My Only - Alex & Jamie (15 page)

Aunt Hazel told him she would make it as soon as she got off the phone. “Okay honey, well I need to get going, but don’t you worry about us, and you have fun now,” Hazel instructed as she hung up.

“Fun? This is work,” Jamie said loudly, but she was pretty sure Hazel was already gone.

Jamie let her head fall back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She sat there and let the reality of what the next shift would be like sink into her consciousness. Just her and Alex. Alone in his house. For
hours
. Oh, good Lord! What had she agreed to?

A loud knock on her window caused Jamie to scream as she jumped up off her seat.

She jerked her head to the side and saw Katie’s smiling, somewhat worried face mouthing, “I’m sorry!”

Jamie laughed as she shook her head and opened her door, “Oh my gosh, you scared me.” She clutched her purse to her chest as she exited her car.

“I am so sorry!” Katie said sincerely, “I thought you might have fallen asleep and I didn’t think you would want to be sleeping in your car outside Alex’s house.”

“Thanks, I definitely would not want to know what rumors would start if people saw that. But I wasn’t taking a nap, I just needed a few minutes to…prepare myself.” Jamie explained as they walked up to the front door.

Katie shook her head, “I would need a nap if I were you. I don’t know how you do it, a single mom with two jobs. You are amazing.”

“No, I’m really not. I just do what I have to.” Jamie didn’t understand why some people acted like she was something special, she wasn’t.

They stopped at the large wooden front door and Jamie expected Katie to knock on it or get out a key maybe, but instead she just opened it. Jamie shook her head. She didn’t think she would ever stop locking her doors, whether she lived in a small town or not.

As they walked in, Jamie felt the oddest sensation roll over her. She stopped and tried to place it. It was…it felt like…like she was
home
. She thought for a moment that maybe she had been inside a house that had a similar layout to this one or that the furniture must have reminded her of some that she had seen before. However, as she looked around she realized that, visually, nothing about the space or the furnishings was familiar to her. It was just that she had an overwhelming feeling that made her think of safety and belonging.

Everything was in earth colors with harmonious wood tones. It felt warm, cozy, welcoming. There was rich, polished hardwood flooring, two tan oversized couches, and a large TV in the family room. A stained-glass window let in multi-colored accented light that shone through from the dining room. It was perfect.

Jamie was taking it all in when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and her heart stopped beating. She was flooded with warmth. She began to feel light-headed and her knees were suddenly so weak she wasn’t sure if she would be able to stand.

In front of her, Alex Sloan stood, leaning one shoulder against the doorframe, wearing low-riding dark grey drawstring sweats and a smile. Nothing else. Six-foot one inches of 100% all-natural, home-grown sex appeal, that’s what was standing before her. Jamie thought she might pass out.

“Look who I found sitting in her car!” Katie said cheerily as she pushed passed Alex into what Jamie now realized must be the kitchen.

Jamie’s head continued spinning as Alex pushed off the wall and walked over to her. “Hi, Jamie,” he said stopping about a foot in front of her.

Jamie thought she may need to roll her tongue back inside her mouth before she could speak, “Hi, Alex,” she managed to say. How, she had no flipping idea.

“Alright. Well, that’s the last of the donated food,” Katie said as she walked out from the kitchen typing on her iPhone. She looked up and her eyes darted back and forth between them.

Jamie felt like she had been caught doing something wrong. But all she had done was have very bad, very naughty thoughts - and since Katie did not
actually
possess the ability to read minds (even though apparently she wished she did) Jamie was in the clear. No harm, no foul. Still, she felt guilty.

“Well, I see you are in very good hands. Call if you need anything. Glad you’re back home.” Katie reached up on her tippy toes and gave Alex a kiss on the cheek before heading out.

She stopped and turned back before shutting the door. “Good seeing you again, Jamie. And Alex, I’ll let you know tomorrow what time we’ll need you at the festival.”

“Okay, thanks,” Alex said.

Jamie noticed that when he did, his jaw clenched. She was about to ask him what was wrong but the phone rang. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his good hand.

Jamie waited, expecting him to answer it. He didn’t. It went to voicemail and she heard someone that she thought must be doing an impression of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to the president, because there was no way anyone really talked like that.

The voice on the machine offered to come over and give Alex a massage adding that she would make sure it had a ‘happy ending.’

Jamie tried to hold it in, but she couldn’t. She burst out laughing. Alex’s shoulders immediately relaxed and he smiled, his eyes sparkling with humor.

“Wow! That is one classy chick you got there, Alex,” Jamie said once the laughter had begun to subside.

“I’m not with her.” His posture tensed back up and his tone grew serious.

“I know,” she assured him, not really understanding why he was upset.

“Good,” he said, looking a little more at ease.

Then she noticed something that she hadn’t when she had first seen him, probably because she had been blinded by hormones. He had dark circles under his eyes and he was pale. He needed to lay down. She wasn’t here to have fun, she had a job to do. You are his nurse, Jamie, she reminded herself. His
nurse
.

“You’ve had a big day, we should get you to bed.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized what she had said. She felt her cheeks get hot as she bit her bottom lip.

A slow, lazy smile spread across Alex’s face. “Wow, you’ve only been here five minutes and you already want to get me in bed. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Funny, Alex, real funny! Come on, you look exhausted,” Jamie said as she started moving to the hall that she assumed led to his bedroom. Her legs were shaking and her mouth filled with moisture. She was salivating at the thought of being in his room with him.

Professional. She was a professional.

