugar sweet act. I know how you feel about me.”

Megan fought the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine. What do you need Kara?”

Kara glanced around them before she spoke. “I want you to back off of Pesh.”

“Excuse me?”

Narrowing her eyes, Kara said, “I know you’re into him. I can see it in the way you look at him…it’s in the way he looks at you, too. And I don’t like it.”

“Well, I’m terribly sorry that you don’t, but frankly, I don’t see how any of that is any of your business.”

“Oh, he is very much my business considering we’ve been together.”

“Um, okay. Whatever,” Megan replied, feeling slightly shattered by Kara’s proclamation. In the rational side of her mind, she knew there was no way Pesh could be involved with Kara. But at the moment, it was the irrational side that seemed to be winning out over whether Pesh was truly hers.

Kara jerked her chin in the air. “Besides the fact of what Pesh and I are to each other, I’m sure it would be very interesting business to your professor. Last time I checked, a nursing candidate wasn’t supposed to get involved with a doctor. Bad for one’s reputation.”

“Are you threatening me?”

After a casual shrug of her shoulders, Kara replied, “Just stating facts. You don’t impress me as one of those bimbo girls who likes to be used by a man for sex, which I’m afraid that’s exactly what Pesh is doing with you. But more than not wanting to be a sex toy, I imagine you wouldn’t want to do anything to harm your future career.”

“I’m not discussing this any further,” Megan muttered, as she started past her.

“I won’t be either as long as you stay away from Pesh.”

Without giving Kara a final glance, Megan continued walking down the hallway. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew she wanted to put as much distance as she could between herself and Kara.

The rest of the day she felt haunted by Kara’s words. More than anything, she couldn’t wait until she could be alone with Pesh to talk to him about it.

* * *

Pesh jerked his head up at the loud bang behind him. The garage door leading into the kitchen was thrown open with such a force that it rattled on its hinges. Megan stalked into the room, her mouth turned down in a determined frown. She threw her purse down onto the floor beside one of the bar stools. With a frustrated breath, she blew back a few errant strands of blonde hair that had escaped the loose knot at the back of her neck.

“Bad day?” he asked, with thinly veiled amusement.

She glared at him. “Yes, as a matter of fact it was.”

“What happened?”

“Well, where do I start? When I went to drop Mason off at Papa’s house, there was a woman there with him.”

Pesh’s brows rose in surprise. “Patrick is dating?”

“He claims she’s—”Megan paused to make air quotes with her fingers, “just a friend. But I don’t buy it.”

As he stirred the rice, he glanced at her over his shoulder. “Would it be wrong if he were dating?”

A long sigh escaped Megan’s lips. “No, he deserves to be happy. My nana has been dead for six years, so it’s not like he raced out the moment he was free and started going through women like Kleenex.”

Pesh chuckled at her summation. “Did you not like her?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Megan replied, “That’s the other part. She seemed really nice. And Mason loves her. I guess she’s been there before when he stayed with Papa.”

After abandoning his place by the stove, Pesh placed his hands on the marble countertop and leaned in close to Megan. “It sounds to me like Patrick has found a good woman who loves him and his family. I don’t think you could ask for a better scenario.”

She stared into his eyes for a moment before she smiled. “You’re right. I don’t know why I got so upset about it all.”

“Because as much as you love your grandfather, you’re still protective of your grandmother’s memory.”

“You’re so wise,” she murmured.

“It comes with age,” he replied, with a wink.

“Whatever.”

He gave her a quick kiss on the lips before returning to the stove. “So besides Patrick’s new lady friend, what else happened to get you so upset?”

When Megan didn’t reply, Pesh turned around. “What else is it?”

“You need to have a serious discussion with Kara.”

His brows rose in surprise. “I do?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Megan, you do remember that I’m not in charge of nurses.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I realize that. But you are in charge of your dick, are you not?”

“Excuse me?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Megan said, “Kara seems to think that the two of you are an item.”

Pesh chuckled. “Oh that’s nonsense. We’re just friends from working together.”

Megan narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. “You’ve never seen her outside of work?”

This was one area of questioning he hadn’t bargained on ever having to answer. The truth was something he really didn’t want to admit to Megan. Carefully choosing his words, he replied, “We got together for drinks a couple of times after work a few months back. I hardly think that categorizes us as an ‘item.’”

“It must be enough for her to think she can tell me that you’re only using me for sex.”

Pesh winced at the words. He would have never taken Kara for being someone who was jealous. He put down the spatula and turned off the stove. He knew he couldn’t go forward without coming clean. “Megan, I haven’t been honest with you.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I told you that Kara and I had only had drinks a couple of times. But that isn’t the whole truth.”

Megan’s eyes widened. “What are you saying?”

Defeated, his shoulders drooped a little. “After the night of Noah’s baptism, I couldn’t get you off my mind. I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t so enamored by you. So after having a couple of drinks one night, Kara and I went to my car and fooled around.”

“You got drunk?”

He gave a mirthless laugh. “That is what is most shocking to you in what I just told you?”