Stern Desire Love Redeemed (13 page)

"Yes."

"You speak Spanish?" A look of disbelief came over his face, his mind racing through the things I might have heard. "When
were you going to tell me?"

"Are you going to answer my question?"

"I don't know what look you are talking about."

"Why didn't you tell me you suffered from migraines and were on medication?"

"It slipped my mind."

"Can I take a look at the medication?"

"Kyra, please let it go."

For now I will.

"Fine. I'll see you later, Jared."

"Bye, Kyra."

Before I left the hospital that morning, Jared was taken to
have the filter placed. I'd never seen the hospital send for a patient this early for a filter placement, but then we were talking about Jared Stern - nobody wanted to screw up. I would not have been surprised if they had called
in the Interventional Radiologist last night to do the procedure. At least I knew Jared was taken care of and I wouldn't have to worry all day that he might throw a clot before they placed the filter.

.

On my way home I received a call from Jenn. Carmen, her mom,
was visiting and I was invited to breakfast. I loved Carmen's cooking, and whenever she came by she always extended an invitation for me to stop in. She was an excellent cook who visited regularly and prepared delicious Spanish
cuisine for her daughter and future son-in-law.

Jenn opened the front door and mouthwatering smells propelled me to the kitchen where Carmen was busily placing platters of delectable food on the counter.

"Kyra!" she said with excitement and pulled me into her arms. "Have you found a boyfriend yet?"

I looked at Jenn and she shook her head.

"A beautiful girl like you going to waste. What's the
matter with you?" Carmen asked.

"Mom, I'm sure you would be happy to know that she has found someone," Jenn said to pique her mom's interest.

"Thank you, Lord," Carmen shouted, and lifted her
arms and turned her head to the ceiling in praise.

"Tell me about him," Carmen said as she wiped her hand in her apron and we all sat on barstools around the counter.

I gave Jenn the stink eye.

Dr. Miguel Sanchez, Jenn's longtime boyfriend, grabbed a torrija from the counter and gave us all a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks for breakfast, Mama Carmen," he said as he
headed for the garage on his way to his practice.

"Back to you, Kyra. Who is this lucky guy?" she asked as she poured us café con leche.

Carmen was very personable. I admired the mother-daughter
relation she had with Jenn. They were also friends. Carmen would put you at ease and before you knew it, you would be spilling your guts. I felt comfortable telling her almost anything. The relationship I had with my mother was totally the opposite. I loved my mom and she was always there for us. She
would go to hell and back for us, but when it came to opening up and sharing, we were lacking in that department. So my sister and I were each other's confidants. If she knew I was seeing Jared, my patient, my mother probably
would not have approved and she would have found a million reasons why it was wrong, without considering my happiness.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You are going to talk about it. It's about time."
She handed me a bowl of fruit.

"He's a patient," I said eyeing her for a reaction.

"I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anyone before." She took a sip of her café con leche. "I once dated a
patient of mine."

"When, Mom?" Jenn asked, looking shocked.

"That was a long time ago, before your dad, a couple of years out of nursing school. Things were different back then. We did not have
all these rules and regulations. We were attracted to each other. He had asked me for my number numerous times the two days he was admitted, and I refused to give it to him. It was inappropriate to date a patient, but one evening as I
was leaving work he was there waiting. Nobody knew about us. He was my life. He was hot, romantic, and that year we spent together was the best year of my life."

"What happened?" Jenn and I said in unison.

"He went back to Columbia after he was finished with school; he was studying to become an engineer. He wanted me to go with him, but I could not leave my life here."

Even after so long there was still regret and sadness in her
voice.

"Mom, why haven't you told me?"

"That was my secret, dear." She reached over and placed her hand on Jenn's.

"Did you see him again after he left?" Jenn asked.

"A few times."

"Why do I get the feeling you are hiding something, Mom?" Jenn gave her mom a suspicious look.

"I'm going to tell you this, and I'm saying it in front of Kyra because I think of her as family, and I know as soon as it is out of my mouth you would be calling to tell her anyway."

Carmen poured some hand squeezed orange juice in a glass and
took a sip. She leaned back in the chair, the flash of old memories surfacing in her eyes. Jenn and I waited patiently.

"I got pregnant by him, something I have never regretted,
because I saw him every day in my son."

Jenn sat in shock. I did not belong there. I wished Carmen had made this a more private conversation between mother and daughter.

"Caleb? What are you talking about, Mom?"

"Yes, Jenn. I met your dad when I was pregnant, and he stood by me and raised your brother Caleb as his own - nobody knew." She took another sip of orange juice.

"When your dad and I told the family, you were still
young and we haven't brought up the subject since."

"Oh, Mom, do you know how shocked I am right now?"

"Sorry, Jenn."

"Does Caleb know his real dad?"