--- ~ ---

They stepped inside Alex’s bedroom. Jamie stopped short in front of him. She stood, her body stock still, as she turned her head from side to side. He could see her eyes scanning the room as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. He looked around and tried to see the room through her eyes.

In the center of the room stood a king-sized four-poster bed covered with a forest green down comforter. Next to that, on 'his' side of the bed, stood a dark wood nightstand, and there was a matching desk in the corner.

On the far side of the room there was a door that led to his bathroom, and adjacent to it was another that opened to his walk-in closet.

Yep, he concluded, just a normal bedroom.

“Everything okay?” he asked, not quite sure what her hesitation was.

She let out a startled laugh and shook her head sheepishly. “Sorry, I just...well...I don’t know what I was expecting. I mean...I guess I thought. Maybe. You know...it would be more, more…”

“Den of iniquity?” he teased.

“Yes.” She nodded somberly, and he realized she had actually thought that.

“Jamie, what exactly have you heard about me?” Alex asked, his brow furrowing.

She was blushing now.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said, trying to brush off the question.

“Uh, I think it does.” He would really like to know what kind of kinky stuff she expected to walk in on.

“Nothing. I think I just...well hearing about all the 'friends' you have...I guess I subconsciously built up, you know,” she spread out her arms as if she were a ‘Price is Right’ model, “where the magic happens, into something it’s not.”

Alex chuckled as a thought occurred to him. “What were you expecting, a sex swing and a mirror on the ceiling?”

Shrugging her shoulders, she admitted, “Well, yeah. Kinda.”

Damn, she was so cute!

“Really?” He smiled slowly as he stepped closer to her. Her eyes widened. She backed up two steps, which placed her flat against the wall. Her chest rose and fell at a rapid pace and her smooth skin was flushed against her pale yellow scrubs.

“You really thought that?”

In a voice that was barely audible, she confirmed, “Yes.”

“Jamie, Jamie, Jamie. People that need those kinds of props…” He shook his head back and forth as he reached up and placed his right hand on the wall beside her head, “aren’t doing it right.”

He heard a small gasp escape her lips. "Oh," she breathed, as she looked up at him.

Watching her large honey-colored eyes staring up at him, Alex was completely mesmerized. Her eyes were so expressive! He had heard people say that ‘the eyes are the window to the soul’ but he had never really thought much of it. Before this moment, that is.
Because right now, looking down into Jamie’s eyes, he felt like he was seeing straight to her soul.

“God, I love your eyes.” He dipped his head lower stopping when they were mere centimeters apart. “They are so beautiful.”

Jamie's breathing became more labored and she nervously bit her bottom lip. Alex thought he might explode in his pants.

“Do you know what it does to me when you do that?” he growled.

She released her lip as her brow furrowed in confusion. “When I do what?”

“When you bite on your bottom lip,” he explained, trying to maintain the tenuous grip he held on his fleeting self-control.

“I do that?” Jamie asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

Alex smiled. He couldn’t get over how insanely sexy she managed to be while simultaneously being ridiculously cute. It was a lethal combination. “Yes, you do. And it makes me want to do things I shouldn’t.”

“It does?” she asked, sounding unsure.

Alex realized she had no idea the power that she held over him. Most women overestimated his feelings or desire for them imagining that he was much more into them than he actually was. But not Jamie. She really didn’t have a clue!

“It does,” he confirmed with a grin. Then he nodded his head, motioning down to his tented sweats which displayed visible proof of his response to her.

He watched her eyes travel slowly down his body. He recognized the exact moment that her gaze alighted on his rock-hard erection which was jutting out against his sweats.

Her breath hitched and her lips parted as she let out a shaky, “Oh.”

Alex groaned as he stepped away from the wall and raked his hand through his hair. What was he doing? He needed to knock this shit off if he was going to have even the smallest chance of making it through the next week.

Suddenly, feeling all the exhaustion of the day hitting him at once, Alex moved over to the bed and sat down. It had been a long day and it was finally catching up to him. Well, it was either that or he was just feeling weak because all of the blood in his body had rushed to one place.

Jamie stayed where she was, hands fisted at her sides, back against the wall. She continued staring at the space he had just occupied.

“Jamie.” He hoped he hadn’t upset her or made her feel uncomfortable.

“Huh?” She glanced over at him, her eyes glazed over.

Upon seeing him sitting on the bed, her eyes cleared and widened. “Oh, sorry!” Letting out a barked laugh, she rushed over beside him. “Here, let me fix these so you can be propped up and comfortable.”

Jamie situated the pillows behind him and he scooted back in his bed with her assistance. He took a moment to breathe her in. She smelled so fresh and sweet. Her hair was soft as it brushed against his shoulder. God, he wanted so badly to pull her into bed with him and…no, he could not think like that.

The second he was settled back against the pillows she moved away and he saw a tremor run through her as she took in a deep breath. “Have you eaten anything?”

“No.” He hadn’t really been all that hungry.

He noticed her open and close her hands, seeming very tense. He didn’t want that. He wanted to her to feel completely comfortable in his house. He thought that maybe he should address what had just happened and let her know that it wouldn’t happen again. Truth was, he didn’t really know the best way to say that, and he wasn’t totally sure it
wouldn’t
happen again, so he remained quiet.

“Okay, well you’ll need food to take your medication.” She picked up the prescription bottles of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory that he had had Jason pick up for him this afternoon.

“Where’s your Fentanyl?” she asked scanning his nightstand for more bottles.

“I didn’t get it filled. I have Advil, if I need it.” His pain medication was not something he wanted to discuss so he laid his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes.