The Running Series Box Set: Books 1-3 Read online

  The surgery team was none the wiser during the first case as things ticked along like clockwork. However, as the day went on, the team began to give each other funny looks. I was sure it was because Grayson had become very friendly, a sharp contrast to the usual businesslike gruffness he carried with him into surgery. He talked to me throughout the procedures and even sang along to the music from his iPod playing on the OR speakers. I knew everyone could feel the chemistry between us. In fact, at one point, the anesthesiologist looked over at me and winked. He was on to us. I was sure of it. I just gave him a weak smile behind my surgical mask and shrugged.

  We finished the last case around two, and Grayson still had rounds to make. I caught up on my own paperwork while I waited for him in his office, across from the ill-fated break room where he had gotten so angry over my intrusion. This time, Zoe and Millie joined me to chat in between calls and charts.

  Zoe took the time to try to give me some sisterly advice. “Alex, Grayson has been in the best mood ever since he met you. I can already tell he’s very interested in you. But has he told you why he moved to Dallas?”

  “He said it was because you were here,” I responded, afraid I was about to catch Dr. Perfect in a lie.

  “There are some things you need to know, but I’m not sure I should be the one to tell you, certainly not like this,” she answered, cringing a little.

  I took a deep breath. Part of me wanted to grab her by the front of her scrubs and beat the truth out of her, while the other part—the better part of me, the sane part—wanted to respect Grayson’s privacy and show Zoe that I was a good person. I ended up just looking blankly at her for a second, but my not pressing her for the gory details must have helped her decide to trust me.

  “Grayson was finishing up his commitment to the Army when he met a drug rep, Olivia, at a conference in Chicago. She was in the process of relocating back here with a new job. They became serious, so serious, in fact, he moved here to start his practice when he got out of the Army.” Zoe sighed deeply, apparently fighting her own battle over how much to tell me. “The week before their wedding, he found out she was sleeping around—guys from the gym, other physicians, and guys from her company. It wasn’t pretty. Grayson was devastated. Trust is a big deal to him, and the whole thing rocked him to his core. Emotionally, it was like he just ran away.”

  “How long ago was this?” I asked, shocked that someone could be so hurtful, especially to a man as wonderful as Grayson.

  “Last December. You’re the first woman he’s even looked at since that whole mess happened. He told Millie to stop all reps at the door. Believe me, there are a ton of female reps that parade in and out of here, vying for his attention, but Millie makes sure they don’t make it past the waiting room. I just thought you should know this is a big deal, and the life you’ve put back into him in just a few days is a miracle. I hope you can understand his pain, and that it could mean he needs to learn to take his time.”

  “So that’s why he was such a stubborn one!” I said with a smile, remembering all the times I’d stopped by because it was my job. “I had a hard time getting in to see him since I was always sent packing by the front desk police!”

  I laughed at the mental image of Millie in a cop’s uniform.

  “Why did Millie break the rules with me?”

  “Because we both decided it was time he moved on.” She paused and flipped the pen in her hand. “Alex, he obviously really likes you. That must be some serious witchcraft you are practicing. You have him under a spell!” Zoe accused with a fake sense of injustice playing across her sweet face. “Just take it easy on him, and be patient. Sometimes he has a hard time communicating how he feels, and he just shuts down instead of talking it out. Grayson is great communicating with his patients, but when it comes to the rest of the world, not so much. He just bolts! When he gets mad at me, he goes forever without saying anything, not like holding a grudge, mind you, but rather, just avoids conversation completely.”

  “Zoe, I’m not a witch, so no worries about me putting spells on him,” I said. “And he’s not the only one packing baggage. Trust me, I have plenty of issues of my own. You love him, and I appreciate you wanting him to be happy. I just hope you’ll be willing to give him…us…whatever this is, some time to adjust. After all, geez, it’s only been a few hours!”