"He does; his dad wanted to be a part of his life, which I could not deny. He is a good man and he supported us from the moment I told him I was pregnant."

"Mom, I can't believe what I'm hearing," Jenn said
flabbergasted.

"I'm sorry, Jenn, but you were way too young to understand. We dealt with it and, as time went on, it was never brought up again."

Jenn embraced her mom. Carmen held her daughter tightly and
apologized repeatedly in her ear. Jenn thanked her mom for telling her and reassured her that nothing had changed between them. The touching moment brought tears to my eyes. I picked at my corncakes. My mind wondered to Nate.
He would be home today and I couldn't wait to see him.

"So, Kyra," Carmen said, "knowing you, I bet you are deeply tormented about this relationship, am I right?"

"Yes."

"Cuando el amor no es locura, no es amor - love is not love until it is madness. You would not be doing this madness, risking your job, if you did not have strong feelings for him and knew that he felt the same
for you. If you are not willing to sacrifice everything, it is not true love."

There was a brief silence at the table.

"So tell me about this lucky guy."

"His name is Jared Stern."

"He's that billionaire who's been on the news...he was in an accident...and he's at your hospital," she said enthusiastically.

"Mom, calm down," Jenn said.

"I'm so happy for you, Kyra." She took me in her arms again.

"Mom, don't mention this to anybody."

"Your secret is safe. He gorgeous, too. You two will
make amazingly beautiful children."

"Mom!"

"Wait and see." She got up from the counter and removed a bottle of champagne from the wine cooler. "Let's turn this into a champagne breakfast."

She took three champagne glasses from the rack, popped the champagne, and poured the golden fluid into the glasses.

"A toast to Kyra," Carmen said holding up her glass. "May you get nothing less than your heart's desire."

"To love, health, and happiness. No one is happier than I am that you have finally found someone who has captured your heart."

The crystal glasses chimed and I took a sip of my champagne.
Carmen was talking about children already. I needed to escape this mother-daughter madness. I had work tonight and they would keep me here all day; before I knew it, Carmen would be serving lunch. I thanked Carmen for
breakfast and went home.

As tired as I was, sleep evaded me. My phone chimed. Anxiously I reached for it.

Nate's text: Mom, I had so much fun. I wished you had come with us.

My text: Next visit, I promise I'll be there.

Nate's text: Are you working tonight?

My text: I am, but I'll see you in the morning.

Nate's text: I love you, Mom.

My text: Have a safe flight. I love you, too.

Twelve noon and I was still awake. I tossed and turned in bed. I was tired, but could not sleep. If I was going to get any sleep, I needed to find out how Jared was doing. Jared's procedure should be completed
by now and he should be back in his room. I called Jared's cell phone, but there was no answer, so I dialed the direct number to the room. Luckily, J.C. answered the phone. If anyone else had answered, I would have hung up. J.C. informed me that the procedure went well and Jared was asleep. I could go to
sleep now.

It was times like this I wished I could make myself invisible. Room 824 was no longer under repair and was occupied by a patient, so there went my primary surveillance location. I moved closer to the door
leading into Jared's room and leaned against the wall, hoping to hear the conversation more clearly instead of just bits and pieces of it. Words like, "been off medication, nightmares, not therapeutic and Ella" had
piqued my suspicious mind. Jared was having a conversation with an unknown man. The usage of medical jargon made me think that this man was a doctor.

From the tone of Jared's voice he was annoyed, almost angry; I could barely discern what Jared said about two damaged people and resisted
the urge to press my ear against the door. As if sensing what I was thinking, J.C. glanced at me. I moved from the door and mumbled I'd be back. Before I could open the door of the sitting room, the door to the room opened and out
walked a sharply dressed man.

"Nice to see you again, J.C.," he said.

"Likewise, Henry," J.C. said and they shook hands.

I slipped into Jared's room. My phone vibrated in my jacket
pocket. His face lit up when he saw me.

"That's me," he said and held his phone up.

"You had a visitor?"

"That's Henry. He's a family friend."

I could not recall when I had heard that name before, but it would come back to me eventually.

"How are you?" I asked.

"Much better."

J.C. and Henry were still in conversation in the sitting room. I stood away from the bed in case Henry decided to come back in for some reason.

"Why are you still standing there?" Jared asked.
"Come over here."

I sat on the side of the bed next to Jared and he pulled me to his hard chest. My head rested there, listening to his strong heartbeat and breathing in his intoxicating scent.

"I'm being discharged tomorrow," Jared said
unenthusiastically.

What did I have to look forward to coming in to work if he was gone? I already missed Jared not being here; the thought of him leaving made the place suddenly bare and empty.

"I'm going to miss you," I said.

"Why do you make it sound like I'm not going to see you again?"

"I mean, I'm going to miss not having you here, but I'm
sure you need to get on with your life."

"And you will be a part of it. I can't wait to overindulge you." He stroked my hair.

The only overindulgence I needed was his arms around me, his
lips all over my body, and those crazy emotions that flooded my body in mind-blowing ways; thinking about it made me warm on the inside. A heavy feeling filled my chest as tears burned my eyes. Why the sudden barrage of emotional frenzy? I fought the tears back. Sensing my distress, he pulled me
from his chest and kissed me. The soft, tender, passionate kiss opened the flood gates and tears flowed down my face. Why couldn't I hold it in? Why did I always have to show him my vulnerability?

"Kyra, what's the matter?"

"Nothing." I sat up and wiped the tears from my face.

"Please do not tell me it's nothing," he begged.

"I'm going to miss you, okay?" I blurted out.

He smiled and crushed his lips against mine into a fierce, hot, lust-filled kiss. When he pulled away, my lips were pursed wanting more.

"Don't stop," I begged, trying to capture his lips
with mine.

"It's a wise idea if we do," he assured me.

I stood up. "Okay, let me take a look at your dressing."

"It's even a wiser idea if you look at that dressing
later."

"Why?"

He threw back the covers, his bulging manhood strained in his basketball shorts.

"Oh," I said embarrassed. "I'll come back
later."

I heard his groan as I walked out the door.

I busied myself around the unit, not wanting to think about his impending discharge. I remembered the times I could not wait for his
discharge, but now that it was here I hated to see him go. I felt drained, depleted of all my willpower to do the simplest task. This was his last night, and I could not imagine coming in to work tomorrow night without him being here. Besides, his discharge meant taking our relationship to a higher level.

I returned to Jared's room a couple of hours later. I needed to do my assessment and check the dressing on his groin.

"Jared, is it a good time for me to look at your
dressing?" I said uneasily.

"Go ahead. I promise I'll be good." He placed his hands behind his head and leaned back in bed.

"I need you to help me out here."

He looked at me questioningly.

"I want you to show me the dressing, just the dressing."

"Shouldn't you be doing this, Nurse Kyra?" he said teasingly as he unsnapped the side of his basketball shorts. "But I won't
spoil your surprise."

I had no doubt about that. He was well endowed, but the first time I saw his manhood would not be in a hospital bed doing an assessment - that's a surprise I was looking forward to. He pulled the side of the shorts
away from the dressing. He was not wearing any underwear. Boxers or briefs, I thought. He is a brief guy: those sexy, low rise boxer briefs that hugged his tight ass contained his bulging manhood, and accentuated his strong, muscular
upper thigh. The dressing to his left groin was dry and intact, and he was not having any complications.

I focused on the dressing and nowhere else, but the dark, straight hair that began at his belly button caught my attention. My eyes
followed the path of his sexy happy trail to its hidden end. I imagined the treasure that lay at the end just underneath those jersey shorts.

"Kyra, am I doing okay?"

Was he circumcised or not
? Jenn and I had that
discussion before. It was very interesting and educational to me since I'd only experienced the later and had nothing to compare it to. Jenn emphatically informed me that being uncut was more pleasurable for the man and the woman.
Circumcised penises were not protected, making the ridge hook harder and less sensitive, and scraping the walls of the vagina made sex more uncomfortable, not pleasurable, and forceful. Circumcised men used long, hard thrusting
strokes due to the loss of sensitivity, and the ridge hook pulled lubricating fluid from the vagina, resulting in a dry vagina and uncomfortable sex if lubrication was not used.

Jenn compared having sex with an uncircumcised man to having
sex with a broomstick - hard, banging, and pounding away at you, making it difficult to achieve a vaginal orgasm. The uncut penis was softer, with highly sensitive foreskin covers, which protected the head and served as a sliding mechanism during sex. It stimulated the G-spot, reduced friction and chafing
during sex, and it was a very erogenous tissue. Jenn described having sex with an uncut penis as sensuous, natural, and a romantic, pleasurable, satisfying union of the male and female genitals: the way it was meant to be.

"Am I good?" I heard Jared asking in the distance.

I snapped back to the present.

I'm sure you will be very good.

"
You are doing just fine." I tore my eyes
away from his hidden bulge.

He was trying hard to control his smile.

I blushed in embarrassment.

"It's just a matter of time, love." He gave me his
charming smile as he snapped his shorts back in place.

"What time are we having dinner tonight?" he asked.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for food."

"What are you in the mood for?"

"I'm not hungry, Jared." I did not have an appetite.

.

At our usual lunch time, I went to the lab to have my blood
test done. I stopped by the emergency department to see Jenn and immediately she noticed that something was wrong.

"What's going on with you? What's with the doom and gloom look?" She could read me like an open book.

"Jared is been discharged tomorrow."

"That's a good thing."

"I know, but I'm going to miss him."

"Am I missing something here? Why do you make it sound
like it's the end?"

"Eventually he's going back to Brazil."

"Have you two discussed this?"

"No, but that's his home, and I don't think I can
handle a long distance relationship."

Jenn opened the door to the break room; the flat screen TV on the wall displayed a picture of Jared and Ella... "Rumor has it that she was not allowed to visit him in the hospital. Is there trouble brewing in
this fairy tale relationship or did her troubled past finally catch up with her? There have been no recent sightings of the camera loving Ella Wright."

Jenn picked up the remote to turn off the television.

"No, don't!" I placed a hand on Jenn's.

"There has been talk around town that Stern Enterprise is spreading its wings even farther to the Miami area."

The female reporter chatted with her female co-host.

"If that's true, then we will be seeing more of Mr. Stern. He is not only good eye candy, he's successful, charming, and smart."

"I agree with you on that. He is very appealing to look
at."

I took the remote from Jenn and turned the television off. These two drooling reporters irritated me.

"Talk to me, Kyra," Jenn said as we sat around the
table."

"I am naïve. I was so caught up in this whirlwind relationship that it did not cross my mind this entire time that he would be going back home. Not until he told me tonight that he was being discharged in
the morning."

"Would you have done anything differently?"

"Probably not."

"Kyra, things will work out, and you just heard those reporters say he might be here more often."

"That's a rumor," I pointed out.

"Even if it's not the absolute truth, it might be pretty close to the truth."

"You know, that's the second time today I've heard how
troubled Ella is. The first time was in a conversation I overheard with Jared and..."
Oh my God, I know who Henry is. He was the guy Jared called to pick Ella up after Jared dumped her. And from the bits and pieces of the
conversation I overheard earlier, I think he is a psychiatrist.

"Jared and..." Jenn prompted.

I told Jenn about the conversation between Jared and Henry: bits and pieces of a conversation. When eavesdropping what one thinks they hear
might not be what was actually spoken, but instead what one wants to hear.

"What's her last name?" Jenn asked as she fished her iPhone from her pocket.

"Wright."

From her internet search we found out that Ella and her sister Lolo Wright were the only two survivors of a horrific traffic accident. Their family was returning home from a weekend retreat when their van was run
off the road by a trailer, killing their parents, grandparents, an aunt, and ten-year-old brother.

.

Ella and her sister were ejected from the vehicle, which saved their lives. The vehicle with their trapped family erupted into flames
and they all perished. At the age of sixteen, when the accident occurred, Ella was an up-and-coming supermodel, but after that horrific accident her plight with drugs and alcohol had sent her in a downward spiral.

Ella's sister Lolo's injuries were so severe, she became a paraplegic. After years of being held in the grips of alcohol and drugs, Ella finally was able to escape their dark clutches.

I could see how this could destroy anyone's life. Now it all
made sense. I saw why Jared was so worried when he dumped her. I did not know how instrumental Jared was in her comeback, but that's what he meant by two troubled people.

Ella was asked in an interview after all that she had been
through, what changed her life? Ella stated the day she met Jared Stern. She added, underneath all the designer clothes, the smile, and people telling her how lucky she was, a nightmarish hell still raged inside her. She was still
haunted by the flaming van and her family's terrifying screams. "I am not the lucky one," she added.

"I feel so sorry for her," I said. And even guilty.

"Don't feel sorry for her yet," Jenn said.
"Listen to this. Ella Wright's explosive diva like personality landed her in trouble again after an altercation with a waitress over an incorrect order."

Jenn read a couple more of Ella's public indiscretions. She
placed her phone on the table.

"I know a lot more about her now."

"And that should include the fact that she might be a crazy bitch." The hospital's mobile phone rang. Jenn looked at it. "I
have to go. Kyra, be with Jared and stop wasting precious time."

I knocked at Jared's room door and Gabby answered. "Hi, Kyra." She smiled widely. "Nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too, Gabby."

"So he should be home tomorrow?" she asked.

"He should be."

Jared looked over some documents and handed them to Gabby.
She took them and kissed him on the forehead. "I promise I won't let you down."

"I know you won't."

She was grinning from ear to ear. I stiffened as she unexpectedly pulled me into her arms. Jared shook his head and picked up the TV
remote. I brought my arm around her and returned her hug. Gabby finally released me from the tight, lengthy hug after Jared told her to.

"Thanks for everything, Kyra," Gabby said from the
door.

I turned to Jared, dumbfounded. "Why do I feel like I played some part in Gabby's over enthusiasm?"

"Maybe you did."

"Please elaborate."

"She gets to run the real estate office in Brazil."

"How did I influence that decision?"

"I'm expanding our offices here. It's been months in the making, but the urgency is greater now."

"So that means?"

"Long distance relationships are not my thing. I miss you so much when you are away and, with thousands of miles between us, I don't think I could handle that."