  We both enjoyed a laugh, after which, I began to feel more relaxed. We discussed all my witchcraft efforts and got caught up in our own giggling. We were still enjoying our chat when Grayson made his way to the office.

  “Is anyone working around here besides me? All I can hear is what sounds like a sorority party,” he accused after seeing his nurse-slash-sister cutting up with his rep-slash-girlfriend.

  “Well, Dr. Brooks, they do say laughter is the best medicine,” and with that, Millie joined Grayson, Zoe and me in a good laugh.

  He came over behind my chair, wrapped his arms around my neck, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Both Millie and Zoe responded with smugly pleased looks on their faces.

  Grayson finished up his paperwork for the day, made a few calls, and came to get me from the break room. We said our goodbyes to Millie and Zoe.

  “Normally, I take the stairs, but there is something I have wanted to do all day.”

  “Oh, really? And what is that, Dr. Brooks?” I asked while giving him a flirtatious wink.

  As soon as the door closed on the elevator, Grayson took me in his arms and gave me the sexiest, rock-my-world kiss. He was in the process of biting my lip when the door opened, and our stolen moment came to an abrupt halt.

  In the car, he held my hand and tapped to the music once again playing quietly through the speakers. I was thrilled to find out he appreciated music as much as I did, and we even had pretty much the same tastes in artists.

  “I want to cook dinner for you tonight, but at your place.” He was looking at me for approval.

  “Why do you want to cook at my place, doesn’t your kitchen work?” I said with a slight giggle, giving him a hard time.

  “Of course, it does,” he chuckled, before turning more serious, “but I think you’d feel better with extra company around or at least, in your own private environment. There is so much we still need to discover about each other, but there are a few things I’m very clear on. Alexandra, you are absolutely breathtaking and you have an amazingly alluring stubborn streak a mile long. I can’t get enough, and I am completely captivated by you. When you gave me that wink last Friday, you started the blood pumping in my veins. This kind of feeling is so new and raw to me, that, well, it makes me a little nervous. But we’ll take this hour by hour if we have to. I just want you to be in your comfort zone, and I want to be here with you. Besides, I recently discovered that I love cooking, so maybe we can cook dinner together in your kitchen. Deal?”

  “I’d love that, and I second everything you said,” I answered, pausing to give him a quick kiss. “Oh, by the way, I wanted to let you know that your sister called me a witch today. I could be wrong, but I think she meant it in a good way.” I bit my lip as I brushed my finger down his arm in full flirt.

  “What! What the hell was she thinking?” he demanded, picking up his phone.

  I pried the phone out of his hand and smiled. “You can’t call her! She didn’t mean a witch in a bad way. She said I had cast a spell on you!” He visibly relaxed after I explained her comment. The giggle fest returned, and we were still laughing when he pulled the car into a small corner market.

  “Well then, yes, my little witch-angel. I am completely in your spell! But please don’t undo it, I have enjoyed the last few days more than you’ll ever know!”

  Little did he know, I was completely caught in whatever spell he was casting, too…

  We picked up some fresh fish and vegetables to grill and a couple of bottles of our favorite wines, a Riesling for me and a Cabernet Franc for him, and I set the white in the fridge to chill as soon as we walked into my apartment. Cooper wasn’t home y
et, so he would just have to take what we gave him.

  Cooper. That was odd. I hadn’t heard from him all day. In fact, my phone had been strangely quiet in my purse. That was never a good sign.

  Oh, no! The battery was dead. In the chaos of last evening and the aftereffects of my medication, I had forgotten to charge my iPhone. That was not going to be good.

  After a few minutes of charge, the phone buzzed and shook to life as messages and texts streamed through in order, one after another. There must have been dozens of them. Drew, Cooper, Zoe, and even Gretchen had been blowing up my phone.

  What could Step-Mommy Dearest possibly want? Oh well, I would call her tomorrow. I wasn’t about to let her ruin my evening.

  Checking in with Drew, however, was a whole different matter. Unfortunately, he didn’t answer, and I had to leave a voicemail.

  “Hey, Drew. Feel free to call me this evening. I’m just getting to my messages since I was in the OR all day with Dr. Brooks. It’s going exceptionally well. I’m forwarding the restaurant info to you by text and will pick you up at the airport. Call me!”

  “I’m sorry, Alexandra, I didn’t think about putting your phone on to charge. I had other things on my mind,” Grayson said when he saw me scrolling through the missed messages.

  “It’s okay. He’s used to not getting a hold of reps when we’re in the OR all day. Sometimes we don’t have reception, and other times it is just as convenient to play like we don’t.”

  “Why, Ms. Morrison, I had no idea you had a devilish side! I am shocked, I say! Perhaps it’s a redhead thing?” He looked over and grinned as he took a piece of my hair and twirled it for a second before going back to the kitchen to get the rest of the dinner groceries arranged.

  Cooper had also left messages and texts that he was doing a modeling test shoot and wouldn’t be home until late in the evening. Good. It was perfect timing for Grayson and me to spend time alone, a chance to get comfortable or at least, try to again.

  “I’m going to run home and grab a quick shower while the fish marinates. I’ll be back in thirty minutes. Do you think you can survive here without me?”

  “It will be painful, Doc, but I think I can muster some energy to get a shower of my own and open the wine to breathe. Here, take my keys, so you can let yourself back in.”

  After he left, I opened the wine, put my iPod on the intercom, and picked out another favorite playlist. I headed toward my bedroom just as the song “Fall Again” came on.

  I loved this song, it was such a soulful pleading about falling in love again. The words carried me to a sweet place, and I hummed along as the waves of hot water poured over me. All of my senses were tied up at that moment, and I was completely blissful.

  I was still deep in my reverie and trying to wrestle my wet hair into playing along when I heard Grayson call out from the kitchen.

  “Alexandra, it’s not like we’re going to the opera. Just throw on your comfy clothes and come out here!”

  Walking out to greet him, I said, “Why, Doctor, that sounded almost like an order!” smirking at him.

  Handing me a glass of wine, he made a toast to starting our evening over and like déjà vu, “Start All Over Again” began playing over the intercom.

  We gaped at each other wide-eyed over the coincidence of the music aligning itself with his toast, a smile playing at the corners of Grayson’s mouth as an idea formed in his mind.

  He took my wine glass and set it aside before reaching for me, taking me for a romantic twirl around the kitchen. He really was a great dancer with very strong arms and a very smooth form. Despite feeling self-conscious when everyone in Sambuca’s watched us, I was secretly thrilled to discover I really enjoyed dancing with him. It put us so close together, and as we stepped in unison, it felt like we were one.

  All of a sudden, he stopped.

  Covering my mouth with his glorious lips, he kissed me and played with my hair, nibbling my neck and sucking at my earlobe until I became breathless. His lips tasted so good mixing with the wine I just wanted to drink him in, all of him.

  He pulled away from me teasingly before promising, “There will be plenty of time for more of that, Red, but I’m starving. My alter ego gets grumpy when I don’t eat,” he said with a gruff laugh. He took a few steps towards the patio, then he turned back toward me and just stared at me for a second with a look of total joy on his face.

  Suddenly, I had goose bumps on my skin, which tingled with anticipation.

  He prepared the fire outside while I got the fish prepped. As he grilled the fish and veggies, I mixed up a side salad and got the flatbread ready to place on the grill last. We had prepared a full feast to enjoy, which we did while sitting on pillows around the coffee table with beautiful music playing in the background.

  I was a little skeptical about having a man feed me bites of food since this was definitely a first for me. But after getting over the initial awkwardness of having Grayson holding out his fork toward me, I found it to really be sensual, erotic even. In between bites of decadent food, we chatted about his days in the military and his travels, his love of Europe, and how he would like to show me that part of the world.

  “What made you choose the Army route, Grayson?” I was curious. He seemed too refined to be in the military. However, in his scrubs, I’d noticed he had tattoos. I was curious about them, but forced myself to wait to ask about the stories behind the ink.

  “My dad was in the Army and got a chance to see the world and do things for people in need. Through the Army’s eyes, you see so much, both good and bad, that you can’t appreciate any other way. I got the chance to experience what I wanted to do and what I didn’t. I saw people that had never had the chance to have preventive medicine, and I knew with newer technologies we could do a better job of treating diseases.” He brought his wine glass to his lips and took a long, slow sip, never breaking his intense gaze into my eyes. What was he not saying?

  “So, you picked breast cancer? I’m curious. I don’t see the connection.” I waited a brief eternity while he looked down into his wine glass.

  He finally spoke. “My mom had breast cancer and died from it at an early age when I was still very young, and we learned two years ago that Zoe carries the breast cancer gene. I hope to develop a cure someday, or at least a treatment regimen that can expand patients’ outcomes or experience. The military taught me so much about how technology can be applied to medicine in a different way.”

  “Grayson, my mom died from breast cancer when I was twelve. I would give anything to have not experienced that with her and to have her with me today.” I reached for his hand, whether to comfort him or myself, I didn’t really know.

  “Do you know if you carry the gene?”

  “No, I have never been tested, although my doctor has mentioned it to me. But I’m just not sure how I feel about it.” I let my mind wander back to my mom for just a minute, visions of her warm smile and my same red hair swimming behind my eyes. All of this talk about breast cancer and our moms made me miss mine even more.

  One of the hardest parts of losing any parent was not having her there for guidance. I’d wondered how my life might have been different if I’d had her there to lean on in some of the hardest times of my life. I still had so many questions I never got to ask her. One thing I did know for sure, though, was she would have loved Grayson, I just knew it. The way he cared for other people, the way he treated me, would have made her overjoyed.

  Grayson and I were quiet for a moment, both of us lost in our own private hurts and waiting for the other to speak up first, but instead, he did something even more impressive than talk to me. He reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling me up on my feet to dance.

  He held me so close, and we just danced, swaying to any song that came on, gently touching, feeling, kissing each other. All of my senses were on alert, and he had to have noticed the growing tension in my posture.

  “Alexandra, I know beyond any doubt I want to be with you.
The way you make me feel, the way my heart beats when you’re around. I want all of you, whatever you’ll let me have. But only when you’re ready,” he said softly, then he stopped. There was more he wasn’t saying, but what was it?

  I reached up and touched his face then drew my finger along the outline of his jaw and started kissing him with a genuine passion I had never felt for any man. I could feel the churning in my body. I was burning from my head to my toes and between my legs I felt unexpected, but pleasurable warm moisture.

  Oh, this was an experience so new and so raw for me, one I thought had been stolen from me for the rest of my life, one I never thought I’d be able to feel. He picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissing me, holding me in his arms. Finally, he set me down on the sofa and turned me to look him in the face.

  “Grayson, my brain tells me to hold back. My heart says something so different. Somewhere in my mind, my alter ego is screaming at me to trust you and to let you in. But I can’t face making you put up with a repeat of last night. Would you be willing to sleep here tonight and stay with me, but maybe with our clothes on?” I asked weakly, cringing at the reaction I thought he had every right to let fly. “I have never had a man sleep next to me, but I want to with you. Can we take it slow?”

  “Of course. We’ll do whatever you need so you can trust me. But just so you know, I slept beside you last night holding you all night, ready to chase your nightmares away. I’m not going anywhere.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Our plans for a sleepover came with an unexpected problem.

  “Alexandra, I didn’t want to be presumptuous and assume I was getting an invitation to spend the night, so I didn’t bring anything over. At the risk of scaring you off, I need to run to my place and grab a few things, but I swear I’ll be back in ten minutes. Are you good ‘til I return?” He was already reaching for the door, trying to hurry back.